‘Zoe…this is Virginia. She’s a solicitor.’
‘Oh…’ Zoe managed to relax into a smile, though she knew instinctively that a solicitor was not all Virginia was to Alex.
‘And an old friend.’ Virginia prodded him playfully. ‘Or is a solicitor all I am to you nowadays?’ She got up to offer Zoe a perfectly manicured hand. ‘You must be Zoe…Alex has been telling me all about you.’ She ran a curious gaze over her. ‘Have you come straight from work? You’re a nurse, aren’t you?’
‘Midwife,’ Zoe said. ‘And yes, I have. I live here now…as I’m sure Alex has mentioned. I always come straight from work when I’ve been to work.’
‘A midwife?’ Virginia didn’t respond to Zoe’s frosty correction. ‘I’m sure that must be so rewarding. I was never much interested in having children. If Alex and I hadn’t split up when we did, I’m sure we would have done sooner or later because he always wanted a child…didn’t you, Alex? Even when you were a young man who ought to have been more interested in having adventures. And then you met Jennifer, who was so obviously far more suited to you than I ever was.’ She turned to Zoe. ‘And now he has you. I suppose you two will be making lovely babies before too long…’
And there it was – the killer punch to the gut. Had this woman been sent armed with supernatural powers to hit every single nerve Zoe had? It was like she’d been given a dossier of all her worst fears and told to come and do as much damage as possible.
‘So you and Alex dated?’
‘For about a year, as I recall…’ Virginia turned to him. ‘It was a year, wasn’t it?’
‘Thirteen and a half months.’
Zoe turned sharply to him. Who gave timescales like that unless the timescale in question had really mattered to them? He’d been in love with her? Who’d ended things? Zoe would put money on it being Virginia’s doing. She wasn’t the sort of woman who got dumped.
‘He’s never mentioned you,’ Zoe said, her tone full of caution and a confusion that wasn’t getting any better.
Virginia laughed. ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t. Why would he tell you stories about his old flames? I’m sure I wouldn’t either. Well, here I am and very pleased to meet you. It’s funny what comes out of the blue, isn’t it? A phone call on an unremarkable morning and a couple of hours later you’re sitting in a farmhouse in the Lake District with a man you haven’t seen for close to thirty years. It seems like fate that I didn’t have much work on today, or I might not have been able to come at all.’
‘Oh, your boss must be very understanding even so,’ Zoe said.
‘She is…’ Virginia’s eyes twinkled with mischief as she ran a hand down herself. ‘You’re looking at her. It’s my law firm.’
‘That’s…’Game, set and match. Zoe pushed a smile across her face. ‘Well, that’s very cool. Is it…are you very busy?’
‘Busy enough,’ Virginia said.
‘You want some wine?’ Alex asked.
Zoe shook her head. She wanted to tell him no, she didn’t want wine before six in the evening and ordinarily neither would he. She wanted to remind him that their thing now was to sit and chat over tea and maybe even go out for a walk with Billie and Louisa before they cooked and settled down for the evening, and that she’d thought he liked things that way. But that would have sounded petty and jealous, which would have been ridiculous, and rightly so. Just because there was a beautiful, successful, probably rich ex in his kitchen right now, it didn’t mean Zoe could go full green-eyed monster. Frankly, if Zoe had beenwatching anyone else she knew acting like this, she’d have taken them aside and given them a stern talking-to. It wasn’t like her.
‘Where’s Billie?’
‘She’s keeping out of the way – trying not to give her flu to anyone.’
Zoe glanced at Virginia, who didn’t seem troubled by the revelation that the house was infected, so presumably already knew and was happy to be there regardless. How Billie might have felt about the arrival of her dad’s ex – if she knew about any of that – was something Zoe would find out later, she supposed.
‘I’m looking forward to getting to know her,’ Virginia said. ‘She sounds remarkable…and, of course, a chip off the old block.’
‘I don’t think she’s that much like you,’ Zoe said to Alex. ‘More like Jennifer…at least you always say so.’
‘She is,’ Alex agreed. ‘More resourceful than I ever was. Smarter too.’
‘Now then…’ Virginia wagged a finger at him. ‘You’re doing yourself a disservice. I always thought you were more intelligent than you did.’
‘Intelligent, maybe, but smart…that’s Billie. She’s the one who kept my head above water after I lost Jennifer. Without her…’
Alex’s sentence dissipated like smoke on the breeze – Zoe could almost see it lose form as it sailed into the distance. The smile he gave them both now was far too bright. Zoe didn’t know if Virginia was well acquainted with his struggles after his wife had died, but Zoe was. She knew that although he was able to talk about it, he felt the pain keenly if he stopped long enough to remember what it was like.
‘I should go and look in on her and Louisa,’ Zoe said. She wasn’t sure whether she was wanted here or not because Alex hadn’t told her why Virginia was there. He’d announced that shewas a solicitor, and in light of what had happened at the camping field, Zoe had to assume her presence was something to do with that, but Alex had never mentioned contacting her. He hadn’t even mentioned her existence, so to find this, frankly, perfect woman in his kitchen was something Zoe could never have seen coming, and it certainly didn’t help that they’d once been an item.
‘Have some wine with us,’ Virginia said with such ease that a casual observer would think they were inherhouse.
‘It’s a bit early for me,’ Zoe said.
