Forever and Ever. Amber Aitken

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      The man in the suit left Deli Antonia with a smile, leaving Mr Selvaggio free to focus on the girls. “And what-a may I do for-a you?” he said.

      “Hiya,” said Coral while Nicks stood there silently. She suddenly felt nervous. What if Mr Selvaggio did marry her mum?

      Mr Selvaggio smiled while he waited patiently for their order. But Coral’s mind had gone blank. She should have prepared a few questions! So she tried to focus on what sort of man they were looking for. Ah yes, someone who was kind, clever, funny, handsome.

      “So, Mr Selvaggio,” she began, “do you do any charity work?”

      Mr Selvaggio looked confused. “Uh, well we do try-a to collect for the Sea Watch Foundation,” he stammered as he pointed to the plastic boat-shaped moneybox on the countertop.

      Coral beamed at Nicks and turned to face Mr Selvaggio once more. “And what is the square root of 37?” She didn’t know the answer to this herself, but she hoped that Mr Selvaggio would answer very quickly because that would be telling enough.

      Mr Selvaggio’s forehead scrunched up while he gave this some silent thought.

      “OK–what is the capital of Italy then?” Coral blurted out.

      Mr Selvaggio looked instantly relieved. “That would’a be Rome!”

      Coral clapped. He definitely knew that one! “Now, tell us your favourite joke, please.”

      Mr Selvaggio looked very confused. “But-a why?”

      “Why?” echoed Coral. “Well…because…because the great thing about living in Sunday Harbour is our community spirit. Everyone knows everybody else. And we–my good friend NICKS WATERMAN and I–just love getting to know people better.”

      Mr Selvaggio could not argue with that. “My favourite-a joke…” he considered, looking up at the ceiling. And then he began. “Knock-a knock-a.”

      “Who’s there?” replied both girls eagerly (even Nicks was feeling Coral’s community spirit speech).

      “Tuna.”

      “Tuna who?”

      “Tuna your radio down, I’m trying to get some sleep!” Mr Selvaggio chuckled.

      Both girls stood there blinking.

      Tuna your round radio down…? Coral turned to look at Nicks.

       At least the joke kind of works with an Italian accent, that has to count for something! And he obviously has a very good sense of humour!

      They turned back to Mr Selvaggio and laughed too. But Coral wasn’t done interrogating yet. Nicks, meanwhile, had just noticed a thin, shiny gold wedding band on Mr Selvaggio’s ring finger. She stared. Maybe he just hadn’t got around to taking it off yet. After all, it couldn’t have been easy for him when his wife passed away. Nicks decided to push the thought from her mind.

      “So what sort of things do you enjoy doing?” continued Coral, who was too busy with the verbal questionnaire to notice any gold ring.

      Meanwhile, Nicks’s eyes crept up to the counter behind Mr Selvaggio. There was a very large, very shiny chrome coffee machine with funnels and drip trays. There were labeled canisters filled with different kinds of coffee as well as sugar. There were boxes of mocha sticks stuffed with chocolate. And then Nicks’s gaze landed on a large glass dome over a plate of what appeared to be square biscuits studded with dried fruit. A sign next to the dome of biscuits read:

      HANDMADE FRUIT BISCOTTI–FRESHLY BAKED BY MRS ANTONIA SELVAGGIO

      Nicks’s gaze settled on Mr Selvaggio’s wedding ring once again. She looked back to the sign advertising the fruit biscotti. And then it all became very clear. Coral had got it all wrong. Mrs Selvaggio was obviously alive and well and very well; it must have been Mr Selvaggio’s mother who had passed away.

      “Coral!” she hissed.

      But Coral was too busy with her interrogation. She’d just remembered Nicks’s mum’s bicycle with the cobweb spokes and the tennis racket with its broken strings and thought she’d better be more specific with her questions. “Do you enjoy playing sport, Mr Selvaggio?”

      “CORAL!”

      Coral smiled apologetically at Mr Selvaggio and then faced her best friend with a glare. Can’t you see I’m trying to find Mr Perfect!

      Nicks made big eyes at the ring finger on her hand. She then nodded a few times in Mr Selvaggio’s direction.

      But Coral was not taking any notice. “And what about the theatre–when was the last time you attended, Mr Selvaggio?”

      “You probably took your wife along with you, didn’t you, Mr Selvaggio?” interrupted Nicks with an uneasy smile.

      “Yes, you—” began Coral. And then her head quickly snapped back in Nicks’s direction. “Now, Nicks,” she said kindly, “that’s just being silly.”

      Mr Selvaggio looked very bewildered, but seemed relieved to be able to answer at least one question directly. “Actually, my-a wife does enjoy-a the theatre very-a much,” he admitted. “And she’s just-a in the back. I call her and you can ask for yourself!” His face was desperate, like he’d do almost anything to get out of answering any more of these annoying girls’ questions.

      Coral stood ramrod straight with her eyes in a wide O-shape. Her jaw flapped as she struggled to find words to speak. So Nicks stepped in.

      “Oh, that’s OK, Mr Selvaggio, we’ve really got to get going anyway. But it’s been great getting to know you. And we’re sorry about your mum.”

      She pressed a hand into Coral’s back and gently bulldozed her in the direction of the door. Coral was stammering but making very little sense, although at one point she did mumble something that sounded like ‘it must be a miracle…’

       5 stalemate

      Nicks patted her pocket, the one containing the two free passes to the sea star exhibition at the aquarium. Yesterday’s visit to Deli Antonia had been a disaster with embarrassing consequences. Not that Coral really saw it like this. She was rather indignant about the whole affair, almost as if Mr Selvaggio had tricked them by being married all along. So much for Sunday Harbour community spirit, she harrumphed.

      “Come on!” urged Nicks.

      Coral ambled along with her hands buried deep inside her pockets and kicked a smooth pebble.

      “Oh, get over it, Coral. So you didn’t know there were two Mrs Selvaggios–it’s no biggie.”

      Actually, inside Coral felt disappointed. She definitely did not want Nicks to leave Sunday Harbour and she’d really (really really) hoped that this would be an easy Cupid Company case. But so far it was proving to be anything but easy!

      “Here’s СКАЧАТЬ