A Matter of Perspective

Chapter 12 - Zoe

"Zoe?" Joe's voice echoed through the car as her phone connected to Bluetooth.

"Yeah, hey Joe, sorry, we're in the car, the connection sucks, can you hear me?" Zoe responded, raising her voice to ensure he could hear her over the spotty connection. She looked over at Alfie who was seated next to her, rolling his eyes as he fiddled with the dials to try and fix the issue.

"Yeah, I can hear you," Joe responded, and Zoe thought she could hear some anxiousness in his voice. "Hey, are you heading home from the wedding?"

"Yes...?" Zoe responded, trailing off as if it was a question.

"Okay, Di and I are going to head your way," he replied hastily. "We'll be to Brighton in about an hour and a half."

"Wait, Joe, what? You and Di are coming to Brighton today?" Zoe asked, raising her volume even higher as she thought she had initially misunderstood her brother's statement.

"Yeah, if that's okay," he murmured, his voice suddenly soft. "I'll explain when we get there."

"Sure...I mean..." Zoe stuttered out before Joe disconnected the call and the car went silent. Shooting a strange look at Alfie, she switched back over to the radio, her eyebrows raised. "What the hell?"

"He sounded worried," Alfie commented. "But then again Joe always sounds worried."

Zoe nodded, knowing what Alfie meant. Her brother worried about things just as much as she did. But the time and urgency of this call - on a Sunday morning while she and Alfie were driving back to Brighton from a weekend wedding they'd attended - made her wonder just how serious the situation was.

"He knew we were at the wedding...I mean I love when Joe and Di visit, but a little warning would have been nice, the house is a mess," Zoe grumbled, allowing herself to ignore the warning bells going off in her head. There was no use worrying about something that hadn't happened yet.

"Oh shut up, the house is spotless," Alfie laughed. "You never go out of town without cleaning it top to bottom."

Zoe rolled her eyes before giggling, "Just let me be annoyed by my brother for a minute. That's what big sisters do."

---

An hour later, Zoe sat on her front stoop, anxiously awaiting Joe and Dianne's arrival, all annoyance gone and replaced with worry. She hadn't heard another peep out of the pair since Joe's weird call, and she was feeling less and less okay about the reason for why they were visiting. She knew their house was sort of a safe haven for Joe - she had only known Dianne about a year, but it seemed like she also enjoyed their visits and treated them as an escape from their hectic life. But it was Sunday - their only day off together. And so it was the odd circumstances of it all that made her mind race as she tried to envision what could have possibly happened to require this spur of the moment visit.

Finally, she heard the gate creak open, a car appearing with Joe behind the wheel - another tick to the list of "unusual circumstances" she'd been keeping track of, as she realized they hadn't taken the train. She watched as Joe and Dianne waved as they pulled through to park, but she noticed they were slightly less jovial than they usually were upon arrival. Standing up, she began to approach the car.

"Hiya, what brings you lovely bunch to Brighton today?" she called out, hoping the enthusiasm in her voice would cover up her confusion. "Also, nice car. Too cool for the train, eh?"

"Hey Zo," Joe responded, shooting her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he slammed the car door shut, Dianne following suit, with, Zoe noticed, a little extra vigor. The loud bang as the door closed echoed through the silence of the countryside.