Page 55 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘I don’t know about any of you,’ she said very deliberately, ‘but I’m going to get my hands on some of those sesame chicken skewers before they all go.’
Heath gawped. ‘They have sesame chicken? On skewers? Sign me up! Where?’
Ottilie laughed. ‘Come on – let’s go and see what’s on offer. We can pick this up later when we’ve got Alex a bit drunker.’
‘Give us a minute and we’ll be there,’ Zoe called as Ottilie and Heath walked away. Then she turned to Alex. ‘Do you want to tell me? I mean, you don’t have to, but…’
‘I don’t mind telling you because it’s about your friend.’
‘Which one?’
‘Georgia. Well, actually, it was her husband I saw. Sitting on the bench by the old phone box. He had no coat on and…well, it’s brass monkeys, isn’t it? So I went to see if he was all right. He seemed a bit…worse for wear, to put it politely. Slurring all over the place and a hell of a cut on the side of his head.’
‘And was he all right? What did you do?’
‘He told me to piss off and mind my own business.’ Alex rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘I can’t help feeling now that I should have insisted on getting him home, but at the time I was like, fine, I’ll get out of your face then. Should I have done more? I’m worried now he’s not all right. Even as I’m telling you, I’mthinking I might go and see if he’s still there and, if he is, take him home.’
‘I’m glad you told me because when I went over earlier, something was going on. I knocked to see if Georgia was planning on coming to the gingerbread contest because she’d said she would, but when I got there, things were a bit hectic. I wondered if he was drunk because I heard a load of commotion, and then he came out of the living room bleeding, like he’d fallen over, and Emilia went to sort him out. I offered to help, but she made it clear she didn’t want me involved. I feel the same as you, we have to respect their privacy, but I can’t help but wonder if we ought to check on things all the same. You don’t know what to do for the best, do you? We might be able to assist, but at the same time we might just be sticking our noses in where they’re not wanted. But at least it’s not just me who thinks all is not right.’
‘What about if I slip out now and have a look by the phone box? If he’s gone, then he’s probably back home and there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘Not necessarily. Being gone from there doesn’t automatically mean he’s back at home.’
‘True. But I could look anyway.’
‘I could text Georgia. Not sure how to put it, but I could at least ask if they’re all OK.’
‘Why don’t we go to the phone box first? If he’s not there, you can text Georgia. And if he is there, we can ask him if he needs help. He might be more receptive if it comes from you.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you’re a woman. And you’re nice.’
Zoe might have been tempted to argue but could see that Alex probably had a point. She would be far less threatening – not that she saw Alex as such, but she could understand that Brett might. And she was an old friend of Georgia and a colleague of Emilia, and perhaps those things would count forsomething too. She glanced around the room. More people had arrived and the party was getting hectic, but that was good. With luck, they could slip out without being seen, do what they had to do – hopefully quickly – and be back before anyone noticed they’d been gone.
‘What do you think?’ Alex asked. ‘Maybe we should leave it alone. He did tell me to stay out of it.’
‘It’s not him I’m bothered about,’ Zoe said with a candour that caught even her off guard. ‘I can’t say I like him all that much, but he’s Georgia’s husband, and she’s at a very sensitive point in her pregnancy. I don’t want anything stressing her out so much she goes into labour before she’s ready. This sounds like it might be something that would do the job.’
‘I never thought of that,’ Alex said. ‘I can go?—’
‘You just said yourself he might be more willing to accept help if it came from me. I should go, but I’d feel better if you were with me. I’d prefer it if we got away from here without anyone seeing us so there are no awkward questions.’
‘Got it. Let’s edge towards the door and then slip out when nobody’s looking.’
Their efforts were valiant, but after twenty minutes they were no closer to achieving their aim than when they’d first agreed on it. No sooner would they end one conversation and make excuses to move on than someone else would want to talk to them, and for all Zoe’s advice about mingling and charming his way to winning over the locals, she could see Alex was as frustrated by the delays as she was. At this point, they were standing with their backs to the door, their exit tantalisingly close, but they still couldn’t get away. Zoe threw a helpless look at Alex as Stacey came over to ask whether he’d come across any new archaeology at Hilltop Farm recently and then got into a conversation abouthow Simon might have been tempted to buy the house Alex and Billie were now living in had he known it was for sale.
She was halted by Magnus, who by now was well on his way to tipsiness, announcing that he was going to cut up his prize-winning gingerbread cathedral and share it out amongst all the lovely friends who’d come to celebrate his win, which was greeted by a horrified chorus of those same lovely friends telling him he at least needed to keep it on display for a while and enjoy it before he broke it up. Someone reminded him that he was meant to send it to the church for their charity events, and Zoe got the impression – not that he’d say it out loud – that he felt it a bit too good for such an ignominious fate. Some people wanted to take photos of him with it, and as they crowded around and every eye was on their host, Zoe and Alex took their chance to slip out.
17
‘I thought we’d never get away.’ Zoe closed the garden gate carefully behind her.
‘I know what you mean. So much for mingling and winning people over. I didn’t have to worry about that – they won’t leave me alone!’
‘At least we know they like you.’
‘Or they like the free booze they’re knocking back.’
