Rain Music Read Online Free Page B

So, Bella had booked herself into a small coastal resort town that sounded nice and quiet and was only a few kilometres north of Cairns.
    As she turned out of her mother’s street and headed towards the airport, she felt a sense of relief wash over her. This break was long overdue. She was planning a few relaxing days first before starting her search for Ned. She hoped that when she arrived she’d hear from him and they could make a plan to meet. But it seemed more than likely that she’d have to track him down. That morning before her departure, more in hope than with any real expectations, she’d sent him a simple text: Just touching base, get back to me .
    *
    It was a modest sign pointing to Hidden Cove, but within minutes of turning her rental car off the busy Captain Cook Highway, Bella felt she’d travelled into a tropical paradise. Lush and colourful gardens sheltered hideaway homes. She turned right and meandered slowly along the beachfront, past a row of leaning coconut palms and beyond them a strip of golden sand and the expanse of blue Coral Sea. On the other side of the road were a few busy outdoor restaurants, their colourful umbrellas fluttering in the gentle sea breeze. Rising behind them were a few tidy apartment blocks, complete with green lawns and azure pools.
    She drove slowly, as people seemed to use this one-way street as an extended footpath, strolling along it in their resort fashions, walking their dogs, while children carried water toys and sunhats. Couples held hands as well as surfboards. The pace was leisurely, with an ambience of well-to-do relaxation.
    Bella followed the road as it turned away from the beach towards streets of expensive-looking open-plan houses and the odd discreet sign advertising simpler accommodation. Hidden Cove was a tiny haven that had a cosmopolitan air reminiscent of a European coastal town until one looked at the blinding blue sea and the distant foam of white breakers.
    Turning back towards the beach, she found Aloha House, an apartment block with large, sea-facing balconies. A small café and a newsagent sat either side of the main entrance. She pulled into the driveway and punched in her code and a metal gate slid open. She parked in the underground carpark and reached for her bag. Before getting into the lift Bella noticed another door, and she took a quick peek through it. A lush hideaway oasis at the rear of the building looked inviting, with its long lap pool surrounded by lawns dotted with lounges, umbrellas and shady trees and covered in its carpet of frangipani flowers.
    As soon as she opened her apartment door, she was charmed. The rooms were decorated with large shells and bright paintings of tropical flowers, and a fat wooden seagull was perched by the door opening onto a balcony. The balcony faced the ocean and was furnished with a small barbecue and table setting as well as a comfortable lounge chair placed strategically under an overhead fan. She immediately dropped her things and headed downstairs to the pool. The humidity of Far North Queensland was draining, and she needed to cool down straight away.
    After a quiet evening with a takeaway salad and her book, she woke before the sun and walked along the beach to the old jetty. As the sun rose, making the water sparkle, she watched the seabirds diving and a huge tame fish that swam tantalisingly around the piers of the wharf. On the wharf, early morning fishermen, young and old, optimistically cast their rods.
    She walked barefoot along the sandy path under the trees where locals jogged and walked their dogs. The café near the entrance to her apartment block was open, so she bought a latte, then stopped at the small store which sold the morning papers and took both her coffee and paper home to enjoy on her sunny balcony. She sent Ned another text message, telling him where she was, in the increasingly forlorn hope that he would finally get back to her. She spent the rest of the