Zoe glanced at Chantal, and this time she saw in her stepmother’s eyes that their previous meeting was absolutely on her mind. What was Chantal silently asking from Zoe? For her not to spill the beans on the real reason Lennon had a black eye? Or was she daring her to try, ready to back her brother to the hilt?
Then she looked at Alex and saw scepticism in his face. It was so subtle that only she, who knew him better than her dad and Chantal, would recognise it, but it was there. He was no fool – he knew Lennon hadn’t walked into a tree.
‘How long is Lennon going to be staying?’ Zoe asked.
‘We’re not sure yet,’ Chantal said. ‘He needs to get some things sorted out before he can go home.’
‘So he’s got a place of his own? In Manchester?’
‘Salford,’ Chantal said. ‘It’s sort of his. He shares it with his girlfriend, but they’re…well, they have some things to work through.’
I’ll bet, Zoe thought. She wondered how his girlfriend would feel if she learned about his attempts to get with every female he came into contact with. Then again, perhaps that was one of the issues they were meant to be working through. Zoe couldn’t see much effort being put in by Lennon if that was the case. As far as she could tell, all he’d done was relocate to continue his philandering away from anyone who could catch him out.
‘I suppose the extra money helps, though,’ Zoe added.
‘What money?’
‘The money he must be giving you towards the rent.’
‘He’s family,’ Nigel said. ‘We wouldn’t take money from family – you know that, Zoe.’
So, a cushy, free number, with as much tail as he could chase. No wonder Lennon didn’t want to leave. Zoe forced a smile. ‘I only wondered because things are expensive these days. Not to mention you’ve just paid for a wedding, and you have a baby on the way.’
‘I’m doing all right, don’t you worry,’ Nigel said. ‘The place back in Manchester is bringing in a nice chunk every month – more than the rent on Kestrel Cottage. You wouldn’t believe the going rate on a house there these days. And the wedding is all on the credit card. More than one credit card, actually, but out of sight out of mind, eh? We’ll manage – don’t be rushing over with food parcels just yet.’
‘Right,’ Zoe said. ‘I suppose he must miss Manchester, though? He’d have lots of friends there?’
Chantal’s expression darkened at the mention of friends. She smoothed it over quickly, but not before Zoe had noticed. There was more going on here than her new stepmother was letting on.
‘He doesn’t seem all that bothered,’ Nigel said. ‘It’s quiet here for him, but he goes on his wanderings with Gunner, and that seems to keep him out of trouble.’
At this, Alex and Zoe shared a look. And then she realised that Chantal had seen it. This was painful. She’d just got to like Chantal, and now this business with her brother was threatening to ruin everything they’d worked so hard to build.
‘I’m going to see if Billie wants to bring Louisa down.’ Alex got up from the table.
‘We’d love to see her, wouldn’t we?’ Chantal asked Nigel. ‘We were only saying that on the way over. We’ve been meaning to call for days, but we weren’t sure if Billie would be up to visitors.’
‘She’s been very tired,’ Zoe said as Alex left the room. ‘She hasn’t been much up to anything. Louisa is waking a lot during the night at the moment.’
‘I’m sure you and Alex are helping where you can,’ Nigel said.
‘To a certain extent, but she doesn’t want to burden us. She knows we both have work to do during the day. I’ve told her we’re more than happy to get involved, even take the odd night feed off her, but she hasn’t asked yet.’
As the conversation turned more generally to babies and how difficult adjusting to life with a newborn might be, Zoe was relieved it had been steered onto more even ground. Still, she could feel the ripples beneath the surface, of things she and Chantal had both been thinking but neither had said. They couldn’t carry on like this. But when Alex came back to the kitchen alone, her thoughts were carried elsewhere.
‘She’s not really in a state to come down right now,’ he said. ‘She sends her apologies but, you know, she feels a bit scruffy, and she’d rather come to chat next time, when she has a bit of warning you’re coming.’
‘Couldn’t you bring Louisa down?’ Chantal asked.
At this, Alex shifted from foot to foot, glancing at Zoe as if silently asking her to tell him what to say. She guessed that Billie hadn’t been willing to come down, but she had been even less willing to let Louisa out of her sight. Alex, rightly, hadn’t pushed it, but there was still an awkward excuse to find.
‘She’s sleeping. I didn’t want to get her out of the cot in case that woke her up.’
‘Oh.’ Chantal looked disappointed. ‘Maybe I could just pop my head in and look at her in her cot?’
Zoe stepped in. ‘Not right now. If Billie’s not feeling her best, then perhaps we should leave it at that. We’ve got plans to take Louisa out for her first walk on the fields tomorrow – we’ll pop by Kestrel Cottage and let you meet her then if that’s all right.’
‘That sounds great!’ Nigel said. He smiled at Chantal, who seemed suddenly less certain.
