Read The Search for Free Online Page A

said, handing over a mug as Flick sat up and drew her knees to her chin.
    ‘I fell asleep last night with it still on,’ she said. ‘Some debate about men versus women. Mark Thornton, you know, that ex-rugby player, said that if you want to succeed you must have power, money, sex appeal and charisma.’
    ‘Anyone can have sex.’ Kay perched on the end of the bed. ‘It depends on how fussy you are. Now sex appeal’s another thing!’
    Flick thought about it. Power. Money. Sex appeal. Charisma. She sighed. She, Felicity London, didn’t have any of those things.
    But she could get money if she worked hard enough. She could work on the sex appeal. And the charisma.
    And she knew just the person to practise on.

CHAPTER 3
    Liz sighed as she turned over in bed and looked at the alarm clock. Three minutes to go before its loud jangling ripped through the room.
    Yesterday had been hell in the store, and she was wondering if she could keep up the pace. Today was Friday and there’d be hordes of customers. But then Roxie would arrive on Saturday and more staff should be starting soon. If they were good — and two of them, Angela and Braden, had previously worked for Kay so they should know the routine — it would make life easier. If they were duds, it would make her life harder.
    They wouldn’t be all rostered on at once, however. There would be split shifts. They would all work the regulation eight hours per day with properbreaks, unless of course Kay wanted them to work overtime.
    Liz didn’t mind working hard but yesterday had been a killer! As the alarm pierced the stillness of the misty morning, Liz leapt out of bed and headed for the shower. She had to be at the store, bright and bushy-tailed, by seven, ready to do the surfers’ breakfasts.
    The holiday house was built on the hill overlooking Coolini Beach. It was set in the bush and gave a magnificent view of the beach, the point, the store, and the winding road further up the coast. For the past ten years her parents had always brought their van to the camping ground, but then Dad had decided it would be good to have a house, so he’d bought the land and had the beach house built by a local builder. This was their first summer season in it.
    There were four large bedrooms, two with bunk beds, so they could invite friends, but since she was working at the store, Liz hadn’t bothered. Her older brother Tim had three of his mates staying, and they usually rushed off early in the morning in their V8s to search for the ultimate wave. Yesterday they’d gone to Moonlight Head, but today they’d probably surf at Coolini Beach. Evidence that they were still asleep was all over the verandah — their surfboards werepropped against the wall and wetsuits and towels were draped over the balcony.
    Dad had made sure that the huge lounge room faced east to catch the morning sun. There were floor to ceiling windows and sliding doors right along the verandah. In the afternoon when the sun was moving to the west, the room was cool and comfortable. At the far end of the verandah was a table and chairs, with a barbecue in the corner.
    This house had been built for entertaining, and to make life easier for Mum when they had hordes of visitors. It stood high off the ground on stilts, and the underneath part had been turned into another shower room, toilet and rumpus room with second TV set, a pool table and table tennis table, so people could play games on wet days.
    Standing on the verandah Liz swiftly spooned up her cereal as she watched the mist-shrouded black bobbing figures in the waves near the point. The surf looked good. But that meant every surfer for kilometres would show up here to ride the waves. She knew enough about the surfing jargon to know that they were always on the eternal search for the top waves. And today it looked like the end of the quest was right here at Coolini Beach, but of course there could be better surf further down the coast. They’dcheck it out