Page 67 of The Village Midwife
‘What are you going to do now I have your metal detector?’
‘I’m going to prod about with my big stick to see what I hit.’
‘Well, that sounds technical.’
‘You’re impressed, right? You must be.’
‘Oh yes.’ Zoe raised her eyebrows and nodded very deliberately. ‘Veryimpressed…’
‘You know, you gave me that same look Billie gives me when she thinks I’m being a total spanner. I don’t know what it is that all the women I know seem to think I’m an idiot.’
‘I’m sure she doesn’t,’ Zoe said with a smile.
‘If that’s the case, she has a funny way of showing it.’ He rubbed his hands together, surveying the ground he’d already dug. ‘I’ll start here. You go and pick a spot – I don’t think it matters where. Give it a sweep and see what you can find.’
‘How will I know if I’ve found something?’
‘Oh, you’ll know,’ he said with a grin. ‘You’ll be able to hear the alarm on that thing in Windermere when it goes off.’
Zoe wandered to a spot a few feet away that was still covered by wild grasses and began to move the detector back and forth, slowly and methodically. She had no clue what she was doing, but she suspected none of them really did so that was all right. In fact, it was funny.
She looked up to see Victor doing the same as her with his detector, a look of concentration on his face so serious and absorbed that it seemed faintly ridiculous. Alex wasn’t faring much better. He’d told her he’d poke about in the mud, and that was exactly what he was doing. He had a large rod and was prodding it into the soil at random intervals, waiting for a moment to see if he hit anything and then trying again in a different place when he didn’t. After ten minutes, despite working in silence, none of them had hit anything at all.
‘Well, this is a thrill a minute, isn’t it?’ Alex said, looking up.
‘You said you had no patience, but I thought you’d last a bit longer,’ Zoe said, taking off one of her earphones to listen to him.
‘Did I say that?’
Victor looked up and noticed them talking and then took off his headphones too. ‘Who’s got the flask?’
‘Not me,’ Zoe said. ‘I was a last-minute addition, and I didn’t know I needed to bring a flask.’
‘Neither did I,’ Alex said.
‘Hopeless,’ Victor said and then took one from his bag. ‘Only two cups, I’m afraid, because I didn’t know I’d need more, but if someone doesn’t mind sharing…’
‘You have a drink first,’ Alex said to Zoe. ‘I don’t mind wiping out the cup and using it again afterwards.’
‘Is there some of Corrine’s cake?’ Zoe asked, taking a drink from Victor.
‘Of course there is – what do you take me for? Ginger or lemon drizzle?’
‘Oooh, lemon, please!’ Zoe held out her hand, and Victor put a small parcel in it. ‘Thank you! And thank you, Corrine. How do you stay so slim, married to the world’s best baker?’
‘I must walk it off. Corrine says it’s black magic, the amount I eat in a day.’
‘I think she’s right.’
‘Cake?’ Victor asked Alex.
‘I’m getting some too? I’ll take whatever’s going – don’t want to deprive anyone of their favourite.’
‘There’s plenty to go round,’ Victor said, handing another wrapped slice to Alex before digging in the bag for his own and sitting on a mound of earth to unwrap it.
The mug was hot but comforting in Zoe’s hands as she sipped at her tea and munched on her cake, gazing out over the landscape.
‘I could do this every day,’ Alex said as he stood at her side and followed her gaze. ‘It’s funny, when I bought Hilltop, it was a pure business decision. It was the right place for the right priceat the right time. But since I arrived here, I’ve started to get attached to it in a way I never expected.’
