‘You go outside, and I’ll bring out the beers and you can tell me all about the podcast thing and the phone call from what’s his name, Lucian?’ Luke said, touching Juliette gently on the arm.
Juliette walked down the path all the way to the little suntrap at the end and sat down in one of the deck chairs. It wouldn’t be long before Maggie was dropped off, but it was nice to sit in the garden after a day at work and look at the flowers and up at the back of the house in peace. Luke came out of the back door, strolled along, handed Juliette a bottle of beer, and she started to tell him about the podcast.
‘It’s got millions of listeners. Sallie said it multiplied her business and catapulted her into a whole new arena of worldwide customers.’
‘Wow. I suppose if it’s got that many listeners it would do. That’s massive.’
‘I’m lucky to get it by the sounds of it.’
‘So, you’re going to go for it?’
‘I can’t see why not. It’s a bit nerve-wracking, but not really. I chat all day for my job pretty much. That’s the way I looked at it anyway. How hard can it be?’
‘You do and you do that side of your job brilliantly. That’s why so many people feel so comfortable with you. It will be great.’
‘If A Christmas Sparkle can make more money then I will be able to go part-time at some point. I love my job, but I would love to be able to do both.’
Luke rubbed Juliette on the leg and turned to look at her. ‘You know you can go part-time now. I’ve told you the income from my flat in London nearly covers the mortgage on the cottage, so I can pay this one here.’
Juliette didn’t really know what to think about Luke’s nonchalant attitude about money - he really did seem to let nothing worry him and was quite happy to go all-in with their relationship. But Juliette had felt like she’d struggled for so long to do well for herself since she’d left Jeremy that there was a bit of her that was still holding back. What is wrong with me? I have this lovely man offering me to go part-time and I’m not jumping in with two feet?
‘I know you have Luke. I’ll think about it. It’s still very early days.’ Juliette said and hearing the doorbell and assuming it was Maggie being dropped off she jumped up to go and answer the door. She always missed Maggie when she wasn’t at home and she’d planned Maggie’s favourite dinner, and she didn’t want to discuss money any further. In fact, she’d wished that she hadn’t been the one to bring it up in the first place.
Chapter 13
A week or so later and with no further mention of finances, Juliette was on her way to Daisy’s new house over near the funicular railway. Daisy’s move had gone smoothly and after Juliette had helped her unpack and Luke had assisted Daisy in putting her bed together it had felt like Daisy had been back in Pretty Beach forever.
‘I take it, it went well?’ Daisy said, as Juliette came around to the back garden of the fisherman’s huts.
‘How do you know?’ Juliette said, looking at Daisy in confusion.
‘There’s already a picture of your shoot at the Orangery on the Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? Instagram page. It’s getting a tonne of interest, too.’
‘What? Wow! That was quick. I went straight to work, was flat out there and then came straight round here. I haven’t even opened my phone other than to check for messages about Maggie from you.’
‘He clearly liked you, then.’
‘Hello, Mummy,’ Maggie said, looking up from a garden bed where she was picking bunches of herbs. Daisy had picked Maggie up from school, they’d been for afternoon tea and were now back at Daisy’s house, Maggie quite happy with her head in the garden bed.
Juliette leant down, hugged Maggie tightly and kissed Maggie on the cheek. ‘What are you two up to then? You look busy.’
‘We are making coocoo,’ Maggie said with wide eyes.
‘Are you indeed, that sounds delicious,’ Juliette said and smiled over at Daisy.
‘Lemon and garlic couscous with lots of herbs, a bit like a tabouleh, but not. It will be up on my website tomorrow, too.’
‘Yum. I like the sound of that. Anything garlic, though, and you’ve got me hook, line, and sinker. As you well know.’
‘Come on then, how was it? Spill the beans Sparkles.’
‘It was all quite strange, to be honest. You know the tiny, and I mean really tiny cottages over the other side near the fire station? Lucian lives there in one of those cottages. I parked up my bike and then went into this little room which was more like a cupboard and we just chatted, really.’
‘So, how’s it all set up?’ Daisy asked.
‘Not much differently to how you do your stuff, but without the camera. A couple of professional microphones and the podcast techie stuff was all on an app. I mean really it’s quite unbelievable that the broadcast will be going out to millions.’
‘Yeah, technology has changed the world. It’s changed my world at least. Who would have thought me filming my lifestyle as they call it and how I cook would be interesting to other people?’
‘It certainly has. I mean look at my little online hobby - now a very nice income stream and all made possible because of the internet.’
‘My whole business and actually my whole life is possible because of the internet. Even me moving back to Pretty Beach is because of the internet. Well, that and the fast train.’
‘I told Lucian about you while we were running through it all and having a cup of tea beforehand. He was very interested - your businesses are both quite similar.’
‘Yeah, you’re right. Though the difference is no one actually knows where mine is - a little vlog from a little kitchen, could be anywhere.’
‘Hmm, yes there is that.’
With that there was a low, groaning rumble as the funicular railway started to make its way up the side of the cliff. Juliette looked up and over all the way down to the end of the road, and saw the tiny little train creaking and winding its way up.
‘Have you got used to that, yet?’
‘I have. I didn’t even hear it then. How weird is that?’
‘It’s kind of comforting, isn’t it? Like the beat of a drum for your area. Like when you hear the Pretty Beach ferry in the distance, you know that you are home.’
‘I’d forgotten how much I loved that sound to be quite honest and now I’ve got both - the railway and the ferry in the far distance.’
They heard a knocking on the front door. ‘That must be Luke, he said he was going to pop in.’
‘We’re round the back,’ Daisy called out, and Luke came strolling around the corner. Chino shorts, navy-blue linen shirt, and the bottom.
Juliette got up from the bench and Luke kissed her on the cheek, he said hello to Maggie, and kissed Daisy hello on the cheek.
‘How did it go, then? Can you still talk to us now that you’re famous? Or do you no longer talk to the minions?’ Luke joked.
‘I might have to trade you in for all the fabulous men who are going to come my way, ha! It was fine, just like a chat really. I was nervous when I first walked in, but after that it was okay.’
‘Good, glad to hear it went well.’
‘What she hasn’t told you is he clearly liked her because he’s already put a picture up on social media and it’s going off. You know the Orangery one with the tree and the decs?’
‘Ahh. Great. I guess I am going to be spending my hours in the evening packing up tiny little gold baubles in the middle of Summer, then,’ Luke said, chuckling.
‘Me too. I’ll have to do all the parcel stamping like at Christmas,’ Maggie said from the herbs, and they all turned around and looked at her and started laughing.
Chapter 14
‘Will we see any fish?’ Maggie asked excitedly, dancing along Mermaid Lane with Juliette and Luke.
‘We might do, but remember we are just going to have another look at the boat today. We’re not going out on it,’ Luke replied.
‘There aren’t any fish in the water there?’
>
‘Not a lot of fish around the jetty, no.’
‘Why not?’ Maggie asked.
‘Because they like to be out in the open water not around the boats,’ Luke answered.
Maggie listened intently as Luke patiently told her all sorts of things they might see in the water around the boat.
‘So, the fish don’t like to swim around near the boats too much?’ Maggie reiterated.
‘Not usually, but sometimes they may do. So, hopefully we’ll see some today,’ Juliette replied as all three of them strolled along, turned left at the end of Mermaid Lane and headed to Maisy’s for a takeaway coffee before they walked to the boat.
Luke continued to talk to Maggie as they pushed open the door to a busy Maisy’s, the little bell tinkling above their heads.
‘You have to be really careful on boats, Mags. You have to watch what you are doing and listen to instructions. No running and jumping,’ Luke said as they joined the queue for coffee.
‘Because you might fall in?’ Maggie asked.
‘Yep, you might fall in, or you might hurt yourself because the boat bobs around, and you have to make sure you don’t have any accidents. We wouldn’t want any of us to end up with a broken arm or anything silly like that.’
The conversation continued as they bought their coffee with Maggie seeming to have a question about anything and everything to do with the boat. Juliette kept quiet and listened to Luke’s interaction with Maggie. He was so good with her it was like he was born to it.
They walked out of Maisy’s with their coffees and hot chocolate after stopping to chat with Nel the bus driver and strolled all the way through Pretty Beach to the jetty as Maggie skipped in and out of the bollards lining the pavement to the beach.
They approached the jetty, Juliette took Maggie’s hand and they walked across the old silvery boards until they arrived at the boat.
The grotty, old, dirty boat of before was long gone and it was looking a million times better than the last few times they’d arrived with cleaning buckets, paintbrushes and big cans of boat enamel. And a lot better than when they’d first viewed the boat when it had looked old, filthy and in need of a lot of love.
‘Mummy, it looks gorgeous!’ Maggie said excitedly as they approached the boat bobbing up and down on the water.
‘Oh, wow, it does. Amazing what a bit of perspective does, eh Luke?’
Luke stood back next to Juliette and Maggie with his hand shading his eyes from the sun.
‘It actually does! I was beginning to wonder what I’d taken on. It seemed to be very slow going, didn’t it? I never thought we’d get here!’ Luke remarked.
‘It really did. That Sunday we spent all day just rubbing down - that seemed to go on forever with no results.’
‘I know, but now look at it. What a transformation and the outside is still to go.’
The boat rocked back and forth in front of them. Very faint remnants of the yellow roof still peeked through underneath the undercoat as it awaited going to the club for its exterior painting, but the part of the renovation Juliette and Luke had done themselves had come together beautifully.
They’d cleared out the inside of the boat of all sorts of things - old, filthy, bulky life jackets which had seen better days, dirty old buckets full of tools, plastic containers with various engine oils and a whole selection of broken old fishing rods and eroded equipment.
Once that had all been cleared out, they’d rubbed down and cleaned everything, undercoated it all and while they’d waited for that to set, they’d been to the marine shop in Seafolly and bought blue and white striped cushions for the built-in seats, a lovely big blue mat embossed with a white anchor, and a little timber ‘welcome aboard’ sign they’d fixed next to the cabin.
Luke stepped onto the boat and helped Maggie as Juliette waited on the jetty.
‘Ooh, be careful Maggie. Be careful you don’t slip. Remember what we said about not jumping around on the boat,’ Juliette instructed.
‘I will. It’s lovely Mummy, isn’t it? But I think it might be nice in pink.’ Maggie said giggling.
‘Mags, you’re as silly as your mummy,’ Luke said with a smile as he held out his hand and helped Juliette onboard.
‘I think you’re right Maggie, it would be very nice in pink.’
‘We’ll just have to think about that.’ Luke replied, popping on his sunglasses and hat.
Chapter 15
A few weeks later, Juliette pulled up in Mermaid Lane, took some of her midwifery equipment out of the boot, and locked her car behind her. She’d come back for the rest later. She looked up at the pink and orange evening sky, really glad to be home and even more glad to be home to a house that she owned.
She pushed open the black railing gate with her foot, walked up the path, and then put all her bags down on the step. She let out a big, tired sigh; the birth had been beautiful and uncomplicated, but long. Long and tiring.
She felt a bit mean even thinking it, but she was very happy that it was the night when Maggie was at Jeremy’s; she wouldn’t have to do the bedtime routine, cook the dinner, make sure the homework was completed, sort out the reading book or get the uniform ready for the next day. All she had to do was run herself a bath, pour herself a large glass of wine, and read her own book to herself.
As she pushed open the huge old pink door and stepped into the hallway, she slipped off her clogs, rubbed her eyes, and stripped off her uniform before she had even got to the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen, turned to the tiny utility room on the left, opened the washing machine, and put her uniform straight in.
Standing in her kitchen in her underwear and a vest top she washed her hands and then opened the fridge wondering what she could have to eat. The sandwich she’d had hours before had worn off long ago. She stood there surveying the contents of the fridge and poking in a few tubs here and there. What little delectable snack to have before dinner?
It was Luke’s turn to make dinner, so she knew it would be either something with pasta or he’d buy a quiche from Holly’s on the way home from work. Hoping it was the latter, she pulled out a small tub of tuna and pasta and a can of soft drink and sat down at the kitchen table scrolling through her phone.
The follows, likes, and more surprisingly orders were still coming in thick and fast after the podcast broadcast of Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? had gone out the week before. Juliette hadn’t really known what to expect from it all, but she hadn’t thought it would have brought in actual orders, too. But it had, and she was loving all the new customers. There weren’t many people who celebrated Christmas in July, but by the looks of her orders streaming in from other parts of the globe, many of them listened to the podcast from the other side of the world about a tiny little town called Pretty Beach. Who would have thought?
The resulting social media and website activity was much, much bigger than she could have hoped for in her wildest dreams. Lucian had intimated that it would be; he’d even done a spreadsheet on it. She hadn’t really believed him - you just didn’t get the feel for it when you were sitting in his tiny little cottage with two microphones and a tablet. The whole thing recorded in there and all done via an app. It seemed all very surreal that their little chat would be broadcast all over the world. That people in far-flung countries would listen to them chatting in Pretty Beach and then follow it up by visiting her website and ordering her vintage Christmas decor. Mind-boggling.
Juliette was certainly not complaining as A Christmas Sparkle’s website traffic had leapt into a whole new arena and was continuing to hold steady, and social media follows were growing by the day. She’d had enquiries for styling for a Christmas shoot for a magazine in August which she’d accepted. And the owner of a luxury hotel in Cornwall had contacted her to see if she would be interested in sourcing and decorating the whole of his hotel for the start of their busy months of Christmas parties in November and December. She’d replied to that one plucking a wild figure out of the air for the q
uote for her time and he’d accepted it without query.
Juliette smiled to herself. Yep, she’d just fit that all in with being a single mum, a midwife with a heavy load, and worrying about a teenager away in Oxford.
She answered a text from Bella.
Just organising the date for when I’m coming back for the weekend.
Come whenever you like. Your room is here and waiting.
Shame we can’t predict the weather.
I know, it’s been threatening to pour down all day here. The sky is a beautiful pink this evening though. The Pretty Beach skies you like. I’ll take a pic and send you it in a minute.
Same here on the weather front.
You don’t need to let me know on what day you’re coming, though it’ll be better if I’m not on call.
I can’t wait to go out on the boat! You know how much I love it out on the water.
I said the same to Luke. I know you do.
So, it will be better if we plan it.
Actually, yes. It would be better if both Luke and I are off and we can spend the whole weekend on the boat together.
I’ll let you know then when I check the rota at work later.
OK darling, stay safe. Can’t wait for you to come down.
Thanks, Mum. Spk later. xxx
***
Juliette stood at the sink and slapped a huge blob of cleanser on her fingers and then dabbed it all over her face. In her pink dressing gown, she vigorously rubbed the cleanser in while the bath beside her ran. She’d poured in way too much of her favourite bubble bath, but it was doing exactly what she’d wanted - filling up with a frivolous amount of bubbles topping up the bath with softness.
She massaged the cleanser, pushing out the tension in her jaw and cheeks. Sometimes after a homebirth she thought the tension of making sure she did the best job she could ran all the way up to her face and settled right in the back of her jaw for the next few days.
A Pretty Beach Wish Page 5