Zoe laughed. ‘So I can expect it in about 2040? Can’t wait!’
‘I need to check on the joint,’ Alex said, laughing himself as he went to the oven.
Zoe picked up where he’d left off setting the table, the warm, herby smell of roasting pork and apples on the air. She’d wondered if it was too rustic an offering for Virginia, who seemed to have far more cosmopolitan tastes, but Alex had reassured her that she’d always loved a roast dinner as a young woman when she’d come to his parents’ house, and so she’d been reassured that even if she didn’t eat roast pork now, perhaps it would be a welcome hit of nostalgia to eat it today with them. She was keen now to hear more about their past, partly to show her support for the friendship and her trust in Alex, and partly because she was genuinely interested. To see them both now, she couldn’t imagine how Virginia and Alex had become a couple because they seemed to have very little in common. She wondered if that meant Virginia had changed a lot since then or whether there were hidden depths that Zoe was about to discover.
The sound of a text pinged on Alex’s phone. He went to check and then grinned as he strode to the door. ‘V is outside. Typical of her to text before she knocks on the door. Not sure what she thinks might be going on in here that she has to warn us she’s arrived.’
He opened up. Virginia was walking up to the house with a bouquet of flowers, far bigger and brighter than the modest peonies Zoe had set on the table.
After greeting them all, she handed the flowers to Zoe.
‘Thank you – that’s so kind.’
‘You’re welcome.’ She sniffed the air as Zoe took the flowers to the sink. ‘It smells great in here. I do believe we’re having a roast dinner? I can’t remember the last time I had Sunday roast…must be at least three years ago. Probably a Mother’s Day or something.’
Zoe frowned. ‘You don’t…Oh!’ She smiled. ‘Mother’s Day foryourmum?’
‘Yes,’ Virginia said briskly as she took the seat Alex had just pulled out for her. ‘Although we’re not on the best of terms at the moment so we haven’t done the Mother’s Day thing for a while now.’
Zoe wasn’t sure if she was meant to ask what had happened, but when Virginia took the wine from the table and began to explain to Alex that there was another version of this grape she found superior and better value and that he ought to try it out, she decided that they’d moved on from the subject. Perhaps more would come out later. She knew Virginia was divorced fairly recently, but apart from that fact, even Alex didn’t know much more about how the marriage ended or the exact timescale. Or so he’d said. Zoe was trying hard to trust him, and she hated that there remained remnants of the doubt that had plagued her over the last few weeks, but sometimes she was still visited by it. Was he telling her just enough to keep the peace,enough to stop her digging for uncomfortable truths? Or did he really not know? Was he covering up a flirtation, even if it had only been on Virginia’s part, for fear of what feelings it might rake up in Zoe?
Billie fastened Louisa into a bouncy chair, but as soon as she did, the little girl started to complain. Billie rolled her eyes and took her out again. ‘I was going to help, but Louisa has other ideas apparently. I can’t do anything at the moment without having her attached to me.’
‘It’s a phase; I’m sure it will pass,’ Zoe said. ‘Want me to take her for a minute?’
‘But you’re busy.’
‘I think we’re almost done here, to be honest…’ She glanced at Alex, who nodded.
‘Go ahead. I can manage everything else.’
‘Then if there’s nothing to do, there’s no point in handing her over,’ Billie said. Then she looked at Virginia. ‘Would you like to hold her for a while?’
Virginia’s expression might have suggested to a casual observer that Billie had just offered to put a live wasp nest onto her lap. She shook her head. ‘I’m not very good with children, I’m afraid.’
‘That’s all right,’ Billie said. ‘Neither am I. But you can get used to them.’
‘I have this effect,’ Virginia said, reaching for the wine Alex had poured for her. ‘It’s sort of the opposite of baby whispering. If I so much as look at a baby for too long, they start to scream.’
‘Louisa isn’t like that,’ Billie said. ‘I mean, Dad looks at her all the time, and she doesn’t bat an eye.’
Alex laughed. ‘Thanks!’
‘No problem.’ Billie took Louisa to the table and sat down with her.
Virginia peered at the little girl and then looked up at Billie. ‘She’s very cute.’
‘Of course she is,’ Alex said. ‘She’s my granddaughter.’
Virginia sat back, appraising him with a wry smile. ‘Grandad Alex. Who would have thought? If you’d asked me way back when, I’d have said it was a crazy idea, and yet you were always very fond of children. I don’t know why I’m surprised now. In fact, I ought to be surprised you’re not surrounded by them, that you only had one. But then, I suppose it might be difficult to have more now, mightn’t it?’
Zoe was halfway to the table with a jug of water. She froze and glanced up at Alex. What did Virginia mean by that?
‘Dinner’s ready!’ he announced in a loud voice. ‘Zoe, could you get the potatoes out? I hope everyone’s hungry because there’s absolutely loads!’
The kitchen was suddenly a whirl of activity.
‘This smells amazing!’ Alex continued as he got the meat from the oven. ‘This is Billie’s recipe,’ he added to Virginia.
