Southside ~ Shameless

Chapter 23

After Fiona had gone for coffee with Craig Heisner, who happened to be married, Veronica, Hollie and Fiona took the kids, Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, Liam, Jonah and Ethel, out for lunch at an all-you-can-eat buffet that they had gotten coupons for.

Fiona had found a Louis Vuitton purse that someone had left on the L which was now in the middle of their table.

"My steak is too rare," V complained making Fiona hum and swap her plates, "have this one king Henry," she said.

"What was the final tally in the purse?" Lip asked.

"Five hundred and twenty-six bucks," said Fiona.

"Jesus. Who carries around that kind of cash?" asked Ian. Hollie reached over and pulled the wallet out of the purse, "um...Kim Furtado," she read off of the credit card in the wallet, shrugging before dropping the wallet back into the purse.

"Some rich bitch," Veronica scoffed.

"In our neighbourhood?"

Fiona shrugged, "I was up in Glencoe having coffee with a friend from high school," she told him. Carl smirked, "That guy from your diary?" He asked.

"Shut up and eat your spaghetti taco,"

Veronica examined the purse, "you think it's real? And if so can I have it?"

Lip nodded, "yeah it is, the LVs are two inches apart, the seams are even, the stitching's yellow and the leather has turned dark brown from oxidation," he said making the others look at him weirdly. He looked around at them, "I read a lot," he defended.

Fiona leaned back in her chair to speak to Debbie who was sitting at a separate table with Ethel as there were only so many people they could squeeze on their table. "Debs have more salad. It's all you can eat," she said.

"Hey Fi," said Lip, "you know what you should do?" He took Kim's phone out of the purse and looked through the contacts.

"Ride the L more often?"

"Here. Found her home number. Tell her you found her purse I bet she'll reward you," he called the number and handed the phone to Fiona, "It went to voicemail. Leave a message,"

"Hi, Kim, my name's Fiona, I found your purse on the L," said Fiona, "give me a call back on your cell so that I can get it back to you. Okay bye," she hung up and handed the phone back to Lip.

"Perfect. Now don't give it back unless she gives you at least 200 bucks," said Lip as he put the phone back into the purse, "that's how much we could get for it on eBay. All right guys," He pulled some plastic sandwiches baggies out of his pocket, "let's go stock up on chicken nuggets for home,"

Lip, Ian and Carl went to get nuggets from the buffet leaving Veronica, Fiona and Hollie at the table with Liam in the stroller beside it.

"You know, it's a good thing I met up with Craig Heisner," said Fiona, Hollie and Veronica both avoided eye contact and stayed quiet, "otherwise, I never would have found the purse,"

"He's married," said Veronica shortly.

"I'm talking about the purse,"

"Are you?" said Hollie.

"Yes." Fiona snapped.

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"Debs don't stab your brother," Hollie called into the living room from where she was the kitchen doing laundry when she heard Debbie threaten Carl after he'd spilled a bag of toys onto the  coffee table.

Lip walked down the stairs and put his arm on carls back to guide him into the kitchen, "look you gotta get a job this summer so we can make it through the winter,"