Winter at Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington (best affordable ebook reader TXT) 📗

‘I’d like to tell all you beautiful Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? lovelies an exciting little thing we’ve cooked up for Christmas, for the Orangery and for a very lucky bride and groom. Today we are announcing the Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? and Pretty Beach Boat House worldwide competition to find one lucky couple to have a Christmas Wedding in Pretty Beach. Darlings, it’s going to be fabulous!’

They went on to talk about the competition, explain some of the requisites, direct listeners to the terms and conditions (one of Nina’s friends had drawn up and made watertight) and chatted about the Christmas setting, the tree, that it would all be a surprise for the bride including the dress, the venue and the reception and that they were looking for a very special, very deserving bride and groom.

Chapter 28

Sallie sat looking at the time on her phone. Everything was ready for her and lined up - she needed to board the train, a car would be waiting for her at the station to take her to the airport, then she needed to check in at the desk and get ready to board the flight. It felt surreal to be even considering a trip of this manner - she’d hardly been out of the country and now here she was travelling to the other side of America on her own. Ben’s mother’s assistant Charlie had sorted out the tickets and sent them to her phone. All she had to do was get there, flash the code on her phone and the next thing she would be arriving in Alaska.

She had meticulously packed a small cabin bag and tote bag with thermal underwear, thick pyjamas, her snow boots and wool jumpers. She picked it up, stepped carefully down the apartment stairs, locked the barn doors to the Boat House and set the alarm on her phone. Everything was ready for her trip, though it was a long way to go to, hopefully, make a baby.

Getting onto the train in her black cashmere crew neck jumper, black jeans, boots and blazer Sallie was warm but she was trying to layer her clothes up for the other end and not have to carry too much. She took off her blazer and hung it on the hook beside the seat, taking out her laptop. An hour later, finishing off the last of the scheduled posts for Pretty Beach Boat House social media accounts she got off the train, walked across the concourse and out to the taxi rank where a chauffeur in a fancy suit stood with a sign reading ‘Ms Broadchurch-Chalmers’. It felt strange as if she was looking down on the whole situation at someone else in her body - she was normally the one standing in line for the bus watching other people walk off the train and into a waiting car and here she was now one of those people.

She beamed at the man in the suit and the sign and he took a step forward.

‘Ms Broadchurch-Chalmers. I’m Jim - here to take you to the airport.’

‘Yes, I’m Sallie thank you,’ she replied, pulling her case behind her.

He held out his hand for the case, and she passed it over. They walked a few minutes to a dedicated car area, he held open the car door and she climbed into the back of the car. He leant in and smiled.

‘Shouldn’t be too long, thankfully the traffic is really quiet today - we’re lucky.’

Twenty minutes later and they arrived at the airport. Jim pulled in, opened her door, handed her the luggage, wished her well and pulled away.

Sallie looked up at the signs and headed to the check in area and walked straight to the desk - no long line in the economy queue to put up with, for the first time in her life she was travelling in Business. She smiled at the meticulously made-up woman behind the counter with immaculate hair scraped back into a glossy bun, a bright red tailored uniform with matching lipstick and handed over her phone. The woman scanned the phone, tapped away on the computer for quite a few minutes, frowned and then looked up.

‘Ms Broadchurch, I think you’re at the wrong desk - but not a problem I can check you in here,’ she said with a wide, friendly smile.

‘Oh, I thought this was the Business Class check-in - sorry, am I not in the right place?’

‘It doesn’t really matter and we’re really quiet anyway so you haven’t had to wait and yes this is the Business Class desk but you are booked into First Class, not Business Class.’ She indicated the ticket on Sallie’s phone and pointed over to the First Class check-in desk.

Sallie smiled and replied, ‘I didn’t even really look at it properly, sorry, I just double-checked the time and the date was correct.’

‘Not a problem at all. Let’s get you on your way.’ The woman continued checking her in, ‘Only hand-luggage today?’

‘Yes, just this and this tote,’ she pointed to the oversized, tan leather bag on her shoulder.

‘Nice and quick for you then at the other end, no waiting around for baggage. Okay, all done here - you’ll just need this for the First Class lounge and your boarding card for the express lane for security.’

How the other half live, thought Sallie. So this is how you travelled when you were part of the Chalmers family - staff were nice to you, doors were opened, people smiled at you and offered you help. It was a whole other world.

She was whisked through security - no long lines behind people, no surly staff with miserable faces. Sallie collected her things from the conveyor belt and followed the signs for the First Class lounge when her phone pinged. A man in a suit and top hat opened the door for her as she approached, smiling and welcoming her in.

Hey beautiful, you must