Chapter 23
Zoe arrived home to find Billie sleeping and Alex in his office.
His workload had increased over the past few weeks as the opening of his pods drew closer.
It hadn’t been ideal that the opening was scheduled so soon after the arrival of Louisa, but he’d done his best to juggle things so that he had time to spend with the three women in his life.
Any other night might have seen her disappointed to walk into a quiet house, but today she was far too preoccupied to worry about it.
In fact, she decided as she shed her coat and boots, it was a good thing.
She needed to catch up with Ottilie, and it would be easier to have the conversation with nobody to overhear.
Before she picked up the phone, she went upstairs to check on everyone. Billie didn’t stir when Zoe put her head around the door, though it was encouraging to see her hair was wet, meaning she’d had a shower. Then she went through to Alex’s office and tapped on the door.
‘Yeah? It’s all right, you can come in, you know…’
‘Hey…’ Zoe went in and kissed him. ‘How did you guess it was me?’
‘Those dainty footsteps on the stairs? I’d know them anywhere. How was your day?’
‘Um…’ Zoe faltered. If she was going to say something, the time was now.
If she didn’t, would she regret it? If she didn’t and Alex found out, would it seem like she’d been trying to hide things from him?
That was exactly what she was doing, of course, but only to keep the peace.
It might not seem that way to Alex, however.
It was hard to know how he’d see it, but in the best-case scenario, it might seem as if Zoe didn’t trust him to behave like a rational adult.
But she kept thinking about Heath’s bloodied face, and every time she did, it silenced her.
‘It was… it was fine. You know, enough stress to be going on with, but nothing I can’t cope with. How about you?’
He stretched his arms above his head and smiled. ‘I got a lot done, actually. Billie seems brighter today too. She let me watch Louisa while she had a shower. I’d call that progress, wouldn’t you?’
‘I would,’ Zoe said. ‘I’m glad. And did you enjoy your grandad time?’
‘I did!’ he said, his smile spreading. ‘I’m sure she smiled at me. You said they don’t smile for ages yet, but I could have sworn she did.’
‘Maybe she did,’ Zoe replied, going to the door. ‘We don’t always know everything, you know. I’m going to make a drink – do you want one?’
‘I’m good for a while. I thought we could eat those leftovers from the fridge. Sorry I haven’t cooked. Been a bit busy.’
‘Leftovers will be fine. How long will you be?’
‘Why, are you missing me already?’
‘No,’ she said with a smile that almost took more effort than she could spare. ‘I just want to know how much peace and quiet I’m allowed to have before you start to hassle me.’
‘Maybe an hour,’ he said. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can.’
‘Don’t rush on my account. I’ll see you when I see you – I’m just going to phone Ottilie, catch up with her.’
‘Right…’ He went back to his laptop. ‘Say hello from me, won’t you?’
Zoe went downstairs. While the kettle boiled, she dialled Ottilie’s number. It rang out for so long before Ottilie finally answered that Zoe was about to give up, but then she heard her friend’s voice, tired and strained and sounding as if she’d rushed to get to her phone.
‘Zoe…’ she said. ‘Hello, how did it go? Have you managed to sort things?’
‘Not exactly. I mean, I’m still working on it.’
‘But you went to see your dad?’
‘He wasn’t there. I spoke to Chantal.’
‘And?’
‘Well, she needs some time. It will be sorted, don’t worry. How’s Heath? What happened at the accident unit?’
‘He’s all right, nothing broken, as Simon thought. He had to have his lip glued, and he’s got some nasty bruising, but he’ll be fine. Just won’t be entering any Mr Universe contests for a while.’
‘Have you…?’ Zoe took a breath. ‘How’s his mood?’
‘How you’d expect it to be, but he’s calmed down a lot from earlier today.’
‘And have you thought any more about reporting it?’
‘Heath has cooled on the idea a bit – I think he’s realised what he’d have to go through, giving witness statements and stuff and that he might end up looking a bit guilty too.
Flo, on the other hand, is adamant. She was all for phoning the police as soon as we left the surgery.
I talked her down, told her you’d deal with things and there’d be no need, but honestly, if she sees Lennon in the village again and realises nothing has changed, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop her. ’
Zoe chewed on her lip, distracted, finally, by the sound of the kettle clicking off as it boiled. This was running out of her control. She’d been silly to imagine she could deal with it alone.
‘I’m sorry,’ Ottilie said into the gap. ‘I’m doing my best, but with this and the Stacey thing… sooner or later he’ll upset more people, and then it’s going to blow. I can’t do anything about that.’
‘I know,’ Zoe said. ‘I understand. I’m just trying to work out how to deal with it. But I will, I promise. Give me a few more days.’
‘Look, I hate to make life difficult for you. You’re my friend, and that’s the last thing I’d want. I have no issues with you doing what you need to do; I’m only warning you that other people might not be so patient.’
‘You’re right. I’ll try again tomorrow, with my dad this time. In fact…’ She paused as an idea occurred to her. ‘Chantal said he wanted to do dinner, but maybe I’ll do dinner here. Invite only those two and not Lennon, and see if I can’t get a minute to talk to Dad then.’
‘Does Alex know?’
‘Not yet,’ Zoe said. ‘But I think I need to tell him, don’t I?’
‘It’s your call. Keep me posted, won’t you? I have to go – got to feed Anthony.’
‘No problem. I will. Bye, Ott.’
Ottilie ended the call, and Zoe put her phone down as she went to make her tea. The time was right to come clean with Alex, she just didn’t know how to do it without making things worse.
Zoe woke the next morning frustrated with herself.
The previous evening had been taken up with discussions about the camping field, Billie and Louisa, future work plans for Billie and when she was going to get in touch with Maisie, and so many other topics that Zoe hadn’t felt able to interrupt.
Even when Billie eventually took Louisa off to bed and announced that she was going to go to sleep too, which ought to have given Zoe the perfect opportunity to speak to Alex about the Lennon problem, the right moment didn’t seem to present itself.
This morning, Zoe had to wonder if the right moment had been there but she’d been too chicken to seize it.
As it was, a new work day was due to start, and she hadn’t said a word.
Later, she told herself, she’d have to do it later for sure because they had a busy weekend planned.
And she’d have to make time to see her dad too, though that was another source of dread.
Lavender was settling at the reception desk when Zoe walked in. ‘I was going to say that I hoped for less drama today,’ she said, barely looking up. ‘But then I had to show someone to your room. She’s in there now, waiting to talk to you, and a bit of a state. Thought I’d better warn you.’
Zoe frowned. She could have asked Lavender to be more specific, but she supposed she could also just walk into her office and find out for herself.
If Lavender was in one of her smug moods – and it seemed she was – then the latter option would probably be less irritating.
So she shrugged off her coat as she went through to find out who was waiting for her.
Fern was sitting on the examination table, her feet dangling over the edge. She’d seemed tense, but a wave of relief crossed her features as she saw Zoe walk in.
‘Hello!’ Zoe hung her coat on a peg by the door. ‘How are you? I had wondered if you’d come in again.’
‘Sorry about before. Arwen said… well, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She’s nice, you know; she cares about me. She means well, and she knows about loads of things… natural remedies, you know.’
‘Yes.’ Zoe pulled a chair over to sit across from her.
‘I think you said that. I don’t doubt it.
I thought perhaps you’d decided to stay under her care after all.
Everything’s all right at the commune? Nobody’s making life difficult for you or anything like that?
I know before you said it was fine, but if there was something you wanted to tell me, I can be discreet, and I wouldn’t judge at all. ’
‘It’s not like that.’ Fern’s tone was defensive again.
Zoe realised she’d overstepped. ‘Sorry. You have to forgive me. I don’t know much about anyone there, and it’s my job to see every eventuality in a situation – just to make sure I have all the bases covered, you understand.
All I care about is keeping my mums and their babies safe, and sometimes I suppose I might see problems when there aren’t any.
So if it’s all good, was there some other reason you came to see me?
Have you changed your mind about going for a hospital scan?
Arwen would be able to go with you if you wanted to have one, you know. ’
‘I haven’t decided yet. I think I might, but I don’t know if Arwen would agree to go with me.’
‘You have someone else, maybe? I don’t mind going with you if you need me to.’
Fern stared at her. ‘You’d do that?’
‘Of course. And I wouldn’t do it for just anyone, so take it as a compliment.’
‘If I told you something…’ Fern turned away to stare out of the window. Zoe waited for her to begin again. ‘Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I only wanted to ask you about being sick. Arwen made this juice for me. It smells weird, but she says it will stop me feeling sick.’
‘What’s in it?’
Fern shrugged. ‘Do you think it will be all right for me to drink it?’
‘It’s hard to say if I don’t know what’s in it. Arwen loves her natural remedies, doesn’t she?’