Читать книгу Forever and Ever - Amber Aitken - Страница 5

Nicks jumped to her feet and the throw slipped to the floor. She didn’t give it a second glance. An organiser by nature, she now had the biggest Cupid Company assignment of their matchmaking careers to plot and plan. And as it was her mum they would be matchmaking, everything had to be very carefully considered.

She rushed inside the beach hut for her clipboard and the file of completed Cupid Company questionnaires. All she had to do was search through them to find Mr Perfect. Except the file was not where she’d left it, neatly stored inside the white wicker basket. Now where could Coral have put it?

Nicks stood up and stuck her head out through the open door. Coral was leaning over the deck’s railing and talking to a middle-aged man and woman who were standing on the deck of the glossy red beach hut next door–the hut that belonged to the famous crime thriller writer, JD ‘Doctor Death’ Hatchett. He’d left Sunday Harbour with a ‘To Let’ sign on the red hut’s door, so there was a good chance that the couple were the red beach hut’s new occupants. Nicks joined Coral out on the deck and waved politely.

“This is my very best friend Nicks,” announced Coral in a loud voice. And then she turned to Nicks. “This is Meredith and Malcolm. The name Meredith means ‘protector of the sea’.”

“Oh, OK!” smiled Nicks. “Hello!”

The protector of the sea grinned broadly and waved. She was slim with black-grey wispy hair that wafted on the sea breeze like tumbleweed. Malcolm was a small man with wide shoulders, thick legs and a very kind face.

“We’re marine scientists,” he revealed proudly.

“This beach hut is our research base for the rest of the summer,” joined in Meredith. “Our mission is to convince the world–scientific and otherwise–to change the name of the starfish to the ‘sea star’, because, well, it’s not a fish! It doesn’t even look like a fish.”

Both girls stared silently at their new neighbours. Could you do that? Just tell the world to just change the name of something? If so, Coral had a few suggestions of her own – like seahorse, dragonfly and catfish. None of them made sense either. She imagined creating public campaigns to lobby for—

Suddenly an elbow lodged in her side. Nicks and their new neighbours were all staring at her expectantly.

“That’s a really good idea!” she replied enthusiastically. But she didn’t mention the seahorses, dragonflies or catfish just yet.

“It is?” squawked Nicks.

“Great news!” replied Meredith. “Collecting washed-up marine matter from the shoreline can be very exciting. And we could really do with the help.”

Coral stared and shrugged. She’d missed something; she just wasn’t quite sure what it was yet.

Nicks huffed. Not that she really minded helping their new neighbours clear up, but they had to get her mum to fall in love. Everything depended on it! There really was no time for anything else.

“Well, we’d better say goodbye,” she said with a gentle smile. “We have lots to do.”

“Yes, lots and lots,” agreed Coral.

And, waving goodbye, Nicks and Coral disappeared inside Coral Hut, where they fished out the file of completed Cupid Company questionnaires that was lodged in between the books of romantic poetry on the shelf. Coral then settled into a deckchair beside Nicks and opened the file.

“So let’s start by making a shortlist of perfect partners for your mum.”

Nicks nodded. “We must find someone who is kind, clever, funny and handsome.”

“Right,” agreed Coral as she flicked through the questionnaires on file. “Kind. Clever. Funny. Handsome…” She flicked some more. “We seem to have a shortage of questionnaires.”

“Pass me that,” snapped Nicks. She was usually a very patient sort, but today her nerves made her nervy. They could not mess this one up. So she flicked left and flicked right. Questionnaires covered in scribble floated on the breeze. Finally Nicks glanced up. “There’s no one kind, clever, funny or handsome enough!”

The girls slumped. Even Romeo’s hairy chin dipped to the floor. But inspiration was not long in coming. Coral squinted while she waited for a new idea to land in her head. One always came. Finally she sat bolt upright.

“This Cupid Company case is not like any other we’ve ever had before, is it?”

Nicks shook her head in agreement. “This one is the most important case by far.”

“Usually our clients come to us looking for love,” continued Coral thoughtfully. “But your mum…well, she’s not really looking for love, is she?”

Nicks nodded glumly. “I think she’d try her hardest not to fall in love right now. All she can think about is that daft new job.”

“So we can’t ask your mum to complete a questionnaire. But that’s OK, you know her better than anybody, right? You know her likes and dislikes.”

“Well, sort of.” Nicks thought about her mum. Her mum was just…her mum. “She really hasn’t had many boyfriends, you know,” she admitted.

Coral gave her chin a scratch. “She married your dad, that’s a start.”

“My parents got divorced.”

“So you see–that’s a start! We’ll look for someone who is not like your dad.”

Nicks frowned. She thought her dad was kind, clever, funny and handsome. “Maybe we should try and find someone who Mum has something in common with–you know, like a shared hobby.”

“Good idea! So what are your mum’s hobbies, apart from the post office?”

“The post office is where she works, Coral–it’s not a hobby.” Nicks fell silent and chewed her bottom lip for a few thoughtful moments. “She does like genealogy.”

“That’s probably why she works at the post office,” replied Coral matter-of-factly. “What better place to collect stamps.”

“Duh! Genealogy is when you trace your family tree and make heritage scrapbooks and collect heirlooms and stuff,” explained Nicks.

“Oh right,” Coral was surprised. That all sounded much too like hard work. She was already thinking about other ideas. “Wouldn’t it be brilliant if we could contact your mum’s school sweetheart! You never know, maybe he’s single too?” Her eyes were misty with the possibility of it all. The only thing better than love was long-lost love.

“My dad was her school sweetheart,” harrumphed Nicks.

“Right–well there’s only one thing left to do then,” declared Coral hurriedly. “We have to find out what other things she’s into. That might give us a clue as to what kind of man we should find her. We have to go to your house and do some of our own investigating.

We may only get one crack at this, so Mr Perfect had better be Mr Perfect! We’ll flip through photo albums. We’ll dig in old shoeboxes and look under the bed. We’ll poke about in desk drawers and page through your mum’s recipe books. We’ll check her diary and even listen in on her phone calls. This is how we’ll find out about her hobbies and interests!” Coral was excited by the mystery of it all, but Nicks was still stuck at recipe books.

“What do recipes have to do with finding Mr Perfect?”

“That’s how we find out what her favourite foods are,” replied Coral with an isn’t-it-obvious face. “We need to know exactly what she likes and what she dislikes. What are her favourite things in the world? What are her hopes and dreams? But she must not find out what we’re up to.”

Nicks stared at her friend. When did getting her mum to fall in love turn into a top-secret spying operation? But then they were desperate. She shrugged.

Coral stood up, glanced about, and checked her wristwatch. “I’ve got a dentist appointment. My mum will kill me if I’m late. We’ll make contact at your house at say–oh-eleven-thirty-seven-a.m.”

“I have no idea what that means, Coral.”

Coral glanced about again, trying to contain her eagerness. “That means I’ll meet you at your house this morning at 37 minutes past 11,” she explained patiently to her friend, who obviously was not very good at this sort of thing. But Coral had always been a fan of James Bond’s films. She understood that they were now secret agents of love.

“Right, well, I’ll hang out here for a while longer,” replied Nicks.

“OK, fine.” Coral kept her voice low and hoarse. “And I’ll see you you-know-where at you-know-when. She winked and was gone.