I've only gone and got you a job!'

'The make up artist on our show just handed in her notice. Before they had a chance to start looking for someone else, I said they had to hire you.'

'You're kidding! Really?'

'Yes, I'm not all bad, you know. Anyway they asked about your history and blah blah blah. I bigged you up, of course.

I said you'd worked for the best show on Australian TV and done all the celebrity weddings. So they said they'd give you a three-week trial, and if that works out, they'll hire you on a six-month contract.'

'But when do they want me start? What sort of hours? What about the kids?' I was thrilled and nervous all at once. It was too soon - I had so much to sort out. I'd have to get a nanny. How would I juggle everything?

Liz opened the fridge and poured herself a glass of wine. 'You start Monday week so you've got plenty of time to sort out your stuff.'

I sat down at the table. 'And the hours- what do you think they'll be?'

'Usually from about nine thirty or ten in the morning till about five, sometimes later, depending on how the show is going.'

'Will I have to travel?'

'Not really. It's mostly shot in London - we don't have a big budget.' Liz rummaged in the cupboards. 'Do you have anything decent to eat?'

Wow! A job so soon. It had been much easier than I'd expected. It would do me good to work, though. I wouldn't have time to dwell on the move or my loneliness. Plus I'd be earning my own money and hopefully I'd meet nice people, it was great. Except for one small detail: my sister was the star of the show.

As if she could read my mind, Liz, who had found a box of animal shaped crackers in one of the cupboards, said, 'obviously I'm the most important person in the programme so you can't try to boss me around or behave like my sister. You have to be super-nice to me and treat me with respect.'

'Can't I just ignore you?'

Liz waved a lion cracker at me. 'I'm serious. This is my show.'

'Isn't that what all presenters think until they're replaced?'

'I'm not going to be replaced. The public love me.'

I resisted the urge to laugh. 'Whose makeup will I be doing?'

'Mine, although obviously you won't have much work to do on me, and then you will have to do the guests we have on the show. Some are shocking looking, so you'll have your work cut out for you.'

'You have such a lovely way with words.' I held out my hand. Liz passed me a giraffe cracker.

'So are you in?'

'Absolutely. Now I just need to find a childminder.'

Alexei and Lara came running in from the garden.

'Guess what?' I said.

'We're going home!' Alexei ran around the kitchen, cheering.

'Yeah. I can go to Connors house for a play.'

My heart sank. The poor little guy missed his friends in Sydney so much. 'No, sweetheart, we're not going home, but mummy's got a new job.'

Alexei looked crestfallen.

'Is the beautiful girl going to mind us?' Lara asked, still dazzled by the au pair next door.

'No, Mummy's going to find a different minder.' One who looks like an old troll, I thought. An old troll with rotten teeth and severe acne so Daddy won't be tempted by her.

'Can I have a cracker?' Alexei asked Liz.

She shook the box. 'Sorry, short-fry, I ate them.'

'But I want one.' Alexei looked as if he was about to cry.' It's mean to eat them all. It's not fair.'

Liz laid her hand on his head. 'Listen, squirt, I've just got your mum a job. And if your mum has a job that means she makes money. If she has money, that means she can buy loads more of these crackers for you, and more toys and sweets and all that stuff, so don't give me a hard time. OK?'

Alexei nodded. 'OK.'

I couldn't believe it. If I had eaten Alexei's crackers, he would have had a complete meltdown, but the kids never freaked out with Liz. Maybe if the TV presenting dried up she should consider childcare. I smiled to myself. Somehow I doubted if any woman of sane mind would have Liz in her home.

'Right, amigos, I have to go. I've got a show to tape.'

After the children had had their snack, I decided to enjoy the lovely sunshine and sit outside on the patio. I wanted ten minutes of peace to read my magazine, so I told Lara and Alexei to do races up and down the garden. I was reading a really good article on why women are never happy with their bodies when Alexei pushed Lara. She fell down, scraped her knee and proceeded to scream like a banshee.

'For God's sake, Alexei, I've told you a million times not to push your sister.'

'Blood!' Shrieked Lara.

I examined her knee. 'No, sweetie, there's no blood. Now, stop screaming.'

'She pushed me first. I hate her!' Alexei shouted.

'Don't say that,' I snapped. I couldn't stand it when they were mean to one another. They only had each other in the world, and when Charles and I died, I didn't want them fighting and falling out. Because I had one adopted and one biological child, I was even more determined to make them close. Siblings had to look out for each other. I was close to my brother Sean, but he lived in New York now and was hopeless at keeping in touch. When we met up it was always great, but I only spoke to him about once every six weeks. As for Liz...when we were younger, the thirteen year age gap seemed huge, but we had got closer over the years, although she still drove me crazy and we did argue a lot.

'Apologise to your sister,' I ordered Alexei.

'No way.' Alexei crossed his arms.

'Alexei, I'm going to count to three and you'd better apologise or you'll be in big trouble. One...two...'

'Uhum, hello?'

I turned to my right. A woman was leaning over the fence, waving at me. Damn I really hadn't wanted my neighbours to hear me shouting at my children.

'Hello!' My neighbour said again.

I jumped up and went over. 'Sorry. Hi, I'm Molly.'

Close up, the neighbour was very pretty in a very natural way. Her hair was cut short and she was very tanned with bright blue eyes.

'I'm Claire. Claire Roberts. Number nine.'

I shook her hand. 'Nice to meet you. We've just moved over from Sydney.'

'How are you finding it so far?'

'It's fine, thanks. I've just been unpacking and getting organised, so haven't really had a proper chance to look around or meet people.'

'Who's this, then?' Claire pointed to Lara, who was peeping from behind my leg.

'Oh, sorry, this is Lara, she's three, and that's Alexei, he's four.'

'And three-quarters,' Alexei said, coming over to inspect the new person.

'Three-quarters is very important. Nice to meet you, Alexei and Lara. What beautiful names you have.'

'I'm adopted from Russia. My mummy says I'm her heart baby,' Alexei piped up.

'Wow, lucky you,' Claire said, smiling at him.

Alexei continued with his life story: 'Mummy said when she saw me in the 'orfnage', she knew I was her little boy. Her heart told her. Some babies come out of their mummies' tummies, like Lara, and some come in their mummies' hearts like me.'

I stroked the back of Alexei's head. I loved him telling people he was my heart baby. It made me want to weep with love and pride.

'Well it looks as if you've been filled in on our family history,' I said laughing.

'It's very heartwarming.' Claire had a lovely smile - very genuine. I liked her immediately. I could tell already that she didn't have any agenda or angles: she was exactly who you saw.

'Do you have babies?' Lara asked our neighbour.

'Lara!' I said, embarrassed. 'I've told you it's rude to ask people that.'

'It's OK,' Claire reassured me. 'Actually, Lara, I have two boys.'

'Are they big or small.' Lara asked.

'Terry is nine and Freddie is seven, but he's so tall so everyone thinks he's nine, too. They've gone to the park with their granny. Why don't you come over and I'll show you the garden?' Claire suggested.

'Thanks. We'd love to!' I was delighted to be getting some quality time with someone new. Claire definitely seemed like my type of person, so hopefully we could be pals.

We got into her garden via the side entrance to her house. I was stunned. What Claire had achieved with a fairly small space was incredible. I couldn't believe the variety of fruit and veg she had managed to plant and grow. I had killed every plant I'd ever owned, including a cactus, ad they were supposed to live forever.

'Carol this is amazing! Have you been working on the garden long?' I asked.

'Ever since we moved in ten years ago.'

'Well you've done a fantastic job.'

'Cooeeee!' A voice called from behind us.

I turned to see a tall, rake-thin blonde woman tottering down the side entrance. She was wearing skin tight jeans, a jewelled, fitted kaftan and the most enormous sunglasses I'd ever seen - they covered three quarters of her face.

'I saw you from my window so I thought I'd pop around. The side gate was open, Claire. I presume you're our new neighbour?' She asked me.

'Yes, I'm Molly.'

'This is Poppy - she lives at number seven,' Claire said.

'Oh, right, hi, nice to meet you.'

'We wented to your house and sawed your beautiful minder. She's like a princess,' Lara told Poppy.

Poppy smiled at her. 'Aren't you a cutie? Yes Sophie is gorgeous. I like looking at pretty things. I couldn't have anything ugly in my house - it would depress me.' Turning to Claire, she said, ' I honestly don't know how you can sit in this garden - it's like being in the middle of a muddy field.'

Claire laughed good humouredly. 'This garden means that we don't eat awful processed food full of additives.'

'I prefer Valium and white wine to food. It helps me deal with my life.'

Well, well. One of my neighbours was growing enough veg to feed half of London and the other was a lush. London certainly wasn't boring.

'Are you having a tough time?' I asked.

'Nigel, I thought, was the love of my life darling. Left his first wife for me after we had a passionate affair. And then once he had married me there was, as they say, a job vacancy for a mistress. The bastard left me for his secretary - don't talk to me about cliches. So in our divorce I got half of half, which, let me tell you, was not a lot.'

This was fascinating. I felt positively boring next to this tale of woe. 'How long had you been married?'

'Seven years. And the bastard had the audacity to have an affair and leave me, and our two sons, for a woman who is fatter than I am and uglier. So you see, darling, I need my pills.'

I tried not to laugh. Poppy seemed more upset that her rival was unattractive than that her marriage was over.

'What age are your children?' I asked.

'Six and four. I got my tubes tied after I had Charlie.'

'Alexei's four. Maybe the boys could come over and play some time?'

'Anytime. You can keep them if you like,' she said, with a wicked grin.

'Actually, speaking of kids,' I said, suddenly inspired, 'I'm looking for a child minder. I'm starting a job soon. Do you know of any good local nanny agencies?'

'There's an agency in Putney High Street called Nanny Solutions. But actually now I think of it , my cleaning lady mentioned that her daughter's looking for work. She's nineteen or twenty, Irish girl. I'll text Maggie when I get home and let you know. Maggie's fantastic, so kind and trustworthy. I'm sure her daughter will be a decent girl.'

'That would be brilliant.' I was delighted with how things seemed to be falling into place - first the job, now the child minder. 'Thanks so much.'

I could see Alexei and Lara in the corner, digging a hole that didn't look like it belonged. I jumped up. 'Thanks, I'd better get the children home.'

'Give me your number and I'll call you as soon as Maggie let's me know about her daughter.'

Later that evening when the children were alseep, Charles and I sat on the couch chatting. I filled him in on my new job offer and the search for a nanny.

Charles was clearly relieved. 'That's wonderful, Molls. I was worried that you'd seemed a bit lost since we moved here. Now you'll be busy and ready to give London a go.'

I bristled. 'Well it hasn't been easy.'

Charles raised his hands in mock surrender 'I know, and you've been amazing. I just think a job will get you out and about and you'll have fun.'

'Well, I don't know how much fun I'm going to have working with Liz, but it'll be a distraction and maybe I'll meet nice people. It'll be good to earn some money too. Now I just need to find someone to look after the children.'

'I like the sound of the Irish girl. It's always good to have a personal recommendation,' Charles said.

'I agree. I'm nervous about going back to work so soon. The kids won't have me around to settle them properly into school.'

Charles put his arm around me and I snuggled against his chest. 'Don't worry Molls. They'll be fine. Kids are very adaptable. They'll have new friends in no time. We just need to find a nice girl to look after them, and you'll be home to put them to bed and read them stories. They'll still see plenty of you.'

'I know Lara will be fine, but Alexei...'

Charles sipped his wine. 'My brother and I went to boarding school when we were seven and it did us no harm. Alexei will be fine. You musnt fuss about him so much. He needs to learn to stand on his own two feet and fight his own battles.'

'I don't fuss.'

Charles looked at me, arching an eyebrow. 'Molly, you worry about him all the time. Constantly. There's no need. He's a great little fellow who is perfectly well able to make new friends and get on at school.'

Grudgingly I admitted to myself that he had a point. I did worry too much about Alexei, but he was different from Lara. He was shier and quieter, I could see he was out of sorts with the new house, and now there was a new school to get used to now as well.

Charles put his glass down and stretched. 'God, I'm stiff.'

'How come?' I asked.

'I probably overdid it a bit today, trying to show them all that I'm as fit as they are. I think I'll just watch the training session tomorrow.' He rubbed his shoulder.'I really need to get this right. I have to make an impression with the first few games.'

'Any gorgeous physios?' I asked lightly.

Charles shot me a look and then shook his head.

'So, no bouncy Mandy-types for you to ogle?' I kept the tone light, but I wanted him to know that I hadn't forgotten and that it was not OK for him to flirt with people at work.

Charles took my face into his hands and looked into my eyes, then he kissed me. 'No, Molly, and you know that you are the only woman that I want to ogle.'

'I'm very glad to hear it.' I smiled relaxing. 'Speaking of ogling, check this out.' I flashed the strap of my lacy underwear. Charles's eyes lit up. 'I think it's about time we christened this house.'

Charles grabbed my hand and pulled me up. 'I thought you'd never ask!'