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

social media - the little porch of the guest cottage was thick with snow, a deep layer sat on top of the cafe table and inches of white had built up on the little bridge over the stream at the end.

She stood there taking lots of photos of it all on her phone and then walked over towards the roof of the marquee which was sagging with the weight of the snowfall. Deep imprints were left in the snow behind her as she walked over to the side and down the jetty.

The sea washed in and out underneath the jetty as Sallie stood there and peering down to the end she could see that some of the timber had come away and washed up onto the beach. Below on the shoreline along with all sorts of debris, seaweed, litter, dead fish and birds tumbled about on the sand. The waves crashed in and out angrily and Sallie looked back towards the marquee to see if she could see any damage. She’d been lucky. It was fully insured including for inclement weather, but she’d rather not have had the inconvenience of anything going wrong and having it collapse would have been a headache she’d rather not have had to deal with.

Ben texted her from the apartment. He’d woken up and watched her walk down to the end of the jetty.

How’s it looking?

All good, loads of rubbish churned up and some of the public jetty has come away but overall everything looks intact. Fine at your place.

The marquee - I can see the roof sagging.

Think it will be ok.

Just when it melts...

She looked back at the apartment and could see that he had pulled back the curtain on their bedroom window and was looking out at the jetty. Just as she was turning back to look at the jetty she noticed one of the gutters hanging down at the back of the boathouse cottage and a branch from the olive tree had fallen onto the porch.

Fallen down gutter on the boathouse cottage. Can’t see anything else though.

Good, get back in here, I don’t like you being out there.

I’m fine. I’m going to come back in, have a shower and go down to the Orangery. 

Twenty minutes later they were both ready to go and closed the door of the Boat House - Ben rugged up in a huge ski jacket, boots and a beanie and Sallie a big scarf over her coat and thick padded gloves. It was slippery as they walked down towards the laneway.

‘You shouldn't have gone down there on your own in this.’ He pointed up to the clouds and to the weather.

‘I’m fine, Ben. It’s all calm now - I can’t believe that a few hours ago it was storming as much as it was. Look at it all now, just so beautiful. I’m in my element. I hope it comes back for the weddings.’ She sighed contentedly and looked at the snow covering everything.

‘I’ll get that gutter sorted out later. We don’t want that broken if it starts raining,’ Ben said as they walked along in the snow.

‘Okay, hopefully the Orangery is intact and then we’re all good.’

He looked over towards his house as they walked past, and the seaplanes bobbing around down at the end of the jetty.

‘We were lucky, let’s hope everyone else is too. The last storm was bad; a huge old tree fell into Scotty’s house and it was a nightmare with the insurance. Will’s place took a hammering too - blew one complete side of one of his residences off.’ Ben’s friend Will had a string of retirement homes, mostly all old country manors, his nearest one to Pretty Beach being about twenty minutes inland.

They trudged along the middle of the laneway now devoid of any cars, blanketed in white with barely a soul around. All the little pastel shops of Pretty Beach looked as if someone had sprinkled white powder all over them from above. Outside White Cottage Flowers one of Felicity’s staff in hat and gloves cleared snow from the rungs of the vintage ladder used to display their pots, and outside the curry house Ali was sweeping snow from the doorway with a broom.

‘Speaking of Will, have you heard anything about him and Juliette?’ Sallie asked.

‘Only that he bumped into her in the pub in Newport when she was in there after work one evening with some other midwives.’

‘What? She kept that quiet!’

‘I reckon he likes her; I’ve known him since I was five. Christ, he’s been through some women, but Juliette could give him a run for his money.’

‘Yeah, I make you right Mr Chalmers. No flies on her. Her ex-husband though, the politician, sounds like a real piece of work.’

They continued walking up through the laneway. There was a bit of damage here and there but overall it seemed that most of the businesses had survived without much damage.

They walked past the fisherman’s cottages and down towards the Orangery, turned right down the tiny lane that ran alongside it, and opened up the double gates onto the courtyard. A couple of the outdoor chairs had blown over, snow-laden branches were perilously close to the top of the dome and one of the vines growing along the outside had fallen down but there seemed to be no signs of damage as they went to walk in.

Ben moved some snow out of the way with his foot at the base of the door, and Sallie took out the keys and turned the lock. They walked in and looked around. Everything was intact except a few of the panes at the very top and a whole panel of one of the windows on the side which had a large crack running all the way through it.

‘Thankfully that seems to be all. Easy enough to sort that out. I’ll see when’s the earliest they’ll be able to come and replace it,’ Ben said and started