Tall, Dark & Distant Read Free Page B

looked like a tourist. He wasn’t wearing any sunglasses and I think he had an accent.’
    ‘Then you’ve got no time to waste,’ Ella said. ‘If you see him tomorrow, arrange a time to meet him.’
    That was easy for Ella to say. She was the product of a perfect socio-economic alliance, the daughter of a property developer and a charity fundraiser. She always wore the right clothes, went to the right parties and was about to start the right university course that would no doubt lead to the right career in the media. Saying the right thing to guys just came naturally to her.
    ‘I can’t just ask him out. I don’t even know him,’ Georgia said, shuddering at the thought.
    ‘You don’t have to ask him out. Just say you’re going to the beach, maybe you’ll see him there. It’s just letting him know you’re interested.’
    ‘Do you think that’ll work?’ Georgia asked.
    Ella gave her a big smile. ‘You won’t know till you try. Come on, I’m baking. Let’s swim.’ She got to her feet. Mei and Georgia followed, and the three girls walked across the hot sand to the water.
    ‘This is going to be something really special,’ Ella said to Georgia as she waded into the surf. ‘I’m getting all tingly just thinking about it.’
    Special. That was one way to describe Georgia’s obsession with a guy she didn’t even know.

Georgia set off for the national park the next morning with a head full of advice and a permutation for every possible running-track scenario. If she saw Hot Running Guy ahead of her, she would sprint to catch up, and casually say hi as she ran past. Maybe she could suggest a good beach to visit. If he ran towards her, she would confidently greet him and hope he stopped to talk.
    None of this was foolproof. And for every successful conversation Georgia could visualise, she had another vision of his green eyes staring straight through her.
    The risk of failure was too humiliating to even think about.
    The sea was clear and calm as Georgia ran along the coastal track. Two surf skiers paddled across the bay, and a dolphin bobbed out of the water just ahead of them. On any other day Georgia would have given this some of the attention it deserved, but today she struggled to appreciate it. She was too busy looking for him .
    Georgia stared at every runner on the track. Her heart raced every time she spotted a head of short dark hair, and then sank with every disappointment. As she slogged around Granite Bay she began to wonder if she’d even recognise him if he passed her. She had seen him for a total of maybe a minute. What if he was wearing sunglasses today? Would she still know those eyes behind dark shades?
    By the time she reached the end of the track at Hell’s Gates, she was completely drained. She’d probably done a personal best on the five-kilometre run to the lookout. She was breathing hard and covered in sweat. She glanced down at the rocks below. The surf crashed through the crevices and the dark shapes of turtles washed in and out with the waves. She turned and plodded back along the track, disappointment eating away at her.
    The next day was another exercise in futility. This time, Georgia set off slightly earlier than usual. She pounded into the national park optimistically, but again returned completely crushed. She was never going to find him.
    The following day, Georgia set off a little later. She dawdled along to Hell’s Gates and watched the turtles in the wash, one eye on the water and the other on the track. Then she stared at the surfers on the beach break, one eye on the sea and the other on the track. And then she just watched the track.
    Georgia watched runner after runner pound up to the lookout, pause for a sip of water and a glance at the view, then turn to go back the way they came. She could have watched them for five minutes, or it could have been half an hour. She didn’t know. She was in a daze. Finally, reluctantly, she turned for home.
    She was almost out