Irrepressible You by Georgina Penney Page B

her judgement wasn’t truly as bad as Scott had implied.
    It turned out that privacy was a long time coming. Someone, some fiend , had turned Amy’s entire house upside down and inside out. She burst into tears the minute she walked through the front door and spotted her beloved photographs lying on the floor, the frames broken, the glass shattered. The tears kept coming as she walked from room to room with a furious Scott in tow, taking in the damage. All of her clothes had been pulled out of wardrobes and drawers, books had been pulled off shelves, even her bed had been pulled apart.
    It didn’t take long to ascertain that her laptop was missing, along with a bunch of vintage costume jewelry, a number of her shoes and all of her movies, including her treasured Marilyn Monroe boxed set. When she discovered the latter, Amy slumped down on her couch and let herself indulge in a few minutes of outright bawling.
    Not quite knowing what to do to make things better, Scott called Jo and Stephen, who immediately started the three-hour journey back to Perth.
    The police arrived on time and went through the usual routine of dusting for prints and asking questions before admonishing Amy for not having security screens on the doors and windows. There was nothing else she could do but nod and agree with them numbly before seeing them off. Then she called her insurance agent and got the clean-up underway.
    ‘You don’t have to do that, Scott,’ she protested when she walked into the kitchen to find him pulling food out of her fridge and dumping it in a black garbage bag a while later.
    ‘Yeah I do. Jo’s going to be here to help soon too.’ He didn’t look up from what he was doing. ‘Did they say why he took your shoes?’ he asked, pulling out Amy’s extensive collection of condiments and throwing them in the bag, where they clunked sadly against each other.
    Amy looked on wistfully as a half-filled jar of saffron disappeared. She’d decided that everything in her fridge had to go the minute she’d noticed half an apple pie missing and a dirty plate on the sink. The police had agreed.
    ‘The shoes? They said it happens all the time.’ She rubbed her arms briskly to warm herself up. Although she was wearing one of Scott’s hoodies over her blue dress from the night before, she still felt chilled to her bones. ‘They said the thief probably has a girlfriend with the same shoe size.’ She sighed. ‘Either that or it was a woman or a transvestite with small feet. Whoever it was, I hope their toes pinch. Let me do that.’
    ‘You go clean up the front room. I’ll take care of this. If I don’t keep busy I’m going to punch something,’
    Nodding, Amy left him to it.
    It took the rest of the day and a lot of hard work to get everything back into order. It would have taken longer, but Jo and Stephen arrived to lend a helping hand just before lunchtime, brandishing a couple of pizzas and a car full of groceries. While Amy was initially grateful for their presence, the feeling waned over the course of the afternoon as both Jo and Scott’s outrage over the burglary migrated to a relentless barrage of nagging about Amy’s reluctance to renovate. Finally, pushed to her limit, Amy retreated to her bedroom to curl up on her freshly made-up bed and indulge in a pity party that was cut short after only a few brief minutes.
    ‘Amy?’ Stephen’s deep voice rumbled through the door. ‘Can I talk to you a sec?’
    ‘Just give me a minute, m’love.’ Amy pushed herself upright and quickly wiped her eyes. ‘Okay.’
    ‘Does that mean I can come in?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    Stephen opened the door and let himself in, closing it behind him with a quiet click before taking a seat on the edge of Amy’s bed. His big frame caused the old mattress to dip comically, but neither of them commented. Instead, Stephen’s blond brows were beetled, his expression concerned as he took in Amy’s appearance and her dejected expression.
    Amy