Chapter 22 #2
‘Zoe!’ Chantal opened the door with a smile, a fitted vest pulling across her baby bump. ‘You should have said you were coming… Wait, did you text and I didn’t see it?’
‘I’m sorry, but I had to come as soon as I could, so I’ve driven straight from work. Can I come in?’
Chantal’s smile faded into a frown. ‘Of course. We’ve been saying it was time we invited you over… we were going to suggest Sunday lunch or… Is there a problem? You look… stressed.’
Zoe glanced down the hallway behind Chantal. ‘Is your brother here?’ she asked quietly.
‘He’s upstairs, gaming or something. Was it him you wanted?’ she added with a puzzled look.
‘What about Dad?’
‘Gone to pick up some stuff from the DIY store. Victor said we could decorate the bedroom if we liked. Zoe, what’s going on? Aren’t you going to come in?’
Zoe hesitated at the step. If Lennon was home and her dad was not, how would this work? But she had to do something before someone else took the matter out of her hands. ‘Can we talk…?’ She paused, stuck again. How did she do this? ‘I don’t suppose you can spare ten minutes for a walk?’
‘I was going to start cooking… I just turned the oven on, but I suppose I could turn it off.’
‘Could you?’
Chantal’s frown deepened, but she disappeared into the house briefly before coming back to Zoe, who was still waiting on the step.
‘This sounds so serious,’ she said. ‘You’re worrying me.’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to. It’s just… well, it’s awkward. I can’t say it in front of your brother. I would have preferred Dad to be here too, but—’
‘What can’t you say in front of Lennon?’ Chantal’s expression darkened as she fastened her coat. ‘Oh no… Is it Gunner? What’s he done now? We told him to keep his dog away from the sheep, you know, so if it’s—’
‘It’s not the dog,’ Zoe said, though the dog was hardly helping to endear Chantal’s abrasive brother to anyone. ‘Not this time. It’s…’
Now that she was here, she couldn’t bring herself to mention Lennon’s encounter with Stacey.
It didn’t seem like a thing she could discuss with Chantal – no young woman wanted to think of their own brother in that way.
She supposed that the incident with Heath was enough to be going on with.
It was certainly serious enough to demand action, especially with the threat of police involvement added in.
Zoe took a deep breath and started again. ‘He got into a fight with someone in the village, and now that someone is going to report him to the police.’
‘How can they do that? A fight means they were both involved, so—’
‘I didn’t word that properly, sorry. What I meant to say is there was an altercation, and then this person went to have a word with your brother about it – and Lennon hit him. So what really happened is he assaulted someone, and they intend to go to the police about it.’
‘Who is it?’
‘I’d rather not say. I mean, I suppose you’ll find out, but I don’t think it’s my place to say.
I’m just trying to help you – and Lennon – by telling you that…
well, I talked to the person, and I think if we can get Lennon to go home – at least, away from Thimblebury – then that might be enough and they’ll drop the idea of reporting him.
Because there would be no need. They’re not after making trouble for you and Dad; they just want Lennon to go. ’
Chantal shook her head with such force that Zoe stared at her. ‘No,’ she said. ‘He can’t leave. I’ll talk to him, but he’s not going.’
‘What? Didn’t you hear what I just said?’
‘Yes, and honestly, the police are the least of his worries. I’m sorry he caused trouble, but I’m sure it wasn’t one-sided.
The trouble with people is, they judge him as soon as they meet him.
Nobody gives him a chance, and because they expect trouble…
well, why wouldn’t he defend himself? I know everyone will think it was his fault because they always do, but when people have got it in for him straight off the bat, what else is he meant to do?
He can’t help getting into fights because people treat him like he’s going to fight.
It’s one of those things… you know, the things that come true because someone says they will. ’
Zoe stared and had to stop herself from laughing out loud. Maybe Chantal believed the defence she’d just given, but Zoe found that difficult to swallow. ‘A self-fulfilling prophecy?’
‘That’s it.’ Chantal halted on the path.
They were almost at the field that marked the boundary between Kestrel Cottage and the land that belonged to Hilltop.
Zoe could see the foundations of Alex’s camping pods in the distance.
In a few months, they’d be open. People would be camping there: families, couples…
some would have dogs. If for no other reason, Zoe had to sort this problem because they couldn’t in all conscience have people pay to use their facilities knowing Lennon’s dog was in the vicinity, let alone Lennon himself.
‘All his life people have had it in for him – it’s no wonder he lashes out.
How do you know this person didn’t provoke him?
People like to do that with Lennon. Men see him as a challenge, they try it on.
How do you know that’s not what this person did?
It was a man, right? Because I’m sure if it was a woman, you’d be screaming at me right now. ’
‘It really wasn’t like that,’ Zoe said, feeling awkward because she hadn’t been there to see what had actually happened between Heath and Lennon.
All she had was Flo’s word and Heath’s. Even Ottilie only had that much information.
For all she knew, Heath could have thrown the first punch.
And who took anything Flo said seriously?
Even Zoe, who hadn’t lived in Thimblebury for a year, knew that much.
‘I came because I didn’t want to see all this trouble landing on your doorstep. ’
‘How about you go to this person and persuade them not to go to the police instead of coming straight to me and trying to get me to throw my own brother out.’
‘Well…’ Zoe replied helplessly, ‘surely he’s got a home to go to? He wasn’t planning on staying for good, so why can’t he just go home early?’
‘I won’t make him!’ Chantal snapped.
Zoe’s eyes widened again as Chantal turned to head back to Kestrel Cottage.
‘Don’t come and tell Nigel any of this because it won’t make any difference. He’ll take our side. And if your friend is determined to go to the police, then we’ll see how that plays out because there are always two sides to the story, and I don’t think your friend is telling it how it is.’
‘Chantal!’ Zoe called after her. ‘Wait!’
Chantal spun round. ‘Go away, Zoe! I thought we were friends!’
‘We are! I just—’
Zoe watched her go. It was clear she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Chantal in this mood.
Perhaps it would be better to let her go, give her time to calm down and reflect on what Zoe had told her.
Maybe then she’d see sense, and maybe she’d go to Lennon and tell him herself that he needed to leave – if only to avoid the stress of speaking to the police about it all.
As she turned to go back to the car she’d left at the gates of Kestrel Cottage, she watched Chantal walking up ahead.
She didn’t look back once, but when Zoe glanced up at the house, she was certain she could see Lennon at the window.
Was it unreasonable of her to feel a creeping dread at the notion he’d watched their altercation?
Chantal was ready to defend him to the last, but he was her brother, and Zoe couldn’t help but be convinced that the Lennon she knew wasn’t like the Lennon the rest of the world had to deal with.
No matter what Chantal said about unfairness and people pushing him into bad deeds, the fact remained that he still committed those bad deeds.
As for Heath being the instigator, sure, she knew he had something of a temper on him – Ottilie had told her about it.
But he was a settled man now with a baby son and a good life – why on earth would he bring trouble to their family in that way?
That wasn’t the only question swirling around her mind.
What was her next move? Was there even a next move?
Should she tell Alex about any of this? What did she say to Ottilie and Heath?
Did she speak to her dad anyway, despite what Chantal had said?
She could even go straight to the source of the problem and try to appeal to Lennon’s better nature, but she was fairly convinced he didn’t have one.
Still, maybe that was the best option. Not now, however.
If she went to the house now, Chantal would just see her off, and it might make her even more stubborn in the event that Zoe had to go to her again.
With no real solution, Zoe got into her car and headed to Hilltop – home, though as she turned the key in the ignition, she was beginning to wonder if that was where all this trouble had started.
If she hadn’t been so keen to move in with Alex and Billie, she’d still be in Kestrel Cottage, and Lennon would be…
wherever it was he’d come from. He certainly wouldn’t be in Thimblebury, and as far as Zoe could see, that would be a win–win for everyone who lived here.