Save Her by Abigail Osborne (novel books to read .txt) 📗

She was disturbed from her dark thoughts by the waitress putting down the plastic tray with her bill on it, a silent instruction that it was time to leave. Flora pulled her purse from her bag, unzipping the change compartment.

It was completely empty, her fingers roved around in disbelief, trying to locate the pound coins she had put in there yesterday whilst in Waitrose. It was then her eyes registered the empty slots where her bank cards should be. She felt sick and shaky all at once. With sweaty palms, she opened her bag wide, desperate to find that everything had fallen out of her purse into the depths of her rainbow-coloured handbag. Cursing herself for having such a stupidly large handbag, her hands frantically sought her missing cards and money.

It didn’t make sense. The only thing still in her purse was her driving licence. Everything else had vanished. Coming up empty, she blushed when she realised that the young waitress who had dropped off the bill was watching her with a curious smile. Typical Alderley Edge, even their teenagers were obnoxious, she really only came here for the chairs and the great coffee. Flora checked the pockets of her coat, which was hung on the back of her chair. This had never happened to her before, she felt hot and sweaty. An irrational fear that the police might be called crossed her mind.

Her heart was racing as the slim waitress, who couldn’t have been more than eighteen sauntered over. She had the stony teenage fed-up-with-life expression. ‘Everything okay?’

‘I’m really sorry but I’ve left my cards at home. I’m so sorry.’ Flora’s face burned hot with embarrassment. She felt paranoid that the eyes of everyone in the shop on her. Her legs twitched as she resisted the urge to run away. Flora could read no compassion in her eyes, only amusement.

The girl picked up the bill and looked at it. ‘We have a budget to spend on hot drinks for the homeless, we can use some of that to cover this.’ Her voice was purposefully loud so that everyone in the café could hear. Flora was mortified. She could see the customers taking in her nice clothes, hear the silent judgement. Look at her, taking money from the homeless. Thanking the girl profusely, Flora promised to bring the money in. She put on her coat with difficulty. Her hands were trembling so much it took several attempts to find the arm hole. She almost ran to the door such was her desire to escape. As she turned to close the door behind her, she caught sight of the waitress standing with her colleagues behind the counter, all of them were looking at her. As she pulled the door closed the sound of the girl’s laughter entwined with the tinkle of the door’s bell, cementing her humiliation.

Outside she pulled out her phone and called Sam. The words spilled out of her as she rushed to explain what happened to her.

‘See this is why I told you to get contactless on your phone.’

‘Well that doesn’t help me right now, does it!’ her voice was so loud that people on the street turned to look at her in surprise. ‘Anyway, I think you are missing the bigger picture. My cards have disappeared. How could they have been stolen without me knowing?’

‘Maybe they haven’t been stolen. Did you change purses and forget?’

Flora shook her head emphatically. Realising at the last minute he couldn’t see her, she answered. ‘No, Sam, I’m not an idiot.’ Tears lumped in her throat, stopping her from speaking.

‘Hey, don’t get upset. Just cancel your cards and order new ones. These things happen all the time. It’s okay, sweetie. It’s not a big deal.’

Flora tried to get Sophie to come over that evening, but Greg was home and that meant Sophie wasn’t free. She only seemed to visit when Greg was away these days. Flora berated herself for being jealous of Sophie spending time with her husband. She had promised to come over the next morning and Flora heard her yelling her arrival at 8.30am, whilst she was still in bed, playing Candy Crush on her phone. Getting up, she wrapped her pink fluffy dressing gown around her, rescuing it from the floor where Sam had left it.

She chose to ignore the irony that she did not mind Sophie walking in unannounced but hated it when it was Cecelia. But then, Sophie wouldn’t spend her time taking down pictures Flora had hung because ‘it made the house look like a brothel’. Flora came down the stairs, the story of her missing cards on her lips.

Sophie was facing away from her, sitting at the breakfast bar, Flora wrapped her arms around her in greeting but was quickly flung off as Sophie let out a screech. ‘Flora, you bloody scared me.’

Flora was about to laugh when she saw Sophie’s face. It looked creased in pain. ‘What’s wrong. Are you okay?’

Within seconds, Sophie’s face was smiling, and Flora wondered if she’d imagined the look of pain. ‘Fine, fine. Like I said, you just scared me. Anyway, what did you want to tell me that you couldn’t tell me yesterday?’

‘Oh yeah. Wait here.’ Flora dashed over to the sofa where she had left her handbag after emptying it across the floor last night. She grabbed her purse and turned to leave the room when she realised something felt off. Stopping mid-step, she looked down at the purse. It was heavier than it had been last night. She had handled it so much yesterday that she was more than familiar with its weight. With a slight tremble in her hand, she pulled back the zip and was greeted with the sight of all her cards in the slots. The seven pound coins she had got from Waitrose were back in the change compartment, like they’d never been moved in the first place.

‘What’s taking so long?’ Sophie asked.

Flora felt her enter the room