Love or Money? by Carrie Stone

emotional state could deal with the pitying looks from her best friend quite so soon.
    “Hello, Zara love, so nice to see you” Glenda gushed as Zara waddled into the hallway and greeted her. 
    “ Where’s Fee? I can’t stay too long as my neighbour’s keeping an eye on Lexi for me whilst I’m here.”
    “ She’s in the living room, lying down. Oh Zara, there’s definitely something not right about her. Have a chat with her and let me know what you think. She’s really out of sorts. She hasn’t stopped calling me Mum! And now all this funny business that she isn’t going into work today...”
    Felicity discreetly listened to the conversation from the other room, biting down silently on her lip as Zara and her mother discussed her. Her mother was right, she wasn’t feeling herself , and yet she couldn’t quite pinpoint why. Aside from the obvious shock of Dan and needing to concentrate on her own emotions, she was aware of an underlying feeling of desolation and hopelessness around her. She felt a strong desire to run away and hide.
    There was only one way to deal with the situation. Standing up, she rubbed her eyes, put on a smile and walked towards the kitchen.
    “Zara! Hi! What are you doing here? I didn’t even hear you come in.” Felicity hugged her friend tightly and stood back, yawning for effect.
    “ Well I had to come and see how you were, of course” Zara replied, eyeing Fee suspiciously.
    Glenda set down a tray of dispirited looking sandwiches on the dining table, alongside a bowl of crisps. Fee resisted the urge to smirk. Her mother certainly wasn’t one for knowing how to accommodate lunch guests.
    “Mmm, looks lovely, Glenda” Zara said, seating herself opposite Felicity.
    Despite the nauseous uncertainty that plagued Felicity’s emotions and energy, she grabbed a handful of crisps and two varieties of sandwich, noticing the surprised look that passed between her mother and friend.
    Forcing herself to take a large mouthful, she ahhed with appreciation. “So nice to be home and feel myself again. I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things” she lied.
    Catching her mother eyeing her in surprise , she continued on.
      “I feel I was a little too hasty on the phone to Maurice earlier. After lunch I’m going to check my work emails and try to get a bit of the backlog cleared before tomorrow.”
    Zara set down her sandwich, her forehead furrowed in concern.  
    “ Fee, you should take it easy - you’ve only just got home.”
    Felicity put down the sandwich she was eating. “True. I’ll be sure not to stay up into the night working on things. I’ll just get enough prepped for the trip I’ll be taking to Brussels next week with Maurice.”
    Neither Glenda or Zara knew what to say. It appeared that Felicity was back to normal.
    Lunch over, Zara made her way to her car, mind concentrated on seeing if her daughter Lexi had behaved herself in the care of her neighbour. She suspected that Lexi was over-acting her tummy bug; she was far wiser than her eight years and Zara had noticed a clinginess of late with her daughter. She wondered if it had anything to do with the new baby coming, sibling jealousy perhaps. But then Lexi was the oldest of the girls and hadn’t behaved the same way throughout her other pregnancies.  Zara tried to push another thought away as fast as it came...
    Surely, the girls weren’t picking up on the problems between her and Steve?  

Chapter Seven
     
    Felicity sat alone in the darkness of her living room, the only sound from the ticking of the antique ornate clock she had purchased on a business trip to Paris.
    Her mother’s departure had given her an entire evening to be alone with herself and her thoughts, something that she realised with great clarity she hadn’t allowed in a long, long time. The hours had ticked past as her body seemed to undergo every emotion possible. From deep within her, it had felt like a great wave had been