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

to have ordered. She got to the top of the queue and the man in the waistcoat just about cracked his face into a smile as she ordered and informed her it came with a cup of tea. The man, who was missing a front tooth, keyed her order into a tablet, and at the same time shouted at the waitress in Italian. He then handed Juliette a knife and fork wrapped in a large paper napkin and pointed to a tiny table for one right at the back squeezed in beside a huge mirror and a fridge.

Juliette walked over to the table, squeezed the chair out from behind it, and sat down. As she waited for the breakfast to arrive, she took out her tablet and went through the presentation document. She’d kept it simple, to the point, and let her products, and the repeat worldwide customers she’d gathered, do the talking.

She scrolled the accompanying pictures and now sitting in this cafe and away from the realities of A Christmas Sparkle she could see what everyone had been telling her all along. The pictures from the Orangery looked like they were from a high-end magazine, her Sparkle Up Your Christmas range, some of which had been photographed in front of the fire in Sallie’s cottage in Seapocket Lane, looked fabulous, and to top it all off, and to go with the list of her repeat customers, was the teepee shoot.

Her breakfast arrived with the tea and she unwrapped her knife and fork and tucked in. She finished the breakfast and washed it down with the tea and nodded to herself. Yes, it was great, and yes, she was absolutely good enough to be in a room full of executives, whoever they were and wherever they came from.

Chapter 38

Juliette sat in the reception of the Lellery offices people watching. Luke had been correct. There were a lot of people buzzing around in black. Trendy media types with cropped trousers, brown brogues without socks, quiffs at the front of their hair, earpods in and coffees in their hands, buzzed through the reception on their way to their offices. Young women in heels, their phones up to their ears, and large designer handbags filed through the revolving door and headed toward the lifts. It was quite a long way from the casual atmosphere of Pretty Beach.

Juliette watched as a woman dressed in black cigarette pants, a black camisole and a bright pink double-breasted blazer came strolling up to her and then broke into a smile, holding out her hand in greeting. ‘Juliette?’ The woman enquired.

‘Yes,’ Juliette said as she got up, held out her hand and smiled.

‘Hello, I’m Victoria. I thought it was you,’ Victoria said, clasping Juliette’s hand and shaking it firmly.

‘How was your journey?’ Victoria enquired.

‘A breeze. The fast train is brilliant. Expensive, but brilliant.’

‘I’ve heard that, actually. One of my colleagues is thinking of selling her flat here and moving to Pettacombe.’

‘Yes. It’s even quicker to get to Pettacombe from here - lovely place to live too.’

Victoria held out her hand in front of her gesturing for Juliette to walk towards the lifts. ‘Right. I’ll take you upstairs, we’ll grab some tea, and then we’ll go up to the boardroom to set up for the presentation. You’re all ready for us?’

Juliette nodded her head, trying to smile and look confident as she strode along purposefully next to Victoria as Victoria led Juliette over to the lifts. Juliette did not feel confident and her feelings in the cafe had dissipated as a woman with a laser-cut bob looked down her nose at her as Juliette squeezed herself into the lift.

Breathe and calm. Breathe and calm. Huge opportunity.

The lift whisked them up ten floors and they walked out into a wide corridor with timber panelling and huge vases of flower arrangements on tables along the walls. Plush carpet in the Lellery signature blue lined from wall to wall, and thick wallpaper embossed with the Lellery logo screamed out that everything was classy, old-fashioned, elegant. Juliette could feel tiny beads of sweat running down her back and her palms were clammy as the plush, expensive carpet compressed underfoot. Breathe and calm.

Victoria pushed open a wide mahogany door to a large, long boardroom table. The vast panelled room looked out over London and Juliette calculated that there were many, many more chairs than she had anticipated.

‘Okay. The water is all here. I’ll get you a cup of tea to start with, shall I?’

‘Yes, please. I’d love one,’ Juliette replied. ‘I just need to pop to the ladies first too.’

‘Out the door, down the corridor until you get to the fork and they are straight in front of you,’ Victoria said smiling.

Juliette followed Victoria’s instructions, pushed open the heavy door to the loos, walked into a cubicle, locked the door behind her, and let out a huge breath. She’d been kidding herself that she was fine and prepared, but when she’d seen the huge table and all the chairs she’d baulked. She wanted to run. Fast.

Breathe and calm. Breathe and calm. Huge opportunity.

Juliette washed her hands, curled her hair round to the front, dabbed on some perfume and tried to pull herself together. As she walked back towards the boardroom some of the trendy, all in black hipsters with brogues she’d seen earlier in reception were now filing in chatting away as they did so.

Ten minutes later and Victoria had hooked Juliette’s tablet and presentation up to the screen, circa twenty of Lellery’s executives were sitting around the table all facing in Juliette’s direction, and Juliette began her presentation with the navy-blue blouse sticking to her now clammy sides.

Juliette ran through everything nicely, and when she got to the first pictures of the Orangery there were a few oohs and ahhs and some whispers from the people sitting around the table. As she progressed through her presentation the nerves began to dissipate, and she relaxed her grip from the edge of the thick mahogany