Jumping to Conclusions - Flash Fiction

A couple of my friends and I met at a local coffee shop today for a little writing. We picked a prompt from my book, Wake Up Your Muse and gave ourselves 15-20 minutes to come up with a story, inspired by the prompt. Here's what I came up with...

Jumping to Conclusions

Susan stared at the receipt in her hand. Blue Moon Motel  $57.50. Why would David have a receipt from a motel in his jacket pocket? It was dated last night. They’d gone to dinner last night to celebrate her birthday a day early. Shrimp. It had made her sick and David had taken her home early, tucked her in bed, then said he was going home to get a little work done.

He’d called this morning to check on her. He’d been so loving, seemed so concerned.

She wadded the receipt and threw it across the room. Sneaking into his apartment to clean it for him had sounded like a good idea this morning.  Her mind whirled, wondering what other clues she might find if she just poked around a bit.

She checked his other coat pockets. Nothing.  Rummaged through his desk, but found no incriminating evidence. A quick check of his dresser drawers was more productive, agonizingly so. The top 2 drawers were filled with women’s clothing!  She pulled open the closet door and found several dresses and other women’s garments.

Her mind was swirling! She felt like she’d just eaten a double portion of the shrimp that had made her so sick. David, trustworthy, honest-as-the-day-is-long, David.  Seeing someone else?  She didn’t want to believe it, but the slippers that peeked out from under his bed told a different story.

She heard a key turn in the door and turned to see a woman letting herself into the apartment. Well, not just any women – it was her mother.

They stood there, mouths agape staring at each other.

It took just a few minutes to sort things out. Mother had snuck into town to surprise Susan for her birthday. She’d called David to let him know she was staying at the Blue Moon Motel, but David being the sweetheart that he was had picked her up, paid for her night at the motel and insisted she stay at his apartment until her surprise party – which they had planned for tonight.

“Be sure to act surprised,” mother said.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m more surprised than you can possibly know.”

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