Chapter 2 #2
‘I probably ought to do that visit by myself – it’s work, after all. But if you message Maisie, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you visiting. Your dad could run you down… or Victor, for that matter, if Alex is busy. I bet Corrine’s desperate to see the baby; you could go together in Old Banger.’
‘I might,’ Billie said. ‘I thought it would be better to go with you, that’s all. It’s just… Maisie’s mum…’
‘Yes,’ Zoe agreed. There was no need for Billie to finish the sentence because Zoe understood the sentiment all too well.
Most people in Thimblebury found Bridget challenging, and that was the very polite way to put it.
But Zoe recalled the gift of biscuits and wondered if Bridget’s roughness was a kind of armour she wore.
Perhaps she’d been hurt in the past, and perhaps it had made her assume the worst and try to fend off harm by landing the first blow.
‘But she doesn’t bother you.’
Zoe let out a short laugh. ‘Doesn’t bother me?
Have you forgotten what happened at the quincentenary celebrations?
She bothered me all right! It seems’ – Zoe got out the biscuits and showed them to Billie – ‘she’s my friend now.
At least for the next twenty-four hours, until I turn up there tomorrow and remind her how annoying she finds me. ’
‘She gave you those?’ Billie screwed up her face. ‘How old are they?’
‘I haven’t looked.’
Billie grabbed the box and turned it over to look for the best-before date. ‘They’re all right for a few months.’
‘I’m sure your dad will make short work of them, wherever they came from. If you’d have said to me she’d give me any sort of gift back when she confronted me at the village fete, I’d have laughed in your face.’ Zoe gave a wry smile. ‘She gave it me with both barrels that day.’
‘I wasn’t there,’ Billie reminded her.
‘That’s right, you weren’t. You were my knight in shining armour afterwards when I was being stalked by my ex.’
‘That was Grizzle,’ Billie corrected her, but Zoe could see that she was secretly pleased to have been the hero of the hour.
‘Speaking of Grizzle…’ Zoe glanced around the kitchen. Ordinarily, their shaggy, leggy dog would have been running excited circles at her arrival home. ‘Where is he?’
‘Dad’s out on the fields with him. He needed to check something and thought Griz could do with a run.’
‘Not that it ever calms him down any, but I’m sure they’re both having a good time.’
‘Dad’s always on the fields these days.’
‘I suppose he’s got a lot to do there and it’s on his mind. It’s a big moment for him.’
‘Oh yeah, the first customers! He’s so excited.’
‘I know; I heard all about it. He phoned me.’ She pulled out the champagne she’d picked up at the village shop and showed it to Billie. ‘The best one they had.’
‘I bet Magnus was mad with curiosity to know why you were buying it. He’s so nosy. Did you tell him?’
‘He didn’t ask, and I didn’t tell. I mean, where would be the fun in that?’
‘He’ll be driving Geoff crazy trying to guess!’ Billie let out a laugh that startled Louisa, who’d begun to doze in her arms. But the little girl soon settled again.
‘And I’m enjoying imagining that,’ Zoe replied with a look full of mischief. She ran a hand over her forehead. ‘He’ll know soon enough, I’m sure. Simon already knew – he mentioned it to me before I left work. Hang on… Let me get this coat off, I’m melting here.’
‘Sorry.’ Billie’s tone was full of reproach, and Zoe was forcefully reminded that Alex’s daughter had come a long way but she could still be overly sensitive at times. ‘It isn’t even hot in here.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Zoe shrugged her coat off, though it did little to cool her down. ‘Feels like you’ve whacked the heating up again. It’ll do Louisa no good to have it too hot.’
‘I haven’t! And I know about Louisa because you keep telling me! The heating is the same as always!’
‘Is it?’ Zoe kicked her shoes off and let the cold of the tiles seep into her feet. ‘Feels hotter.’
‘You said that yesterday as well, and Dad told you the same.’
‘Sorry, must be me. I might be coming down with something, I suppose.’
Billie backed away an inch, holding Louisa in a more protective embrace. ‘Should I move her in case she catches it?’
‘I didn’t say… it was only a vague thought. I’m fine; I’m obviously just feeling the heat more than the rest of you. It’s probably something and nothing. I promise if I start to feel ill, I’ll stay well away from you and Louisa.’
Billie said nothing but took Louisa with her to sit in a chair at the opposite end of the kitchen. ‘I haven’t had time to cook… Sorry.’
‘It’s not your job, no need to apologise. We thought we might try the new Thai place that’s opened in Ambleside anyway.’
‘You’re going out?’
‘Your dad reckons they might deliver this far out, so we’re going to order in if we can. That way you can have some with us. I mean, I’m sure there would have been a way we could have taken Louisa with us if you’d wanted to eat out, but I assumed…’
‘I don’t fancy going out, and anyway, she’s too little for places like that. When she’s older.’
‘That’s what I thought.’
‘I don’t even care about restaurants and all that stuff anyway. I’ve never understood what’s so good about it. You can’t relax, and you have to wait ages for people to bring your stuff. I’d rather eat here.’
‘Did you always feel that way?’
‘I can’t remember, but that’s how I feel now. Doesn’t matter, does it? It’s got nothing to do with my meltdown.’
‘I didn’t mean that, and nobody thinks it was a breakdown.’ Zoe let out a sigh as she dropped into a seat at the other side of the table and mopped a sheen from her brow. ‘It’s common to have a few mental health issues after having a baby.’
‘I bet Maisie doesn’t. She’s always all right.’
‘She’s different from you… I wouldn’t say she’s always all right. The point is, everyone has their own obstacles; having a baby is never easy for anyone, even if it seems so from the outside. But you’re getting there… aren’t you? Unless there’s something…’
‘I’m fine – a lot better. I could probably stop seeing the counsellor soon.’
‘I wouldn’t cancel those sessions too quickly, not until you’re sure you’re on an even keel.’
‘I won’t. I didn’t mean that. I’m not sure it’s doing all that much good now, that’s the thing.’
‘Keep the next few, at least for me and your dad, and then we’ll talk about it. If you still feel at that point you don’t need to keep booking new sessions, then we’ll fully support your choice.’
‘You mean you won’t support it if I cancel them now.’
‘We would always support you – you know that.’
‘Even if I went weird?’
‘You’d never go weird. There’s nothing weird about needing extra help sometimes, especially in your situation. What you’ve been through, I mean. You see it as a sign of weakness, but nobody else does.’
Zoe had more to say, but before she could, the back door flew open and Grizzle bounded in, his tail whirring like a dynamo.
Alex stepped over the threshold next, followed by their neighbour and owner of Daffodil Farm, Victor.
Billie’s face lit up. She’d grown fond of Victor and his wife Corrine, and Zoe suspected she viewed them as surrogate grandparents when her own couldn’t be close by.
‘Hello, love!’ His voice boomed through the kitchen. He walked straight past Zoe and over to Billie and Louisa, smiling broadly as he viewed her from a respectful distance. ‘Growing up lovely, isn’t she? And so fast!’
Billie’s glow brightened. ‘I don’t suppose I notice it because I see her every day.’
‘Oh yes,’ Victor said, hooking his thumbs into his braces. ‘Growing up pretty as a picture!’
‘We think so too,’ Alex said, going to kiss Zoe and Billie in turn. ‘Though we’re biased.’
It was then Victor seemed to notice Zoe, and he flushed. ‘I’m so sorry, my love, didn’t see you there. How are you faring?’
‘Good,’ Zoe said. ‘I don’t blame you for not noticing when Louisa is in the room. She steals the scene of every room she’s in.’
‘She’ll be charming the birds from the trees in a few years, no mistake.’
‘Sit down,’ Alex told Victor, who went to kick his boots off at the door before accepting the offer, despite the fact he’d already walked a trail of mud through in his excitement to look at Louisa. ‘Tea?’
‘I never say no to tea.’ Victor pulled off his woolly hat and sat it on the table, ruffling his thick white hair to unflatten it.
‘I suppose Alex has told you our news?’ Zoe asked wryly.
‘He’s told everyone,’ Billie said.
‘Not quite,’ Zoe shot back. ‘There’s that man in Ambleside who still doesn’t know.’
‘Haha, very funny.’ Alex grinned as he went to fill the kettle. ‘I was going to make you both tea as well, but you can fend for yourselves now.’
‘And we’re very capable of doing that,’ Zoe said sweetly. ‘So it’s not quite the retaliation you think it is.’
‘Don’t take away the only bargaining tool I’ve got.’
‘It’s the same at our place,’ Victor said with a sage shake of his head. ‘Corrine’s got the upper hand in everything.’
‘That’s only because you love her cake so much you’ll do anything for it,’ Zoe said.
‘Aye, that’s true enough.’
‘I can’t do home-made cake for you, but I’ve got biscuits…’ Alex went to the cupboard, but Billie got up with Louisa and went to the bread crock.
‘I made scones… in here.’
‘You did?’ Victor sat to attention, peering at the crock as if he could see through it. ‘Corrine’s recipe?’
‘Yes, the ones with the buttermilk. I thought I’d try them out.’
‘When did you get time to do that?’ Alex asked. ‘I never noticed.’
‘You were busy in your office, and Louisa was having a nap, so…’ She shrugged. ‘Her sleeps are a bit longer these days, and there’s only so many times you can look at your phone and not get jealous of what everyone else is doing.’