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

with Londoners on their way out for lunch.

‘Goodness, Juliette. I am so very sorry for that display in there. I didn’t see that coming, otherwise I would have forewarned him. I can only apologise.’

‘It’s fine. Sorry, but I wasn't going to put up with that for a second longer.’

‘Totally fine by me,’ Victoria replied with a wink.

‘I thought you said that you were the head of department with all the buying decisions? Or did I ascertain that incorrectly?’ Juliette asked.

‘I am. Unfortunately, Adrian Liellcock is the grandson of one of the new partners at Lellery. Between you and I, he wouldn't get a job in the real world. He went to some stuffy private school, and his connections got him into university, but he wouldn't have a chance on the street. He’d been eaten alive in the dog-eat-dog of real retail. I’m not sure why I agreed to it, but I got to take him under my wing and unfortunately he’s still around.’

‘That makes sense then. I know we’ve only chatted on the phone and online a few times, but I thought it was all very strange that you worked with someone like him after what I’ve got to know of you,’ Juliette said as they strolled along.

‘He’s not behaved like that for ages, to be fair.’

‘He clearly didn’t like me, then.’

‘Clearly not. You must have pushed some imaginary buttons of his. Come to think of it, he doesn’t like to see anyone doing well,’ Victoria replied with a chuckle.

‘I wasn’t going to let him talk to me like that. I may have pushed his buttons, but he positively hit mine with a mallet.’

‘I was just about to step in when you asked him his name, and so I kept quiet and thought to myself this is going to be interesting. I nearly burst out laughing when you smirked on hearing the surname.’

‘I know. That was a golden moment. A moment to remember, in fact,’ Juliette said as they stepped off the pavement and walked across the road.

‘He made one of my assistants cry when he first came into the department a few years ago. I was onto him like a shot. His eyes nearly fell out of his head when I said I would take it further. I pretty much wiped the floor with him. He’s been quite well behaved since. Until that little outburst.’

‘Hopefully then it will be another five years until the next one.’

‘He won’t be getting the chance to do that again. Trust me, this is being documented. I’d like to ram that blooming green bowtie down his throat sometimes.’

‘Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page, then,’ Juliette said laughing.

‘Okay, just down here to the end. The museum is over the road with the best paninis in the area.’

‘Great. I need something to eat after that!’

‘Follow me.’

***

Juliette walked into the museum with Victoria, they got into the lift and made their way to the cafe. They queued up at the counter and ordered paninis and elderflower cordial, and as Victoria had said the paninis were delicious. They sat there in the museum cafe and chatted about Pretty Beach and then started to talk further about A Christmas Sparkle.

‘So, if you’re agreeable to everything, all we’ll need to do is make it official and legal, and then we’ll get the wheels in motion.’

‘Yep. All good. I can’t wait.’

‘The styling too? Have you thought further about that?’ Victoria asked.

‘I have. However, I wanted to note that I don’t have the slightest bit of experience in retail styling or window displays. As Adrian pointed out, I work on my own most of the time. And I haven't done anything on that sort of scale before.’

‘I’ve worked with all sorts of window dressers and stylists before, Juliette. You’ll be absolutely fine. I can’t wait to see what you’ll bring to the table. It’s one of the reasons Lellery’s window displays are always the best. Firstly, we always bring in people from different areas with different skills, and secondly, we always think out of the box. Always.’

Juliette smiled to herself. What a turn up for the books. Working with Lellery for Christmas. Even if she did have to be offended by a gangly, rude specimen going by the name of Liellcock.

Chapter 40

Juliette looked up at the heavily embellished columns and the massive arched stained-glass windows. No wonder Victoria popped to the museum for lunch, it was breathtaking. A beautiful, monumental example of Victorian excess. Everywhere she turned, painted ceilings, gilded domes, intricate carvings and ornate tiles stared back at her. It was vast and intense and Pretty Beach couldn’t match anything like it and things like this were one of the reasons she loved coming up to London.

Juliette checked her phone was in her bag, took her blazer from the back of her chair, left the cafe, and started to drift around the museum. Wandering through room after room of gorgeous exhibits she completely lost track of time. As she pottered around peering at things here and there, she realized how nice it was to get away.

Even though she’d had a full-on morning and then lunch, as she sauntered around it actually felt quite nice to be away from home. Nice to be away from what had been going on for the last few months. It was pleasant to just be a woman sauntering around a museum with no one needing her for anything, no one asking her any questions and no one wanting her to do anything for them.

She checked the time on her phone, opened her travel app, and started to key in the destination as Pretty Beach. A message pinged from Luke.

How did you get on with the presentation?

Great, but eventful.

Oh? Not sure I like the sound of that. Eventful???

It was fine. There was just a bit of an idiot when it came to the questions at the end.

There’s always one.

Ha! Yes. Exactly.

What happened then?

Long story, I’ll fill you in when