Chapter 21
She was ready. Zoe got out of the car and walked steadily to the house, the first sentence of her admission rehearsed in her mind.
Alex would be fine. He’d understand. He’d support her, and she wondered now why she’d ever worried that he wouldn’t.
They’d had a lovely weekend, back on track, back to being a team, after that initial spat, and he’d proved just how supportive he could be.
There had been bumps in the road, that was all, and even the most solid of relationships wobbled when they hit a snag.
His reply to her text earlier in the day had reassured her of that, he’d take the time to listen to what was on her mind and they’d work things out whatever it took.
Everything was forgotten as she walked into the kitchen to find Virginia there. But this time they weren’t sharing wine or tea and neither of them was smiling.
Alex turned at Zoe’s entrance with a grim expression, waving a letter at her. ‘They went there.’
‘Who?’ Zoe glanced from Alex to Virginia.
‘Alex,’ Virginia said, ‘I’ve told you a dozen times since I got here, we’ll figure it out.’
‘But what if we don’t? I can’t afford an out-of-court settlement – it will bankrupt me!’
Zoe closed the door behind her and stood at the table. ‘Can someone tell me what’s going on?’
‘That bloody party we had – they’re suing us for damages.’ Alex tossed the letter at Zoe, who caught it as it floated to the ground.
She read quickly, getting the gist and paying no heed to the rest. And then she looked up.
‘They can’t? Didn’t you say they’d wandered onto land that wasn’t part of the camping field?
So how can they hold you responsible? Surely people would be sued up and down the country for every rabbit hole if this was legal? ’
‘It’s one of those no-win-no-fee companies,’ Alex said. ‘They’ll have a good bloody go if there’s the slightest chance they might make some money from it.’
‘It isn’t much of a case,’ Virginia said, though she addressed Alex and not Zoe, despite it being Zoe’s question in the first place.
‘But it’s not watertight,’ Alex said. ‘Not from our perspective. There’s a chance—’
‘Tiny.’
‘But still a chance it will go against us.’
‘Let me put the feelers out, get you connected to someone who knows this area of the law better than me.’
‘I’d have to pay them.’
‘Well, yes, but… what about your insurance? Don’t they sort this out?
I mean…’ Zoe looked to Virginia to back her up, but the solicitor’s features were impassive.
Zoe presumed they’d already visited that possibility, but she didn’t have anything else to offer except to ask the obvious and wait for what would doubtless be the obvious answer.
‘I haven’t got the right insurance. Money was tight and…’ He gave a helpless shrug. ‘I cut corners. I thought I would be all right.’
Zoe’s mouth fell open. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘How could I have seen this coming? Who would see this coming?’
‘Well…’ Zoe looked to Virginia again and then back to Alex. ‘Can you redo the insurance? Talk to them and explain what’s happened and see what they can do?’
‘Don’t you think I’ve already been down that avenue? What insurance company is going to cough up in those circumstances? If anything, they’ll probably void the policy I do have entirely.’
‘They wouldn’t…’ Zoe paused, out of anything useful to say – not that she had much in the first place. ‘So there’s no answer? Nothing we can do? We can fight it, right? Virginia will help… won’t you?’
Alex gave his head a forceful shake before Virginia could open her mouth to reply. ‘I can’t keep taking her time for free, and she’s told me a ton of times it isn’t really her field.’
Zoe turned to her. ‘You must know someone who does specialise in this area, surely?’
‘I do, but I’m afraid it won’t be cheap,’ Virginia said, her expression so impassive that it was hard for Zoe to gauge how this was affecting her – if at all.
Zoe didn’t think she’d ever met someone with such a poker face – but perhaps Zoe had been the cause of that to some extent. It would have taken someone with absolutely no emotional intelligence at all to fail to notice Zoe’s jealousy and mistrust, and for that, despite her reasons, she was sorry.
‘In that case, I might as well settle with this lot…’ Alex flung a hand at the letter Zoe was holding. ‘In the end, it will all be the same – money I don’t have.’
‘You could remortgage the farm,’ Zoe said.
‘I already have a mortgage on it. I took it out for renovations, for money to live on while I was setting up the business, to allow for setbacks and schedule changes. I can’t borrow more.’
She paused, not knowing what else she could say that might help.
And his admission that Hilltop was mortgaged was news to her, and it made her realise that while she lived there, she hadn’t yet fully integrated into the family the way she might have thought she had.
He’d never told her any of this. He’d bought the farm for cash, she knew that, money he’d had left over from the sale of his villa in Spain.
She’d assumed that everything he’d spent since then had come from the same pot.
It had never occurred to her that his savings might have gone and that he might be borrowing money against Hilltop to live on while he got his business off the ground, though she realised now that it ought to have done.
‘I have some savings,’ she said finally.
‘That much?’ he asked, indicating the letter again.
‘No, but…’ Zoe read the figure. And then the rest of the letter. ‘He’s trying to claim he won’t ever be able to work? That’s ridiculous! He has a broken leg – it’ll heal! And how can he know that so quickly after the accident? There’s no medical report yet, surely? He’s got to be making it up!’
‘He’s getting a medical report, and you can bet a pound to a penny that his report will back up the claim. They always do.’
‘To a point,’ Virginia said, her tone far more reasonable.
Zoe was glad, for once, to have her here, though she wondered how quickly she must have jumped in her car when Alex had, presumably, phoned her in a panic.
All had been calm when Zoe had texted him at lunch, so this letter must have arrived soon afterwards, and Virginia must have wasted no time answering the call for help.
‘They can word it to sound like the worst-case scenario, but they can’t fabricate things,’ Virginia continued.
‘When did the letter arrive?’ Zoe asked.
‘What does that matter?’ Alex waved his hand for Zoe to give it back.
‘I’m just asking.’
‘It came with the post… I don’t know, maybe about ten. I didn’t open it straight away because I didn’t expect it to ruin my life.’
‘It’s not going to ruin your life,’ Virginia said. ‘We’ll find a way out of this.’
To listen to them, to see them sitting at the table together, anyone would think Virginia lived with Alex at Hilltop instead of Zoe. And Zoe, as she had a few moments before, felt like the outsider.
‘Where’s Billie?’ she asked.
‘Keeping Louisa out of the way,’ Virginia said. ‘I thought it might be a good idea to give Alex some space to think straight.’
‘She’s upstairs?’ Zoe asked, not wanting to use the word banished but having it go through her head anyway. Surely Billie had as much right to be a part of this discussion as anyone else – she would be affected, after all.
‘She’s gone over to see Corrine,’ Alex said.
‘Has she taken Grizzle?’
‘You don’t see him here, do you?’
Zoe pursed her lips. ‘I only asked. I know you’re stressed, but there’s no need—’
‘Grant!’ Virginia cut off Zoe’s rebuke as she took an incoming call. ‘Thanks for phoning back…’ She cupped a hand over her phone and looked at Alex as she rose from her chair. ‘Sorry, this is important… I’ll take it in the other room, if I may.’
Alex waved her away, and Zoe dropped into the seat she’d vacated to sit across from him.
She could hear Virginia’s golden tones as she continued her conversation in the other room, and she caught the odd word, but most of it was legal jargon that she wouldn’t understand even if she had been able to hear it clearly.
‘What can I do to help?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Alex said, his gaze going back to the letter again. From the way it was creased and crumpled, he’d been carrying it round for most of the day and looking at it with a regularity that was probably not healthy. ‘I’m just glad V is here.’
Zoe had reached to take his hand but at his statement drew back again. ‘There must be something I can do, something you might find useful.’
‘I can’t think of anything. I bet you’re tired – go and have a shower or something. I haven’t cooked.’
‘I’ll cook then. Will Virginia be staying to eat with us?’
‘I don’t know. We haven’t exactly had time to discuss food.’
‘Right…’ Zoe got up and went to the fridge. ‘Fine. I’ll make extra anyway, just in case. I’ll text Billie to see if she’s going to be back too.’
‘I doubt it. She said she’d eat with Corrine and Victor.’
‘How come?’
‘Said she thought she’d be in the way here.’
Billie had said it and apparently Alex hadn’t refuted her statement.
So did that mean he agreed? Did that mean he also thought Zoe might be in the way?
He’d already said she had nothing to offer by way of assistance, so did that mean he didn’t want her around while he and Virginia wrangled with the problem?
‘Maybe I should go over there. Corrine always makes loads. I could bring some back for you, if you’d rather not have me in the kitchen while you…’
‘Good idea. I’ll phone when V has gone.’
Zoe hovered at the worktop, uncertain what she’d wanted to hear but sure that she’d hoped for more of an argument against her suggestion. But as he turned to his phone and typed something into a website search, she realised that was all she was going to get.
Feeling useless and redundant, she went upstairs to get changed before she headed over to Daffodil Farm.