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

Flora looked at her in mock horror. ‘I love these shoes. How dare you!’ They smiled at each other and Flora’s heart warmed. It was at times like this that she felt the bond between them like a physical tether. But her eyes fell once more on Sophie’s shoulders. The imprint of Greg’s hands branded on her skin.

‘I’ve never seen him that angry, Soph. I was really scared. And he shouldn’t have hurt you like that.’

‘I told you, he didn’t hurt me. It looks worse than it is.’ She tickled Flora’s feet in her shoe, trying to lighten the mood. ‘You are making a mountain out of a molehill, my dear Flo.’

Her tone was jovial, she was trying to close down further discussion but Flora ignored her. ‘But what did you do that annoyed him?’

Sophie looked down, ashamed. ‘I made an important business decision without approving it through him. I thought it would be okay but then it ended up losing us a lot of money.’

For reasons Flora would never understand, Sophie had joined the Cavendish empire willingly. She happily took their money and seemed to enjoy the status and power that came with being a Cavendish. Cecelia didn’t approve of Sophie any more than she did of Flora, but she was less vocal with her distaste because she knew Sophie was an equal match for her as a verbal sparring partner. Instead of the vicious barbs Flora was bequeathed, Cecelia would try to take advantage of Alistair being Sophie’s boss.

Sophie had confided in Flora in those early days that Cecelia and Alistair had been relentless in trying to get her fired. Cecelia had even gone as far as hiring people to try and trick her into making dodgy deals or sell company secrets. And Alistair spent his time setting her impossible tasks. But Sophie was every bit the shrewd businesswoman that Cecelia was. Every ploy Cecelia attempted Sophie had already anticipated.

‘But that doesn’t give him the right to hurt you. No matter what you had done.’

Sophie sat up, her hands on Flora’s legs and looking her straight in the eye. There was a flicker of annoyance in her crystal blue eyes. ‘Flora, I will say it one last time. It looked worse than it was. Greg would never hurt me.’

But though Flora let it go, she still wondered who Sophie was trying to convince. They had spent so many of their formative years protecting each other that perhaps she was being oversensitive.

Sophie sat back in the bath and resumed playing with Flora’s shoe. ‘Have you spoken to Linda yet?’

Flora sighed. She could feel tears rising in her throat. Why was she so emotional lately? It was a knee-jerk reaction now every time she thought of Ethan and Linda. It was a catch-22 situation that had her moral compass spinning in useless circles. Her heart was desperate to help Ethan. She wanted nothing more than to say yes. But she couldn’t do that because it wouldn’t stop there. It would be impossible for her to say no to the next child who couldn’t afford to attend. It would open the floodgates and ultimately result in the closure of the centre. ‘No. I keep putting it off. You know what I’m like. But I’ll do it tomorrow.’

Sophie raised her eyebrows. ‘You know it is the right thing to do. Unless you take up Sam’s offer to invest? Expand the centre?’

Flora narrowed her eyes at Sophie. Her hackles raised the way they always did when this topic came up.

Sophie raised her hands up in defence. ‘Hey, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. I know how you feel about the money situation.’

Flora immediately backed down, placated. The well-worn tirade she was about to launch at Sophie dying on her lips. Sam could never understand why Flora wouldn’t embrace the family money. As much as reasonably possible she resisted taking a single penny. In the early days, Sam hadn’t taken her seriously. But when Sam bought her a new car, she took it back. When he bought her fancy clothes, she donated them to charity. Eventually, he realised that extravagance and Flora were like chalk and cheese. She liked to think she got this moral stubborn streak from her parents. They had lived frugally and given what they could to charity. They never wanted more than what they needed to get by and that was how Flora wanted to live. An evil voice in her head reminded her that her principles regarding the Cavendish money were also preventing her helping Linda.

Sophie must have noticed the internal strife within Flora as she changed the subject once more. ‘So, when do I get to visit the new house? I need to pick out my room.’

Flora looked up at Sophie in surprise. So far, they had avoided talking about the move. But it seemed Sophie was fed up with treading on eggshells and it was a relief to talk about it. By bringing it up this way, Flora hoped Sophie was saying she was okay with her moving away. She knew that Sophie loved living next door to her. But this house they were moving to wasn’t just any house. It was the house her parents had lived in. She took a deep breath and began to fill Sophie in on everything she should have told her months ago.

8

Flora had been with Cecelia when she got the news that her aunt had passed away and that she was the sole beneficiary in her will.

Cecelia was sitting at the breakfast bar in Sam’s house. She had never called it her house and still thought of it as Sam’s house though she had lived there nearly five years. Cecelia had helped herself to a satsuma from the fruit bowl. ‘I much prefer the ones with the seeds. But then, I suppose not everyone has a distinguished pallet. Honestly, the rubbish people eat these days.’ She placed the orange