‘Gardening isn't my strong point Sals,’ Ben joked as they all looked at the work involved in the overhanging trees, the overgrown bushes and the weeds climbing up the old walls.
‘Mine either mate - my wife loves it though, thankfully, all I have to do is run around with the lawnmower every now and then,’ Shane said and chuckled.
‘That lawn wouldn't take you very long then.’ Ben joked as they looked at the long strip of knee-high grass.
They walked all the way back down through the flights of stairs back to the tiled entrance hallway.
‘We’ll take it,’ Sallie said as Shane proceeded to the front door.
They all laughed.
‘Great negotiation skills Sals,’ Ben said and Shane was smiling.
‘As I said - it's a bit of a funny one. They won’t go for an offer anyway. The daughter works on the rigs, some environmental qualification, highly regarded apparently - if they can’t get rid of it for a decent price, she's going back on the rigs to pay off the debts.’
They walked out, Shane closing the huge, wide Victorian door of the old place behind them, and they shook hands.
‘I'll let you know any good comparisons I can come up with and then I’ll negotiate with them on exactly what price they'd be happy with. You're going to need to do your figures though, on the damp and the outside - it’ll need scaffolding and all that so it’s not a small job.’
‘Thanks Shane, that would be great,’ Ben said and patted Shane on the back.
Shane walked back along the road and Sallie and Ben looked up at the blue-grey plaster falling off the top of the house and the yellow peeling paint on the windows.
‘I want her, Ben. I want her to be mine.’
Chapter 49
Jessica’s house was never quiet, there was always something going on and as Sallie approached the front door on the morning of the shoot for the Orangery it was exactly the same as any other time she’d been there.
As she stepped through the front door she could hear Camilla playing classical music in the study and she could see Caitlin sitting at the dining table with one of her friends with the television blaring in the background. As she unpeeled her gloves in the hallway David pulled up and parked on the driveway.
Sallie pulled off her scarf and put the basket she had with her to collect the holly and mistletoe from the garden down on the front porch. David walked in behind her, said hello and kissed her on the cheek.
‘How are you - haven't seen you for a while. I thought I might bump into you on the laneway, but haven’t seen you around.’ David said taking her coat and hanging it on the hooks by the front door.
‘I’ve been manic, what with Tillie and the Orangery, and of course, Nina. I think I just missed you the other day when I was in the fish and chip shop with Tillie.’
‘I bet you have. I only wish Nina could have more visitors - then, on the other hand, I suppose that's the whole point of it.’
‘Yep,’ Sallie let out a massive sigh, ‘I guess so. It’s all getting very real now without seeing any improvement.’
‘Definitely - who would have thought any of this would have happened?’ David said as he pulled off his boots.
‘I know.’ Sallie replied, nodding her head.
Camilla stepped out from the study and came over to say hello while Jessica made cups of tea and pulled out a cake tin from the cupboard.
‘My lovely wife has outdone herself with this one,’ Jessica said smiling and opening the cake tin - she brandished a heavily-iced coffee cake topped with walnuts.
‘That looks like my kind of cake,’ Sallie said, nodding enthusiastically that she would like a piece.
Jessica sliced off huge pieces of cake for them all, they picked up the tea and walked over to the sofas.
‘I meant to say, I saw the article in the paper about the competition at the Orangery and the podcast - Lucian sure knows how to work the public relations to get that sort of coverage,’ David said, taking a slice of the cake and biting into it.
‘He’s a juggernaut! No flies on that one, David - and it’s all come about because you first introduced us. Any press we’ve had is incidental too, we turned down a newspaper and have only done a couple of interviews. We decided his reach was enough.’
‘Yeah, you don’t get a following like that through luck I guess - he’s a grafter that one for sure.’ David replied.
‘He certainly is and he’s been so good since Nina went into hospital - he’s juggled everything wonderfully and if he could’ve done the styling and decorating side of it, he would have.’
‘We need to find him a new boyfriend next then,’ David said smiling.
‘We’ll have to get Xian and her special matchmaking skills on the case.’ Jessica suggested, smiling.
With that Jessica got up and said to Sallie, ‘Shall we go out and see what’s going on in the garden? The holly is massive this year, but not sure on the mistletoe. To be honest I haven’t been out there since that first snowstorm came through - way too cold.’
They got up, went to the front door, put on their coats and boots and trudged down the side of the house. The swimming pool cover was on, the Summer House all locked up from the cold and the outdoor furniture tightly covered.
Jessica pointed down over the lawn to a large, high reaching holly bush. Sallie looked down towards it and took the secateurs out of the basket.
‘Now, there was mistletoe right down the end there by the back fence.’ Jessica pointed down to the end, rubbing her hands together to warm up her hands, ‘I’ll go down and have a look, you get what holly you want from there.’
Sallie looked up at the holly bush laden with berries; it was so abundant and so green it looked like it wasn’t real. She started snipping off branches and laying them carefully in her basket. Jessica came walking back across the lawn in her wellies with bundles of mistletoe, white berries hanging off it.
‘Will this do?’ She asked, holding up the huge bunch of greenery.
‘Do? God yes! Thank you. This and what I’ve managed to get from Holly’s has saved me a fortune.’
‘Funny, I think the same every year when I see how much it is in White Cottage Flowers when I walk past on my way to work - all I do is go outside, pick a load, shove it in a vase and it looks like Christmas in a jar,’ Jessica said, chuckling.
‘I know - it’s going to look great on the tables and really easy too. All I’ll need to do is go round and plonk it in and then if you don’t mind I’ll be back just before the actual wedding for a fresh lot.’
‘Even better,’ Jessica replied as she placed the mistletoe in Sallie’s basket.
‘What’s going to happen with Nina? It’s really getting extremely concerning now, isn’t it?’ Jessica asked as they trudged back up through the cold wet grass on the lawn.
‘I just don’t know. I mean what can you do when the doctors don’t really know? Even Rory is none the wiser.’
Chapter 50
Sallie sat on the bench on the decking at the end of the wharf waiting for the Pretty Beach ferry to swing around the headland into view. Wearing a thick puffy jacket, huge grey cashmere scarf, black jeans and little black ankle boots to try and insulate herself from the weather.
The last few days had been spent organising, sorting and juggling looking after Tillie with going to visit Nina, and when Tillie had gone to sleep for the night Sallie had almost collapsed herself, just managing to stay awake to have a bath and eat her dinner.
The only thing that had kept her from falling in a heap was Ben - as ever, he had been marvellous, always one of life’s doers, he just got on with stuff, no questions asked - it was so nice to have someone like him around and she was still pinching herself just about every single day that she was married to him. She still found the whole thing astounding - being married to a dashing pilot who just so happened to be a millionaire had been so far away from her life of drudge in Freshlea it was hard to wrap her head around.
Holly clipped do
wn the road, large designer bag over her shoulder and taking her ferry card out of her bag kissed Sallie on the cheek.
‘Are you sure you want to come? You’re going to hang around and wait for me outside? Sallie asked.
‘Yep, give you a bit of company. I could do with a few hours off anyway.’ Holly replied.
Sallie and Holly stepped over the gangplank of the ferry, proceeded to Sallie’s favourite spot upstairs and sat looking out to the sea and at the lighthouse beyond. The ferry pulled away and as it chugged around to Pearl Beach and then stopped at all the little coves and beaches all the way to Newport Reef Sallie and Holly sat there chatting about Nina and when, how and if this would all end.
The ferry pulled into Newport, they hopped off and started walking up the hill. Cold sea air whistled in off the ocean, an ambulance with its lights flashing raced past and people hurried along eager to get in out of the cold.
They took Sallie’s usual route that had now become all too horribly familiar. Then getting to the hospital foyer Sallie left Holly and walked into the lift, up to the ward, checked in at the front and slipped into Nina’s room to sit with her.
Nina rarely responded much at all, but something told Sallie that she knew she was there, every now and then there had been a tiny bit of pressure in Sallie’s hand, a flicker of the eyelids, and sometimes as Sallie had chatted away with her daily reports on Ottilie Sallie had even seen the tiniest hint of a smile cross Nina’s lips.
Sallie sat by the chair, telling Nina about the new baby rice Tillie had tried, gave her a long drawn-out explanation of the decorations in the Orangery and her concerns over the heating and told her all about the bride and groom they’d found for the competition.
Once she’d finished chatting and looked at the clock she slowly and quietly got up from the bed, slipped out of the room and tiptoed down the corridor. As she got to the station at the front she saw one of the regular nurses, Amelia.
‘Hi, how are you?’ Amelia asked, stopping the tapping on her keyboard and looking up from the computer screen.
‘I’m okay, thanks,’ Sallie replied, smiling.
‘You look tired - hope you’re looking after yourself.’ Amelia said.
‘I am tired and I’ve just realised I didn’t have any breakfast really this morning, it was all a bit of a rush and I felt a bit odd so I didn’t bother, I just had a cup of tea.’ Sallie said, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.
‘You need one of the muffins from the cafe downstairs It may be unbelievable for me to be recommending a hospital cafe, but if you go to the tiny little one at the back, not the main place in the foyer, it’s run by a lovely little family and the wife makes the most amazing homemade cakes - all the staff go in there.’ Amelia suggested.
‘You know, I think I might actually do that. I’ve got a bit of time before the bus, I was going to go and sit in the foyer but I think I’ll do that instead.’
Amelia got up from her chair and started rummaging around in a drawer under the printer.
‘Hang on a minute I’ve got a voucher for cake somewhere here - I’ve been on a diet for the last few months and hid these away so I wouldn’t be tempted, but they’re nearly out of date.’ She peered right at the back of the drawer, pulled out a plastic wallet and took out a little blue ticket from inside.
‘There you go’ Amelia said, pressing the ticket into Sallie's hand.
‘Thanks, are you sure? Wow, that’s so kind of you.’
‘Of course! Get yourself down there - when you come out of the lifts, turn right instead of heading out towards the foyer, cross diagonally over and the cafe is right in the corner beside the florist. It looks a little bit grim compared to the newly renovated foyer, a bit plastic, but it’s lovely. You’ll be lucky to get a seat at this time of day though.’
‘Perfect, thanks Amelia.’ Sallie said, then said goodbye and walked out of the unit and towards the lifts.
Sallie headed down to the foyer, met up with Holly and then they followed Amelia’s directions to the cafe. It had white plastic chairs, gaudy red signage above the doors and not a whole lot of inspiration to make them go in. They looked into the glass cabinets at the cakes and quickly changed their minds and walked inside.
‘What can I get you?’ A woman with a round face and bright red hair asked.
‘Two pieces of the carrot cake please and two take-away coffees.’
Sallie took the coffees and the brown bag with the cake and as they went to walk out of the cafe she looked up at a man in a hospital uniform peering in at the cakes. It was the guy from Maisy’s cafe she had bumped into a few weeks before who Juliette had said had moved into the cottage right down the other end of Seapocket Lane.
‘Oh, hi again,’ Sallie said as they crossed his path and went to walk out to the foyer.
‘Hey, you're a friend of Juliette’s, aren’t you?’ The man replied.
‘Yep, Sallie, we met in the cafe in Pretty Beach, you'd just moved in. And this is Holly who owns the bakery. Holly this is Luke.’
‘Ahh yes, sorry, bit forgetful, I’ve had a busy few hours today. You were in the cafe with the gorgeous Juliette, that’s right.’
‘How are you getting on in the new house and more importantly how are you finding the strange beings of Pretty Beach?’ Sallie said with a friendly smile and Holly laughed.
‘So far, so good. The house is, how shall we say, a bit sterile, but I’m not complaining. On the locals, I’m a bit taken aback at how friendly everyone is, and the pubs are great and well I’m finding the sea air very different to being in town’
‘I know, it’s amazing, I’ve only been here a little while too. There’s something about the Pretty Beach air you can’t quite put your finger on.’
‘That’s exactly it, I feel different and good different so I’m taking it as a very nice side-effect of moving to a new place.’
‘Well, nice to bump into you again.’ Sallie said, going to walk out.
‘Yep, see you.’ Luke said, moving forward to line up at the till.
Sallie and Holly walked towards the foyer with their coffees and cake and commented that Luke was indeed a very nice new addition to Pretty Beach and especially for the ‘gorgeous Juliette.’
Holly rubbed her hands together in glee.
Chapter 51
Sallie walked along with her umbrella in one hand, pushing the rain-covered pram in the other. Tillie’s heavy change bag filled with all her paraphernalia hung over the handle and Sallie’s bag was underneath in the tray. Splashing along through the puddles in her green boots, cold icy air went down the gap in her coat.
She walked past White Cottage Flowers and stopped to update Felicity, who was parking her car, on Nina’s situation and popped into the Spar for some tea bags for the Orangery - the photographer and his assistants were arriving at two and she was sure, in the freezing cold, drizzly weather they would be wanting a lot of tea.
She carried on along past Juliette’s cottage, smiling at the beautiful wreath on the front door, manoeuvring the pram along the pavement and down to the double gates of the Orangery. As she was struggling with the bolt on the bottom of the gate Suntanned Pete arrived.
‘Oh good, I’m glad you’re early - she’s just dropped off for her nap,’ Sallie said, yanking back the bolt on the gate.
‘Have you had any further news this morning?’ Pete asked.
‘Not really. I spoke to the nurse on reception for an update and she said no change.’
Pete sighed, ‘Rightio - are you going to visit tonight?’
‘I don't know - not sure if it’s even really worth it and with all this today and the weather it’s going to be hard to make it there, but I’ll try. I was in there last night.’
‘Well, I think I will then. Once this little doll is back with you, I’ll have plenty of time to drive over there.’
‘Okay, well that would be great for me. I mean, I know she doesn't really know if we are there or not but I feel like a visit every day is importan
t - if you know what I mean.’
‘Yep, I think the same,’ Pete agreed, taking the pram from Sallie.
‘Yes, okay. So, I’ll be back after the shoot to pick Ottilie up.’
‘You know what, I’ll drop her off if you like; I need to pop into the Spar later so I can do that at the same time.’
‘Great, thanks Pete, see you later at Nina’s then,’ Sallie replied.
‘Will do, by the way, it’s looking amazing,’ Pete said pointing his thumb over at the Orangery.
‘Thanks, just a shame it’s not snowed today - fingers crossed for the actual wedding day.’
‘I’ll get the Pretty Beach people onto it, we’ll all do our funny little rain dance for you.’
Sallie smiled and chuckled, got her bag and the teabags out from under the pram and said goodbye to Pete.
She pulled open the huge door of the Orangery, the botanical scent together with the smell of the Christmas tree hitting her nose. She pushed the door shut, put her bag down and walked over to the tree. It had held up well in the pot and hadn't dropped at all - she wondered how long it would last and had a plan in place if it didn’t.
At two, there was a knock on the door and Lucian, the photographer and two assistants bundled through the door out of the rain. All four of them stopped and looked at the enormous tree in the corner as it twinkled and sparkled in the fading light. Luke the photographer, shook his head.
‘Not my favourite, Christmas shoots I have to say, and I wasn’t looking forward to this one. Really hard to capture Christmas but with that tree and this building, it won’t be quite as tricky. Not saying it will be easy mind, just so as you know.’ He moved around the tree, looking at it from different angles as his assistants started to unload the masses of gear onto the Orangery tables.
Three hours later, all sorts of angles, thousands of images, leads, equipment and people all over the place, Sallie up and down ladders, Lucian behind the tree holding it completely straight and they had enough images to get at least a few good ones.
Winter at Pretty Beach Page 18