Winter at Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington (inspirational books txt) 📕

‘Not often - I’ve been on the lookout for these for a very long time.’

‘Such a coincidence. I was going to go for a faded gold theme in the Orangery - with I think three trees, and then a huge garland along the back wall and wreaths in each window, depending on the budget and how it goes,’ Sallie said.

‘It’ll look lovely, though I will say you’ll probably find you’ll have to add in some more sparkly gold - in a big area like the Orangery the vintage ones can get lost especially in photos. You said you were going to be doing the marketing pics soon, I think you’ll need a load of shiny ones in there too.’

‘Yeah, okay, thanks that’s great advice, yes I can see your point - I suppose it will need something to make it all pop.’

‘Yup. I’ve got a load of baubles in the lock-up - I found this amazing supplier a few years ago - I mean a real collector wouldn’t go near them but they’re super cheap and super effective on achieving that vintage look without a huge budget. I’ll bring you a few boxes.’ Juliette said.

‘I don’t know how many I’m going to need - it’s actually vast in there because of the height and everything we’ve done needs to be quite big to have any impact. I went round there with Tillie and sat there and tried to work it out. I want to try and do a really full garland at the back running all the way around and then obviously there will be extras here and there. I was thinking about the chandeliers and hanging baskets with some of them in too.’

‘What about the trees? They will need loads to have any impact.’ Juliette asked

‘Possibly, but I’ve seen something I love - a completely bare tree but with thousands of cluster lights. Have you ever done anything like that?’

‘Oh yes, the naked tree. I love that look, you can play around with the lights until you get it right; be prepared though, you need three times as many lights as you think you will, possibly more. Looks lovely on the twinkling setting too. By the sounds of it you’re going to need a lot of baubles even if it’s just for the garland and the baskets,’ Juliette said as she adjusted one of the ring lights.

‘How much do you think a few boxes of the baubles will cost me then?’ Sallie asked.

‘You’re kidding me right, Sallie - you’re renting me this cottage for next to nothing and you think I’d charge you for a few hundred baubles?’

‘Ahh, there we go again, then, the Pretty Beach way,’ Sallie said, plonking herself down on the sofa.

‘Indeed - I’m starting to really quite like it, actually.’

Chapter 42

The weekend started with a beautiful sunny morning and icy cold wind which felt as if it was whipping through from Antarctica - not that Sallie knew if winds reaching Pretty Beach from Antarctica was really a thing or not, but it felt like Antarctic wind to her.

She walked out of the main hospital doors and took a big breath of the fresh air before she rushed back to Nina’s cottage where Lilly was looking after Tillie. Sallie had been very grateful that Lilly had some spare hours from uni as she’d been super busy with juggling the competition, the boathouse cottage and visiting Nina.

There had been no change with Nina - the only thing the doctors could say was that she was stable and after a multitude of tests they had more or less confirmed that it was some type of virus that Nina’s immune system, compromised with the asthma, had not been able to cope with.

Even though Nina was still in hospital things were at least stable, and after successfully sorting out finding a Christmas tree supplier, having found the perfect decor in Juliette’s lock-up and arranging most of the details for the couple they’d chosen to get married, Sallie had more time to visit the hospital. It was looking more positive than it had when she had first arrived home from Alaska.

They’d sorted through hundreds of applications for the competition, whittled it down to a few and in the end plumped for the couple from Yorkshire - Lucian had called the groom, Sam, who had been so over the moon that Lucian himself had started to cry.

Everything was a secret from the bride Katie that they’d won the competition; she didn't even know that he’d applied for it and as far as she was concerned Sam had won a weekend away at Pretty Beach on a competition he’d entered on his supermarket reward card.

As the days had ticked by, all the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together and Sallie and Lucian had slowly and methodically sorted out everything including the dress which Sallie had chatted to Sam on a video call about. She’d then sent the pictures of the dress onto Loretta from the bridal shop who had said it was quite straightforward and had passed them onto her place in Hong Kong. They’d waited for his measurements of Katie’s clothes which he’d secretly taken whilst she was at work.

Ben had been amazing from the moment he’d landed back in England, from caring for Tillie to helping with the Christmas trees and he’d been all over the planning for the catering for the wedding.

Sallie mentally checked things off as she walked towards the bus stop - she had to put the heating on a test-run to see how it coped over a whole day on full blast and Ben was going to spend the weekend repainting some of the edging of the panes at the front of the building which had peeled off in the first lot of snow.

The wedding itself involved a procession through the gates of the Orangery down the pathway which would be lit up with a canopy of