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

‘Yes. I’ve had it before, though,’ Maggie said.

‘Have you? When? Did you have it with Daddy? He didn’t tell me you went for ice cream.’

‘No, not with him, silly,’ Maggie giggled.

‘Right. You had it when you stayed over with Megan last week, did you?’

‘No, I didn’t. I had it when I went out with Bella after we went to look at the jellyfish.’

‘Ahhh. Yes, sorry. She did tell me you’d had ice cream,’ Juliette replied nodding.

Maggie continued to lick the ice cream. ‘That’s when she was telling me some more about her other daddy.’

‘Okay. She did, did she?’

‘Mummy. Does that mean I now have three daddies?’ Maggie said looking up at Juliette and Luke.

Juliette stopped herself from sighing and smiled. ‘Nope. You know that, Maggie. You’ve got daddy and then we’ve got Luke in our family too, but Daddy is your daddy. Jack is Bella’s daddy.’

‘So, I’ve got Luke and Jeremy? And Bella has Jack and Jeremy?’

Juliette looked at Luke over the top of Maggie’s head and tried to read the look on Luke’s face and replied to Maggie, ‘You have. You’re a very lucky little girl.’

Luke stood there and said nothing, but Juliette could have sworn she saw a look of sadness pass across his eyes. Maybe the thing that had been in the back of her mind for weeks would change that.

Chapter 56

A few weeks later, Luke and Juliette were gardening while Maggie sat in the teepee playing games on her tablet. Juliette was knelt on the lawn weeding the bed with the old-fashioned roses, and Luke was standing beside her pulling masses of overgrown ivy from the old Victorian wall.

‘Did you see that ad for the special offer at The Pavillion down near Daisy’s? It came up on my Facebook feed the other day when I was on my break at work,’ Luke said, his arms full of ivy.

‘No, I didn’t. What did it say?’ Juliette said looking up from the flower bed.

‘Three-course set meal. It was a really good price. Fancy it?’ Luke asked, dumping the ivy into the pink wheelbarrow.

Juliette sat back on her heels and took off her pink floral gardening gloves. ‘You know what? I actually do fancy it. It’s meant to be amazing. I think I am the only one at the surgery who hasn’t been. We could go there next time Maggie is at Jeremy’s. I’ll check the dates and then book it if you like.’

Luke nodded. ‘If you’re sure? We haven’t been out for ages.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure. I fancy getting something nice on and strolling down there for dinner. We need to get out, treat ourselves.’

‘You’re on, then.’

A few days later, Juliette booked the restaurant and when she’d finished making the booking online she’d suddenly had a thought about the funicular railway which was a five-minute walk from the Pavillion. Luke had repeatedly mentioned going to the railway, but every weekend they’d always seemed to run out of time and then not get around to visiting.

Juliette had pulled up the website for the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway, looked at the opening times and the prices, and just as she was about to book some tickets a tab labelled ‘Private Train Rides’ caught her eye. She clicked on the tab and read all the way through the details - she had to admit to herself that the attractiveness of the ride up the side of the cliff with the whole carriage to themselves tripled.

The private rides were only available to residents of Pretty Beach and the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway Society facilitated various special slots throughout the year. These events involved a ride up the side of the cliff, and it could also include a small gathering in the waiting room at the top with views out over the sea and down into Pretty Beach.

Juliette had sat there reading it through and looking at the pictures in the gallery. It all looked delightful. She’d scrolled through the gallery full of pictures of past events. There was a picture of a christening with about twenty guests, a sixtieth birthday party where all the guests were dressed in white and what looked like some kind of art show with not many guests and a lot of paintings. The last one detailed a bride in a very pale gold dress and beautiful veil with the wedding taking place in the carriage as it stopped at the top.

Juliette clicked on the button for further information on the price and for the private ride, and was shocked to find it wasn’t anywhere as extortionate as she had anticipated, and so she’d made an enquiry.

A few days later, an email had come through from the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway Society whereby a woman named Barbara Barnutt had instructed her that they did have availability for the evening Juliette had booked for the Pavillion. Barbara Barnutt had informed Juliette that if she wanted further information Juliette could pop in any time and simply ask for Gary the Station Master who would be able to help her and give her the answers to any further questions.

A few days later, on her way home from the surgery, Juliette had ridden over to the railway on her bike, walked into the reception at the bottom of the hill and asked for Gary. Gary, in a blue shirt with the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway logo, shorts and a matching conductor’s hat, had been most helpful and Juliette had come away with a few ideas.

In the end she’d decided on Gary’s suggestion of having a bottle of champagne in the carriage on the way up, and setting up a table on the top of the cliff either outside on the lawn or inside the waiting room depending on the weather.

Juliette’s mind had wandered further and further with ideas. She really wanted to let Luke know how much she loved him and she thought that the Pavillion and then the ride would do just