‘Why, are you missing me already?’
‘No,’ she said with a smile that almost took more effort than she could spare. ‘I just want to know how much peace and quiet I’m allowed to have before you start to hassle me.’
‘Maybe an hour,’ he said. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can.’
‘Don’t rush on my account. I’ll see you when I see you – I’m just going to phone Ottilie, catch up with her.’
‘Right…’ He went back to his laptop. ‘Say hello from me, won’t you?’
Zoe went downstairs. While the kettle boiled, she dialled Ottilie’s number. It rang out for so long before Ottilie finally answered that Zoe was about to give up, but then she heard her friend’s voice, tired and strained and sounding as if she’d rushed to get to her phone.
‘Zoe…’ she said. ‘Hello, how did it go? Have you managed to sort things?’
‘Not exactly. I mean, I’m still working on it.’
‘But you went to see your dad?’
‘He wasn’t there. I spoke to Chantal.’
‘And?’
‘Well, she needs some time. It will be sorted, don’t worry. How’s Heath? What happened at the accident unit?’
‘He’s all right, nothing broken, as Simon thought. He had to have his lip glued, and he’s got some nasty bruising, but he’ll be fine. Just won’t be entering any Mr Universe contests for a while.’
‘Have you…?’ Zoe took a breath. ‘How’s his mood?’
‘How you’d expect it to be, but he’s calmed down a lot from earlier today.’
‘And have you thought any more about reporting it?’
‘Heath has cooled on the idea a bit – I think he’s realised what he’d have to go through, giving witness statements and stuff and that he might end up looking a bit guilty too. Flo, on the other hand, is adamant. She was all for phoning the police as soon as we left the surgery. I talked her down, told her you’d deal with things and there’d be no need, but honestly, if she sees Lennon in the village again and realises nothing has changed, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop her.’
Zoe chewed on her lip, distracted, finally, by the sound of the kettle clicking off as it boiled. This was running out of her control. She’d been silly to imagine she could deal with it alone.
‘I’m sorry,’ Ottilie said into the gap. ‘I’m doing my best, but with this and the Stacey thing…sooner or later he’ll upset more people, and then it’s going to blow. I can’t do anything about that.’
‘I know,’ Zoe said. ‘I understand. I’m just trying to work out how to deal with it. But I will, I promise. Give me a few more days.’
‘Look, I hate to make life difficult for you. You’re my friend, and that’s the last thing I’d want. I have no issues with you doing what you need to do; I’m only warning you that other people might not be so patient.’
‘You’re right. I’ll try again tomorrow, with my dad this time. In fact…’ She paused as an idea occurred to her. ‘Chantal said he wanted to do dinner, but maybe I’ll do dinner here. Invite only those two and not Lennon, and see if I can’t get a minute to talk to Dad then.’
‘Does Alex know?’
‘Not yet,’ Zoe said. ‘But I think I need to tell him, don’t I?’
‘It’s your call. Keep me posted, won’t you? I have to go – got to feed Anthony.’
‘No problem. I will. Bye, Ott.’
Ottilie ended the call, and Zoe put her phone down as she went to make her tea. The time was right to come clean with Alex, she just didn’t know how to do it without making things worse.
Zoe woke the next morning frustrated with herself. The previous evening had been taken up with discussions about the camping field, Billie and Louisa, future work plans for Billie and when shewas going to get in touch with Maisie, and so many other topics that Zoe hadn’t felt able to interrupt. Even when Billie eventually took Louisa off to bed and announced that she was going to go to sleep too, which ought to have given Zoe the perfect opportunity to speak to Alex about the Lennon problem, the right moment didn’t seem to present itself.
This morning, Zoe had to wonder if the right moment had been there but she’d been too chicken to seize it. As it was, a new work day was due to start, and she hadn’t said a word. Later, she told herself, she’d have to do it later for sure because they had a busy weekend planned. And she’d have to make time to see her dad too, though that was another source of dread.
Lavender was settling at the reception desk when Zoe walked in. ‘I was going to say that I hoped for less drama today,’ she said, barely looking up. ‘But then I had to show someone to your room. She’s in there now, waiting to talk to you, and a bit of a state. Thought I’d better warn you.’
