Nov. 9 Almost caught in the bank

This month I am part of a group that is doing a flash fiction piece a day. We have prompts. Today's was include a bank. Flash fiction is usually a complete story under 750 words. One of the most famous which may or may not have been written by Hemingway. Baby shoes. For sale. Never worn."

“Mary Alice, What are you doing here?”

 

Shit! Mary Alice thought looking at Barbara, her neighbor. She often called Barbara NN, Noisy Neighbor, never to her face, of course. 

 

If the Barbara could, she’d have planted bugs in everyone’s house with recording devices so she wouldn’t miss anything. 

 

“I was in town and everyone told me this bank was beautiful,” Mary Alice said. She was right. The bank could have been a Swiss bank with its decorated ceilings and gold leaf decorations. The tellers were behind gilded cages. Movies had used the bank for films portraying the wealthy. 

 

However, the town, two towns away from where Mary-Alice lived, was on a downward trend. Companies had moved overseas. “And what are you doing here, Barbara?”

 

“I’m meeting my nephew for lunch. He’s a VP.”

 

Double shit. That was why Mary Alice was really here.

 

Just then Justin Harris walked out. “Ladies, nice to see you both.”

 

“You know each?” Barbara asked.

Triple shit. Don’t let him tell her I’m a customer. Mary Alice sent him a pleading look and shook her head. She was slightly behind Barbara, who was concentrating on her handsome nephew.

 

Justin tilted his head slightly. “We met once during a golf tournament.”

 

Mary Alice smiled. “Yes we did.” Thank God, she’d told him about her husband’s golfing passion.

Justin was her financial advisor. After several of her friends’ husbands had replaced them with arm candy, she started planning in case Evan decided to do the same. 

 

Her first attempt to convince him she should find a job was shot down. He wanted her home where her organizational skills gave him a life of comfort.

 

Allowances, unwanted jewelry, every cent she could muster had gone into an account for five years. She had enough to buy a two-family house that she could use for income. Evan did not know she had just passed her real estate license exam nor did he know she'd taken it.

 

She was sure he was having an affair. The love she felt for him as a university senior had long-since faded away. Her husband had grown more arrogant with every gray hair and every promotion up the company ladder.

 

“Would you like to join us?” Justin asked.

 

Mary Alice wondered if her secret would be safer if she were with them or not. “I don’t think so. I have other plans but thank you. I just wanted to see this lovely bank that I’ve heard so much about.”

 

As Justin and Barbara were leaving Justin turned and mouthed, “See you after lunch.”

 

She nodded. She was asking for a mortgage on her first, of what she hoped would be many, properties.