Finding herself standing next to the usual school mums after all that felt like a monumental achievement. Tara was already expertly comforting James while her best friend Chloe looked on with a hint of longing on her face.

‘I see that look,’ said Leesa, Chloe’s mother. ‘And I can tell you right now this baby factory is closed.’ She drew a circle around her stomach and Mimi laughed.

‘You know I thought mine was closed too, right?’

‘Yes, but there’s no chance with me. Angus already got the . . . you know.’ She motioned scissors with her hand.

‘The what?’ Chloe asked, looking up at her mum. ‘What did Daddy have?’

Leesa dropped her hands. ‘Nothing, honey, never mind.’

‘I call my dad, Dad now,’ Tara told her friend. ‘And Mum is Mum.’ She didn’t sound judgemental but rather encouraging, like she thought it was probably time they both dropped the mummys and daddys from their vocabulary.

Chloe looked unfazed. ‘I’ll always call mine Mummy and Daddy.’ There was that note of certainty to her voice that only eight-year-olds who believe their life decisions are already set in stone can affect.

Mimi felt a pang of jealousy. She wanted Tara to keep calling her Mummy. She missed the innocence of it. She also missed that certainty in your own decisions that Chloe had just displayed. Hold on to that, kid. Although maybe don’t call your parents Mummy and Daddy when you’re thirty.

The girls returned their attention to the twins and Mimi and Leesa were able to continue chatting.

‘So yeah, he’s had the snip, therefore no chance of getting knocked up over here. I don’t know how you did it.’

‘Well, when a man and a woman love each other very, very much . . .’

Leesa whacked her arm. ‘Shut up. You know what I mean. I don’t know how you made the decision.’

Mimi tipped her head to one side. ‘Foolishly?’ she suggested. ‘Rashly, stupidly, miserably?’

‘Stop! You’re not miserable. Look at you, you’re glowing.’

‘No I’m not.’

‘Okay, well, you’re dressed, you’re out of the house and you’re making fully formed sentences. What more do you want?’

‘Where do I start? A nanny. A chef. A personal trainer. A full night’s sleep.’

‘We all want that shit. I’ll just settle for a G and T this arvo. It’s gotta be Friday somewhere, babe.’

‘Err, no it hasn’t. Nowhere in the world is it Friday right now.’

‘Don’t kill my buzz. The only bloody reason we put a pool in our backyard is so that I can sit by it and drink G and Ts. Don’t take that away from me.’

‘So, you’re a gin woman? I don’t think I knew that.’

‘It’s a new thing. Wine wasn’t cutting it for me anymore.’