The BRACELET

It was an expensive gift – but could it buy her forgiveness?

- Ginny Swart

Mrs E Miller? Sign here, please, love.’The postman was clearly in a hurry, and offered Eva a tiny parcel and the delivery book to sign, whipping it away as soon as she had done so.

‘Is there any record who this is from?’ asked Eva, to his quickly retreating back. ‘I wasn’t expecting anything.’

‘From your secret admirer, I have no doubt,’ he called, as he strode off.

I’ve never had one of those, she thought, excitement stirring.

A gift from a secret admirer would be just the thing to cheer her up.

Eva had maxed out her credit card and she hadn’t bought anything online for at least a month. Not since the coffee machine, which had cost a fortune and caused Andrew to hit the roof.

‘We don’t even like coffee!’ he exploded when he saw the invoice. ‘And we already have a coffee plunger!’

‘But this looks beautiful on the counter,’ she argued weakly. ‘All this stainless steel makes the whole room look so upmarket.’

‘We can’t afford upmarket! We can’t afford downmarket, either. Truth be told, we can’t even afford a packet of filter coffee right now! You know what the car repairs are costing. My whole bonus will go straight to the panel beaters, and then some.’

‘There’s no need to be mean about it, Andrew,’ she sniffed. ‘It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone. And who puts a concrete bollard in the middle of a car park anyway?’

He growled. ‘For both our sakes, stop buying stuff, Eva, OK?’