Chapter 28
The only person who asked to come over that evening was Ottilie. Ritchie didn’t bother her again, and if Billie had told Alex about him hassling Zoe, he didn’t do anything about it. Not that Zoe wanted or expected him to. But Ottilie phoned as she was running a bath to try to unwind.
‘What’s been happening?’ she asked. ‘After you left, Alex had a face like thunder. It didn’t exactly help when some people started to hassle him about his camping pod plans.’
‘What kind of hassle?’
‘The usual: complaining about trucks driving through the village and workmen and more visitors and that sort of thing. That’s not important. What happened between you and him?’
‘Let’s just say we won’t be going on a date after all. It’s fine; I don’t care.’
‘Sounds like it.’
‘I don’t. He’s unreasonable and quick to jump to conclusions – why would I want to date someone like that? In fact, I’ve had it with men in general. You’ll never guess who turned up at the quincentenary.’
‘Ritchie.’
‘You saw him?’
‘I saw him leave. What did he want?’
‘To make my life a misery. You know, pretending to be mister sensitive super-supportive, no strings attached, and no I don’t want anything in return because I care about you and that’s why.
Except there were strings attached and he did want something in return.
Don’t worry, he didn’t get it. He had a bloody good go, though. ’
‘You should have come to find me.’
‘You were all busy. Anyway, weirdly I was rescued by Billie and her dog. That thing’s as soft as anything, but he must look scary, because Ritchie scarpered when he started to growl.’
‘But you’re all right now? You know you can come and stay at mine if you need to.’
‘I’d rather be here. No offence, but I want to be on my own.’
‘Fair enough, but you know where I am if you change your mind.’
‘Thanks, Ottilie. You’re a star.’
‘You missed all the drama today.’
‘So you said: people getting upset about Alex’s camping pods.’
‘That, and Fliss announced her retirement and the pensioners nearly rioted. The way Flo reacted, you’d think the end of days was coming – and she doesn’t even like Fliss! Then Victor lost it with someone – actually shouted! I’ve never seen him angry before. It was impressive.’
‘What was Victor angry about?’
‘Mostly people getting on Alex’s case. It was Flo who drove the final nail in.
I mean, it would be, wouldn’t it? She was already having kittens about Fliss leaving, and then she had a rant about the village being ruined.
I mean, when I say it was Flo, it wasn’t only her.
Her and Mrs Icke formed a pincer movement and tried to take Alex down together, but Victor wasn’t having any of it.
You should have seen Flo’s face when he blew up.
I had to deal with the fallout, of course, but it was worth it.
I only wish I’d had my phone handy to capture it on video for you. ’
Zoe smiled. No matter what else was happening, Ottilie could always make her feel better. She hadn’t appreciated how much her life had lacked a good supply of Ottilie until she’d been reunited with her in Thimblebury.
‘Was it OK in the end?’
‘I think so. Everyone got the message not to mess with Victor in any case. From what people said after, it sounds like he must have been a bit of a livewire in his youth. He’s such a gentle soul now, I can’t imagine it, but if this afternoon was anything to go by, I can definitely believe it.’
‘I suppose everyone has a limit.’ Zoe reached to swish the water in the bath.
‘Even Victor,’ Ottilie agreed.
‘What was Corrine doing when all this was going on?’
‘Looking at him with pure lust in her eyes,’ Ottilie said, and Zoe burst out laughing. She didn’t stop for a full thirty seconds.
‘Thanks, Ottilie, I needed that! I feel better already for talking to you, you know.’
‘That was my aim. Glad I could help.’
‘Listen, not that I don’t appreciate your cheerleading, but I’m going to have my bath now.’
‘Got it. I’ll leave you to it. See you on Monday.’
Zoe was wrapped in her towelling robe and ready to settle down with a book before bed when she noticed there was an unread message on her phone.
I can’t get a job and I can’t afford to buy you out now, so you’ll have to sell the house after all.
No kiss at the end of the message? Presumably he was smarting at her rejection, but even so, his sudden demand was a petty way to lash out. She wasn’t in the mood to mess around with him and so she typed her reply.
I don’t have time to sell it. If you need the money so badly, you’ll have to do it.
I’m busy looking for work and a new flat, so no. If you don’t want to sell it, you’ll have to move back in and buy me out.
Nice try , Zoe thought. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing it, but she’d been counting on the money she’d make selling her half of their old house to him.
She wasn’t destitute, but she was using a large chunk of her wages on rent, and after other essentials, there wasn’t a huge amount left to simply enjoy life with.
And while to some extent she had sympathy with his plight, she wasn’t about to do everything for him.
If he needed to sell the house, then he’d have to do it.
Zoe was staying put in Thimblebury, so moving back wasn’t an option.
It was time he grew up and took some responsibility.
Zoe locked her phone and tossed it onto the bed. So much for staying friends. Right now, he was her least favourite person in the world.
Trying to put the day’s events from her mind, she went to find her book, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be able to concentrate on it but desperate to try all the same.
Zoe hadn’t been expecting much from her Monday morning, but she surrendered herself to whatever might be coming and started her working day with as much stoicism as she could muster.
Before the first appointment of her day was due to arrive, she made coffee for everyone, calling into Fliss’s room with her cup last of all.
‘Ah, Zoe…’ Fliss greeted her briskly. ‘Over the weekend’s trauma?’
‘I think so,’ Zoe said carefully.
‘You only think so?’ Fliss took the drink Zoe had made with a grateful nod. ‘You’re not still smarting about Bridget Jenkins, are you?’
‘Maisie’s mum? No, I’m not. What’s the point? I’ve had worse than that; she just caught me off guard.’
‘Good, but I can still have a word with her if you like.’
Zoe shook her head vehemently. ‘What about you? Did you enjoy the rest of the event? I hear some people were a bit upset about you announcing your retirement.’
Fliss gave a short bark of a laugh. ‘Things don’t change much around here, and that’s the way most like it, so I wouldn’t have expected anything less.
But like I said to Ottilie when she first arrived and everyone was complaining that she wasn’t Gwen – the nurse we had before Ottilie – they have shorter memories than they think.
Ottilie’s been here, what…? Two years or so, and it’s as if Gwen never existed.
It’ll be the same when my replacement settles in. ’
‘I don’t know about that.’
‘They can take it or leave it either way because it’s not a choice; it’s a fact. Don’t you worry – my wine tour of Europe is already in the planning stage as we speak. I intend to be away for a very long time and drink an inordinate amount of wine along the way.’
Zoe smiled. ‘That sounds nice. Can I come with you?’
‘You’d never keep up.’
‘Probably not.’
‘Right then. Onwards and upwards, eh?’
Fliss turned to her monitor, and Zoe took that to mean she wanted to get on.
When she finally sat at her own desk, Lavender phoned from reception.
‘Have you got time to see someone who isn’t booked in?’ she asked in a mysterious voice that all at once hinted at mischief but also at some attempt to remain professional in the face of whoever was standing in front of her asking to see Zoe.
‘Is it urgent?’ Zoe asked. ‘I’ve got a full clinic today.’
‘I wouldn’t say urgent…’ She held the phone away, and Zoe could hear her ask whoever it was in muffled tones whether it was urgent, but couldn’t hear their reply.
‘She feels bad,’ Lavender reported back, and now there was definite humour in her tone.
‘Bad like she’s ill or just bad?’ Zoe paused and then shook her head. ‘Never mind; I’ll come through.’
She didn’t know who to expect, but she realised it should have been obvious. Maisie Jenkins was nervously twisting her fingers around one another as she stood waiting at the reception desk.
‘Hello,’ Zoe said, offering a reassuring smile. ‘Everything OK?’
Zoe had a few ideas about why Maisie might have come, and most of them were connected in some way with the altercation between her and Maisie’s mum, Bridget.
‘You’re still going to look after me?’ Maisie asked.
‘Of course…’ Zoe glanced around the waiting room and saw that there were already three patients seated in there. ‘Do you want to come to talk in my room for a minute?’
Maisie nodded. ‘Yes, please. I thought my mum might have upset you,’ she continued as they walked.
Zoe let her in the treatment room before following her in and shutting the door.
‘It takes more than that to upset me,’ Zoe said. ‘I didn’t take it personally.’
She’d taken it very personally, but Maisie didn’t need to know that, and it was hardly her fault.
‘Only, someone told her in the pub that Dr Cheadle said she was going to take us all off the books, like. I mean, you wouldn’t look after anyone in my family. Dad needs his diabetes meds.’
‘I don’t know where they heard that, but it couldn’t be further from the truth,’ Zoe said.
‘It would be my fault if he got ill because he had no doctor.’
‘It wouldn’t be, even if it happened, which it won’t. So you really don’t need to worry. Other than that, everything is all right?’
‘I think so. I’ve been trying to eat good food, like you said.’
‘I know,’ Zoe said wryly, recalling Bridget’s complaints only too well. ‘It’s good to hear.’
‘I’ve started to pee all the time.’
‘That’s normal in pregnancy; I wouldn’t worry about that either.’
‘Yeah, my mate said that. Are you allowed to pee in a policeman’s helmet?’
Zoe tried not to laugh, all tension leaving her. ‘Is this a bucket-list thing for you?’
‘Huh?’
‘I mean, do you have some burning desire to pee in a policeman’s helmet?’
‘No, but my mate says it’s legal to pee wherever you want if you’re pregnant, like even if you were stopped by the police and you wanted to go, you could just ask for his helmet and he’d have to give it to you.’
Zoe smiled. ‘Well, as much as I enjoy that particular urban myth, I’d say try not to. I don’t think it goes down well. Anything else?’
‘No. I’m sorry about my mum.’
‘Don’t give it another thought. But if you have any worries, or you need extra help with something, you know you can come and see me or phone me any time, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, thanks. I’ll tell Dad his meds will be all right as well.’
As Zoe walked Maisie back to reception, she saw that Ottilie was in there. She waited until the young woman had gone and then turned to Zoe, keeping her voice low.
‘What did she want?’
‘She wanted to know if she could pee in a policeman’s hat.’
‘What?’
Zoe smiled. ‘She came to apologise for her mum. It was good of her, actually – took some guts. Not sure I would have been able to do that at her age. Maybe she’ll be all right when the baby comes after all.’
‘Let’s hope so. Goes to show, sometimes the apple manages to roll away from the tree.’
‘Yes.’ Zoe nodded. ‘Thank goodness, eh?’
‘Are you all right? How was the rest of your weekend? I thought you might call me, but I didn’t want to hassle you in case you wanted some alone time.’
‘I did, to be honest, and I feel better for it. I had a message from Ritchie. I’ll tell you about it later, see what your take is, but I have a feeling our efforts to stay friends might be scuppered.’
‘Well,’ Ottilie said, turning to go back to her own room, ‘I hate to say it, but I think that was always going to happen. Some men can be grown-up about these things, and then there’s Ritchie.’
Ottilie had invited Zoe to eat with her and Heath that evening.
So had Fliss, and Stacey had sent her a text saying she was available to talk should Zoe need it.
But all Zoe needed was her own company. Much as she appreciated everyone’s efforts, she was tired and she wanted time to think.
She also realised that, no matter how much she wanted to avoid the issue, Ritchie’s threat to walk away from his end of the bargain over their old house was real, and she’d have to make plans for that eventuality.
There was no time like the present to start doing that.
If it came to pass, she wanted to be ready.
And so she headed home, rifled in her freezer for some minestrone soup Corrine had given her the previous week, and ate it with thick sliced bread, sitting at the table in silence as she scrolled through details for financial advisers on her phone.
Ottilie had been right – Zoe should have seen this coming.
If anyone was going to let her down, it was Ritchie.
After her meal, she emailed a couple of promising-looking candidates to query her circumstances and ask what they’d charge to sort out her affairs, and then she made a hot drink and settled in front of the television.
Half an hour into a medical thriller, her phone began to ring.
‘Hi, Billie,’ she said, reaching for the remote to turn the TV off. ‘Everything OK?’
‘I don’t know,’ Billie said. ‘I fell on the stairs. Do you think the baby will be all right?’
Zoe straightened up. ‘Want me to come over?’
‘Do you want to? Because if you don’t, I could come?—’
‘Absolutely not. I’m sure it’s all fine, but I’ll come to you anyway. Sit down, have a warm drink…get your dad to make it. Is he there?’
‘Yes, he’s here. Is that all right?’
‘Not a problem,’ Zoe said tightly. Every cell in her was screaming that it was a problem. Alex was the last person she wanted to see, but if he could be bigger than what happened between them over the weekend for Billie’s sake, then so could she. ‘Give me ten minutes and I’ll be with you.’