Alex popped his head around the kitchen door. ‘I need to get Griz’s lead…Hello, ladies.’
‘Hello!’ Georgia said brightly, while Emilia simply nodded in acknowledgement.
‘So is it all right if I come through with him? He’s soft enough, but he gets a bit excitable…thought it was fair to warn you in case you didn’t want him lumbering around where William is.’
‘I’ve got him.’ Georgia scooped her son from the car seat and into her arms. ‘It’s fine.’
‘I won’t be a minute anyway,’ Alex said, opening the door with a thumb hooked firmly in Grizzle’s collar, doing his best to keep him in check. Grizzle sniffed the air, tail going like mad, straining to nosy at the newcomers. There was a moment where he looked as if he’d get free, but then Alex fastened the lead to his collar and opened the door. ‘Do your worst! I’ll be an hour or so, maybe longer if Victor is in the mood to chat.’
‘Don’t hassle him about the thing…’ Zoe said, her tone firm. ‘Remember what we said about giving it time.’
‘I won’t!’ Alex said. But then added as the door closed behind him, ‘Not unless he mentions it first!’
Zoe let out a sigh.
‘What’s that about?’ Georgia asked.
‘Problems with the neighbours.’
Georgia stared at her. ‘Not Victor and Corrine?’
‘No…never mind – it’s not really important right now.’
‘Oh…’ Georgia smiled. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve had enough of your dad already!’
‘Not Dad, but he’s got a house guest and…Well, Alex isn’t exactly happy about some aspects of…He’s got a dog, and it’s not a very nice dog and…you know…’ Zoe’s complaint faded into nothing because as she said it out loud, it sounded petty, and she didn’t want to sound petty. But she and Alex had both agreed that they didn’t like the idea of Lennon’s dog being allowed to raise holy hell all over the hills and dales around their home. However, when he’d mooted the idea of speaking to Victor with a view to have him do something about it, Zoe had said it didn’t seem right to bother him and Corrine, nor had she wanted to potentially upset her dad and Chantal, and so she’d asked him to let it go for now.
‘Not really,’ Emilia said. ‘But I’m sure you’ll tell us when it’s necessary.’
‘Shall we move into the other room?’ Zoe asked. ‘It’ll be comfier. I’ve got some nibbles – wasn’t sure if you would be hungry. I mean, we’ve eaten too, but there’s always room for dips, right?’
‘I can’t stop eating,’ Georgia said. ‘It’s worse than when I was expecting. Probably got something to do with all the milk William’s guzzling. I’m starting to feel like a dairy farm – and I mean the entire farm, not just one cow.’
Zoe laughed.
‘Best invention ever, the breast pump,’ she continued as they got up to decamp to the living room. ‘If I can get it all out of the way once or twice a day, I’m on a winner.’
‘Being on hand to witness it has told me one thing,’ Emilia began with a sincerity that stopped Zoe in her tracks. ‘I don’t think I’m cut out for motherhood. I’ve never had a maternal instinct, but I used to wonder whether I simply hadn’t run into the right catalyst to get it started. Now, even though I’m very fond of William, I’m certain nothing has changed in that department. I didn’t want a child before, and I still don’t want one now. And the thought of sitting with a pump on my breast…no thank you. I’m happy for the responsibility of replenishing the population to fall to the many more capable women around me. I’ll stick to doing what I’m good at.’
‘Which is looking after us,’ Georgia said with a fond look. ‘And you do it brilliantly.’
They settled on the sofa. Zoe went to get the snacks and some drinks. It took about fifteen minutes to set everything up, and as she did, she expected Billie to come down. But when it was finished, there was still no sign of her. She wondered whether to go up and see if everything was all right, but she remembered that she’d promised not to crowd Billie all the time. So she went back to sit with the others, though she wasn’t altogether happy about it.
Predictably, the chat centred mostly around William – his habits, the little milestones he’d reached, how Georgia was already thinking about schooling and how he’d started to resemble Brett when he’d looked more like Georgia at first. And as another half hour passed this way, Zoe’s thoughts kept straying to Billie, who was still missing.
‘Do you need to go and check on her again?’ Emilia asked shrewdly.
Zoe got up. ‘I think I will, just in case…’
‘Just in case she needs you?’ Emilia finished. ‘I’m sure she would have called if she did.’
‘That’s the thing, I’m not sure she would. She’s determined to do things herself, which is great, except I can’t decide if that’s because she needs to be independent or because she thinks asking for help makes her a nuisance.Orshe just doesn’t have the bandwidth to express whatever is going on in her head. I won’t be a minute.’
She opened the living room door to the sound of claws tapping and scuffing on the kitchen floor, and Alex’s exasperated voice as he tried to get Grizzle to hold still while he took off his lead. So she took a detour to the kitchen.
‘Hey…’He looked up from his task. ‘Everything going well?’
‘Fine, but Billie’s still upstairs. She hasn’t come down the whole time you were out.’
