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

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