‘Nope.’
‘Also X-Men. We’ve already done a filmy date. Though I know you’re into comics and I will make an allowance for doubling up if Hugh Jackman’s involved.’
I smile. ‘No again.’
‘Okay, well that’s ruled out the two things I didn’t fancy.’
‘And the things you did?’
‘I wondered if we might be going to Exeter, but that’s not strictly an X.’
‘You know I’m a stickler for the rules.’
Alice nods. ‘So then I settled on X-rated.’
It takes me a moment or two to compose myself.
‘Let’s not rule that one out for later,’ I say, my voice gruff. ‘Follow me.’
In the kitchen is a piece of art I’ve been working on, propped up on an easel I brought over from my studio this morning. I’d been playing around with fonts and hand-drew this X, layering on bold colours in the background. It’s pretty different to my usual stuff but I saw how much fun people had when I opened up my art studio for the workshop a while back. It kind of took me back to how painting felt when I was little, just messing around with colours for fun without any of the pressure to create my next big piece.
Alice rushes over to it, her hands tracing the letter. Then she spots the envelope propped up in the fold of the wooden easel, her name written on it. She glances over at me, her eyes filled with excitement as she tears it open. ‘X marks the spot,’ she reads out. ‘Follow the clues until you find another X. A treasure hunt! Oh my god YES. I love this already. Will there be food at the end?’
‘From now on, I’m saying nothing more. Turn the card for the first clue.’
Alice claps her hands together before reading the clue.
‘One: I love your XXXX for life.’ She frowns. ‘As in, me, Alice? My quadruple X for life. Okaaay.’ She drums her fingers on the kitchen table as she thinks.
‘ZEST,’ she shouts after a while. ‘Is it zest?’
I press my lips shut.
She rushes over to the cutlery drawer and rifles around for the lemon zester, finding no second clue. Then she spins around, her eyes lighting on the fruit bowl in the corner. ‘Aha!’ She races over, spotting a lemon with a card attached to it.
I grin to myself as she impatiently tears at the paper. I knew she’d get stuck straight in.
‘Two: You are a breath of XXXXX air. Fresh. Easy! Right.’ Competitive doesn’t cover it. It’s like watching a human whirlwind taking part in the Crystal Maze. Alice takes the stairs two at a time and I stand at the bottom with a smile on my face. I can hear her rummaging through a cupboard and after a while she leaps back onto the landing, proudly proffering an air freshener.
‘But there’s no clue,’ she frowns.
‘That’s because you haven’t got it right.’
Alice pouts. ‘A breath of fresh air. It’s definitely fresh.’ She looks down at me for confirmation and I can’t help but give a tiny nod. ‘So what else is fresh?’ Alice runs downstairs and tries the cupboard where she keeps her fabric softener. ‘Nothing there.’ She pokes her head out of the back door on the hunt for fresh air, to no avail.
‘Argh,’ she huffs. ‘Hang on, what about Saskia?’ Struck with another idea, she’s back up the stairs and I follow her into her bedroom.
‘You remembered!’ She says, full of glee as she spots a card tucked into the snake plant by her bed.
‘How could I forget about Saskia?’ I laugh, remembering the time Alice had given me a very thorough lecture on the benefits of having air purifying plants to freshen your home. The fact that she’d named her snake plant Saskia had made me feel incredibly fond of her.
Alice darts around the house, congratulating herself every time she gets one right and harrumphing when she finds a tricky clue. She guesses clue number three immediately, ‘Zach’s most embarrassing secret’, and heads straight to her bookshelf where she finds a stack of Point Romance books waiting for her. ‘Clue four: You dress like a XXXXXXX’sees her rummaging through her wardrobe before finally heading out into the courtyard to find a rainbow balloon attached to clue five. ‘We can’t travel anywhere without XXXXXX.’ She loops the balloon string around her waist like a belt and heads back into the kitchen, on the hunt for snacks.
There, in amongst the Hula Hoops, is clue six.
‘Your most precious item.’
Alice frowns. ‘Mum’s ring, without a doubt,’ she says, looking down at the gold band on her middle finger. ‘But I’m already wearing it.’ I raise an eyebrow mysteriously. She looks ever-so-slightly nervous now as she heads back upstairs, cracking jokes about keeping fit on the way up. Alice keeps her mum’s wedding ring in its original box, taking it off every night before bed and storing it carefully next to her while she sleeps.
