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

Sam, hand on the door handle. ‘I think we just have to agree to disagree. Some of the most poisonous people are disguised from us by the love we have for them.’ As she closed the door behind her, she couldn’t quite pinpoint Sam’s expression as he watched her leave.

21

Setting the table was soothing. Lining up the cutlery and putting out the glasses helped to take Flora’s mind off Linda. Even though Sophie hadn’t seen her, Flora was convinced that she had seen Linda at the garden centre that morning. Looking around the Joules section at things she could never justify buying, there was no doubt in her mind that she had seen Linda’s gaunt face looking at her from the seeds section at the other side of the shop.

It was her, Flora was sure of it. But with Sam doubting her sanity she was losing confidence in herself.

Flora had shrugged off the sighting with Sophie and hadn’t even mentioned it to Sam. There was no point. She could quite easily recall his expression of disbelief: she didn’t need to see it again. Flora tried to push down the sense of foreboding circling around her stomach like a slithering snake. She just felt that things were going to get a lot worse. The doorbell rang and she raced to answer it. A night with Sophie was just what she needed. She had begun to think of Sophie as her reset button. Spending quality time with her always calmed her down and all the stress and anxiety that she felt ebbed away. It was just a shame that Greg was part of the package.

One look at Sophie’s face drove all thoughts of Linda out of her mind. Sophie’s greeting was over-friendly and forced. Her face was tight, and her smile was exaggerated. There was something very wrong. Tensions fizzled between Sophie and Greg even though they weren’t looking at each other. Their bodies giving voice to the words they could not say in polite company. The echo of their argument pervaded the room.

Greg took Sam’s seat at the top of the table, giving him a challenging look, daring him to say something. Sam backed off and walked to the other side of the table leaving an awkward silence in his wake. It had taken a while for Flora to accept that Greg was a part of her life. They had absolutely nothing in common. On the rare occasion that they found themselves alone, she could not think of a single thing to say to him. They would sit in an uncomfortable silence that made her skin crawl.

Flora often felt that she and Sam were a different species to Sophie and Greg. Their lives were different in every way. Even their houses spoke to this: Sam’s house was painted in colour (much to Cecelia’s disgust) and had a lived-in feeling. Sophie and Greg’s house looked like it was a show home. Nothing was out of place and everything was a neutral black or white. It was sophisticated and elegant; but not homely.

As Flora passed the gravy boat to Sophie, she saw a flicker of frustration escape her friend’s face before she could hide it behind a smile. Greg had been drinking more wine than usual and his voice, already louder than a normal person’s, was bouncing off the four walls. Manners were never his strong point, but even Sam looked shocked when he snatched the gravy boat out of Sophie’s hand before she’d even started pouring it on to her plate. He emptied the entire thing over his plate, drowning his roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. The gravy swam close to the edge of the plate, the slightest shift would have it spilling over onto the table. He smiled sweetly at Sophie. ‘Sorry, darling, did you want some?’

Whether he didn’t notice the awkward atmosphere and shocked faces around the table or he was choosing to ignore them Flora wasn’t sure. He began to eat his food with the gusto of a starving man, gravy inevitably splashing over the tablecloth. It was the only time that Flora wished Cecelia were here. Flora would have liked to see her face at the etiquette – or lack of – being displayed.

Sam raised his eyebrows at Flora, puzzled amusement on his face. Sam and Greg spent a lot of time together but it seemed this was only because they were related. Sam once confessed that he didn’t understand his brother but felt bound to him in a way Flora could never understand.

Sophie’s face was like a stone wall. The only indication of how she might be feeling was the unnecessary force she used to cut into her roast beef. Flora was worried. She had been seeing far too many cracks in Sophie’s marriage. Was she overreacting, like she was with the swimming pool incident and her cards? Could she even trust her judgement anymore? Sam seemed to think she was seeing danger where there wasn’t any. Was this the same thing?

Greg had always been almost reverential in the way he spoke about or to Sophie. His jests were always about her being ‘too perfect’, ‘too sophisticated’. He had never in the five years she had known him treated Sophie as anything less than a princess. It was sickening at times. Flora shook her head. She was overthinking things, too on edge after the last few days. It was clouding her judgement. No one could be on their best behaviour all the time.

All couples had their ups and downs. She smiled at the thought. She would never admit this to anyone but occasionally she deliberately instigated an argument with Sam. She would offload all her negativity in that fight and then revel in their reconciliation. It was true what they said about make-up sex. Mind made up she decided to overlook ‘gravy-gate’ as Sam would later call it.

It seemed the rest of the evening would pass without incident. Sophie asked Flora how the centre was going,