Her Fortescue Diamond

Published by A
licia
Hope

Copyright 2012 Alicia Hope

ABN 59573352521

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Her Fortescue Diamond

‘You write
such
wonderful
heroes in your books
,
Alicia.
I’ve fallen in love with every one of them so far. So how come you
still
haven’t found a hero of your own?’

Alicia studied Polly for a moment. She had to admit it was a natural enough question
for her friend to ask, and she
wasn’t
the only one
. It seemed everyone was curious to know how a successful young romance writer—who, although no Barbie doll, was attractive in a bright and interesting way—could remain so resolutely single while all her friends moved in with, married or martyred the men of their dreams.

A waitress
brushed past their table
and left a tantalising
whiff
of garlic and caramelised onion
in her wake. Alicia watched her deliver
the aromatic order to a
bunch of gourmands whose expressions lit up
gree
dily
. Without taking her eyes off the delicious-looking platter, she murmured,
‘
Yeah, well t
hat’s because the heroes in my stories are make-believe men. No real man could live up to them.’

‘Well of course they’re not
real
,
Luvvy. Y
ou’re a fiction writer. But writing about impossibly handsome, heroic types in your books shouldn’t stop you from finding one in real life?’

‘But
,
Polly, real-life heroes just don’t exist. O
r if they do they’re as rare as....
’

‘As what? Hen’s teeth?’

Alicia frowned.
‘Oh no, that’s not a worthy comparison for my lovely heroes! Let’s
just
say they
’re as rare as ...
the Fortescue Diamond.’

‘D
on’t tell me. That’s the world’s largest vivid blue diamond isn’t it? The one you keep going on about?’

‘I don
’t “go on about it” at all
. In fact, I think I’ve only mentioned it to you once before. You SO e
xaggerate things.
’ Alicia raised a reproachful eyebrow and shook her head at her friend.

‘Oh, shut up. As if you don’t exaggerate in your books.’

‘That’s different. It’s permissible exaggeration, under literary license.’

Polly snorted and blew some steam from the top of the coffee mug she held between both hands. ‘Literary, shiterary. It’s all the same to me.’ She took a sip of coffee and her eyes sparkled defiantly over the top of her mug.

‘Classy
,
Poll,
real
classy.’

‘Whatever. So, what are you doing to find your Mr Perfect?’

‘Nothing. Like I told you, he doesn’t exist.’

‘But you go out on dates?’

‘Of course. No woman is an island you know.’ It was Alicia’s turn to glance significantly at her friend through the steam rising from her cup.

‘So thes
e dates are just for
...
?’

‘For company. For research. For fun.’

‘I see. And do the blokes know they’re just research subjects; lab rats if you will?’

‘Of course they’re not
lab rats
! I’m not that hard-hearted y
ou know, despite what you
obviously think.’

Polly grinned an apology at her friend. ‘I know you’re not
, Hon. B
ut you gotta admit,
it does make you sound a bit ...
mercenary.’

‘No more so than most of the guy
s I’ve dated. Let’s face it
, their agendas are unlikely to include anything deep and meaningful. Most of them are too busy taking orders from “General Testosterone”.’

Both women giggled wickedly and
sipped
their coffees.

‘But what about that one guy, the tall, dark and handsome you went out with a few times
? He had a
“toff”
sounding
name
....
’

‘You mean Gideon?’

‘Yeah, that’s him. What happened there? S
econd and third dates are virtually unheard of in Alicia World, so he must have been something of an anomaly.’

Alicia paused, pressing her lips into a tight line. A far-away look crept into h
er
eyes, but when she became aware of her friend’s scrutiny, she dropped her gaze and gave a small, wry smile.

‘Yes, even I have to admit Gideon was a bit different.’

‘OK, spill the beans.’

‘But i
t’s a long story. We don’t have time—’

‘Don’t be silly. I was just about to order
another cappuccino anyway, one’
s never enough. And I don’t get to see you all that often any more, so I want to make the most of every minute. I’ll order for us both, so get ready to tell a
ll, girlfriend.’ Polly raised a hand to get the
waitress’s attention.

Alicia leaned
back in her chair and gave a resigned sigh. She glanced up at the sky through the gently swaying branches of the tree shading their table. This was her favourite café. The coffee was the
best
, and there were pleasing seating options—in overstuffed armchairs by the fireplace in winter, or outside
in spring and summer,
under wide blue umbrellas or the speckled shade of a street tree.

Gideon.
Although she hadn’t seen him for
a while, she begrudgingly conceded that she hadn’t been able to put him out of her mind.

‘OK, hit me.’ Polly was looking at her again, an expression of determined expectancy on her face.

Alicia
regarded
her momentarily with a twinkle in her eyes. ‘But you’re my friend
,
Poll, I don’t want to hit you. I might hurt you.’

‘You know what I mean. Lay the Gideon story on me, and stop procrastinating.’

Alicia gave another sigh. ‘OK. Well, I won’t bore you
with details you already know ...
I’ll start with our second date shall I?’

Polly
settled herself
mor
e comfortably in her chair,
just
as
the waitress returned with their coffees and a fresh carafe of chilled water. Polly quickly topped up their tumblers
,
and then managed to
almost
simultaneously unwrap her bite-sized chocolate
,
pop it in her mouth,
take their steaming coffees fro
m the tray, and hand Alicia hers.

Alicia
chuckled at her friend’s
juggling
ability, and then
launched into a description of her dinner date with Gideon. ‘Everything was going well, but just as we wer
e starting on our mains a “suit”
came over to the table. You know the type.
A so-called up-and-coming professional
,
wearing a power suit and clown shoes, and with his hair greased up into a “
hey, look at me, I’m just a big-old-baby-
boy” point. You know the shoes I mean, don’t you
,
Poll? The ugly variety that are so long they curl up at the toes and make men look ridiculous?’

At Polly’s chuckle and nod Alicia continued. ‘Anyway, the corporate crapster interrupted us without apologising. He turned his back full-on towards me, and spoke to Gideon as though I wasn’t even there.’

‘What a—!’

‘Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Anyway,
it
turned out clown boy’s looking to move up in the world and wanted to collar Gideon about giving him a job.’

‘And how did Gorgeous Gideon handle Barge-in Bozo?’

‘Like a seasoned pro. With just a few choice words he put Jack back in his box, and suggested he find some manners before he bounced back out aga
in! I couldn’t help smiling
when the twerp turned to look at me, but—and I do feel a bit bad about this—it wasn’t a nice smile. More an “ouch, that must have hurt” snigger.’

‘Nothing more than he deserved.’

‘Well, it felt good, despite being something of a cheap shot. Thankfully Gideon seemed to think my reaction was justified.’

Both women paused to take generous sips from their cups.

Polly contemplated her friend for a few seconds through narrowed
eyes. ‘So, Gideon’
s a businessman?’

The overly innocent tone was not lost on Alicia, who replied carefully, ‘Ye
ss
s, he owns a successful HR consultancy.’

‘Doesn’t one of your books have a businessman hero in it?’

‘Well, Royce in
Glass Ceilings
is a businessman, albeit a deliciously ruthless one.’

‘But he turns out to be a good guy in the end?’

‘Of course, otherwise he wouldn’t be the story’s hero.’

‘OK then
, tell me
this
. How would Royce have handled Clown Boy if he’d been there?’

Alicia gave a small frown and pursed her lips before murmuring thoughtfully, ‘In much the same way I think.’

‘So, that’s one out of one to Gideon so far.’

‘What
is
this, the “Compare Gideon to Fictional Heroes” show?’

Polly chuckled. ‘Just bear with me. So, what happened next?’

Alicia turned her head
slightly
sideways
and squinted
at her friend. ‘I’m not sure
where you’re going with this ...
but OK. Well, we finished dinner without any more interruptions, and Gideon took me home in what I thought was his beautiful BMW, but which turned out to be his mother’s car. He’d bought it for her when her beloved old buzz-box finally threw in the towel.’