‘Is everything OK?’
Max glanced round at Dave, looking like he wanted to physically throw him out without even knowing the reason why.
‘He’s not right for me,’ Alex said.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Violet said, not looking remotely sorry.
‘It’s OK, plenty of fish in the sea,’ Alex shrugged but inside she was disappointed. ‘I have another date tomorrow night. Pip. We’ve actually chatted quite a bit, he seems really nice.’
‘Oh,’ Violet said, unable to hide her disappointment. Then she forced a smile back on her face. ‘Good luck with it.’
Alex took her hand. ‘Whatever happens, it will be OK. I promise.’
Violet nodded.
Alex said her goodbyes and left. She drank both her hot chocolates on the way back, they’d be too cold to give one to Quinn by the time she’d walked up the hill to the art studios. But as she walked along, she checked her phone. She had a notification from the dating app and a private message onThe Lovegrove LighthouseFacebook page. She checked the dating app first, wondering if Dave was messaging to apologise. She opened it up and saw she had a message from another man called Oliver.
Hello, I saw your profile and you look nice. Would you like to meet for dinner tonight at Alberto’s, say seven thirty?
She had a quick look through his profile to make sure there weren’t any obvious red flags before she replied. He seemed nice too, very outdoorsy. Zara was staying at her friend’s tonight, which meant Alex had a rare night alone so why not. She hesitated before she replied because dinner with people who didn’t know her was always a tiny bit awkward but it was best to be honest than reap the consequences later.
She hit the reply button.
That would be lovely, I’m looking forward to meeting you. Just so you know, I have an allergy to shellfish, so I just have to be careful what I eat.
She paused as she thought then added:
Sometimes even being in close proximity to someone eating shellfish can set me off. And I’d rather spend the night talking to you and getting to know you than spend half the night in the toilets being sick.
She hit send. Thankfully her allergy to shellfish wasn’t life-threatening but if anyone at the same table as her had some on their plate she would be physically sick for hours after. She had often kept quiet about it, not wanting to put anyone out, but after enduring several meals where she had spent most of the night in the toilets, she now told people upfront. Quinn always said she had to advocate for herself so she did.
She checked her other notifications from the dating app to see she had another message from Pip. Some of the men who messaged her were like Oliver and wanted to go straight to the date to get to know each other, while others, like Pip, took the time to get to know her before meeting and she liked that.
She opened up his message which was in reply to her previous one and read it.
I loved Back to the Future too. What kid didn’t want their own flying skateboard? It is funny though that so many of the future technologies we see in Back to the Future 2 we now see today, smart watches, smart glasses, video calls, self-driving cars. They were clearly way ahead of their time. But still no flying skateboards. What invention would you like to see in the future?
She smiled. Pip was a bit of a geek and she liked that. She also liked that he wasn’t trying to hide who he was, that he was happy to talk about stuff like this with her,rather than pretending he was interested in something else.
She quickly sent a reply.
We have so much cool technology nowadays: those smart glasses that can translate anything, in any language, virtual reality headsets and games you can play in your own home. The café near where I work even has self-heating butter knives. But in Star Trek if you’re not well, you lie on one of those medical beds and they do a full body scan in seconds and they can find out exactly what’s wrong with you. Imagine going to the doctor with a headache or a backache and instead of dismissing it and sending you away with two paracetamol, you could get this scan straightaway and find out exactly what’s wrong. All the cancers or diseases could be spotted very early so we could get treatment, that would be amazing. So that’s what I’d like, one of those in every doctor’s surgery in the country.
She sent the message, clicked out of the dating app and opened up the private message onThe Lovegrove LighthouseFacebook page, wondering if someone had a lead to help her find St Nick. She stopped dead on the street corner. The message was from St Nick himself. Or at least someone claiming to be him.
Hello Sherlock – or should I call you Barnaby?
She smiled at that. She lovedMidsomer Murders. Although most people in the town would know that. They had filmed part of an episode there once and she had won herself a small walk-on part after they had done aMidsomerquiz and she’d got every question right. Getting a photo with the actor who played DCI Barnaby had been the highlight of her year. She loved all cosy mystery shows like that and loved being able to spot the clues and try and work out who had committed the crime.
She carried on reading the message.
So you want to solve the mystery of who I am? It won’t be easy. I’ve very carefully covered my tracks. But if anyone can work it out, it’s you. To make it easier, I’ll give you a clue every day until I give the last bauble on Christmas Eve. If you haven’t solved it by then, I will disappear forever. If you figure out who I am, I’ll paint a custom bauble for you, anything you like.
While I appreciate the offer of selling my baubles at the Wonky Tree Studios, making money from them was never my intention. Nor would I ever want to take commissions. I love the joy of giving without ever wanting something in return. I also get to choose what I want to paint. Taking commissions would take away some of that joy.
OK, time for your first clue. Painting isn’t my real job – if you’re looking for someone who paints, you won’t find me there.
Snowy hugs,
