Page 112 of The Village Midwife
‘I wouldn’t exactly put it like that, but in the circumstances, do you really think we can date?’
‘No, I realise that. I didn’t mean it that way. I know it’s not the time to talk about it, but I hope it doesn’t mean we can’t still be friendly. We live next door, after all.’
‘Next door and a few fields?’
‘Exactly.’
‘I was never planning on holding a grudge anyway.’ Zoe’s phone began to ring. She took the call and listened for a minute, nodding and agreeing every so often. And then she put her phone down and looked at an expectant Alex. ‘They’re going to keep Billie in for a couple of days. She’s fine; they want to keep her under observation. There was a minor abruption – really minor – and if she rests, it should seal back up. You can go down to see her now if you want to.’
He heaved a deep sigh. ‘Thank God! Yes, I’ll go. Are you coming?’
‘I’ll only get in the way. I can wait here and give you a lift back to Hilltop if you like.’
‘You don’t want to see her?’
‘Of course I do. But I don’t think me being there is going to help right now. And I think you two might have a lot to talk about. If you want to be close at hand, you can stay for the night. They’d be able to sort that out for you.’
‘I think I will,’ he said, grasping both her hands in his and squeezing them. ‘Thank you for everything. I don’t know what we would have done without you.’
Zoe showed him the way to the ward where Billie was being kept. She watched him hurry in, wondering whether to go with him after all, but she decided that her initial reaction was the right one: this was a moment for just the two of them.
Deep in thought, she turned away and left them to it.
30
‘You look shattered!’ Ottilie cast a critical eye over Zoe as she walked into the surgery kitchen to put the bottle of milk she’d fetched in the fridge. Ottilie was making a tray of coffees. ‘Here,’ she said, handing one over. ‘Better have yours black.’
‘I’m fine, just had a late one.’
‘Oh…?’ Ottilie paused.
Zoe looked at her. ‘What? What does that mean?’
‘Nothing.’
‘I wasn’t partying, if that’s what you mean. Billie Fitzgerald had a fall last night. I went over to see if she was all right and ended up having to drive her to the hospital.’
‘Of course you had to go,’ Ottilie said wryly. ‘Couldn’t possibly leave it to the people who were actually on shift.’
‘A bit like you then,’ Zoe fired back with a tired grin.
‘Rumbled. Is she all right?’
‘She’s fine. They’re keeping her in for a couple of days, but it will be all right. Alex stayed up there with her, so I came straight home, but it was still early hours by the time I got to sleep.’
‘At least it wasn’t anything to do with Ritchie. I thought he might have been hassling you again.’
‘No, it wasn’t. I haven’t heard from him since he texted me about the house. Which reminds me, I still have that mess to sort out at some point, as if I don’t have enough to do.’
‘Just like Flo to get it wrong,’ Ottilie continued as she stirred milk into the drinks. ‘She came rushing round last night saying she’d seen his car going through the village. I don’t know how she was so sure it was Ritchie’s, but she was adamant. She said she’d seen him get back into it when he left the village celebrations. Said there was some sticker or other in the window she recognised. Honestly, that woman’s life is an unrealised police career.’
‘It’s funny Flo should say that,’ Zoe said slowly as she began to piece things together. ‘Alex couldn’t take Billie to the hospital last night because all his tyres had been let down. Deliberately. He thought it was something to do with a pissed-off villager, but…’
‘You think it might have been Ritchie?’
‘It’s such a stupid, pointless, childish thing to do…’
‘Sounds like him then.’ Zoe frowned, and Ottilie shrugged. ‘Come on – you’re not still trying to pretend he’s ever been anything but a spoiled kid in a man’s body, surely? After the way he behaved last weekend? What are you going to do?’
