‘Hi,’ she leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, ‘Feeling any better?’
Nina’s asthma had been getting progressively worse and making her feel more and more down. Holly took off the huge black and gold coat and popped it on the back of a chair.
‘A bit better with the new inhaler,’ Nina replied.
Sallie sat down opposite her, ‘At least you’re on top of it now, I guess.’
‘Yeah. Anyway, what’s been going on with you two then? Apart from loving the snow, Sallie.’
‘Nothing interesting from me. About the only thing I have been doing is binge-watching Nordic crime and testing more and more fudge for my Christmas limited editions.’ Holly replied.
Sallie smiled and said, ‘Now you're asking. Are you ready for my next Pretty Beach Boat House Enterprises idea?’
‘Hang on, let me settle in for the night. Haha.’ Nina said laughing.
They ordered hot chocolates, slices of chocolate log and started to discuss Sallie’s new idea.
‘So, you’ll live broadcast the whole thing on social media?’ Nina asked, tucking into the chocolate log.
‘Not quite the whole thing, that’ll be too long, it’ll get too boring and too many things could go wrong.’
‘So just the ceremony bit then?’
‘Yeah, just the bit where the bride arrives, walks through the grounds to the door of the Orangery, and then up the aisle and the actual getting married bit. Then maybe a second instalment later of the dance or some of the reception.’
Nina stirred her hot chocolate and sliced off another piece of the log and replied, ‘It’s got legs.’
‘It certainly has. Rory said he knows loads of people who know of Pretty Beach now because of that podcast,’ Holly replied.
‘Lucian has millions, and I mean millions of followers - it would be gold.’
‘You reckon he’ll do it for free though?’ Nina asked, frowning.
‘I hope so. I've thought about it from his point of view as well, and what it gives him is great content and a bit of solid equity about Pretty Beach rather than him just talking about it. He gets to give away a big prize on his account to what I’m guessing is his ideal audience. It’s worth a huge amount if he had to pay for it - but for me, really, with most things at cost, it won’t be too much. I already have the building and the contacts and the experience. There’s no way I’ll be able to afford to get that sort of advertising any other way.’
‘It’s a good idea; you're pushing it though aren’t you, for Christmas?’ Nina asked, finishing off the chocolate log and putting the fork down on the plate.
‘There’s not a whole lot to plan - everything is ready in the Orangery and for the reception I’ll do the easiest menu I can for the lowest price - probably some kind of share platter for each table. Some of the decor will already be there following on from Tillie’s naming ceremony and the tree etcetera will all be in place.’
‘You’re right.’ Nina nodded her head in agreement and Holly joined in, pursing her lips together and nodding.
‘I’ll probably just need flowers which Felicity will help out with, the caterers and the usual extra workers we use at the marquee and I can’t think of any other problems - obviously there will be accommodation either in a hotel or the boathouse cottage and I suppose there will be costs I’ve not yet thought of.’
‘Famous last words Sal!’ Nina chuckled. ‘I’ve said I’m totally planned before court in the past and wished I hadn’t.’
‘The main issue will be finding someone who is experienced and confident enough with a camera - and that will cost a lot,’ Sallie said.
‘I’ll send a text to my photographer friend - he did a great job of those pictures last year, didn’t he?’
‘Oh yes, I forgot about him. I don’t think he does video, but I bet he knows someone who does.’
All three of them sat there finishing their hot chocolates and cake by the fire, starting to go through all the things that could possibly go wrong.
Chapter 16
Sallie carefully walked through the ice-filled puddles in the car park and over towards The Pretty Smugglers pub on the corner. Cosy, warm light glowed from the dark paned windows and a huge fire flickered in the middle. She ran her gloved hand over a thick layer of snow on top of the outside tables and looked up at the hanging baskets weighed down with snow and the slate tile roof glistening white in the sunlight.
She pushed open the door to a huge blackboard announcing ‘Live Music Every Saturday Night’, a line of Wellington boots on the doormat and a row of hooks with piles of wet coats drying above the radiator.
Sallie wiped her boots on the mat, took off her coat and hat and walked up to the bar just as a text pinged in her pocket from Lucian.
Apologies my darling, running a little late. I’m on a train in from the city and it’s running slow because of the weather. Be with you soon.
She texted back asking him what he wanted to drink, decided on a red wine for herself, and ordered from the bar. She took their drinks over to a table by the fire and sat there thinking - pondering the live broadcast wedding idea and wondering whether or not Lucian would think she was highly cheeky to even put it to him. She’d decided though that if you didn’t ask you didn’t get and hence had texted him to meet up for a chat.
Ten minutes later, he bounded into the pub door, threw his coat up on the hook, kissed her dramatically on both cheeks and sat himself heavily down.
‘That train, wowzas, it was so busy! Everyone is trying to get home for the weekend before the snow sets in again. Crazy town! I had to stand for the first twenty-five minutes. Cheek of it. Don’t they know who I am?’ He winked cheekily at Sallie.
She smiled at him as he told her all about a dreadful woman on the train who had spent the entire journey shouting into her phone, telling the whole carriage about her awful journey from Scotland and how the airline should be closed down if it operated like that.
‘Ahh, I can’t stand it when people shout into their phones on public transport...’ Sallie laughed as he took a huge sip of his drink, nodding his head.
‘I know. Like they think we want to hear their conversation. So rude, darling!’ He put his glass down on the mat and placed his hand on hers.
‘Right, now tell me, what is this proposition you have for me and my little podcast?’
Sallie took a big breath in, leant forward and started to tell Lucian her idea. She told him all about it - how they could offer the Orangery for a wedding celebration, how it would be live-streamed in a gorgeous winter wonderland with Christmas lights and all the magic of Christmas for a very special bride. He sat there silently, carefully listening to her proposal. She continued to tell him that she would pay for everything and then live-stream it through both their social media accounts and hope to get lots of publicity for both ‘Where the Heck is Pretty Beach?’ and Pretty Beach Boat House Enterprises.
Lucian sat there and said nothing and looked back at her silently. She looked back at him aghast that she might have offended him. He pushed out his chair, got up from the table, and exclaimed, ‘I love it, oh my gosh, this is fabulous, darling! My listeners will devour it, positively eat it up! We need another drink for this! What can I get you?’ He asked, jumped up and came back from the bar two minutes later with more drinks, sat down and started talking, ‘It’s a great idea, I adore it and my listeners will love it too.’
‘I’m so relieved, when you didn't say anything I thought you were thinking the opposite.’ Sallie replied and took a large drink of the second glass of wine.
‘I’ve a lot of experience in it all now and it’s a tough gig to crack - it’s very hard to advertise in this world as it turns people off, but you still want to make a living. People don’t want to think they are being advertised to, so this would be great for my business. It would give me some fabulous content and generate a lot of buzz.’
‘That was my only concern - so you think this will help you too then?’ Sallie as
ked.
‘Of course! The publicity will be wild darling. Live-streaming a gorgeous wedding in an Orangery at Christmas - that would be like a dream come true for my listeners. I can guarantee that they will lap it up.’
‘It’ll be great content I think for both your social media and the podcast and let’s not make any mistake here, it would be gold for me and the Orangery.’
‘Certainly. But it’s just come to me Sallie - how about we do it as a surprise and a competition in one? We get a groom to surprise his wife-to-be with the wedding - the whole thing is a big secret, even the dress. The build up to that will be fantastic!’
Sallie nodded her head up and down, ‘Yes, that could work.’
‘I could put it out on the podcast and you could do the same on the Boat House social media channels, we do it as a game of skill so we don't have to worry too much about regulations and then we pick a suitable couple... just thinking out loud here, not sure about how it would all work out,’ He said, looking into the fire.
‘That would generate a lot of suspense. If we got the right couple, it could work. But what about a dress, all that stuff?’
‘We’d have to rope everyone in on it, like her family and friends, choose the dress, fish around for information about what she’d like - I’m sure it could be done,’ Lucian said, tapping his fingers on the table.
‘It would be a great lead-up - choosing a dress, choosing the decor and the tree and everything. We could even do stuff on a poll - like choose between dress A and dress B, choose the decor etcetera, etcetera. Lucian, you’re a genius,’ Sallie laughed.
‘My darling, how do you think I got a tiny little podcast like Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? in a tiny little town to be one of the most popular podcasts in the world?’
They sat there for another hour or so by the fire with a couple more drinks, some spare paper and a pen from behind the bar and started to brainstorm ideas for it all. They filled four sheets with ideas, plans and a list of people they would need to contact and employ.
They would have a matter of weeks to get everything sorted - to put out a competition, find a suitable couple, work out all the logistics, find the right people to run it all and start the countdown to a live-streamed wedding at the Orangery in Pretty Beach.
Chapter 17
Sallie took the pregnancy kit out of the bag, opened the box and the foil wrapper and pulled out the stick. She’d done enough of these over the years - memories came flooding back to her, and even though she knew the road was filled with all sorts of ups and downs she’d finally admitted to herself that she did want a baby. Even after what had happened, being around Nina and Tillie had confirmed how she felt. She’d tried to convince herself that what would be would be, but in the back of her mind she was desperate to get pregnant. She was only several days late, which was nothing unusual, but she’d suddenly had the urge to know.
Leaning up against the sink, Sallie waited and remembered the feeling from before; the not knowing, but the thinking that you were and then the stick saying yes or no. It was like the little stick was a magic wand in control of the destiny of the rest of your life. She stood there looking at the instructions on the back of the box, the ones she’d read many times before, thinking about the fact that she was late, had a heaviness in her boobs and had been unusually tired and had suddenly thought that maybe she was pregnant. They hadn't been seriously trying (no taking temperatures and monitoring levels), but they hadn’t been using anything to stop it either, and she knew Ben was hoping that she would get pregnant, and that it would be soon.
She waited a few minutes and looked into the window on the stick. Nothing, no blue cross. She was not pregnant. Sallie sighed and looked in the mirror, tears welled up and she plonked herself down on the toilet seat. She was well aware it didn’t always happen when you wanted it to, but she was also aware that they didn’t have too much time on their side. The clock was ticking and getting pregnant wasn’t going to be as easy now as it had been in her younger years. Hearing Ben come in downstairs, she threw the box in the bin, washed her hands and walked out of the bathroom.
‘Hey beautiful, you okay?’ He looked up at her as she walked into the kitchen and sighed.
‘I’m fine.’ She decided not to tell him; she’d rather just wait and see what happened next month. It wasn’t like it was the first time - she had been almost convinced when they’d got married that she was pregnant but a few weeks later she wasn’t and she’d been just so disappointed then that she’d tried this time not to think about it too much.
He walked over to her and put his arms around her waist, ‘I’ve got some news. I’m not sure you’re going to like it. The tender has come through and we won it - I’m going to have to go to Alaska with work for a bit.’
‘Oh no, it’s not going to be like last year again, is it?’ She looked up at him disappointedly and ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck.
‘No, it will only be the one trip. But, I was thinking, maybe you could come with me?’
‘What, right in the middle of getting the Orangery ready and the competition? I mean I know there aren’t that many events booked, but I just don’t think I can make it happen...’ She trailed off.
‘Yeah, I thought as much. Maybe we can work it out and you can pop over for a bit then?’
‘It’ll hardly be worth it though, once I get there,’ Sallie said.
‘The fast train makes a difference, connects quickly to the airport and then, well, you’d be in Business Class,’ Ben said, looking down at her.
Sallie sighed, ‘I don’t really care about that.’
‘I know you don’t. It makes it a lot more comfortable though and you can work all the way.’
‘I’ll speak to Nina. Actually, I could ask Juliette to help out possibly. She’s right there and if she can oversee any of it that would be okay. But then there’s the boathouse cottage, that will need someone available with any problems with that.’
‘Okay, let’s sit down and have a look at the timescales for everything later.’
Sallie nodded and sat there thinking to herself, a trip would be nice. She loved Pretty Beach even more in the cold weather but getting away for a bit just before all the Christmas things would be good.
***
Ben walked out of the toilet holding the pregnancy test box, she must have left it on the side of the sink. He held it up with a questioning look on his face.
‘Nope, nothing, I wasn’t going to tell you, I’m a bit late according to the calendar, but maybe I got the dates wrong.’
‘Oh no,’ he said, disappointed, ‘Don’t worry, gives us a lot more opportunity to practise,’ he joked.
‘Not if you’re in another country.’ She smiled back at him, ‘You know what though, time isn’t on our side. I think we’ll need to possibly get some help if it doesn’t happen in the next few months.’
‘Maybe. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, get the work stuff and Christmas out of the way, yeah?
She nodded and looked out of the window. Maybe the New Year would bring some news with it.
Chapter 18
‘I still think it’s all a bit too much,’ Ben said, ‘You don’t think you’ve had enough on your plate only just having your own two weddings? We’ve got Tillie’s ceremony coming up and the minor thing of recovering from an accident?’ Ben looked at her, his eyes wide, shaking his head and referring to their two weddings and the accident she’d had in the fish and chip shop where she’d been the victim of a highly serious burn. Ben continued, ‘I just think it’s a lot - a competition, the live streaming, the Christmas setting and finding a dress for a bride we don’t know.’
‘I take it you're still not that keen on the idea then?’ She looked back at him and rolled her eyes.
‘Don't get me wrong, it’s a great marketing exercise - but it’s a big ask, and a whole lot of organisation.’
‘Yes, but that’s what I’m good at, that's what I’ve got expe
rience in and it actually won’t be too much work. I’ve been through it with Lucian,’ She countered, flicking her hair over her shoulders.
‘I’ll remind you of that when you’re tearing your hair out and running about the place asking me why I let you think that it was a good idea in the first place. Not too much work? It sounds like a massive amount of work to me.’ Ben said.
‘Just a meal, a dress, some decorations and a tree. How hard can that be?’ She looked at him indignantly.
‘Pah!’ He blew out and laughed. ‘You’ve finally lost the plot. It won’t be as simple as that Sals.’
‘Hmm.’ She hesitated, turned and moved closer to him.
‘What about Lucian? Will you be able to work with him - does he errr, know what a workhorse you are?’
‘I’ve thought of that, to be honest, and I really get the vibe that he’s the same. That podcast looks like it’s an easy job but a lot of hard work and endurance has gone into it.’
‘That doesn’t mean he works at your pace or with your anal attention to detail,’ Ben replied, looking at her directly in the eye, ‘There could be so many things that could go wrong.’
‘So, you don't think I should do it? That I should change my mind.’ Sallie insisted.
‘It’s not up to me and if I know you Sallie Broadchurch if anyone tells you that you can’t do it, you’ll put your foot down and do it anyway.’
She started laughing, ‘Ben! What are you saying? Are you trying to say that I’m stubborn or something?’
‘I’m saying that it doesn't matter what I say.’ He laughed back at her and put his arms around her. ‘I tell you what, as long as you don’t take on too much and promise you'll get help then I’ll do all I can to make it a success too.’
Winter at Pretty Beach Page 6