Chapter 2
As a row of distant hills rose up ahead, sunlight like a halo cresting the ridge, Zoe paused mid-sentence and stared. Lining either side of the narrow road were trees heavy with late summer greenery. A low mist swirled in the hollows of a distant field, sparkling in the morning light.
‘It’s quite a sight, isn’t it?’
She turned to see a quiet smile on the face of her old friend, Ottilie, who was feeding the steering wheel through her hands as she navigated the tight turns of the road they were travelling.
‘It’s gorgeous!’ Zoe breathed.
‘I don’t think I could ever get tired of a view like this.
Whenever I have to leave Thimblebury and then I come back, the minute I see these hills, I know I’m home.
And I don’t just mean home as in this is where my house is.
Oh no, it goes way deeper than that.’ Ottilie threw the briefest glance Zoe’s way before turning her attention back to the road. ‘Want to know a secret?’
‘What?’
‘I came this way deliberately, hoping it would help to sway you. Is it working?’
‘You mean there are less windy roads into the village?’
‘Yes. But none as beautiful as this one.’
‘If the only factor I had to consider was whether the view is amazing, I’d have already made up my mind.
’ Zoe turned to her again, tucking chin-length hair behind one ear, cheeks dimpling as she offered a smile.
Not sombre, exactly, but not quite as joyous as the smiles she’d once felt able to wear with ease.
It was a smile nonetheless, and they’d been in short supply since…
in truth, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt real happiness.
Certainly not since she’d lost her baby. ‘But it isn’t.’
‘Good place for a new start, though,’ Ottilie said, her smile brighter and more certain. The smile of a woman who had already travelled the road Zoe was about to embark on and had reached the end of it changed for the better.
‘I mean, it’s lovely…’
‘Wait until you see the village. It’s small but perfect. Quiet, friendly…you might not know it when you first arrive, but trust me, it’ll be exactly what you need.’
‘You’re certainly a good advert for life there.’
‘That’s what I was hoping for.’
Zoe pushed that smile across her face again as she turned her attention back to the road ahead. A silver thread trailed a section of a distant hill.
‘Up there…’ Ottilie took a moment to point to where Zoe was looking. ‘A waterfall.’
‘Wow! I didn’t think you got those around here.’
‘There are a few if you know where to look. Places where underground springs break through, I think, or so Heath tells me. There’s one that feeds the most gorgeous swimming hole. I’m not sure we’ll have time today otherwise I’d take you for a dip. When you’re here next summer…’
‘ If I’m here, I’ll look forward to it.’
‘ If . Of course. If you’re here…’
Zoe glanced to see Ottilie grin, her freckled nose scrunching up.
She wore her caramel hair longer now than Zoe remembered.
She seemed easier, more comfortable in her own skin than Zoe recalled too.
And while Zoe was grateful for her quiet, supportive optimism, she wasn’t sure the move her old friend was trying to persuade her to take was the right one at all.
On paper it seemed perfect, but paper wasn’t real life, with real dilemmas and real complicating factors and real unknown variables.
On paper was a simple cut-and-dried fix for her circumstances, but it would take a lot more than that to mend her broken heart.
It was a strange situation to find herself in, emotionally.
Zoe hadn’t seen much of Ottilie since her move to the Lake District, but back when they’d shared a flat as students, Ottilie had been the cautious one, and Zoe had been the life and soul of any party, the one who lived with abandon and never worried about what her future might hold.
She’d almost needed Ottilie to ground her.
Now, Ottilie was the optimistic one, living her best life, overcoming the pain of the tragedies that had marked it in recent years, and Zoe was filled with trepidation for what hers might throw at her next.
Zoe’s tragedy wasn’t the same, and she couldn’t imagine what Ottilie had gone through, but her own felt real and painful enough to her.
She wasn’t convinced that the move Ottilie was proposing was the right one, but Zoe could hardly argue with the evidence of a happy, settled and now visibly pregnant Ottilie sitting in the driver seat beside her.
‘How are you feeling?’ Zoe asked.
‘Fine.’
‘Not too tired? Managing OK?’
‘You’re not on duty now,’ Ottilie said with a smile. ‘There’s no need to fuss; I’m doing well.’
‘I’m asking as a friend, not as a midwife.’
‘But I’m sure you must be thinking professionally, somewhere in the back of your mind. I know you – you can’t help it. And I know I’m an ancient mum according to the received wisdom, but honestly I feel healthy and strong and not knackered by my old age at all.’
Zoe’s light laugh was easier and more genuine now. ‘I’m sorry I asked.’
‘Thanks for asking, though. I’m being looked after by everyone – better than I’d like, sometimes. Heath follows me round the house with pillows and foot massages, and everyone at the surgery watches me like a hawk, even if they pretend not to.’
‘I’m looking forward to meeting your team properly. I’ve spoken to Dr Cheadle, of course, and she was…’
‘I think the polite phrase you want is a character .’
‘That’s the one. But they all sound interesting.’
‘They’re that all right.’
‘And fun.’
‘That too. We’re like a little family. Not in a cliquey way. We’re close, but they’re very welcoming to newcomers to the team. I think you’ll slot right in.’
‘ If I decide to work there.’
Ottilie grinned again. ‘Yes, of course, if you come to work with us.’
The road ahead forked, and their route took them down an even narrower one than they’d previously driven.
It twisted and turned in unexpected ways, overhanging trees now creating a dappled tunnel, daylight breaking through in bursts where the branches thinned.
After a few minutes of amenable silence, Ottilie spoke again, pointing to some roadside fencing.
‘Daffodil Farm is up there, where the alpaca herd are kept. That’s Victor and Corrine’s place.
They’re lovely. I hope we get time to pop up there and meet them before you have to go back.
I’ll take you along to Hilltop too. Ann is a sweetie.
She’s got her work cut out with her son, Darryl, but she still manages to make a big fuss of you when you go up there. ’
‘How old is her son?’
‘Early twenties. He has complex needs – learning difficulties, diabetes…I could go on. I suspect there are things that haven’t been officially diagnosed too.
He’s a great kid, though, once you get past those issues and get to know him.
You’ll definitely have to meet Geoff and Magnus at the shop. They’re our local power couple.’
Zoe smiled. ‘I think you might have mentioned them once or twice. I’m looking forward to meeting them. Heath’s grandma too.’
‘God, be careful what you wish for!’ Ottilie said with a laugh. ‘Flo is an acquired taste!’
‘I’m still looking forward to meeting her, if only to see if she lives up to her reputation.’
‘I’m sure she will. I’m sure we’ll barely get out of the car before she’s upon us, like one of those cloaked things out of Harry Potter.’
‘Cloaked thing? Like a wizard?’
‘No…You know, the big flying hooded things that suck the joy out of everyone they touch.’
Zoe had to laugh properly this time. ‘Dementors? God, this is so nice. It’s good to have a normal silly conversation that doesn’t involve soul-searching, or blame, or reminders of what I’ve lost.’
As Ottilie continued filling Zoe in on the residents of Thimblebury, the tiny village nestled between the hills of the Lake District that she now called home, Zoe watched the horizon, noticing as rooftops began to appear, a haphazard cluster of stone cottages soon following.
‘Here we are,’ Ottilie said, nodding to a sign that said: Welcome to Thimblebury. Please drive carefully through our village .
Zoe was at once captivated by the tranquillity of narrow roads, so clean and ordered there had to be an army of elves patrolling when everyone was asleep, keeping it tidy.
Back in Manchester, there was good and bad, but rarely anywhere as pin-neat and charming as this.
And yet, for all the neatness, there was something bohemian about it too, an air of secret, hidden chaos and fun that only added to the charm.
She noticed a garden full of household oddments being used as planters: ancient tin baths, chimney pots and shoe racks, amongst many other things.
‘That’s Flo’s,’ Ottilie said.
‘There’s an interesting look going on in the garden.’
‘I call it junk rather than interesting, but, weirdly, I think it suits her. I don’t hate it – at least, not at her place, though I’d hate it at mine. Wordsworth Cottage is just up ahead.’
‘I can’t wait to see it. I’m still having a hard time imagining you as a country bumpkin.’
‘Believe me, if Ottilie five years ago could see me now, she would have a hard time too. I never imagined myself somewhere like this, but now I’m here I can’t see myself anywhere else.’
‘You almost left though, didn’t you? You said so.’
‘Twice, actually. Only because I thought I would have to.’
‘But you’re glad things worked out?’
‘Very.’ Ottilie slowed the car and then pulled to a gentle stop outside a charming double-fronted cottage, with a gated, meandering path leading to a front door shaded by trees. ‘Here we are – my little house.’
Zoe gazed up at the house as she got out of the car, and for a startling moment she saw for herself a life that, like Ottilie, she’d never imagined she’d want. ‘It’s so pretty! Have you done much to it?’
‘After the flood the first year I was here, there were a lot of repairs, and I’ve modernised it a bit, but not much apart from that. It’s funny, when I first got here, I wanted to change everything, but that’s because I still had my city head on. Now that I’m settled, I don’t mind that it’s a bit…’
‘I think they call it cottage core.’
Ottilie pushed open the gate and led the way up the path. ‘You’d know better than me. I’ve hardly got my finger on the pulse these days. I’m reliably informed by my friend’s daughter that I’m like a boomer. And I don’t think she means that as a compliment.’
Zoe grinned. ‘Oh dear. Are we already at the age where people under twenty think we’re ancient?’
Ottilie twisted a key into the front door and pushed it open. ‘Probably, although don’t forget I’m a few years older. Compared to me, staring my fortieth birthday in the face, you’re a spring chicken.’
Zoe laughed lightly. ‘I don’t feel like one! And it’s only two years’ difference, and you’re not that close to forty!’
‘Oh well, then welcome to the club. Keeping up with trends is exhausting anyway – who needs it?’
‘I’m with you there.’ Zoe wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh God, we really are old now!’
‘I think we might be getting there!’
Zoe followed Ottilie into the hallway and took in the polished wooden stairs with brass rods and the strip of floral carpet running up them. The walls were a delicate pink, and there were flowers standing in a vase on a display table, and Zoe was warmed by the instant homeliness. ‘This is lovely!’
‘Thanks,’ Ottilie said. ‘I like it. Come on – we’ll make a pit stop to refresh and refuel, and then I’ll give you the guided tour. Is it tomorrow you’re scheduled to go and chat to Fliss?’
‘Yes, she said to go at lunch.’
‘Don’t have your dinner then; I expect she wants to feed you.’
Zoe shrugged off her jacket. ‘That’ll be a first. I’ve never been to a job interview where I’ve been fed.’
‘It’s hardly going to be an interview at all. Between you and me, I think she’s already decided she wants you working at the surgery. The ball is in your court, really – it’s whether you want us that’s the million-dollar question.’
‘She’s never met me.’
‘Her exact words were: “If Ottilie thinks she’s all right, then I’m sure she’ll be all right. I’ve got better things to do than read from an approved list of questions and listen to answers I couldn’t give a fig about.” And that pretty much sums her up.’
‘I don’t know whether to be flattered or worried.’
‘I wouldn’t be either. Fliss is just that practical.
She’s got no time for what she sees as pointless protocols.
She wants to know if you’re personable and you’re able to do the job, not where you see yourself in five years and what your worst and best traits are.
I told her you were lovely and more than capable of doing the job. You can thank me on your first day.’
‘ If I join the team.’
‘Yes.’ Ottilie grinned as she took her own coat off. ‘I keep forgetting about that little word.’
‘But I do appreciate you having my back.’
‘I’d say that’s what friends are for, et cetera, but I do have an ulterior motive. If I can have you look after me during my pregnancy, that would make me very happy. I think a lot of the other local mums-to-be will feel the same when they meet you.’
‘You’re not going to parade me around the village for every pregnant woman to inspect, are you?’
‘It had crossed my mind.’