For Girls’ Eyes Only

By Margaret Nyhon

A girls' weekend away goes horribly wrong when one of four friends goes missing from the Gold Coast Casino. Lives change forever, especially for her best friend Christie. Several years later, Amanda's Jaguar was retrieved from the undergrowth with the remains of a body inside. Was this Amanda or the casino valet who went missing on the same night? Fate finds its way. There will be tears!

A feelgood drama of laughter, love, fate and jealousy. Guys, read this at your own peril!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willow Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780473458881

Margaret Nyhon

Margaret Nyhon lives in Alexandra, in the Central Otago province of New Zealand, where she writes, paints and practises the crafts of printing and bookbinding. She has worked extensively in hospitality management in New Zealand and resort management in Australia. The urge to trace her family history led to her most recent venture, the writing of her first non-fiction work, de Marisco. Margaret is married and has three adult children and two grandsons.

Book preview

1

A Girls Weekend Away

Christie was excited. The girls would be here any moment; this was going to be a weekend to remember. Four young women away on their own, staying at Jupiter’s Casino on the Gold Coast, living the high life. This trip had been planned months in advance. It was special for Christie, as she was the first of her friends to celebrate her thirtieth birthday; she was ‘the old girl’. No husbands or partners were part of this deal—they were not to be talked about for the whole weekend.

Suddenly a horn blasted, and Christie knew this was the beginning of something exciting. She picked up her case, yelled goodbye to Bradley (who was glued to his computer, too busy to come and see her off), and closed the door behind her. There were the girls, the ‘terrible three’, yelling to her to hurry up because their road trip was about to begin.

They were driving from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales in Amanda’s brand-new Jaguar. She had just sold her beauty business so decided it was time to own a flash car; for God’s sake, she was nearly twenty-nine and deserved to be noticed. The suburban housewife tag had long gone; she was now the flash piece in the fabulous car. She didn’t care what other people thought. She had fitted herself in a category where she thought she belonged. She was the fun one of the group, the prima donna. Christie was sitting in the front with Amanda, as they had been friends the longest. Barb and Suzie were in the back seat. The CD was blasting out Pink songs, and they were all singing along having a ball. This was going to be the perfect weekend. They all had flash new outfits. Many discussions had been held on this subject: they wanted to look glam at the roulette wheel, win big, and of course, be noticed. This was the ultimate dream!

Amanda drove her car up to the front entrance of the casino, and the girls climbed out and lifted their bags onto the pavement. People stopped and stared at the car. It was the latest model Jaguar; it was gleaming, of course, because it was brand spanking new. This was its first day out! When Amanda climbed out from behind the wheel, the stares shifted to this tall, willowy woman, the driver of this fab car. She had it all. They made their way to the reception area. Christie had made the booking, so she spoke to the receptionist. She had booked two rooms, two girls in each room. She asked if someone would park Amanda’s car, so a valet was summoned. As Amanda handed her keys to this cute young man, who was all smiles when he saw the car, she said to him, You look after my baby, young man. He flashed her a cheeky smile. Will do, ma’am. The girls were shown to their rooms, which were adjacent to each other. Suzie and Barb lay claim to one, which left Amanda and Christie together. They agreed to rest up for an hour then it would be all go … cocktails and whatever came next!

Out of their rooms they emerged looking a million dollars apiece. Christie was the standout beauty. Her exquisite, low-cut black dress gave her a sophisticated look. Her long auburn hair hung down around her shoulders. Amanda was the willowy one with the model figure, plus she had an outgoing personality. Her body was clad in a white jumpsuit, making her look the perfect model. Suzie and Barb were a little more conservative, but they looked just as glam. They made their way to the end of the hallway to the elevator. Would they go down in it or make their grand entrance down the stairs? Amanda made the decision; the stairs it was. She led the entourage to the cocktail bar, where they would start with a martini. This was the start of a wonderful night. No one knew how it was going to end, but for goodness’ sake, it was only beginning—who was worried about the end? That was the future, this was now, and this is where they were living, in the now!

As they sipped their martinis, they agreed that what they left at home was taboo, that the past was forgotten this weekend and was not to be talked about. This was a girls’ trip away, so it was to be ‘girl talk’ only. When last did they have a group session? Only a couple of days ago, but it seemed much longer. They had booked a table for four to celebrate Christie’s thirtieth birthday. Unbeknown to Christie, Suzie had arranged for a birthday cake to be delivered to the table along with a male singer to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her. Plenty of jokes were told among their girl talk, and laughter had been abundant. A maître d’ came over and let them know their table was ready when they were.

As they made their way past reception to the dining room, Amanda noticed the cute young valet flashing her a smile. She gave him a wink as she passed, to let him know she noticed his smile. They were shown to their table, which was to the side of the main dining room in an adjoining booth. It was intimate; this meant the girls could carry on with their girl talk and not disturb the other diners. The wine waiter came and asked to take their drink orders. They decided on two bottles of champagne. This was a milestone birthday so it had to be celebrated. For goodness’ sake, you only ever reach thirty once in a lifetime! They perused the menu and decided what each one wanted, then the waitress came and took their orders. The bottles of bubbly arrived in a bucket of ice, and the wine waiter popped the cork and filled their glasses. They all had a cheer and wished Christie a happy birthday. Tomorrow they were going shopping in the morning and taking a cruise around the canals to see all the beautiful mansions in the afternoon. But tonight was time to celebrate, then after dining it was on to the gambling tables.

They finished their main course. Now it was time for desserts, but before they ordered, something magical happened. Out came a flaming birthday cake followed by a young man with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Who is the birthday girl? he asked. Amanda pointed to Christie. Here is the special girl. He handed her the flowers, then bent down and kissed her. He then burst into song, singing ‘Happy Birthday’. Tears streamed down Christie’s face; she never expected this. All the other diners joined in and sang to her. Then the cheers and blowing out the candles, thirty in all. Suzie gave the waitress her camera to take photos of the group so that they would have treasured memories of this wonderful weekend. No desserts were ordered; instead they all had cake. The two bottles of champagne were finished, and the girls were sparking on all fours. It was time to hit the tables.

They walked past the security guards at the entrance to the gambling area. There were people everywhere, the tables were buzzing, the pokies were singing, and the place was in full swing—but they were all there for the same reason … to make money. Suzie and Barb made for the pokies, whereas Amanda and Christie made for the roulette wheel. There were over a dozen roulette tables, so they decided to separate to see who could make the most money, then meet up in two hours to compare their winnings. Christie walked around the tables, methodically working out which one had the big gamblers. She wanted to be part of this scene tonight, as she felt lucky—after all, it was her birthday!

At one particular table, she noticed several well-dressed men engrossed in placing their chips, but they weren’t the colour of the two-dollar chips. They were red and black five-dollar chips. She was intrigued so she stopped and watched, but as quickly as they made money they lost it again. She put over a one hundred dollar note and asked for a colour chip. Fifty pink chips were passed to her on the table. She placed ten chips straight up on her lucky number seventeen, then placed another four chips on the numbers surrounding seventeen. The ball was spun by the croupier, and as it slowed down it fell on her lucky number. She was excited as she saw two black hundred-dollar chips sitting on top of her pink chips as they were pushed along the table to her. She took the chips off seventeen and put them on thirty, her age today. The croupier did his job again and the ball landed on thirty. Lady luck was on her side tonight! Again, the pink chips were passed along with two black ones on top. All eyes were on this newcomer to the table and her run of luck; even the big boys at the top of the table had bothered to lift their heads to have a look. Who was this lady? She pondered where to go next, then thought of Amanda who would soon be twenty-nine, so she moved her chips next door to twenty-nine. The croupier started the ball spinning. This time it took a long time to settle, but true to form it landed on twenty-nine. Congratulations lady, said the croupier. Everyone at the table was in disbelief that a new player at the table had picked three numbers in a row. Christie felt embarrassed, so when her chips arrived she decided to take her already placed ones off the table and sit out the next game. One of the big gamblers at the end of the table pushed a heap of his chips along to the croupier and told him to ask the lucky lady to place them for him. Christie hesitated, then looked at the board that displayed the lucky numbers. There was no green number on the board which was zero, so she placed fifteen chips on zero and three extra chips half on zero-one, two, and three. The ball was spinning, everyone was watching, and there was an unbelievable silence; then when the ball dropped on zero there was an uproar. Christie sat in disbelief. She had made the owner of the chips $2,805 in that one spin. The gentleman got up from the table and came around to Christie and offered her half of his winnings, but she refused, so he insisted on buying her a drink later. This she agreed to. She decided to cash in her chips and move to another table, as she felt embarrassed that all eyes were upon her.

She went as far away as possible from the winning table so no one knew her. She cashed in one of her hundred-dollar chips for twenty five-dollar chips. She had never played big chips like this before, but what the heck—it was her birthday! She would see if the same numbers were lucky at this table. She placed five chips on her age, thirty, then one on each of the surrounding four numbers. Once again lady luck was on her side; this was a substantial win of $990. She sat out on the next couple of games and just watched. Her numbers did not come up. It was getting near time to meet Amanda and the girls. She had one last bet and put five chips straight up on seventeen. Again she was lucky, another nice collect. Just as she was cashing her chips in, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and there was the gentleman she had placed the chips for at the first table. He had followed her down and stood in the background, totally intrigued with her as well as her gambling ability. Was she his ‘lady luck’? Come, I would like to shout you that drink I promised, he said. Christie told him to order her a glass of bubbly, but she had to see someone and would be back shortly. It took ages to find Amanda and the girls as they were scattered all around the room. When she told the girls about her luck, they hugged her in excitement. Amanda hadn’t had such a good night. Then Christie remembered she had a glass of bubbly waiting for her, but when she finally made her way back he was gone. When she looked at the time an hour had passed; he probably thought she wasn’t coming back. Everyone had decided to call it a night, so they went back to their rooms as they had had a big day. Having missed out on her free drink, Christie made her way back to her room. Amanda was perched up on her bed waiting for her. Where did you go? she asked. A gentleman asked to shout for me for making him money, then she told Amanda what had happened. But by the time I went back he was gone. They sat on their beds discussing what fun they had. The night had been a blast. Christie and Amanda were the best of friends. There wasn’t a hidden secret between them; they shared each other’s lives completely, like blood sisters.

The next morning the girls assembled in the front foyer while Amanda picked up her car keys from reception. The receptionist asked for the valet to come to the front foyer. It was the same cute young lad. He smiled at her and she gave him her trademark wink. He was infatuated with this willowy blonde. Never before had he felt like this; she was much older than him—surely she wouldn’t be interested in him, but she did acknowledge him with a wink. Perhaps she did like him! He took the key and went down in the lift to the basement, the quickest way. He drove her beautiful Jaguar to the front entrance and left it idling. Out came the girls. I see you have taken good care of my baby! said Amanda as she walked around inspecting her car. His heart missed a beat that she even found time to joke with him. Away the girls went. The valet stood and watched as they drove off, unable to rid this vision of Amanda from his mind. She had stirred feelings in his heart and in his young body.

The shopping spree was in full swing. The girls were spending up large; this was like being in heaven … hopefully it was this pleasurable up there! They stopped for a coffee break and a chat, then it was back to shops. By lunchtime they were spent, money wise and energy wise! Now it was time to drive up to Marina Mirage and take a leisurely cruise around the canals. They boarded a luxury launch and relaxed with a glass of champagne as their journey began. In one particular canal, the launch slowed down outside this fabulous mansion and the skipper blew his hooter. With this, out came a gentleman whom Christie recognised as the man who wanted to shout her a drink last night at the casino. She stood up and called out to him, Sorry about last night. He recognised her and called out, Same place, same table tonight? The skipper told the passengers that this man lived between the casino penthouse and this mansion. He was Joel Bates—a high roller. Christie was shocked to hear this; fancy being asked to place chips for him on the roulette table. The other girls yelled in excitement on hearing this. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on board, amid all the chatter on the high roller, fancy Christie having made money for him last night!

The girls decided to have a seafood dinner on the waterfront so they could see all the action on the water, watching the high flyers playing with their expensive toys. Instead of having a rowboat, they had huge luxurious launches and yachts, but this is what happened when you lived in this classy area; you had to rival your neighbours and friends. To be the best was the name of the game—not what these girls were used to, but then everyone was free to dream. They brought one bottle of wine to share as they had to drive back to the casino hotel. They ordered a seafood platter for four. It was only then they realised they hadn’t eaten all day, with so many other exciting things to do, but now they were hungry. They devoured the delicious platter; this was a fitting end to the afternoon. Now it was time to leave the rich and famous nautical fraternity and head back and go through their purchases, before hitting the gambling den … the den of iniquity! They pulled up at the front foyer to offload their purchases, then Amanda was going to park her car, but to her rescue came the cute young valet. He offered to park it for her. As soon as she gave him the keys and their hands touched, something passed between them. They looked at each other and smiled. He climbed into the car and drove away. His body was shaking and he could hardly hold himself together; what was happening to him? He had dated girls his age, but nothing compared to what he felt in his heart at this moment. Was this a temptation put in front of him, one that he could never have, or was she flirting with him?!

Suzie and Barb took their parcels to Amanda and Christie’s room where they were going to have a fashion parade, each walking the carpet to show off their purchases. Decisions, decisions—what were they going to wear tonight? This was their last girls’ night together at the casino, so the show was about to begin. Amanda loved jumpsuits, so tonight it was a body-hugging bright red suit; she was the ultimate model. Christie put on a silk blouse with black fitted pants, giving her a more sophisticated look. They picked up Suzie and Barb who also looked glam, so off to the gambling den they headed. They were excited, as they wanted to meet the high roller. Christie was to meet him at the same table, so the four girls made their way to the top table. There he was,