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She put in her nae was to narron the kind of "people" she wanted to ly easy Between forty-five and sixty Marital status She ticked Widowed Then Divorced Not sure about divorced but so many people were now, and the reasons were less--what? Sinister? Worrying? She did not tick Single Few really eligible raphical area Narrowed it down a bit

Occupation Professional Media-related Public services Ad and countryside Al to chat about even to a farmer She ticked each box

She had expected there to be es, more questions, but she was asked if she would now like to see photographs and brief details of anyoneher outline

She went to raphs of people, real people, took it one big step away froame, made it serious, coraphs And oddly enough, she was excited Who would she see? What kind of e bushy beards Or small eyes (‘Never trust a man with small eyes" Her mother) Or bad teeth Or …

She took her coffee to the table, set it down and decisively clicked on the "Yes" button

It was the first one How do you tell that you like soraph? How do you know that you want to meet them?

He was fifty-two He had brown hair He had a war especially distinctive But a good face Good-looking? Yes, but not overwhelly handsolanced at the others One was out at once--the bushy beard Another was too old Perfectly OK but she couldn’t believe he was sixty or under The last one was fine Nothing against him But when she looked back at the first there was no contest

"Click beside any photograph if you would like to know more about this person"

She clicked

"Phil is Head of History at a boys’ school He has been ed for five years and has two grown-up sons His interests include cooking, cricket, books and ornithology He loves his job and has many friends but since his sons left home he has felt the lack of a special companion in his life

If you want to send your profile and photograph to Phil, click HERE

If you would like to leave a voicemail for Phil, click HERE"

She clicked twice

Three

"There is not any such word as pla it up Uncle Si, isn’t heit up?"

"Mu a handful of walnuts into the salad bowl, "you know I can’t do Scrabble"

"You don’t ‘do’ Scrabble, duh You play it"

"Sam, how many times have I told you, ‘duh’--and especially ‘duh’ with that face--is incredibly insulting and you do not do or say it"

Sahed and turned back to the board "Plam," he said, "is a word"

"What does it mean then?"

"It’s … the sort of way Australian eo ‘plahter "Brilliant, Sa" He wandered over to the other side of the kitchen and dipped his finger into the salad dressing "Needs ar"

"Why not make it yourself?"

"Can’t be arsed"

"Mummy, Uncle Simon said--"

"I know, and it is a ain, please" Cat glared at her brother

"You’ve got bossier That’s Australia for you Loud, bossy women"

Cat threw a piece of lettuce at him Simon ducked The lettuce landed wetly on the floor

"God, I love it Love it, love it, love it" Simon threw himself onto the old kitchen sofa "I wish you knehat it was like when you weren’t here and those people were and I couldn’t co the Scrabble letters into their green drawstring bag, "hoful it was"

"Yes, about a ures"

"Si, will you open that bottle? Sao to the loo, I absolutely-scootly have to"

"Mu it, she does it to get out of things, she doesn’t need to go to the loo at all"

"Stop whingeing"

Sied in the drawer for the corkscrew "You know," he said to Cat, "it is "absolutely-scootly" typical of Dad It really is"

"He can see us when he gets back Don’tof it"

Richard Serrailler, Cat and Si a holiday just when the Deerbon fao on holidays He hates holidays And what’s he going to do in Madeira for teeks, for God’s sake?"

"Soak up the sun?"

"He hates sun"

"He just didn’t want tohome after nine months--he wants to pretend we haven’t been away at all, and by the tiets back it’ll feel as if we haven’t Actually," Cat put the salad bowl on the table, "it feels like that already"

"God, sis, aave hi to take the fish out of the oven "Give Chris a shout, will you? He’s probably fallen asleep with Felix Chris does jet lag like nobody else"

But Chris Deerbon walked into the kitchen as she spoke, rubbing his hand through his hair "I think Ias Felix has too"

"Half an hour ago" He poured the wine into glasses and handed one to Simon

"Here’s to home"

"In Australia, we had supper outside nearly all the tiarden, it ith the house Everyone there has barbecues--they call them barbies, like Hannah’s puke dolls"

"Wish you were still there, Sam?"

"Sort of"

"I don’t," Hannah said "I missed my friends and "

Sa noise

Simon looked round the table at them all He felt a burst of pure and extraordinary happiness

"Do you get a lota Detective Chief Superintendent?" Saet to do s? More important cases?"