Maxine was practically hopping up and down with frustration. It was all right for him, she seethed; he was already successful and famous.

‘It’s a brilliant opportunity,’ she explained, struggling to control her impatience and giving him a beseeching look. ‘It means I’d be seen by millions, and that includes other directors. A break like this gets you known. And the pay is fabulous too. All those repeat fees!’

‘It’s still only an audition.’ Guy frowned. ‘I don’t know what makes you think you stand a chance anyway.’

‘I do,’ said Maxine happily. ‘The casting director’s a friend of mine. Oh please say I can go! It isn’t too much to ask, is it? If I catch the eight o’clock train tomorrow morning I can be home again by six.’

‘And I’m flying out to Amsterdam tonight. What are you planning to do with Josh and Ella, cart them up to London with you?’

He was being deliberately unhelpful, Maxine decided, because he didn’t want her to win the part, get famous and leave him with the task of finding a new nanny. How selfish could a man be?

‘Serena’s here,’ she reminded him. ‘She isn’t doing anything tomorrow. Why can’t she look after the kids?’

‘I’m not a kid,’ declared Josh, wandering into the kitchen and looking cross. ‘I’m nine years old and a half. Maxine, we’re still hungry. Could you make some more peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches?’

‘You aren’t a kid,’ Maxine retaliated briskly. ‘You’re nine years old and a half, and I’m busy arguing with your father. Make your own horrible sandwiches.’

‘What are you arguing about?’

‘I want to audition for a TV commercial.’ Maxine looked sorrowful. ‘And your father won’t let me take the time off to do it.’

‘How long does it take?’

She sighed. ‘Only a few hours.’

Josh’s eyes lit up with excitement. Turning to Guy he said, ‘Oh Dad, say yes! If Maxine’s on television I can tell all my friends at school. They’ll be dead jealous ... please say she can go to the audition!’

Maxine crossed her fingers behind her back, assumed a saintly expression and silently vowed never to tease Josh about Tanya Trevelyan again.

Guy, looking suspicious, addressed Josh. ‘Is this a setup? Did she tell you to come in here and say that?’

‘No.’ Bewildered, Josh said, ‘What’s a set-up?’

‘OK.’ Returning his attention to Maxine he said wearily, ‘But only if Serena agrees. And you’ll have to ask her yourself.’

Maxine could have kissed him. Instead, more prudently, she said, ‘Thank you thank you thank you,’ flashed him a dazzling smile, and made a dash for the kitchen door before he could change his mind. ‘I’ll go and speak to her right away ...’

Josh caught up with her at the top of the stairs.

‘My angel,’ cried Maxine, picking him up and showering kisses on his blond head.

‘Yeeuk!’ said Josh. Put me down. Kissing’s for cissies.’

‘You were brilliant.’

‘I know I was.’ He wiped his hair, then grinned. ‘You aren’t the only one around here who can act, you know. Come on Maxine, hand over the ten pounds.’

It wasn’t that Serena actively disliked children, she had simply never found much use for them. An adored only child of parents who had themselves been only children, she had wanted for nothing and enjoyed their undivided attention to the full. Extended networks of brothers and sisters and cousins, as far as the young Serena could make out, only meant having to share your toys and wear hand-me-downs. And if there were four children in one family, she deduced, each child could only receive a quarter of the love. She couldn’t understand for the life of her why any parents should ever want more than one.

Those had been Serena’s thoughts throughout her own childhood. People change, however, and by the time she reached her early twenties she had revised her opinions. The prospect of having to endure pregnancy in order to produce a baby had become more and more off-putting.

Not only would it mean putting her career on hold for almost a year, but there was no sure-fire guarantee that you wouldn’t turn into a blimp and lose your figure for good. Besides, there was no rule that said you had to bear offspring anyway. She could go one better than having one child, she concluded happily. She needn’t have any at all.

And, as time passed, Serena looked around at her friends and saw that she had made absolutely the right decision. Children were expensive, time-consuming and inconvenient. As for their table manners ... well, they could be positively grotesque.

But then along had come Guy, a coveted catch by any standards, and Serena, who up until now had made a point of steering well clear of men-with-children, realized that he was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. Josh and Ella were something of a drawback but at least there was no neurotic ex-wife lurking in the background. And Guy employed a full-time nanny, which Serena decided was another bonus. She wouldn’t actually be expected to look after them herself.

‘Serena, Josh has got his toast jammed in the toaster and there’s all smoke coming out of it.’

Serena, who had been reading Harpers & Queen with her fingertips carefully splayed, suppressed a sigh of irritation. As children went, Ella and Josh weren’t bad – and their table manners, at least, were faultless – but they certainly knew how to pick their moments.

‘Tell him to switch the toaster off,’ she said. ‘I can’t do anything now. My nails are wet.’

Ella gazed enviously at Serena’s glistening nails, the exact colour of pink bubble-gum.

‘Could you paint my nails for me?’

‘Your father wouldn’t like that.’

‘Daddy isn’t here. He’s in Holland.’

‘I think you’re too young for nail polish.’ Serena’s attention was drifting back to Galliano’s autumn collection. Darling John, one of her favourite designers, had such an eye for colour and line. Those velvet jackets were divine .. .

‘When your fingers are dry, will you do my hair in plaits then? With ribbons threaded through them?’

Serena raised her gaze from the glossy pages. Ella was shifting from foot to foot in front of her, looking hopeful.

‘What?’

‘With pink and white ribbons threaded all through them, like when Maxine does it for me.’

Serena had observed this ritual on numerous occasions during the past weeks. Even Maxine, with her practised, nimble fingers, couldn’t complete the complicated procedure in less than twenty minutes.

‘Sweetheart, your hair looks fine as it is,’ she said in soothing tones. ‘It’s much prettier hanging loose. Now why don’t you run back into the kitchen, and tell Josh to switch off the toaster? Your father isn’t going to be very pleased if he sets the kitchen on fire.’

The result of such lack of interest was that by midafternoon Ella was deeply bored. Josh, addicted to computer games and taking full advantage of Maxine and Guy’s absence, was closeted in his bedroom with his beloved Gameboy, going glassy-eyed over Pokémon. Normally limited to thirty-minute sessions, he was in heaven. Guy always confiscated the batteries when half an hour was up. Maxine, even more infuriatingly, swiped the whole thing and started playing the game herself.

‘Go away,’ he told Ella, who was perched on the end of his bed kicking her heels.

‘Can’t I have a turn?’

‘No. I’ve got fourteen thousand points.’

Ella stuck out her bottom lip. ‘But Jo-osh--’

‘And stop kicking the bed, you’re making me blink.’

Ella kicked the bed harder. Josh, putting the game on pause, leaned across and shoved her on to the floor.

‘Look, you make me blink and I haven’t got time to blink. Just go away and leave me alone.’

‘I hate you,’ whined Ella, but Josh wasn’t going to be drawn into a fight. Fourteen thousand points was his highest score ever and he had no intention of stopping now.

‘Good,’ he murmured as Ella flounced towards the bedroom door. ‘I hate you too.’

If she couldn’t have her hair in plaits and she couldn’t play with Josh, Ella decided, she should at least be allowed to buy sweets instead. It was only fair.

Serena, who had finished with Harpers & Queen, was now engrossed in the Tatler. Several of her more glamorous friends were featured in this month’s edition and it was always fun seeing who’d been doing what. Even better, the fact that they were often caught unawares by the camera meant there was always the chance of spotting an unflattering expression, an exposed bra strap, even a lethal hint of a double chin .. .

‘Can we go down to the shop and buy some sweets?’

Glancing up from the pages of Bystander, Serena saw that Ella was back. This time she was clutching a yellow purse shaped like a banana.

‘Of course you can, darling.’

‘I’ve got eighty pence.’

‘How lovely.’ Serena gave her a benevolent smile. When she showed no sign of moving from the sofa, however, Ella tried again.

‘Can we go now, please?’

As realization dawned, Serena’s smile faded. ‘Isn’t Josh going with you?’

‘He won’t. He’s playing his stupid Gameboy game. It isn’t far away, though.’ Ella gave her a pleading look. ‘And it’s stopped raining now so we won’t get wet.’

Trudging half a mile down a muddy lane overhung with dripping chestnut trees wasn’t Serena’s idea of fun, although it was gratifying to think that Ella wanted her company. ‘Thank you, darling,’ she replied, her tone soothing, ‘but I’m not really in the mood for a walk right now. Maybe tomorrow.’

Ella was by this time thoroughly confused. Serena appeared to be saying no to the walk, but she hadn’t said no to the sweets. Desperate for Rolos and Maltesers, she said in hesitant tones,

‘Does that mean I can go down to the shop?’