‘I bet Magnus has had something to say about that,’ Alex said.
Victor laughed. ‘Oh, I’m sure!’
Zoe nudged Alex. ‘I wonder if that means he hasn’t had time to do your welcome packs?’
‘I suppose we’ll find out shortly. If not, I’ll have to take the bits and put them together myself. They won’t look as good as when Magnus does them, but they’ll do the job.’
‘Corrine would be happy to help, I’m sure,’ Victor said. ‘She’s right creative when it comes to things like that. I could ask her.’
‘That’s kind of you,’ Alex said, ‘but I wouldn’t bother her. I bet she’s got plenty to do already.’
‘How’s Fern, by the way?’ Zoe asked. ‘I meant to text her, but I forgot.’
‘She’s bright enough, happier now she’s seen you and you checked everything. She’s more worried about you than anything else.’
‘She shouldn’t be; she should be focusing on herself and the baby. I’ll phone her later when I get a minute.’
‘That’d be grand. Corrine will be glad to hear all’s well too. Anyway, I’d best be getting off. The vet’s coming to check on Dandelion.’
‘How’s she doing?’ Alex asked.
‘Smashing,’ Victor said with obvious pride. ‘She’s a lovely little thing, and she’ll be a lovely mum when the time comes.’
After another reassurance that Zoe would either call at the house or phone before the weekend was out, Victor left them. The sound of his engine had barely dissipated when Alex turned to Zoe with a look she could only describe as reproach.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you’d been ill at their house? When did this happen? When you went to see Fern?’
‘It was nothing. It wasn’t worth mentioning.’
‘It didn’t sound like nothing.’
‘It was. I got up too fast and came over dizzy. I was fine by the time I arrived back at the surgery, and when I got home you were busy, and it went out of my head.’
‘You came home in between. You were at Hilltop after you’d been at Daffodil. You’re saying you’d forgotten by then?’
‘No, but you were talking to Virginia, so I couldn’t say anything.’
‘Why not? All you had to do was interrupt and ask me for a quick word.’
‘Why would I do that?’
Zoe began to walk again, her face turned to the path ahead, afraid that if she looked him in the eyes, she’d crumble. Once again, she understood that there was an important conversation she needed to have with him, and she wanted to get it over and done with, but not like this.
‘Why wouldn’t you do that?’
‘Because you were talking to Virginia and it was something important. It would have been rude.’
‘I wouldn’t have thought that, not for a second.’
‘No, but Virginia would have done.’
‘She’s not like that.’
Zoe spun to face him. ‘How do you know? You haven’t seen her since you were, like, nineteen or something, so how do you know what she would have thought? You don’t know her at all, not now. At least, you shouldn’t.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing. I don’t know. It was…Forget it.’
