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

left. The picture of Sam and Flora on their wedding day was no longer on the mantelpiece but on the coffee table.

She turned to leave the room, intending to look around the rest of the house when the front door opened, and, along with a gust of blisteringly cold air, in came Sam. Flora almost ran to him in relief. ‘I’m so glad you’re home! The weirdest thing has happened.’ Not giving him chance to reply, Flora tugged him by his coat sleeve and dragged him into the living room. ‘Look!’

Sam looked around the room and then looked at her, his brow furrowed. ‘Look at what?’

Flora laughed in disbelief. ‘You’re not serious?’

Sam looked around the room once more, more slowly this time. He turned to her again. ‘Erm… you’ve redecorated?’

Flora grabbed his arm and walked him over to the armchair. ‘This has been moved. It used to be over there.’

Sam looked down at the armchair, his face screwed up as if trying to remember what the room had looked like the last time he had been in it. ‘It was?’

Flora was exasperated. ‘For god’s sake, Sam! Do you walk around this house with your eyes closed? Look at the paintings. You must remember the paintings.’

Sam looked up, perplexed. ‘What about the paintings?’ he asked in a small voice.

‘Seriously? All of our things have been moved around and you are honestly telling me you can’t tell. There’s also a weird smell.’ She sniffed the air, unable to work out what it was.

Sam looked around again. ‘Are you sure, Flo? It looks exactly the same to me. Maybe you should go and have a lie down. We both know you haven’t been sleeping well since that mix-up with your cards.’

She bristled. It was not a mix-up: someone had taken her cards she wanted to say. Although, the more time passed the less certain she felt. But this was different. He had to realise that everything had been moved. She couldn’t be the only one that noticed. Grabbing his arm again, she dragged him back into the hallway. She pointed defiantly at the sideboard. The sight of it in the wrong place jarred her. Sam tried to hide his confusion, but she knew him too well.

‘You’re kidding.’ She looked at him, shaking her head. ‘Sam, every day for however long, you have come in from work and put your keys in the dish on that sideboard. Every morning you pick them up from the dish on your way out the door. Are you seriously telling me that you don’t remember where that sideboard has stood for the last however many years?’

‘Oh yeah. It was on that side, wasn’t it? What’s it doing over there?’

‘Finally, it dawns on him.’ Flora stormed off to the living room. She automatically walked to where the armchair used to be and then realised it was no longer there. She let out a grunt of frustration and flung herself down onto the sofa.

Sam followed her into the room. ‘Flora, please calm down. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation.’

‘Are you not sick of saying that to me yet. I’m sure as hell sick of hearing it. There is no explanation for my cards vanishing and reappearing. And now all our stuff has been moved around the house!’

Sam moved towards and her and pulled her into his arms. She nuzzled into him despite her irritation with him. Damn him and his irresistible touch. As it did every time, her head sank into the crook between his neck and head, and as she did every time she thought, I fit here. All the stress flowed out of her as he gently caressed her hair, brushing kisses on the top of her head.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I overreacted. I guess I’m just anxious after that thing with my cards.’

‘It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand. I’m sure there is an explanation. Maybe my mother had something to do with it.’

Flora jerked upright and turned to look at him. ‘You mean, you think she is trying to scare me? By taking my cards and now moving around our stuff. Trying to make me think I’m crazy. That’s what me and Sophie were wondering as well.’ Her heart swelled at the thought that Sam had finally begun to see through his mother.

His face clouded and he stood up, pushing her off him. ‘Actually, that wasn’t what I meant. I just thought that she might have organised the cleaners to come in and do a deep clean of the house. She knows that we both work and she may have been trying to do something nice for us. But it’s nice to know where your head is at.’ Before he left the room, he stopped and looked at her, his eyes so sad it made her heart ache. ‘Are you ever going to stop thinking of my mother as the enemy? Have you ever thought that this whole time it has been you projecting your own insecurities on her and thinking she doesn’t like you? All I can see is her treating you as part of the family and trying to show you in her own way that she cares.’ He left the room shaking his head sadly.

Flora felt awful. It wasn’t Sam’s fault really. His mother was too clever with how she masked her insults around Sam. If only he knew everything his mother had put her through over the years. She told herself that Cecelia was just one of the crosses she had to bear. You could not choose your family; her aunt was proof of that. If Cecelia wanted to play stupid mind games, then let her. She was made of stronger stuff than this. Her parents’ death was the worst thing she had ever suffered. Cecelia’s stupid tricks were nothing compared to that.

She walked over to the armchair and heaved it back, intending to move it to its rightful place. It had only budged a centimetre when a rotting smell hit her nose