‘Louisa’s keeping me awake as well.’
‘It doesn’t matter, I’m managing to keep myself awake at the moment. Anyway, she barely wakes at night, does she?’ Zoeshrugged. ‘What I meant was that Billie must feel as if we’re under her feet. At least,I’munder her feet.’
‘This again…’ His smile faded. ‘How many times, Zoe? She loves having you there.’
‘I can’t help feeling as if I’ve blown in and disrupted her home life.’
‘Well, you haven’t. If anything, you’ve made it better. You know’ – his smile was back as he started to take cleaning products from one of the boxes – ‘the other day she asked me if we’d talked about getting married.’
‘Did she? What brought that on?’
‘I don’t know, but it wasn’t because she was worried about the possibility. She was asking because she thinks it’s a good idea, which means she thinks having you at Hilltop is also a good idea. I happen to agree with her.’
‘You know I love being there. I only meant?—’
‘Actually, I meant the marriage bit.’
Zoe stared at him, unable to speak for a few beats. As he flushed and went back to his box, she realised how that must have looked. She hadn’t meant to make him believe her feelings on the matter were negative, but he’d taken her by surprise. Of course she’d thought about it, but she’d been certain that if he’d thought about it, he’d have come to the same conclusion that she had – that it was too soon to consider that kind of commitment. Besides, as far as she could tell, moving in was commitment enough. Perhaps the difference in their situations, she realised with startling suddenness, was that her first marriage had ended by choice and she’d been burned by that, where his first marriage had been ended by a tragedy, and so it was natural he’d have a more positive outlook on the business.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said quickly. ‘I didn’t mean to look so shocked – it’s just that I hadn’t realised you’d given it any thought.’
He looked up from his box. ‘Haven’t you?’
‘As much as anyone in a new relationship thinks about that kind of thing. I mean, I’ve wondered whether it might be in our future, but I…’
She let the sentence trail away. She’d hurt his feelings – she could tell by the way he now tried to laugh it off.
‘I mean…’ he said, going back to his task, ‘you can hardly blame me for wanting to marry you…I’d be mad not to tie you down because who else would be daft enough to spend their weekends cleaning little hobbit houses with me?’
‘I thought it might be something like that,’ she said, trying to make light of it too, but no amount of jokes would persuade her that the matter didn’t now hang in the air between them. She wondered whether it would be better to attack it head-on and clear it away, or whether, if she left well alone, it would simply drift off by itself.
The question was still buzzing around in her head as she opened up a box and pulled out a square of fabric. ‘Cute as these are, I’m not sure curtains are a good idea.’
‘Why not?’
‘They might get damp and go mouldy.’
‘I suppose we could keep an eye on them. If that starts to happen, we’ll have to take them down and go to plan B.’
‘Which is?’
‘Not a clue. I just thought the pods would be nice dressed up…it might make them more homely.’
‘You’re right, that’s a great idea. I was only wondering if it’s practical. Maybe go for some blinds or something that we can wipe down.’
‘See, that sort of common sense is why I need you!’ Straightening up, he took the fabric from her and let it open out. ‘But I’ve got thirty pairs of these now, so I might as well put them up.’
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m honestly not trying to rain on your parade. I’ll shut up.’
‘I don’t want you to shut up. I’m glad of your input.’
They were silent for a moment. Zoe dug a bag of hooks from another box and started to attach them to the curtains.
‘It was good to see Billie going to visit Maisie,’ she said after a moment.
‘Really good,’ he agreed. ‘It feels like progress, doesn’t it?’
‘It does. It’s good for Maisie too – they’re good for one another…I mentioned to Billie last night that Maisie was probably going to join the parent and baby group in the village, hoping it might make her reconsider. She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either.’
