A Pretty Beach Wish by Polly Babbington (scary books to read TXT) 📗

Juliette said looking at him in his boxers.

‘Quick shower and I’ll be ready in a jiffy,’ Luke said smiling and turning on the taps of the shower.

Fifteen minutes later they walked all the way down through the house. Daisy, whose move to Pretty Beach had gone well, was in the garden with Maggie and was babysitting Maggie and taking her to watch a film in Newport Reef in the afternoon.

Luke and Juliette said goodbye, kissed Maggie and opened the gate onto the back lane. They pushed their bikes through the gate and cycled along the old, cobbled lane behind the houses in Mermaid Lane. Ten minutes later, they were at the jetty. Juliette stopped pedalling and put her feet down on the floor.

‘Which one is it? I can’t see it.’

‘Right down on the left at the end, tucked back in the corner. It’s hard to miss with the roof.’

Juliette followed Luke’s instructions along to the end of the pavement and they locked up their bikes at the top of the jetty. They walked all the way along the creaky old silver-grey timbers until they got to the boat with the bright yellow roof. Juliette tried to keep her real reaction quiet as the boat came clearly into sight. The old boat was dirty, ugly and with its hideous colour roof was the worst boat out of all of them by a long way. She had to hide her disappointment and pasted a smile on her face.

‘Luke, that’s some yellow. I’d forgotten how bright it is. How, umm, horrid it is! It’s fluorescent! Who even owns paint that colour?’

‘Ha, well you’re not going to believe this. I now have the story on how the roof came to be that colour. I forgot to tell you. Sandy told me the other day.’

‘Go on. This is going to be good. I can tell by your voice and there must be some sort of explanation for paint that colour. I wouldn't even know where you can purchase it.’

‘It’s double-yellow line paint.’

Juliette started laughing. ‘We buy a boat with double-yellow line paint on the roof? May I also add a boat that needs a lot of work, and I have no idea what I am doing with anything nautical. I can barely swim from one side of the pool to the other.’

‘Yup. Apparently, it was leftover paint - Sandy’s relative worked for the council in Newport Reef and had a garage full of it, so he chucked that on the top. He said he didn’t care what colour it was, and in fact he reckoned it stopped the seagulls from coming near it.’

‘My goodness. It really is horrendous. I think he was wrong about the seagulls giving it a wide berth, though. There must have been hundreds of them on top of it.’

Juliette stood looking at the old timber boat. The whole of the inside was painted a dark, dreary grey, the windows hadn’t been cleaned for a very long time, and all across the luminous yellow roof heaps of seagull droppings had amalgamated into one big mass across the top. The boat of her wishes was certainly not sitting there in front of her.

The boat rocked back and forth as Juliette tried to imagine all of the beautiful old boards in white, the windows gleaming. She tried to imagine how the old bench seats down the side would look once they were cleaned and painted. She stood there wondering about what her favourite bunting would look like running from one side of the roof to the other. It was not an easy image to conjure up with what was facing her.

‘Got your rubber gloves?’ Luke laughed.

‘Do you mean have you got your rubber gloves and your hazmat suit? Why are we doing this again? Or rather, I should say, why am I doing this? It was all your idea. One minute we’re sitting on Darling Beach after a kayak ride, the next minute you’re buying a boat. An old boat that needs work. Heaps and heaps of work.’

‘It will be fabulous. Trust me. She’s going to be amazing,’ Luke said and touched Juliette on the arm.

‘We must be crazy. We’ve already spent way too long with a paintbrush the last few months. I’ve felt like I’ve had either a rubber glove, a bottle of spray cleaner or a paintbrush permanently strapped to my arm - and now here we are doing it again. Madness!’ Juliette chuckled.

‘True. I don’t think it will take long seeing as we don’t have to do the outside. It’s all booked in at the yard and will be as good as new soon.’

‘It’s going to look really gorgeous in pink,’ Juliette said as she hopped into the boat and Luke squeezed her on the bottom as he jumped in and they both laughed.

Living the dream Juliette. Living the dream.

Chapter 10

As Juliette parked in the car park of her storage unit and got out of her car. She reached in and took a big plastic box out of the boot and pressed the remote on her key fob to lock her car.

Walking across the car park, she looked up at the dark clouds overhead and hoped it didn’t end up pouring down because the afternoon consisted of a shoot for A Christmas Sparkle, and for that she needed good light.

She sent a text through to her friend Sallie.

Just checking I am all good to use the Orangery this afternoon still?

Yes, of course. I’m not going to make it - I’ve got a problem with a wedding.

No worries.

I’ll send you the number for the pad on the back door.

Sweet. Thanks.

OK. Hope it goes well.

Juliette pushed open the heavy door with the bright orange handle and walked into the reception of her storage unit where she kept her products for her online shop A Christmas Sparkle. Receptionist Michael was in the tiny little room out the back making a cup of tea.

‘Good morning, Michael, how are you?