Chapter 1 #3
Alex was silent as Billie got Louisa out of her pushchair and handed her to Zoe while she folded it up. He glanced at Zoe, as if seeking some kind of silent approval before he aired an idea, though she could hardly approve what she didn’t know.
‘Maybe,’ he said slowly, ‘we could ask them over to stay with us. That way we all get to see Louisa’s first Christmas.’ He looked at Zoe. ‘That would be OK, wouldn’t it?’
She could hardly say no, but she wouldn’t have done anyway and so answered with a firm nod.
‘Are you sure?’ Billie asked. ‘It would be really different to how we normally do things.’
‘Perhaps that’s a good thing.’
‘It was really different last year,’ Zoe said, ‘at least I imagine so because it was my first Christmas with you.’
‘Yeah, and you had to deliver Georgia’s baby in that mad snow,’ Billie said. ‘It was really different last year!’
‘Really different might end up being our normal,’ Zoe said with a smile. ‘I think the next few years will bring lots of changes anyway, if only with Louisa growing up and being a bit older for each one.’
‘But you don’t mind me asking them?’
‘Of course I don’t mind. I’d love to meet them.’
‘They’re so nice,’ Billie said. ‘And they speak really good English too.’
‘That’s a bonus then because I don’t speak any Spanish.’
‘They have to because that’s their job – they put on tours around the area.’
‘Oh?’ Zoe fastened Louisa into her car seat as Billie got in at the other side to sit next to her. ‘What kind of tours?’
‘All kinds. Whatever anyone wants. People come to them and say what they’d like to see, and then Antonio books it all for them and arranges pick-ups and stuff. That’s how I met Luis – because they came to our villa for work and Luis was with them. Remember, Dad?’
‘How can I forget?’ Alex said as he got into the driver’s seat. ‘I had this stupid idea to drive guests round the area myself and got a carful of them lost in the mountains. Antonio came to our rescue, thank God. I was only too happy to give them the business after that.’
Zoe shook her head with a wry smile. ‘What is it with you and mishaps with tourists?’
He offered a sheepish grin in return. It was easy for them both to laugh now about the events that had almost finished his camping business in the spring of that year, though at the time it had almost finished their relationship too.
They could laugh now because it showed how far they’d come and how much stronger they now were for the trial they’d survived.
‘Luis was learning about the business so he could work for his parents,’ Billie continued. ‘It was going to be his business one day.’
Zoe glanced in the rear-view mirror to catch a clue to Billie’s mood.
She’d mentioned Luis a lot in the last twenty minutes or so – which was understandable as she’d been to visit his parents for the first time since Louisa’s birth.
But her boyfriend had always been a painful subject – at least since Zoe had arrived on the scene.
Billie had often found it difficult to talk about him.
But today she seemed better. Perhaps the mention of him and memories of when he’d been in her life were still causing her pain, but she was at least talking about them in a positive way, and that was definite progress.
‘I suppose Luis’s brother will take it on now,’ Alex said.
‘I think so. But—’ Billie’s sentence ended so abruptly that Zoe looked into the mirror again, half expecting to see her in silent tears. But she’d simply cut off whatever she’d been about to say and was now staring out of the window as they left the airport car park.
‘What?’ Alex asked.
‘Oh, nothing. It was nothing. I’ll tell you about it later.’
If Alex was troubled by Billie’s sudden caginess, he didn’t show it.
Zoe thought he had to be because even she was, and the current subject of conversation really didn’t affect her as much as it did him.
She decided not to get involved. Billie would bring it up again if it was important, and if it wasn’t, then there was no harm done.
‘Was Louisa OK with her first time flying?’ she asked instead.
‘I was worried she might cry all the way there, but she was really good. She was a bit miz on the way back, but I managed to stop her from screaming the plane down. God, that would have been so embarrassing.’
‘I’m sure people would have been understanding.’
‘Maybe, but it’s annoying to be on a flight with a baby crying the whole time, isn’t it?
It’s different when it’s yours than when it’s someone else’s.
Anyway, I’m glad she wasn’t too bad in the end.
’ Billie adjusted Louisa’s collar and stroked a gentle hand over her dark hair.
‘I bet she’ll be asleep in a minute… She looks knackered. ’
‘There’s been a lot for her to take in.’
‘She was the best while we were away. Beatriz and Antonio loved her. They took her all around the town showing her off to everyone – you’ve never seen such a fuss.’
‘You’d tell me not to be daft if I did that,’ Alex said with a faint smile.
‘To be fair, it would seem daft doing it in Thimblebury,’ Zoe said. ‘Everyone already knows Louisa and the tour would take ten minutes – thirty seconds if Magnus happened to be too busy to chat.’
Alex chuckled as he drew away from the automatic barrier and out onto the open road.
‘Remember that restaurant we used to go to on a Sunday for lunch?’ Billie asked.
Alex nodded.
‘We went there. They’ve got another cat now.’
‘They’ve still got that old tortoiseshell one? It must have been fifteen when we were there!’
‘Yep, still got her. But now they’ve got a little stripey one. He was so cute.’
‘Did you have the tapas?’
‘Yep, and it’s still good. I really missed the food actually. I hadn’t realised until this week how good it was. But it hits different when you’ve got used to eating our food.’
‘We can get tapas,’ Alex said.
‘Yeah, but it’s not the same. I don’t know why.’
‘Maybe it tastes better with the sun on your face,’ Zoe offered, and Billie nodded agreement.
‘I think it’s the whole package, yeah. Like it tastes as if… I don’t know, like it tastes better because that’s where it’s meant to be eaten. I can’t explain it, but it just does.’
‘Did you try Louisa with any?’