‘It has been a while since he posted,’ she admitted, chewing on the inside of her cheek. ‘And the last three posts were all photos of birds?’
‘I cannot overstate how much he likes birds,’ I said, cutting the air with my hand. ‘If that’s a deal-breaker, speak now or forever hold your peace because seriously, he loves them.’
‘If that’s the weirdest thing he’s into, he will be the most normal guy I ever dated,’ she replied. ‘You’re seeing him later, right?’
‘Yes.’ I nodded, a tiny beat of anticipation flickering in my chest. It wasn’t often I got to hang out with very beautiful men. In fact, the last man I spent any kind of time with was Malcolm the electrician. Malcolm was not only Not Hot, he also charged by the hour and twohundred pounds later, the light in my downstairs toilet still didn’t bloody well work.
‘So you guys hang out, look at birds, and as long as he’s not a secret super creep, you put in a good word for your old pal, Bel.’ She clasped her hands together in front of her, eyes huge and pleading. ‘And if you’re totally, one hundo per cent certain he’s a love letter kind of a guy, we’ll go with your plan.’
‘What if he is some kind of secret super creep and I’m stuck spending the evening with him?’ I asked.
‘Hey, it’s your plan,’ she replied, flipping her sunglasses back down. ‘You want to get doughnuts on the way back? I know a great place not far from here.’
‘Yes, please,’ I replied, already drafting the letter in my head. Shall I compare thee to a Red-tailed Hawk? How do I love thee? Let me count the birds. A Common Bushtit by any other name would smell as sweet?
Maybe not.
‘And to think when I woke up, the only thing I had to look forward to was a pap smear,’ Bel said happily. ‘And now look at us? Beach, doughnuts, fall in love.’
‘Not bad for a Wednesday,’ I agreed, smiling at the ocean as the waves rushed in to greet us before running back out to sea. ‘Not too bad at all.’
‘Have the best time tonight,’ Bel yelled as she scrambled out of Suzanne’s tank and back into her own normal-sized vehicle. ‘Don’t forget to tell Ren how great I am and how much I love vegan food and birds and books.’
‘Do you love vegan food, birds and books?’
‘I don’tnotlove them.’
It was more than most relationships had to go on.
‘And text me everything!’ she yelled over the sound of her engine.
I gave her two thumbs up as she pulled away, blasting unexpected death metal as she went.
‘Still waters,’ I muttered, fishing around in my bag for my keys.
Suzanne kept her house chilled to a frosty 65 degrees and the freezing cold tiled floor felt like heaven on my bare feet. The morning had been bliss, reading, chatting, occasionally venturing into the water before collapsing back on my towel with a packet of Ruffles. Well before I was ready to leave, Bel’s phone tinkled into life, breaking the spell. One of her clients had a dog-walking emergency and so, we were forced to abandon our beach day because a Bichon Frise in Bel Air needed to get his steps in.
Still sunshine drunk, I hazily pulled out my phone to find a new message from my sister. I’d sent her a photo of the chateau I discovered the day before to see if she knew anything about it and apparently, she did.
OMG the witch’s house
Not an actual witch, just an arsehole
As far as I know. Cd b a witch?
Her mail gets delivered to me all the time, house numbers v similar and she’s SO RUDE
2 x packages for her on table near front door – cd you drop off?
David, I need the engagement numbers for Q1 vs Q2 before the 2pm meeting AS REQUESTED YESTERDAY
Sorry, last one not for u
‘God help David,’ I mumbled, slipping my feet back into my shoes and grabbing two small boxes from the console table in the hallway.
It took exactly seven minutes to walk from Suzanne’s house, 4001 Parva Avenue, to 4101 Parva Avenue, the home of a Ms M. Moore, and even though I was only going to drop off her post, a little bubble of excitement swelled in my stomach. I was full of questions. Would the middle-finger flasher be there again? Was she Ms M. Moore? And how was I supposed to get the bloody packages up to the house in the first place?
The huge wrought-iron gate at the end of the driveway was locked.
