I don’t go back into the office. If Joanne wants to fire me, then let her.

I know that’s an illogical reaction, but I feel I might burst if I set eyes on her again before I’ve had a break.

Later, I can see there’s something wrong – more so than usual – as soon as Maisie emerges from the dance studio and looks for my car from the top of the steps.

I spot Piper standing directly behind her and it looks as if she’s whispering something in Maisie’s ear, but as the girls step outside, Piper melts back into her own crowd. I recognise some of the girls in there as one-time good friends of Maisie.

My daughter descends the steps in front of the studio. There are no friends at all around her today, giggling together and showing each other pics of their favourite celebs or funny animal videos on their phones.

Her face looks drawn and pale, as if she’s been sitting quietly, not flushed like usual from bopping around.

She spots the car and runs down the steps and along the pavement without looking back.

‘Did you leave class on your own again today?’ I ask lightly when she opens the door.

She stuffs her dance bag down at her feet and folds her arms in a huff.

I start the car and pull a banana and a small carton of orange juice from the door pocket on my side.

‘Piper is now officially friends with all my friends. Every single one.’

‘Oh. Well that’s all right, isn’t it?’ I keep my voice light. ‘You can have the same friends.’

She shakes her head. ‘We had to get into friendship groups for a dance exercise and Piper got all my friends in hers and then said there was no room for me.’

I pass the fruit and drink to Maisie, but she gently pushes my hand away.

‘Not hungry.’

I toss the banana and drink onto the back seat, glancing at Maisie’s bony wrists protruding from the baggy grey sweatshirt that she never seems to take off these days.

But as Dr Yesufu suggested, I don’t comment on her appetite. In the absence of any better advice, I have to listen to him and try a different tactic for a while at least.

‘I wish Dad would dump Joanne so I don’t have to see her any more.’ Maisie scowls.

I’m trying hard to see both sides, I really am.

I suppose it’s natural that there’s a bit of rivalry between the pair of them. Two little girls with big personalities thrown together. Things are still very new and take some adjusting to.

‘You never know, you and Piper might become closer in time.’ I smile at her, but her scowl doesn’t shift.

It’s hard to know what to say for the best. I can understand Maisie being a bit peeved and feeling proprietorial about her dance classes; she’s been going for a full year now. But she has to understand that her friends being involved with Piper doesn’t mean she has to take a step back.

‘Maybe you two can share friends like you do other stuff. You go to Joanne’s house now and I bet you play with Piper’s stuff while you’re there and watch TV in her bedroom.’

‘No,’ Maisie says firmly. ‘She’s selfish. Joanne tells her to share but she won’t, and Piper said on the first day I went there that I’m not allowed in her bedroom.’

I open my mouth and close it again.

I’m obviously not asking the right questions when Maisie comes back from Joanne’s house. I was under the impression that the two girls got on OK; both Shaun and Joanne have led me to believe that.

I stop at traffic lights and lay my hand on my daughter’s arm.

‘Don’t worry about it, poppet. You can make an effort with your friends and everything will come right again, I’m sure.’

‘That’s just it, though. All my dance friends think she’s brilliant. She bought a bag of these glittery pom-pom hair slides for everyone when she started the classes. Now everyone really likes her.’

Clever. No doubt that’s Joanne’s doing, designed to get Piper in everyone’s good books from the off, and it sounds as if it worked.

‘She’s told everyone she’s going to get the part of Dorothy off me. But I don’t think Miss Diane will let that happen.’

I glance at my daughter, notice her troubled expression. It would be easy to wave her concerns away as nothing, but this stuff is the most important thing in the world to her right now.

She must feel as if she’s battling against Piper’s instant popularity with her dance friends, and now with her own dad, too.

‘Just remember, everyone there likes you too,’ I tell her. ‘You’ve got lots of friends and you’ve been going a long time, so if you feel pushed out maybe it’s just a blip. Let’s invite some of them over to the house like we used to do. You’ve always been popular there and Miss Diane has obviously rewarded your loyalty and hard work.’

Maisie sighs and says nothing. When I look at her, she doesn’t seem at all convinced.

After a few moments, she speaks.

‘There’s something else too.’

‘Oh yeah?’ I say, dreading what might be coming next. ‘What’s that?’

‘I heard Joanne talking to one of the other mums, telling her that they’ll be moving. Once Dad has sold his house.’

When we arrive home, it’s a relief to just get inside and take a few deep breaths.

After Maisie’s revelation, I had to really focus on my driving and the road. I felt disorientated, a bit dizzy even. At one point I thought I’d have to pull over, but then Maisie opened her window and the fresh air brought me to my senses.

When we get inside the house, I walk into the kitchen, tossing my keys on to the counter and sweep a few errant crumbs with one hand into the other.

I throw them into the bin and when I look up, out of the window, a sharp movement near the hedge catches my eye. I narrow my gaze as I try and focus.

I can’t discern an exact shape, but it looks to me like there is someone crouching behind the hedge, watching the house.

I swallow down a knot of panic and rush to the patio doors, unlocking them and flinging them open in one swift movement.

‘Who’s there?’ I call, my voice wavering slightly despite my efforts to sound assertive.

I stand stock still for a few more moments, but the shadowy bulk I could swear I saw there has gone.

I close the doors and lock them. Despite it being daytime, I pull the curtains and lower the kitchen blind.

‘Are you OK, Mum?’ Maisie asks from the doorway.

‘Yes, fine. Come in here, I want to talk to you.’

‘I didn’t mean to make you sad when I told you about the house,’ she says, observant as ever.

‘OK, Maisie. I’m going to ask you a few questions and I want you to think really carefully before answering.’ Her eyes widen. ‘You’re not in trouble, it’s just very important you tell me exactly what you can remember and that’s all. It’s fine to say if you can’t remember. Do you understand?’

She nods and sits next to me when I pat the seat cushion.

‘Where was Joanne when she spoke about Dad selling the house?’

‘She was over by the main doors, talking to Carly’s mum. I’d left my water bottle there and went to fetch it before our barre exercises.’

‘That’s good. Now, this bit is really important. Can you remember exactly what was said?’

She frowns, thinking for a moment.

‘When I walked behind them to get my bottle, Joanne was describing a house.’

‘What did she say?’

‘She said, “The kitchen is massive, and it’s got five bedrooms and a stream running along the bottom of the garden.” Then she said, “We’ve just put an offer in” or something like that.’

I nod.

‘Then Carly’s mum said, “When are you moving?” and that’s when Joanne said, “As soon as Shaun can sell his house.”’

I bite down on my back teeth when I imagine those two privileged women, money coming out of their ears, talking nonchalantly about private business that affects Maisie and me. The fact that some random mum at dancing gets to hear that Shaun is trying to sell the house before I do makes the blood in my veins literally boil. And Joanne talking about it like that at the dance studio, in front of people I’ve known for years…

‘Mum! Stop it!’

Maisie pulls at my hand and suddenly I’m aware of a sharp pain where my thumbnail has carved into the skin of my finger, drawing a thin crease of blood to the surface.

‘Sorry.’ I tuck my hand under my thigh. ‘What did you hear after that?’

‘Nothing,’ Maisie says. ‘I had to run back to join the others before the exercises began.’

‘OK. Well, you did the right thing in telling me, poppet.’

‘Have we got to sell the house, Mum? Where will we live?’

It breaks my heart to see the furrows on her brow. These are not worries any ten-year-old should be grappling with.

‘I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation,’ I say. ‘She was probably talking about someone else.’

‘She definitely said it was Dad and she meant this house. Will we have to move out soon?’

‘I don’t know, Maisie!’ I snap without thinking, and her face falls. ‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m just tired. I’ll make you a sandwich and then I’m going to have a little lie-down while you watch some television.’

‘I’m not hungry,’ she says, her voice flat. ‘I’m going to my room.’

When she’s left the kitchen, I snatch up my phone and text Shaun.

I need to speak to you TODAY. If you don’t come, I’ll drive over to Joanne’s.