‘Have you seen my other shoe?’ I asked Mark, hopping into the loungeroom and scanning it for my missing piece of footwear.
‘Which one is it?’ he asked, looking up from a contract he was signing.
‘The red one with the heel,’ I told him, then just held up my foot and pointed. ‘Looks like this one.’
‘Ah,’ he nodded, then swivelled around and gave the room a cursory glance. ‘Haven’t seen it, no.’
‘Dammit,’ I grumbled, slipping my other shoe off. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere.’
‘Maybe you need to see that Brighton eye doctor all of our friends have been raving about,’ he chuckled, going back to his contract. ‘Could be it’s been right in front of you all this time!’
‘Could be,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘More likely the dog just took off with it.’
‘Dog?’ my husband frowned up at me. A look of concern crossed his face. ‘Honey… we only have a cat.’
‘Hilarious.’ I punched him in the shoulder as he snickered to himself. ‘What are you reading, anyway?’
‘Ah, just another boring real estate contract,’ he waved me off. ‘Boring, boring, boring.’
‘Is it a big sale?’
‘To answer your underlying question,’ he said, spinning around, ‘yes, we will be able to afford our family vacation.’
‘That’s not what I was asking,’ I laughed. ‘But charming.’
‘Yeah, it’s a decent sized one. Why then?’
‘I’m actually worried about Lizzie’s eyesight, believe it or not.’
‘Oh?’ he frowned. ‘Why?’
‘She’s been bumping into things a lot more.’
‘She’s five, she’s supposed to bump into things.’
‘True, true…’ I chewed my lip. ‘But she’s stopped reading, have you noticed? She used to love reading.’
Mark nodded, setting his pen down.
‘In that case,’ he said, ‘let me do a bit of research. I’ll find her a practising paediatric optometrist in the Brighton area.’
‘Thank you,’ I smiled at him. Suddenly, my smile dropped.
‘Oh my god!’
‘What?’ he asked, concerned.
‘My other shoe!’ I pointed, as the dog took off with it around the corner.