Page 29 of Watching Henry

Florence's face flushed pink. “Yes, it is! For God's sake, Hadley, we've lost all the money. What are we supposed to do? How am I supposed to tell Mr. Allan?”

“Chill,” Hadley said, coming further into the room, mind still working over the possibilities.

“Chill? Chill?” squealed Florence. She put her head in her hands and for a horrifying moment Hadley thought she was crying. Then she looked up, eyes fiery. “This was you. You were the last person to get money out, for pizza, what have you done?”

Hadley cleared her throat and held on to her temper. “I've done nothing. I've done exactly the same as you, taken money when I needed it for something for the kids. I put the folder right back here on the table. You were in here when I did. Which means that you were the last person to see it.”

“Oh God, I straightened it up on the table,” Florence groaned. Her head went back into her hands.

There was the sound of breath hitching and getting faster and she could see Florence's back rising and falling faster and faster. Quickly she went to the sink and poured a glass of cold water.

“Sit up,” she ordered. “Drink this. Slowly. A sip at a time.”

Florence did as she was told, a little color coming back to her lips as she did so, her breathing calming. Hadley waited.

So Little Miss Perfect wasn't made of stone. Huh. She wouldn't have put money on Florence panicking, on her losing control, but it looked like she did have emotions after all.

“Okay,” Hadley said, once Florence had drunk half the water. “This isn't the end of the world.”

“It's damn close,” said Florence.

Hadley smirked at her. “I thought you didn't use bad language.”

“Really? Is now the time for nit-picking?” Long eyelashes flickered behind glasses as Florence blinked angrily.

“Yeah, right, sorry,” Hadley said, rubbing at her nose. Except she wasn't, not really. It was nice to see Florence out of control, even if it was just a little. It made her seem more human, more real somehow.

“They'll think we stole it. They'll hold us responsible. They'll make us pay the money back,” said Florence, staring into her water glass.

“I'm not so sure,” said Hadley, whose brain had been working in the background. “There might be a way of fixing this.”

“Where could the thing have gone? The house is empty,” said Florence.

Hadley shrugged. “The kitchen door was open. Anyone could have come in, I guess.”

“Unless...” Florence began. She looked at Hadley and Hadley knew exactly what she was thinking before she even said the name. “Henry.”

Hadley shook her head. “Nope. It couldn't have been. I was with him every second between getting pizza money and leaving you here and him going to bed. It wasn't him.”

“I'll check his room first thing in the morning.”

“Really? Not one for privacy then,” Hadley said sharply.

“He's a child.”

“And children need privacy,” said Hadley. “Besides, you won't find it, I'm telling you that he didn't have a chance to come in here and take the folder. Plus, he might be a handful, but even you must have worked out that the kid's troubled. He's not bad, he's just confused.”

Florence bit her lip then nodded. “Fine. Wait. What did you just say about fixing this?”

Hadley raised one eyebrow and gave her smoothest smile. “I might just have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Florence simply glared at her and even though Hadley had been joking she felt oddly offended that Florence hadn't responded to the smile, hadn't played along with her mini-flirtation. She wiped the smile off her face.

“Here's the deal. You call the credit card company and get the card canceled so that no one can use it. I've got a phone call of my own to make. I'll meet you on the deck in twenty minutes.”

“But—”

“Just do it, Flo. For once in your life, do as you're told,” Hadley said, running out of patience. “Get to it,” she mimicked Florence's way of speaking to the children. “Chip-chop.”