Page 5 of The Village Midwife
Ottilie pushed open the gate and led the way up the path. ‘You’d know better than me. I’ve hardly got my finger on the pulse these days. I’m reliably informed by my friend’s daughter that I’m like a boomer. And I don’t think she means that as a compliment.’
Zoe grinned. ‘Oh dear. Are we already at the age where people under twenty think we’re ancient?’
Ottilie twisted a key into the front door and pushed it open. ‘Probably, although don’t forget I’m a few years older. Compared to me, staring my fortieth birthday in the face, you’re a spring chicken.’
Zoe laughed lightly. ‘I don’t feel like one! And it’s only two years’ difference, and you’re not that close to forty!’
‘Oh well, then welcome to the club. Keeping up with trends is exhausting anyway – who needs it?’
‘I’m with you there.’ Zoe wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh God, we really are old now!’
‘I think we might be getting there!’
Zoe followed Ottilie into the hallway and took in the polished wooden stairs with brass rods and the strip of floral carpet running up them. The walls were a delicate pink, and there were flowers standing in a vase on a display table, and Zoe was warmed by the instant homeliness. ‘This is lovely!’
‘Thanks,’ Ottilie said. ‘I like it. Come on – we’ll make a pit stop to refresh and refuel, and then I’ll give you the guided tour. Is it tomorrow you’re scheduled to go and chat to Fliss?’
‘Yes, she said to go at lunch.’
‘Don’t have your dinner then; I expect she wants to feed you.’
Zoe shrugged off her jacket. ‘That’ll be a first. I’ve never been to a job interview where I’ve been fed.’
‘It’s hardly going to be an interview at all. Between you and me, I think she’s already decided she wants you working at the surgery. The ball is in your court, really – it’s whether you want us that’s the million-dollar question.’
‘She’s never met me.’
‘Her exact words were: “If Ottilie thinks she’s all right, then I’m sure she’ll be all right. I’ve got better things to do than read from an approved list of questions and listen to answers I couldn’t give a fig about.” And that pretty much sums her up.’
‘I don’t know whether to be flattered or worried.’
‘I wouldn’t be either. Fliss is just that practical. She’s got no time for what she sees as pointless protocols. She wants to know if you’re personable and you’re able to do the job, not where you see yourself in five years and what your worst and best traits are. I told her you were lovely and more than capable of doing the job. You can thank me on your first day.’
‘IfI join the team.’
‘Yes.’ Ottilie grinned as she took her own coat off. ‘I keep forgetting about that little word.’
‘But I do appreciate you having my back.’
‘I’d say that’s what friends are for, et cetera, but I do have an ulterior motive. If I can have you look after me during my pregnancy, that would make me very happy. I think a lot of the other local mums-to-be will feel the same when they meet you.’
‘You’re not going to parade me around the village for every pregnant woman to inspect, are you?’
‘It had crossed my mind.’
3
There was a knock at the front door as Zoe got settled at the kitchen table. Ottilie raised her eyebrows. ‘That’ll be Flo.’
‘I don’t mind if you want to ask her in.’
‘I know you don’t, but I ought to warn you to brace yourself anyway.’
Zoe watched Ottilie leave the room. Next, she heard voices at the door, and then Ottilie returned a minute later. The woman who followed her in was short and slender but with surprisingly dark hair for a woman in her eighties, and she looked far from the stereotypical frail old lady. And when she turned her attention to Zoe, she gave the impression that if Zoe chose to tangle with her, she’d always come out worst off.
‘Oh,’ Flo said, giving her a quick once-over. She looked at Ottilie. ‘She’s young to be bringing bairns into the world, isn’t she? Barely out of the cot herself.’
‘I’m older than I look,’ Zoe said. ‘But I’ll take it as a compliment.’
