“Stop drooling and help us carry the bags inside,” George joked. “The sooner we get changed, the sooner you can start looking for Mr. Right.”

The hotel room wasn’t large or luxurious, but it had everything the girls needed, and besides, none of them planned to spend much time in it. In ten minutes, they had changed out of their travel clothes and into their swimsuits. Bess had brought six, and for her first trip to the sun and sand, she put on a blazing pink bikini that showed off her figure perfectly.

George, who was wearing a blue-and-white-striped tank suit cut very high on the legs, gave Bess a wry smile. “Nobody’s going to have any trouble seeing you,” she commented. “Not in that color.”

“That’s the whole point,” Bess replied seriously. Then she sighed as she looked at Nancy, whose blue-green bikini was the perfect color for her reddish blond hair and made her slim legs look miles long. “I just wish I had your figure,” Bess told her enviously.

“You don’t have to worry,” Nancy assured her. “I’m not down here for the guys, remember? And even if I were, you have half an hour before I even show up on the beach.”

Bess grabbed a large beach towel. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve decided to drop by Kim’s hotel first,” Nancy explained. She found her beach bag and tossed in everything she could possibly need on the beach: sunglasses, suntan lotion, a book, her Walkman, and even an extra bikini. Then she threw on a short cover-up made of soft white cotton. She started toward the door. “I thought I’d solve my ‘case’ first,” she said with a grin. “But after that—look out, Lauderdale!”

Kim’s hotel, the Vistamar, turned out to be just three blocks away from the Surfside, and it should have taken Nancy about two minutes to reach it. Instead, it took closer to ten. The sidewalks were jammed with kids heading for the beach or just strolling along, stopping to strike up a conversation with anyone who caught their eye.