Deep furrows appeared on Giselle's forehead as a frown spread across it. "You're shitting me!", she exclaimed, but her coworker shook her head. Laury was shaken and her trust in humanity was undergoing a serious re-evaluation. "I'm not sure how much that idiot stole from me. Or if anyone else stole from me!", the woman sighed with a slightly limb body, as if a weight suddenly dropped on her shoulders.

The brunette reached out for the other woman's hand and clasped it tightly, "This ain't normal, Laury! No one steals from a booty call!". "How would you know? You only have Ian and your neighbor!", Laury countered quickly.

That made Giselle pause. How would she know? Her gaze drifted off past her coworker into the storage area. She was looking at nothing in particular. "Earth to Giselle! Earth to Giselle!", the woman snapped her fingers in front of her face, "Where did you go to?". Giselle blushed and said, "Uh, was just thinking about your question. I guess if stealing was more common you'd hear something about it on the news?".

Voices reached both of them from the store and Laureen went past Giselle to check. There was a thoughtful expression on her face, her lips shifted from a pout to the left and then into a thin line. The brunette followed along and the store kept them busy until closing time.

They left through the side entrance and chatted about a group of youngsters buying a complete outfits for a wedding they'd attend in a couple of weeks. When they said their goodbyes, Laury was in better spirits. She yelled over, "I'll text you, I gotta go!". Giselle just smiled and waved.

Her arrival at home had a surprise in store for her. Ian was there and she greeted him happily, "Hey sweetheart! You're home early? What'cha doing?". She walked into the living room and glanced at the table that held a pizza, a few snacks, a bottle of soda and an empty glass. Her husband briefly looked at her and grunted a "Hi". His attention went back to the TV. She turned her head and saw Roger Moore near a beach. She took a wild guess, "Live and let die!". Ian laughed out loud, "No, Octopussy". She threw up her arms in defeat. When she let herself fall onto the sofa, he muttered, "Early start, early finish. I got us food!".

His attitude felt like the old Ian sometimes, but ever since they had the fight, he'd change into this distant, sad man eventually. When he did, it touched her heart and she felt awful. Today this didn't seem to be the case yet, so she enjoyed the moments and just stayed with him, had a slice of pizza and stole some snacks.

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When the movie finished, Ian went to the restroom and Giselle to change. Then they cleaned up the table and he took Live And Let Die from the shelf. Giselle facepalmed and started laughing, "You aren't serious!". The innocent look he gave her was heartwarming. "Alright, let's have another one, but I do have to tell you two things, then it's all Roger Moore again".

Ian fell back onto the sofa and shrugged, "What's on your mind?". "First off, did you know that someone's gonna move in under us?", she asked and Ian shrugged again. "No, I did not. Did you meet the new residents?". His wife shook her head and obscured the truth slightly, "I talked to someone in the stairwell this morning. Apparently there was a lot of construction noise lately". He just nodded and said, "Ah okay". Then she continued, "And Laury's latest booty call stole from her. Money from her purse. She caught him in the act". This got Ian's attention and he gave her a surprised stare, "Really, did she report it?". When she shook her head he added, "Why don't you women ever think of things like that! Tell Laureen to report it, stealing is a crime after all!". Certain topics got to her husband more than others. Probably he was right about this, so she took her phone and texted Laury to report it. "There, told her", she said to him right after. He responded briefly and smiled, "Good!". The unanswered messages from Laury were ignored easily, she'd get back to them later. They didn't seem important.

While she wanted to continue talking, this was about as much as her husband would allow. Partly because he was already past the intro of his beloved James Bond and partly because they were still fighting. There was little hope in resolving anything today. All she could do was to invest time and energy and hope it'd resolve itself some other day.

The days, especially the weekend, went by without incident. They shared they housework, Ian went shopping and she did the actual cleaning. Afterwards he cooked and she did more cleaning. Giselle met up with Laury for afternoon coffee and cake. Ian went out to Gary's place to have an out of schedule poker afternoon, evening and night with barbecue and he slept in very late the next day, while she went out for a long walk that ended with ice cream.

Monday evening, when she had come home from work and Ian was still out at work, the doorbell rang. It ripped her from the TV show and when she looked down her clothes, she didn't feel appropriately dressed for opening up. Yet some part of her hoped it was Annie, so she forced herself up and pulled at the door handle.