“Not this Saturday, young lady. We’ve got the final fitting of your wedding dress, remember?”
Craig laughed and winked at Nova. “Ditsy Davies strikes again! You must be the only bride who’s ever forgotten about her own wedding dress fitting.”
“Sorry, silly me,” Nova said, forcing a smile. Her forgetfulness was the last thing she wanted to laugh about right now.
“I thought we could stop by my shop first so I can show you what I’ve got planned for the altar flowers,” Pamela said to Nova. “I know you’d said dahlias, but the chrysanthemums are looking lovely at the moment and—”
“Oh dear,” David interrupted, and when Nova looked over, he was staring at his phone, a roast chicken–laden fork suspended in front of his mouth.
“What is it?” Pamela asked.
“I’ve just seen a message in the country club WhatsApp group. Apparently, there was a break-in at the community center last night and someone stole thirty thousand pounds.”
“What?” Pamela shrieked. “Nova, is that true?”
Everyone turned to look at Nova and she took another sip of wine before she answered. “It was ten thousand, not thirty. But yes, money was stolen from the center.”
“What the hell was £10k doing lying around the place?” David said. “Sandy Reynolds is always going on about how cash-strapped that place is.”
“She’d taken it out of the bank to pay the builders for the emergency roof work.”
“Shit, Nova,” Craig said, reaching over and taking her hand.
“Yeah, it’s been a rough day.”
“How did the bastards break in?” David asked.
For a moment, Nova wondered if she could lie and claim not to know, but she knew the truth would get out soon enough. “It wasn’t a break-in, as such. They think that the money was stolen during the book club meeting last night.”
“Yourlittle book club?” Pamela said. “Well, at least that’ll make it easy to find the thief, given you hardly have any members.”
“Do they have any idea who it might have been?” Craig asked gently.
“It seems the most likely suspect is a guy called Michael, who left the meeting early.”
“I still don’t understand how he managed to steal the money,” David said. “Surely it was locked in a safe?”
Nova had been dreading this: the moment she’d have to tell them it was her fault. She took a deep breath.
“The safe has been broken for months so the money was in the petty cash tin. And then it looks like I forgot to lock the office door, so we think he must have gone in and taken the tin.”
There was a moment of stunned silence round the table.
“Oh, babe,” Craig said eventually, and she felt him squeeze her hand.
“Yeah, Ditsy Davies strikes again.” She gave a faint laugh, which fell flat.
“I hope Sandy’s not trying to blame this on you?” David said.
“My God, you’re not going to get sacked before the wedding, are you?” Pamela’s hand flew to her pearl necklace.
“I don’t know. Sandy has an emergency meeting with the council this evening and then she wants to see me first thing tomorrow, so I guess I’ll find out then.”
“If they try and sack you, we’ll get our solicitor involved and sue the council for unfair dismissal.” David skewered another roast potato and Pamela nodded in agreement.
“Absolutely! And on the upside, if you do get sacked then you can always come and work for me at the florists.”
Nova’s face must have gone pale because Craig raised his hands. “Mum, Dad, stop it! You’re freaking Nova out.”
