The Peppercorn Project by Nicki Edwards Read Free Book Online

matchmaking.
    ‘Don’t be bloody ridiculous,’ said Matt. ‘Tom Morrison had a few too many beers like usual. He only thinks that’s what he saw.’
    Geoff shook his head. ‘Not from what I heard, mate. The other blokes at the scene corroborated his story.’
    Matt clamped his mouth shut and stifled a laugh. The more he denied that he had found her attractive, the more Geoff would hassle him. And if any of the old blokes got wind that he had indeed been struck dumb they would gang up on him again like they had last time. He remembered what they had been like with him and Leah. Ruthless. Worse than Dorothy Wettenhall.
    Geoff peered at Matt over the top of his glasses. ‘When are you going to move on, Matt?’
    Matt stilled. He hadn’t expected Geoff to go down that path again. ‘I have moved on.’
    ‘You call living the life of a country town cop in the middle of nowhere “moving on”?’ Geoff’s bushy eyebrows lifted, causing rows of lines to etch themselves deeper in his forehead.
    ‘I told you when I moved here I was looking for a change of pace – and that doesn’t include a woman.’ Matt averted his gaze and took a long sip of his coffee and swallowed. ‘Anyway, I’m too old to start again.’
    Geoff made a clicking sound in the back of his throat. ‘Yeah, well, for what it’s worth, I reckon you’re a bloody idiot, Matt. You’re throwing your life away. If you don’t find a woman to keep you warm in bed at night, you’re gonna wind up a cranky old bachelor. Cripes, you’re already part way there!’ Geoff roared with laughter, his face flushing a deeper shade of puce.
    The words bit like a barb. Geoff was like a father figure to him and he usually appreciated the older man’s frank honesty. Matt tried to shake off the hurt. What had upset him so much? The part about being cranky? Or old? Or a bachelor? At nearly forty, he wasn’t that old was he? And technically, he wasn’t a bachelor either. He was a divorcee.
    God, he hated that word. It made him feel like such a failure.
    ‘I don’t remember asking for your opinion,’ he said.
    ‘Whatever.’ Geoff brushed off Matt’s rebuke and rubbed Fern’s belly with the tip of his shoe. ‘What are you gonna do today? It’s not like it takes two of us to keep everyone in line in the bustling metropolis of Stony Creek. Are you expecting a big crime spree over at the IGA?’ Geoff laughed. ‘Or perhaps you’ll stumble across someone doing a drug deal at the Catholic Church!’
    Matt disregarded his sarcasm. The Catholic Church had a booming congregation of seventeen – sixteen now that Hilary had moved into the nursing home – with an average age of ninety.
    Geoff was always having a go at Matt for worrying about drugs, but they were a big problem in other rural towns, so he couldn’t work out why Geoff was burying his head in the sand. Did he think Stony Creek was immune to Australia’s growing drug problem? Geoff refused to listen to Matt’s concerns, but the statistics didn’t lie. The ice issue was an epidemic the police had no hope of stemming.
    Matt shrugged. ‘I’ll just wander around town and make my presence known,’ he said.
    ‘And check out that pretty little lass too, while you’re at it,’ Geoff said with a wink.
    ‘How do you know she’s here for the competition?’
    Geoff laughed so hard he had a coughing fit, his face turning purple as he struggled for breath. Fern looked up with watery eyes and Geoff absentmindedly rubbed the dog’s head.
    ‘What else would she be here for?’ he asked once he finally stopped spluttering.
    ‘I don’t know. Maybe she’s taking her kids on a camping trip. Or hiking, or riding up the mountain. People come to Stony Creek for lots of reasons you know.’
    ‘Didn’t hear she had any bikes on her car,’ Geoff said.
    ‘Then perhaps she was looking for a place to stay overnight on her way to somewhere else,’ Matt said, exasperated. The conversation was getting old. ‘I’ll