Back at the apartment, she lined the peaches up on the baking tray, admiring how, when she’d finished, it looked like a picture from one of the glossy food magazines she bought each month but rarely read.

She’d taken time to correctly skin the plump fresh fruits, halve and stone them and then drizzle them with honey. She planned to serve them for dessert with vanilla ice cream.

It was Piper’s favourite pudding and Joanne was anxious to keep Piper happy. She’d learned long ago that if Piper was happy, then everyone was happy.

Joanne was very aware that most people thought her daughter was terribly spoiled. They didn’t dare voice it in front of her, of course, but the truth of what they thought revealed itself in the swiftly exchanged glances after dance classes, when Piper seemed prone to the odd tantrum.

She saw some of the other mums giving their daughters a warning look or even publicly scolding them in front of their friends. Joanne would never do that to Piper. She felt guilty enough as it was about the short amount of time she got to spend with her daughter.

People could criticise her all they liked; they had no idea what it took to manage a high-flying legal career as well as function effectively as a single mum.

With no family living close enough to help her, Joanne had no choice but to employ various people.

Audrey, a registered childminder, collected Piper from her after-school club each day.

Then there was Bahni, a middle-aged Indian lady who acted as a sort of housekeeper/cleaner. She’d been with Joanne for the last three years. Bahni worked thirty hours a week, carrying out a variety of quite simple but essential tasks, from packing up Piper’s lunch box during the week to taking care of the laundry and food shopping.

On top of that, there were a couple of non-working mums at school with whom Joanne was on good terms. Piper was friendly with their daughters, girls who also attended Miss Diane’s dance academy.

The friends regularly took turns having sleepovers at each other’s houses, and the other mums never minded if Joanne needed to drop Piper off for an hour or two on the odd occasion she needed to pop back into the office outside of the working day.

Joanne kept her small army of helpers discreetly in the background. She always felt a little inadequate that she couldn’t do it all on her own, without any help.

She winced. There it was again: the perfectionism that had propelled her to success and simultaneously plagued her her whole life.

It was exhausting at times. But it wouldn’t be forever.

At some point in the near future, if she was lucky and things worked out between her and Shaun, Joanne wouldn’t be facing life alone any more. She could relax a little, let go.

She opened the French doors that led out to the balcony. It was quite cool outside, but with the apartment being on the top floor, with a pitched roof, it got very warm unless it was freezing out.

She could hear laughter and shouting from the grassed area below.

Shaun had taken the girls down there with a couple of racquets and a shuttlecock to get them out from under her feet while she prepared tea. It sounded like they were having fun. He was so good with kids, seemed to know instinctively what they liked to do. Unlike her.

The last time she’d taken time off so she and Piper could have a girlie day, Joanne had bought expensive tickets to a contemporary dance performance at the Playhouse, and Piper had been bored senseless.

Maisie was so lucky, having a dad like Shaun. It was yet another thing poor Piper had missed out on, but if everything went well, maybe that could change in time.

Joanne set the timer for the baked peaches and emptied a large tub of extra-thick double cream into a metal mixing bowl. She added a little vanilla essence and some caster sugar before whipping it.

Having a playful dad hadn’t stopped Maisie from being a bit uptight. Piper had made several harmless jokes throughout the day that Maisie had reacted to with a sour face. Particularly the ‘Bigfoot’ nickname, which privately Joanne thought had been quite apt, though the child didn’t seem to see the funny side of things at all.

Maisie was a sturdy girl, tall and broad with strong facial features and curly dark hair. Joanne had caught her studying Piper’s petite frame as she skipped around at the bowling alley.

Maisie would never be petite, but it would certainly help if she lost a few pounds. Same went for her mother; Joanne had noticed that Emma had a good bit of padding around her middle where her waistband always looked a little tight.

Women like Emma thought they were doing their daughters a favour, feeding them up, but they were just encouraging poor nutrition, and it was always the children who suffered. You couldn’t blame a child like Maisie for feeling sour when she compared herself to a dainty girl like Piper.

Joanne lifted out the electric whisk and covered the bowl in cling film before popping it into her oversized American-style fridge.

Next she checked on the enormous lasagne that Bahni had made earlier. The cheese topping bubbled in the heat and she was gratified to see it had crisped and browned perfectly in its blue earthenware dish.

She turned off the oven and walked out onto the large balcony.

‘Tea’s ready!’ she called down, amused to see Shaun acting as umpire to the two girls.

He looked up, waved and grinned. She gave an involuntary little shudder, thinking about how his strong, muscular arms would feel wrapped around her later in bed.