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

Ben! I can’t believe I’m in First Class! You didn’t tell me that - I can’t believe it.

I knew you’d protest, so I didn’t tell you, haha.

Thank you so much!

You’re worth it Mrs Broadchurch-Chalmers and I can't wait to make a baby with you.

Is this how you’ve always travelled?

Pretty much...

Unbelievable - no buses and waiting in line for the Chalmers family then?

I guess not. Can’t wait to see you - it’s quite chilly here though. Hope you’ve packed your thermals?

Absolutely. I’ll be looking gorgeous in those. Look I’m going to go. Make the most of it in the lounge.

Enjoy. See you at the other end of the day! Message me from the plane.

She tucked her phone back into her bag and handed her boarding pass to the woman at the desk.

‘Welcome, Ms Broadchurch. You’re booked in for a neck and shoulder massage - correct?’

‘I am? My husband booked this for me so I’m not sure to be quite honest.’

‘Yes, you are - enjoy,’ The woman in the same red uniform and lipstick as the one on the desk said and smiled.

Sallie walked in and looked around her, flabbergasted as she was greeted by buffets full of food, all sorts of different drinks, big comfy chairs, a quiet area, piles of newspapers and lots of men pulling little suitcases milling around in business suits. She tucked her hair into the bun at the nape of her neck and looked down at the huge diamond on her left finger - she was very glad she’d worn a blazer.

Chapter 29

The experience in First Class had been surreal to Sallie - from the moment the First Class passengers had been called to board first, to the exclusive walk onto the plane, to going upstairs, to the glass of champagne as she got settled into her seat and then the four-course dinner which looked like something from a fine dining magazine. At this end of the plane there were no grey trays with plastic food and grumpy cabin crew, but staff who seemed to genuinely want her to have a comfortable flight. She’d never experienced anything like it, and had loved every second of her strange new world.

She’d decided after the massage in the lounge and working on her next social media posts that she would work the first few hours of the flight, then sit back, enjoy a movie with a glass of wine and then sleep if possible before she landed and she got on with the next leg of the trip to Alaska.

She took her laptop out of the tote bag, sipped on the champagne which had been delivered to her seat when she got on and logged into the aircraft’s complimentary internet, sat back and started writing an update for the Orangery website. She’d documented its renovation and coming back to life story as part of the Pretty Beach Boat House Enterprises journey and it had been getting lots of interest, which in turn meant a lot of pins and shares, which in turn, meant more bookings. People loved seeing the pictures of how it looked before, what they had done and how it was looking now.

As she sat there tapping away, cocooned in the privacy of the First Class suite the app notification on her dashboard pinged - Lucian had sent her a message. She clicked the little green button and read his message.

Darling, you are NOT going to believe this!!!

There was a dramatic pause - she didn’t reply, seeing the little ‘typing’ sign up in the corner.

I’ve just had an email from The Daily Times, as in the national Daily Times - they only want to feature the wedding!

What! You’re kidding me! Sallie typed back.

I knew it. I’ve replied and I’m having a meeting later on this afternoon by video call. I know you’ll still be flying but depending on how it goes I’ll arrange another one for this week - just checking that’s good with you to do it from over there?

Of course. Wow, a national newspaper, interested in our little competition in Pretty Beach! That’s amazing. You said this might happen and you were correct.

Ahhh well yes, actually I’ve more listeners than their readership, but how times have changed darling - it’s the kudos that will be worth it to be featured in a newspaper if we decide to do it and reaching people that right now don’t go on social media or listen to podcasts.

Amazing. Yep, that’s fine to arrange a meeting - we’ll just need to make sure the time difference works.

No worries darling. OK, have a nice flight, I’ll be in touch when you get there and let you know.

Sallie couldn’t believe it. She’d seen Lucian’s media kit and yes he definitely had a lot more listeners and followers than the national newspaper, but like he said it was the kudos - for the Orangery to get a spread in that paper would have been unheard of, almost impossible unless she had paid through the nose for it... and the newspaper had contacted them, not the other way round.

She sat there thinking about it all as a cabin crew member came along and topped up her glass and she took a tiny tray of canapes that he handed to her. The more Sallie thought about it the more she thought that maybe they should get some advice - the newspaper had been super quick to get on it - maybe it would be better to wait and see what other offers they got. Or maybe, indeed, not to do that at all and keep it exclusive to both their brands - that was the beauty after all of social media and their combined reach. These days the old school media didn't have anywhere near as much power as they’d once had.

She wondered what Ben would say - he was