скачать книгу бесплатно
“Cecily isn’t exactly a bad sort,” said Coral out loud.
Nicks also looked confused. “Yes, she’s always seemed quite careful with other people’s feelings before now.”
They both paused and stared up at the blue sky for a few moments. Coral was thinking about the time Cecily didn’t laugh at her for walking straight into a lamppost in front of (practically) the entire school. Nicks was remembering the day that Cecily personally thanked her for selling the most raffle tickets to raise money for the new school flag.
“That may be, but she’s still a troublesome flirt!” growled Jem.
“And a ferocious four-timer!” grumbled Em.
But they didn’t have time to say more because suddenly there came the sound of loud laughter near them. The day was getting on and cooling quickly and the beachfront was emptying rapidly, so it was not difficult to spot who was making the noise. Coral and Nicks turned to see Duncan and Cecily sitting on a picnic bench in the shadow of a very low tree. The laugh had belonged to him. Cecily was just as amused, but hers was more of a delicate giggle. The girls watched as she brought her sparkly nails to her mouth, her eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings. She then swung her glossy, strawberry-blonde curls over one shoulder and lifted her chin so that the soft, pale skin of her neck flashed in the fading sunlight. There was no doubt about it – the girl was in full-throttle flirting mode.
But perhaps Jem and Em were wrong. Maybe Cecily really did love Duncan. Just Duncan.
It was like Jem had read Coral’s mind.
“Don’t be fooled,” she groaned. “She behaves like that with the rest of the team too.”
Coral’s shoulders slumped. She felt let down. She’d always liked Cecily. In fact, she had been working on being just like her one day. But as a dedicated champion of romance, she now realised that Cecily clearly had the wrong idea about love. Unless…
“Einstein moment!” she announced loudly. “Just leave it to us, we’ll sort this out.”
Chapter 3
lessons in love
“It’s fate!” declared an excitable Coral to Nicks as they walked double-time in the direction of Nicks’s house. It would be dark soon.
“Really…” murmured Nicks with a vague nod (because it was not always wise to encourage Coral).
“Definitely! We have been personally summoned by Aphrodite the goddess of love.”
“Personally, huh?” Nicks quickly sidestepped a boy on a skateboard without slowing down.
“Well, maybe not personally, but it was absolutely our destiny to witness Cecily’s behaviour for ourselves. It made me realise just how desperately the poor girl needs the services of the Cupid Company. She should most definitely become our next client.”
Nicks did not look convinced. “But we’re matchmakers, remember? Cecily doesn’t seem to have any problems finding a boyfriend, Coral.”
“Matchmakers!” replied Coral indignantly. “We are far more than just matchmakers. We are Cupid’s arrow. We are Aphrodite’s coworkers. We are love’s sat nav. And it’s all suddenly very clear to me. Only this time our mission is quite different. This time we have to help Cecily, er… love a little less.”
“Mmm. So instead of helping her find romance, you mean we help her to find less romance?” replied Nicks, looking confused.
“Exactly,” said Coral. “We have to point Cecily in the right direction and help her to find true love. Right now she is simply love-struck with four boys at once. It would be much better for the Spikers if she gave up on all of them altogether and found someone completely new.”
Nicks gave this some more thought. It would certainly be a different direction to the one they were used to. But there was the volleyball team to think about. By helping Cecily they would put the Spikers back on track and unite the team to victory.
“Coral – this time you have definitely experienced an Einstein moment!” declared Nicks finally. She then put her head down and starting thinking through ideas to jot down. This really would be a different sort of challenge. Just how would they get Cecily to focus her affections?
“Hello, Romeo!” Coral called out. They had arrived at Nicks’s house to find the caramel and white terrier pup waiting on the top step of the porch. The Westie dog, Miss Honey, was not far away. The two pups were still hopelessly in love.
Coral knelt down and fussed over her pet. She scratched his head, tickled his chin and gave him a squeeze. Truth be told, she’d missed him today. They used to go everywhere together, but now Romeo often hung back and canoodled with Miss Honey instead. Of course Coral was pleased he’d found love. After all, wasn’t that what life was really all about? Still, it had taken some getting used to, though it helped that Miss Honey belonged to Nicks’s mum’s boyfriend, Ben, so Coral always knew where Romeo was.
“Hi, Ben!” said Nicks just a little too loudly. She had a really wide grin on her face that looked completely forced. Coral recognised the signs. Nicks’s mum and Ben hadn’t been dating all that long and Nicks wasn’t sure about him. Coral liked him though. He was the manager at the aquarium and had all sorts of interesting things to say.
“So Ben, how is that blowfish getting on?” Coral asked now.
Ben chuckled and his kind eyes crinkled up at the corners. “Still shooting straight to the top of the tank every time it gets a fright!” he replied.
“Scaredy fish!” Coral and Ben both laughed together loudly. Nicks tried to join in but made more of an uneasy chug-chug sort of sound.
“Hello, girls.” Nicks’s mum stepped through the screen door of the house and on to the porch. Miss Honey sat up straight and wagged her tail instantly. Soft and round, she was a girly sort of girl dog who loved Ben very much but clearly enjoyed having another female around too. She especially loved the new pink bow in her fringe and the sparkly-studded collar around her neck.
Nicks’s mum stared at Coral’s shiny waistcoat for a moment and then smiled. “That’s a rather distinctive-looking waistcoat,” she commented.
Coral glanced down at her new fashion item and then turned back to Nicks’s mum with narrowed eyes. Was that a compliment? she wondered.
“I just mean that I haven’t seen one quite like it before,” added Nicks’s mum.
“That’s because it’s a theatre masterpiece – a work of art,” explained Coral.
“We bought it second-hand from the theatre company’s stall at the seaside market,” added Nicks matter-of-factly.
“This waistcoat has seen its share of the bright lights – it’s vintage,” added Coral whose face said ‘SECOND-HAND, PAH!’ ).
“It’s eye-catching and quite unusual,” said Ben with an interested nod.
“It certainly is,” agreed Coral. “And look, it even has a pocket.” She rubbed her fingers against its satin lining. This waistcoat was useful as well as eye-catching. “Ooh, hold on, this pocket isn’t empty,” she suddenly murmured.
“I hope you haven’t found a used tissue,” yelped Nicks with a wrinkled-up nose. Miss Honey wrinkled her nose up too, as if she understood everything.
“There’s more than one thing, there’s…” added Coral in a breathy voice, “a piece of paper and a coin.” She held both up in the air and then brought them close to her nose for inspection. The coin was copper with a star on one side and the words ONE PENNY pressed into the other. It didn’t look familiar. Next she unfolded the paper, square by square. “It’s got writing across it,” she whispered out loud.
“It’s probably a shopping list,” said Nicks, who was fed up with the waistcoat already and desperately wanted to get back to Cupid Company business. They had so much to do!
“It looks like a letter,” revealed Coral. She began reading:
My dear Sam,
This letter is a difficult one to write but the time has come for me to say goodbye to you and this lovely little seaside town. I am not getting any younger and there is still so much I need to discover about myself. And it is something I need to do alone. I will miss the company and closeness we have shared for the past six years but will always keep your love and those memories alive in my heart. How I shall miss old Mr Morris Minor! Do take care of yourself and perhaps we will meet again one day – in this life or the next. Be happy always.
Yours,
CBA
For a few moments nobody spoke. Even the pups remained stock still, their furry ears stirring slightly in the cool evening breeze.
“Poor Sam,” murmured Ben thoughtfully.
“What were the chances of you finding a letter like that?” commented Nicks’s mum. She was a schoolteacher and quite used to giving most things careful consideration.
Nicks set her jaw and rested her chin in her hand. She sighed. When it came to Coral, the chances of finding something out of the ordinary were usually rather good. Drama and her best friend went together like salt on a sea breeze. And of course Nicks knew exactly what was coming next.
“There’s only one thing for it,” declared Coral. “We must track poor heartbroken Sam down and help him – or her – find love again!”
Nicks groaned. She really had hoped to make the Spikers their priority. Sunday Harbour depended on it.
Chapter 4
love in Many languages
Coral Hut always looked its brightest and most beautiful first thing in the morning. The pale-gold early sunlight shone down on the beach like a light from heaven and the hut’s yellow, mint-green and pale pink painted stripes sparkled like sugar crystals in the glow.
Inside the hut, the girls sat perched on the daybed – one at each side – surrounded by cool, whitewashed walls and pretty patterned rugs and cushions. Romeo and Miss Honey lay cuddled up near the door, enjoying the beachy views.
“We really do have a lot to do,” said Coral thoughtfully.
Nicks was busy making notes but paused to nod. “Yup, we have two rather complex Cupid Company cases. Now, what are we going to do about Cecily and the Spikers?”
Both girls fell silent. Nicks tapped her pen. Coral chewed her thumb. Nicks scratched her head. Coral exhaled loudly and stared through the open door at the small, curling waves crashing on the beach.
A tall, athletic young man appeared, running along the sand with a bright orange towel hanging around his neck. He stopped with his back to Coral Hut, put the orange towel on the sand and immediately waded into the ocean. And then he was gone, swimming freestyle and cutting through the waves in the direction of the horizon. He was obviously a very good swimmer and was a small speck in no time at all.
“Maybe we should concentrate on the mystery of Sam first?” Coral finally suggested.
Nicks nodded her agreement. “Let’s begin by analysing the letter for clues to Sam’s identity.”
But Coral was one step ahead of her friend and had already got the letter open. She scanned its contents before speaking. “Mmm, so CBA used to live in Sunday Harbour but has now moved far away.”
Nicks stared at her detective friend. She had clearly been hoping for more than that.
“But is CBA a man or a woman?” she asked. “Because Sam could be a woman or a man too.”
“Oh, CBA is definitely a woman,” announced Coral with conviction as she held the letter up to Nicks. “See, patterned paper. And look at the writing – it’s pretty and wavy. Also, ‘discovering yourself’ is more of a female thing to do. And as for keeping ‘those memories alive in my heart’ – that’s a woman’s touch too.”
Coral hadn’t proved a thing, but what she was saying did make sense.
“I agree,” replied Nicks. “CBA is probably a woman. And I think she – and Sam – are both older because only old people talk about ‘not getting any younger’. And young people don’t think about meeting in the next life; they’re too busy with this one. As for ‘Mr Morris Minor’, CBA clearly states that he’s old too. Old people have old friends.”
Coral considered this for a silent moment and bobbed her head up and down. And then her face crumpled. “So Sam is a lonely old man,” she whispered. “How sad.”
But Nicks was still focused on the facts. “We’re really not much closer to finding out who Sam is though.”
“Maybe the coin—” began Coral. And then she stopped. She’d just been blinded by a giant roll of aluminium foil walking right past the hut. Nicks had seen it too. Both girls jumped up and tiptoed across the floor as if it was made of hot coals. Stopping at the door, they stared for a few silent moments.
It wasn’t a walking roll of aluminium foil but a small woman wearing a shiny, silver-quilted tracksuit. She looked older than their parents but younger than their grandparents, and her skin was tanned with deep wrinkles that looked like cracks in the mud at the bottom of a dried-up river.
The silver and brown woman hadn’t noticed the girls. Quietly, she climbed the stairs and unlocked the door to the neighbouring red beach hut which had recently acquired a plywood FOR RENT sign. The hut had been sitting empty ever since their previous neighbours, Malcolm and Meredith, had left for their honeymoon.
Suddenly Romeo gave a short, sharp bark. He’d also noticed their new neighbour. The silver and brown woman heard the bark and quickly glanced over at Coral Hut, while Miss Honey simpered at Romeo as if he was the bravest dog in the world.
“Howdy, neighbours!” the woman cried out, waving.
Coral and Nicks were still mesmerised.
“Hiya,” they finally managed in reply.
“Gorgeous day, darlings!” she added as she yanked the FOR RENT sign from the deck post and snapped it in half over her knee.
“Yes, gorgeous…” they echoed.
“Give me five minutes – let me get settled,” added the woman, “and then why don’t you mosey on over for a pot of herbal, alrighty?” She flashed them a grin, her white teeth appearing luminous next to her suntan. Her cropped hair was also white, although it was difficult to tell if it was naturally white or bleached that way.
“Uh yeah… sure…” mumbled the girls together, even though they had no idea what a pot of herbal might be. But they waited the required five minutes – their Cupid Company business entirely forgotten – before ‘moseying’ on over.
The red beach hut was definitely changed since they had last visited Malcolm and Meredith there. Now the walls were covered in canvas squares of art in very bright colours. There was an easel in one corner and a long, narrow table in the other. The table was cluttered with tubes of paint, jars of brushes, a sketching pad, a couple of oil lamps, a small gas stove with a battered metal teapot and a basket of mismatched canisters and containers. The artworks were all paintings of animals of every kind – from an albatross to a zebra and almost every beast in between.
“Do you like them?” asked the woman as she stared up at the paintings lovingly.
The girls were surprised by the question.
“Oh yes!” replied Coral.
“We love animals, definitely.”
“We even have a dog called Romeo. Well, two dogs—”
But the woman interrupted Coral with another question. “Kumquat or acai?”
Coral looked confused for a moment. “Er, Romeo is a Jack Russell Terrier actually.”
The woman giggled at this. “No, silly. I mean would you like kumquat or acai tea. I make my own exotic herbal and fruit teas.”
The girls shrugged. They’d never tried a kumquat or an acai-thingie so it really made no difference.
“I’m Zephyr, by the way,” said the woman, who now had her nose buried in one of the canisters from the basket.
The girls stared silently, and practised mouthing her strange-sounding name – Zefer… Zef-er…
The woman glanced up. “Zephyr!” she said again. “I chose it myself. It means a light, gentle wind. And that’s exactly what I am: a light, gentle wind floating around the world. Now, what are your names?”
It took Coral exactly two and a half seconds to fall in love with the notion of an exotic-sounding name of her own. Suddenly the name Coral sounded very dull and uninteresting by comparison. And of course it said nothing about the girl herself. Very quickly her mind went to work considering all the various options...
“I’m Nicks,” replied Nicks in the meantime. She waited a moment for Coral to introduce herself, but her friend seemed to be staring into the distance with glazed eyes. So Nicks filled in the silence. “And this is my best friend Coral.”
Coral suddenly lurched upright and grinned. “Call me Amor!”
Zephyr seemed to like this. “Amor – meaning ‘love’ in many languages. Oh, how simply divine!”
Coral, or Amor, grinned. Of course she knew what it meant – love was her specialist subject, after all. And as a true champion of love, it really was the perfect name.
