Page 54 of Seashells at The Summer Hotel Lovely Bay
‘Well, they were different. Yes, I mean, I was expecting property investors, not that I think I know what property investors look like. Anyone can be a property investor; they don’t have to be turning up in a suit. It was just…’
‘Did you like them?’
‘Oh, yes. Yes, definitely.’
‘What were they like, then?’
‘Not what I was expecting at all. The car was super fancy, a Range Rover, and then these two tiny women got out. One of them was wearing tracksuit bottoms, sliders, a bright jumper, and the most gigantic gold headphones I’ve ever seen. She spent the whole time chatting away on the phone but took everything in and videoed the whole lot.’
‘Interesting,’ Ella said with a laugh.
‘And the other one was so, so pretty, and head to toe in sparkle. It sort of threw me a bit, and then as we walked around, I totally realised these women were so on the ball it wasn’t even funny. And then there were the cinnamon buns, who knows what that was about.’
‘The what?’ Ella asked with a frown on her face and a wrinkled-up nose.
‘They got some cinnamon buns out of the car, and they were just out of this world. Like nothing I’ve ever tasted. They were laughing when they saw my reaction.’
‘A cinnamon bun is a cinnamon bun, isn’t it?’
Nina shook her head rapidly. ‘No. Not like this, no. You have to taste one to believe it.’
‘Sorry, so they just had these random buns in the car?’
‘No, actually, yes, I mean. They own a bakery.’
‘Oh, that’s right, they did say that.’
Nina shook her head again. ‘No, that’s wrong. They don’t own a bakery, they own astringof bakeries. These women are highly successful. I may be completely off the mark, but fromwhat I gathered, I think they could probably buy this place in cash, you know?’
‘Really? How do you get that feeling?’
‘I don’t know,’ Nina said. ‘I could just tell. The car, the way they held themselves. Really nice and friendly, too, and then the younger one, honestly, she sparkled from head to toe. Full-on diamonds everywhere.’
‘Right, so we need to accost her and steal all of her jewellery before she goes?’ Ella laughed.
‘I reckon we'd make a packet if we did, even with one of her diamonds. There was a rock on her finger which made mine look pathetic, really, totally pathetic.’
‘I didn’t get that feeling when I spoke to her on the phone. She sounded so normal.’
‘Yep, they were very sort of humble, but at the same time, you could tell they weren’t messing around, especially the older one. She was taking it all in and filming everything, and then right at the end, as we were walking around, she was like, 'Yeah, no, it’s too expensive.'
‘Right, okay, I get you.’
Nina squinted out the windscreen. ‘Oh yes, see that massive Range Rover coming down the road? That must be them now.’
As the Range Rover approached, Nina and Ella didn’t say anything as they watched the car pull into the side of the road. They stayed where they were in the front of Ella’s car as the two women they’d just been discussing stepped out.
The older woman, Xian, was as before, wearing a bright pink jumper, though this time it was slightly less fluffy. She had a pair of gold headphones slotted around her neck and the sliders thistime were green. Both Xian and Holly waved enthusiastically as Holly helped Xian onto the pavement as Ella and Nina got out of the car.
‘Hello again!’ Holly called out as Xian shuffled behind with a smile on her face.
Ella held out her hand. ‘Nice to meet you at last after our conversations on the phone.’
Nina smiled and shook hands. ‘Hi. You chose a nice day for it again.’
‘Mmm. The sun is out, thank goodness,’ Holly said as the gigantic diamond around her neck sparkled in the sunshine.
Nina observed Xian as the four of them stood on the street chatting. Xian fiddled with her headphones as she looked at The Summer Hotel and took in the details of the property. She didn’t miss a trick as her eyes scanned every corner, and she kept one ear on the conversation. Nina’s eyes nearly dropped out of her head when Xian whipped a small silver hip flask from the pocket of her tracksuit bottoms, swiftly unscrewed the top, tipped back her head, put the flask to her lips and glugged.
