‘Maybe you’ve caught the bug that’s going around,’ Fern said as she came in and put a glass of water into Zoe’s hand.
‘That might be it,’ Zoe said, recognising the look of scepticism in Corrine’s eyes. ‘I hope not; I don’t want to be giving it to my mums.’
‘Maybe you should stay home when you go back to Hilltop,’ Corrine said. ‘Get some rest – you obviously need it.’
Zoe nodded, though she had no intention of doing that. She only wanted Corrine to stop worrying.
As she sipped her water, she threw a rueful glance at the cabinet. ‘I feel terrible about the damage. There must be something I can do to make amends.’
‘Please don’t worry about it. There’s nothing valuable in there, and it really is time I had a clear-out anyway. You’ve accidentally decided what I’m keeping and what I’m getting rid of, that’s all.’
Zoe didn’t believe any of that for a second, but as bad as she felt about the damage, there was nothing she could do about it. She resolved to get a good look at the things she’d broken before she left and scour the internet later to see if she could find replacements, but even as she did, it occurred to her that the pieces in Corrine’s cabinet might have had sentimental value too. In which case, no replacement would do. The thought made Zoe feel even worse about what she’d done.
Once she’d finished her glass of water, she stood up, relieved to find she was now steady again and her temperature had dropped.
‘Will you be all right driving?’ Corrine asked as she walked with her to the door.
‘I feel much better now,’ Zoe said, though the same thought was nesting in the back of her own mind. If she kept on having these moments, would she be able to continue driving? And if she couldn’t drive, would she be able to work? She tried not to let the notion overwhelm her because she was stressed enough as it was. If these episodes were something to do with the diagnosis that she was currently striving to confirm and address, then perhaps they would pass once she could get some kind oftreatment in place. She had to hold on to that hope because her future looked vastly different and a lot sadder without it.
After reassuring Corrine and Fern once more, Zoe got into her car. She took a deep breath, sent a smile their way and then swallowed back tears as she drove over to Hilltop.
When she opened the door, she could hear laughter from upstairs. It sounded like Alex, and it was almost certainly coming from his office. Zoe held back a frown as she took off her coat. She was still delicate from her recent mishap at Daffodil Farm, and so she took it steadily as she went upstairs to see.
He was sitting at his desk, laptop open, fully dressed and hair brushed, and a far cry from the state Zoe had left him in that morning. He and Virginia were on a video call.
At Zoe’s entrance, he swung round. ‘Oh…I wasn’t expecting you…Everything all right?’
‘I was about to ask you the same thing…I thought…’ She glanced at Virginia, who probably couldn’t see she was there but would be able to hear her. ‘I thought, as you were so ill this morning, I’d come to see how you were. But I can see you’re a lot better,’ she added stiffly.
‘You didn’t say you were ill,’ Virginia said.
‘Oh…’ He turned back to the screen. ‘There’s a bug going round. I didn’t feel well this morning.’
‘Ah, man flu,’ Virginia teased, and to Zoe’s annoyance, he laughed again.
‘I suppose that’ll be it.’
‘You should have said,’ Virginia added. ‘I’d have called back another day if you weren’t up to the meeting.’
‘It’s all right. I had some paracetamol, and I’m in full working order for as long as they last.’
Zoe paused, waiting for him to speak to her again, but when Virginia started to explain something and he became engrossed in it, she realised he wasn’t going to. So she shut the door, with more force than perhaps was polite, and went downstairs to get her things.
Billie was in the kitchen this time, trying to make a sandwich with one hand as she held Louisa, Grizzle at her heels. The dog came over to Zoe and licked her hand before going back to Billie and settling on the floor beside her.
‘You could put Louisa down for a minute,’ Zoe said.
Billie shrugged. ‘She’s being fussy today and I don’t have the patience.’
‘She’s probably still feeling under the weather,’ Zoe replied. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m under the weather too, but I’m better than I was. Dad looked rough this morning. He got a hot drink and then went back to bed. I haven’t seen him since.’
‘He’s out of bed now,’ Zoe said tersely.
‘Yeah, I heard him talking to Virginia.’
There was a brief, charged silence, as if Billie wanted to say something and she wasn’t sure how it would be received. There were things Zoe wanted to say too, but she at least had enough rationale to recognise they were reactive and unhelpful things, based on mild suspicions and unfounded jealousy, and that both of those things were coming from a place of insecurity. Once she got some closure on her current worries, and once things had settled with the business, those feelings would disappear…wouldn’t they? Zoe had never been the jealous type, and she’d always had enough self-respect to walk away from a relationship that made her feel second best, so it was hard to understand what was going on here.
