‘I thought you were going to pass out.’
‘I wasn’t…I’m fine. I’m just…I feel a bit off, that’s all. Tired. It’s been a long day. And I’m boiling – can you open the window?’
Alex did as he was asked. It didn’t seem to make a huge difference, and so Zoe pushed herself up and walked over to stand in the draught.
‘This happened the other day, didn’t it?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Don’t pretend. I saw this same thing the other morning, but I could tell you didn’t want anyone to notice, so I didn’t ask. I should have done. What’s going on?’
‘Nothing! Stop making a fuss. It’s only a funny turn – everyone has them sometimes. I’m probably overtired – things have been manic here lately, haven’t they?’
‘I suppose so,’ Alex said carefully. ‘Promise me if it happens again, you’ll see Emilia or Simon about it.’
‘Yes, but it won’t. It’s nothing, honestly.’
He looked unconvinced but then nodded. ‘Shall I bring your tea in here?’
‘I’ll come back through to the kitchen. I’m fine now. It’ll be postural hypotension or something.’
‘What’s that when it’s at home?’
‘Nothing for you to worry about…Come on – I need to have a word with Victor about something before he goes.’
3
Zoe arrived early at work the following day. After her strange turn, she’d recovered so fully it was as if nothing had happened, and she’d been able to fully indulge in the celebrations of Alex’s first big booking for his camping field. He’d watched her carefully, and though he’d tried to do it discreetly, she’d known. She’d taken him to one side and reassured him she was fine, though he’d taken some convincing, and the performance she’d given afterwards had been so good, she’d almost believed it herself.
That hadn’t stopped her from lying awake half the night worrying, although the more specific worries about her health became more general worries about everything, a nebulous beastie that lost all shape and yet was scarier for it. She’d always been a fit woman, counting herself lucky that, for the most part, her health was good. She could count on one hand the incidents of serious illness in her life. She couldn’t decide whether this new worry, set against that background, made her feel better or worse. It would pass, she’d tried to reassure herself as she lay next to a gently snoring Alex in the dark of their room, with onlythe sounds of a hunting owl out on the hills and Louisa waking for a feed to keep his slow breaths company.
This morning, she fully intended to have a quiet word with her boss, GP Emilia, to get her take on things, but as she walked through the main doors of the surgery, she was greeted with raucous laughter and a voice she hadn’t heard since she’d first come to Thimblebury.
‘Look who’s here!’ Lavender cried as she spotted Zoe. ‘Back from the wilderness!’
Ex-GP and founder of the Thimblebury practice Fliss Cheadle turned to greet Zoe with a broad smile. The worries that Zoe had arrived with weren’t going anywhere, but she’d have to set them aside until the disruption (happy though it might be) that Fliss’s arrival would cause had died down.
‘Wow!’ Zoe painted on a bright smile in return. ‘That’s one serious tan! Where did you get that? Or do I not want to know? Green doesn’t suit me, but if I hear about you sunning yourself on some beach in the Maldives, I might just turn that colour with envy.’
‘The beach was in Thailand, actually. And there might have been a few other beaches along the way. My intention isn’t to make you envious, but I have to admit, we’ve covered quite a bit of the globe since my retirement.’
‘As it should be.’ Lavender held Fliss in the fondest of gazes. Zoe had always been aware of how close they’d been as colleagues. ‘If you can’t see the world when you’ve finally finished working, when can you do it? We missed you like mad, but we’re so glad you’ve been having such an amazing time. I want to hear it all, everything about every country you’ve been to!’
Fliss let out a low chuckle. ‘I suspect that might require you to take a week off! There’s a lot to tell. Charles is threatening to put on a slide show with lecture notes at the village hall.’
‘I don’t blame him,’ Zoe said. While she wasn’t quite as eager as Lavender to hear all, she would have liked to spend more time chatting to Fliss, but she had a heavy workload waiting in her office. It didn’t help that the insidious undercurrent of worry was still pushing at her every thought.
‘So how are you?’ Fliss asked, and her sudden shrewdness reminded Zoe of what it had been like to work alongside her. No matter how gregarious, how eccentric and carefree she had pretended to be, she was always reading the room, always calculating, always assessing the mood of whoever she was with. And she was very good at it. Could she read Zoe’s current mood? Zoe had endeavoured to keep it hidden, but Fliss’s query was so loaded that she had to wonder. ‘I hear a lot has changed for you.’
‘That’s one way of putting it.’ Zoe forced that carefree smile again. Maybe Fliss could sense some tension within her, and maybe Zoe might like to confide in her old boss, but this wasn’t the time. Not here, not with so much work waiting for her, and certainly not in front of Lavender, who could spread news around the village faster than a carrier pigeon with a jet pack, and who wouldn’t concern herself over whether she ought to. ‘When did you get back?’
‘Yesterday. It was a long day of travelling, so we locked ourselves away, had a relaxing evening and a late sleep in this morning and finally felt able to venture out. I thought I’d pop over to see our old nurse, Gwen, after I’ve been here, and then perhaps Ottilie if she’s not too busy.’
‘I’m sure Ottilie would love to see you. Anthony is a lot easier now she’s got the hang of motherhood, and I think she’s craving some grown-up company more often than not.’
‘I can understand that. I’m very much looking forward to meeting Anthony, though.’
‘He’s so bonny!’ Lavender said. She was about to add to her statement when the door opened and Shabana, their maternitycover for Ottilie, walked in. She seemed confused for a moment before she bid Lavender and Zoe a good morning.
