Chapter 1 #4
‘She had a bit of fruit and some of the rice from my paella. I made sure it wasn’t too much and the rice was really soft. She seemed to like it, but I didn’t dare give her too much because she’s not used to it, so she mostly had the stuff in her baby food jars.’
‘Sounds sensible.’ Zoe turned to look over her shoulder and saw that Louisa’s eyes were already heavy. ‘You’re right – she’ll be asleep in no time.’
‘I might be as well,’ Billie said. ‘I don’t know why, but flying makes me tired, even when it’s only a couple of hours.’
‘I wouldn’t know – I can’t remember the last time I flew somewhere. Like, I can, but it seems like ages ago.’
‘You want to go on holiday?’ Alex asked. ‘You should have said—’
‘It’s fine,’ Zoe replied with a smile. ‘I didn’t mean that… although I was a bit jealous of Billie taking off to Spain. It’s OK though. We’ve been busy the last couple of years, and I know there hasn’t been time to go on holiday.’
‘We’ll book something,’ he said. ‘We’ll all go after Christmas.’
‘You’ll be getting ready for the summer camping season after Christmas.’
‘I can still make time. Victor and Corrine would look after Grizzle for a week, I bet. We’ll all have a breather – I know I could do with it.’
Zoe couldn’t deny that the prospect of a break somewhere sunny was tempting.
As beautiful as her home in the hills of the Lake District was, it was nice to have a change of scenery, and the idea of guaranteed sun, a warm sea and sand between her toes was like a dream right now – a delightful one.
Even better with Alex on a sun lounger next to her, all-day cocktails, an ocean view with a warm breeze on a restaurant terrace at night and a romantic balcony on which to whisper sweet nothings to one another before bed.
Of course, it wouldn’t do to forget that Billie and Louisa would be on holiday with them, but she could work around that.
‘If you could, then I suppose I wouldn’t complain,’ she said. ‘Time seems to go nowhere, and the last couple of years have been a bit mad. I hadn’t really noticed how much I needed a holiday until we waved Billie off, but I didn’t want to say anything because I know you have a lot on.’
‘Same here,’ he said. ‘What are we like?’
‘I don’t know,’ Billie’s voice came from the back seat, and even without looking, Zoe could hear the now familiar eye-roll in it. ‘But you really need to start talking to one another because I won’t always be around to sort you out.’
Zoe gave a light laugh. ‘Yes, Mum. Got it.’
‘Sometimes you are more trouble than Louisa,’ Billie insisted.
‘That’s settled then,’ Alex said, offering Zoe a brief smile before turning his attention back to the road. ‘After Christmas we’ll go somewhere. Have a think about where you fancy.’
‘Can’t we go back to stay with Beatriz and Antonio?’ Billie asked.
‘We could,’ Alex began slowly, ‘but they don’t really know Zoe, and she doesn’t know them.’
‘She ought to meet them though,’ Billie said.
‘I will if they come at Christmas, I suppose,’ Zoe put in.
‘That’ll be all right then – you’ll already know them, and they love having people to stay. I’m sure it will be fine.’
Billie leaned back in her chair as if the matter was decided, but as Zoe glanced in the mirror again, she wasn’t sure that was what Alex wanted.
She waited for him to confirm her suspicions, but he said nothing.
Perhaps he didn’t want to upset Billie when they’d only just picked her up, and he’d missed her terribly, despite the time it had given him and Zoe to be a couple.
Zoe wondered whether she ought to plant the seed instead.
‘We could still look at some brochures,’ she said. ‘There must be other places you’ve always fancied going.’
‘Me?’ Billie shrugged as she turned her face to the landscape rushing past the windows. ‘Not especially. I wanted to go to Greece a few years ago, but there’s no reason to go now, is there? Not with Luis’s mum and dad living in a town with a great beach and lots of sun.’
‘Maybe just to see how different Greece is?’ Zoe asked. ‘Sun and sand aren’t the only things that matter. Don’t you want to see what the culture is like?’
‘The culture is just the same if you’re in a holiday resort, isn’t it? They’re not exactly like the rest of the country, are they? They’re just there for tourists.’
‘I don’t think it’s quite like that,’ Alex said. ‘You’ve been to other countries – surely they didn’t all seem the same to you?’
‘I can’t remember because I was so little when we went anywhere before we moved to Spain, and I can only really remember that. Maybe. What about Louisa?’
‘What about her?’
‘Their house is best for Louisa because they love her being there, and we can get everything we need easily. So I think we should go there. Maybe we can go to Greece when she’s older.’
It seemed Alex had admitted defeat for now because he didn’t argue. ‘Do you want to stop for food, or are you happy to wait until we’re home?’
‘I’m hungry, but if we stop, Louisa will wake up and she’ll be cranky. If you see a drive-through, I wouldn’t mind something.’
‘Right.’ Alex turned back to the road. ‘Drive-through it is.’