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

a packing box still waiting to be opened after the move.

She went back into the shed and rummaged around until she found right at the back behind the lawnmower the still to be unpacked moving boxes. She looked for the one marked ‘outdoor decs’ and opened it up to find the wired jam jars tied with string neatly wrapped in bubble wrap.

Fifteen minutes later the tea lights hung from the pergola roof over the trestle table covered with vintage linens, and as Juliette stood back and looked at the table topped with the jug of flowers and all the tiny little tea light lanterns hanging from the ramshackle pergola roof, she broke into a huge smile.

Juliette was back, her energy levels had returned, and it felt very, very good.

Chapter 42

Juliette checked on the chicken and roast potatoes and took a deep breath in. She loved that smell. That comforting smell of home and security and the simple notion that a chicken slung in the oven was roasting away to itself filling the air with its desirable smells, cloaking everyone in the vicinity in comfort. She closed the oven, went out into the hallway, and checked in the mirror. Not only did she feel better she looked a million times better than when it had seemed like the life had been sucked out of her. Then, her whole aura seemed tired. It was like after the accident her face had worked out how much her heart had been hurting and written it all over it. But the woman looking back at her now looked brighter. There was a look around the eyes that was cheerier and vibrant.

The ringtone for Bella started buzzing in her pocket. Juliette pressed to accept the video call and waited for Bella’s face to appear.

‘Hi Mum, how are you? You look good. Really well!’

‘Thank you. Darling, I’ve got my makeup on... so I look alive.’ Juliette laughed, holding her phone out in front of her.

Bella smiled and adjusted the camera and Juliette could see that she was in the office of the hotel next to the pub where she worked. When Marie from the pub had heard about the accident she’d told Bella that there was a spot coming up in the office doing admin if Bella would like it and Bella had almost bitten her hand off and replied that yes, she would love it.

‘Are you still at work?’ Juliette asked.

‘Yep, I’m doing a late shift on reception now I’ve been trained on how to use the booking software too.’

‘Won’t that be tricky with your foot?’ Juliette asked, her voice brimming with concern.

‘No, it’s all good. They moved in a stool for me and put everything I need on the desk beside me. There’ll hardly be much going on anyway on the evening shift tonight, everyone is checked in, so it’ll just be the usual questions and stuff. And then Marie has booked me a car home later.’

‘That’s good. Wow, what lovely people to work for. They really are taking care of you.’

‘I thought that too, so I said thank you to Marie and told her how grateful I was. She replied back that if she gets good staff, she treats them like gold to try to hang onto them as long as possible, so she doesn't have to go through the pain of another highly-academic student with very little savvy up top!’ Bella said chuckling.

‘I see. Yes, I suppose that would be true. It’s no wonder she has such a good business with an attitude like that.’

‘Yep. Anyway, I was actually calling for a reason.’

Juliette’s heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t sure about Bella’s tone and braced herself for news on the toes.

‘Oh dear. Are you having more pain?’

‘No. Not at all. Thank goodness. The opposite in fact. It’s actually feeling a lot better this week. Look, I'll get straight to the point - I’m meeting up with Jack again.’

‘Right.’ Juliette didn’t know what to say. She’d known that Bella and Jack had been texting, but she was surprised that Bella was going to meet him again. She tried to keep her face from showing anything other than happiness for Bella.

‘Is that okay with you?’ Bella said, frowning down into the screen of her phone.

‘Darling, I have already said - it’s up to you whether or not you see Jack. It’s not up to me.’

‘I know, but I want to make sure you know about it, and that you are good with it.’

‘I’m fine, Bella. You do whatever you want to do. What made you change your mind then? I thought you said you weren’t going to see him again,’ Juliette replied, trying desperately to keep her voice level and casual.

‘Nothing much, really. When I told him about the accident and he was really concerned it took me a bit by surprise. I showed you the messages. Then all the texts back and forth since I’ve been back in Oxford and, I don’t know, I just thought I might like to see him again. Maybe see where it goes. Sort of give it a chance.’

‘Great. Yeah, good idea. I mean, what have you got to lose?’ Juliette said, thinking to herself that with Jack’s commitment record not being that stellar Bella had everything to lose, but there was no way she was going to throw that into the ring.

‘Precisely.’

‘So, when are you meeting him?’ Juliette enquired.

‘He’s coming up tomorrow. We’re going to the pub for lunch,’ Bella replied.

‘Excellent. Well, let me know how it goes.’

‘Will do. There’s another thing, though...’

‘Right.’ Another thing with Jack Fitzgeralde? This didn't sound good. The more his name came up the more Juliette felt uncomfortable.

‘He said that he’d really like to come to Pretty Beach one day. See where I was brought up.’

Chapter 43

Juliette put the phone down from Bella and looked back in the mirror. The face looking back at her that was showing the slightest signs of being cheery just about five minutes earlier, wasn’t quite as happy