A Pretty Beach Wish by Polly Babbington (funny books to read txt) 📕

from the front of the kayak and started to wade the few steps out of the water and onto the shore. Luke jumped into the water and pushed the kayak up onto the narrow sandy beach. He picked up both the oars and laid them carefully inside the kayak.

As Juliette walked up the beach, she pulled two towels from her basket, and chose a place for them to set up. Then she flicked out the towels, laid them on the sand, and propped the wet bag behind them. She turned around and looked back to Pretty Beach, the cliffs and the lighthouse. She put her sunglasses on her head and gazed around.

‘Wow! I’ve lived here all these years and never made it to Darling Beach.’

‘Not easy to get to if you’re not on the water,’ Luke said, standing next to her and also looking out into the bay.

‘That would be why then. Not having a boat and all that,’ Juliette replied.

An hour later, Juliette and Luke had polished off two rounds of egg and cress sandwiches, two pork pies, and a bottle of Juliette’s homemade lemonade.

Juliette took her Kindle out of the wet bag, leant back on her elbows, and opened the first page of a new book. Half an hour later, she looked up from her book and out onto the water as Luke was scrolling through his phone.

‘Here we go, right here. Look at this,’ Luke said, passing Juliette over his phone.

Juliette frowned and looked down at the phone. She scrolled down to a For Sale listing of an old timber half-cabin boat with a bright yellow roof that had seen better days. Luke leant over and pointed to the picture.

‘That’d suit us. It’s here somewhere on the bay. Says it’s from a deceased estate.’

‘Luke, are you kidding?’ Juliette asked and frowned.

‘Definitely not, I've already sent a message.’

‘What? You’re joking!’

‘Ha, yep. What is it they say about living in Pretty Beach? Everyone gets a boat eventually - that’s what I was told when I first moved here.’

‘Oh my god. How exciting! All my wishes are coming true if we get a pink boat.’

‘Hopefully we will be getting a boat. It most definitely won’t be pink.’

Juliette slipped her sunglasses back on and smiled to herself. That’s what you think, she thought.

Chapter 3

The next day, after chatting with Maggie on a video call from her horse riding camp, Juliette was sitting on the balcony out the front of the house in Mermaid Lane. She sat there looking out over the rooftops of the houses on the other side of the road, with a cup of tea enjoying another marvellous day in Pretty Beach. She let out a lovely long sigh as she thought about how lucky she’d been to get the house and how everything was going swimmingly with Luke.

It had been a few months since Luke had moved in, and apart from a brief argument over the organisation of the fridge, and a very awkward moment with Jeremy when Luke had opened the door in boxer shorts, it was all going well.

She picked up her mug, pushed the cafe chair back under the tiny white table, and walked all the way down through the house to the kitchen.

‘I thought I heard you get up, that was some sleep in,’ Juliette said to Luke who was standing in the kitchen in pyjama bottoms waiting for the kettle to boil.

‘I know, I can’t believe it. All that sea air yesterday and not having to work. I’ve decompressed, I think. Decompressed so much I slept for about ten hours. I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.’

‘You did. The few drinks in the garden after the sea air did it, I believe. Sitting out there finished me off. I haven’t slept like that in a long time. And what with Maggie being away it all worked together to make me sleep like a log.’

‘Same,’ Luke said as he popped two slices of bread in the toaster.

‘Okay, so what’s on the agenda for today? We’ve done the taking kayaks out on the water and come back and drink vodka with lemonade and a BBQ in the garden,’ Juliette asked as the two slices of toast popped up from the toaster, and Luke spread them with butter and a thick layer of Marmite.

‘We had a few things on the list. Potter around in the garden and then go out for the afternoon?’

‘Yes, perfect. I’m not up for a big day out after yesterday and I can barely move my shoulders. I fancy popping up to the lavender farm. It’ll be lovely up there this afternoon.’

‘The lavender farm it is then.’

Just as Juliette was tidying up the kitchen her phone pinged with a text from her daughter Bella in Oxford.

Hi Mum, how is your weekend off going?

It’s lovely, darling. We’re just pottering really.

Sounds wonderful.

What are you up to today then?

Just the usual - working and assignments and I’m going to try out the new library.

Won’t be long and you’ll be back here for a weekend.

I need it. I need some Pretty Beach in my veins. OK, love you loads. I’ll get back to my essay.

Love you sweetheart. I’ll message you later.

***

The morning entailed not a lot more than Juliette ambling around the garden in a sun hat, her gardening basket over her arm. While Juliette gardened, Luke sat in one of the deck chairs at the back looking at the latest swimming news via his online subscription to the Open Water Swimming Association. Once they’d had lunch, they locked up the house, got into Luke’s car, and made their way out of Pretty Beach, up Strawberry Hill and into the countryside surrounding Pretty Beach.

Juliette had called ahead to the lavender farm up in the hills behind Pretty Beach and booked them in for a Devonshire tea; having heard from nearly everyone at the surgery, Nel the bus driver, and Holly that it was the best in