‘It’s double-yellow line paint.’
Juliette started laughing. ‘We buy a boat with double-yellow line paint on the roof? May I also add a boat that needs a lot of work, and I have no idea what I am doing with anything nautical. I can barely swim from one side of the pool to the other.’
‘Yup. Apparently, it was leftover paint - Sandy’s relative worked for the council in Newport Reef and had a garage full of it, so he chucked that on the top. He said he didn’t care what colour it was, and in fact he reckoned it stopped the seagulls from coming near it.’
‘My goodness. It really is horrendous. I think he was wrong about the seagulls giving it a wide berth, though. There must have been hundreds of them on top of it.’
Juliette stood looking at the old timber boat. The whole of the inside was painted a dark, dreary grey, the windows hadn’t been cleaned for a very long time, and all across the luminous yellow roof heaps of seagull droppings had amalgamated into one big mass across the top. The boat of her wishes was certainly not sitting there in front of her.
The boat rocked back and forth as Juliette tried to imagine all of the beautiful old boards in white, the windows gleaming. She tried to imagine how the old bench seats down the side would look once they were cleaned and painted. She stood there wondering about what her favourite bunting would look like running from one side of the roof to the other. It was not an easy image to conjure up with what was facing her.
‘Got your rubber gloves?’ Luke laughed.
‘Do you mean have you got your rubber gloves and your hazmat suit? Why are we doing this again? Or rather, I should say, why am I doing this? It was all your idea. One minute we’re sitting on Darling Beach after a kayak ride, the next minute you’re buying a boat. An old boat that needs work. Heaps and heaps of work.’
‘It will be fabulous. Trust me. She’s going to be amazing,’ Luke said and touched Juliette on the arm.
‘We must be crazy. We’ve already spent way too long with a paintbrush the last few months. I’ve felt like I’ve had either a rubber glove, a bottle of spray cleaner or a paintbrush permanently strapped to my arm - and now here we are doing it again. Madness!’ Juliette chuckled.
‘True. I don’t think it will take long seeing as we don’t have to do the outside. It’s all booked in at the yard and will be as good as new soon.’
‘It’s going to look really gorgeous in pink,’ Juliette said as she hopped into the boat and Luke squeezed her on the bottom as he jumped in and they both laughed.
Living the dream Juliette. Living the dream.
Chapter 10
As Juliette parked in the car park of her storage unit and got out of her car. She reached in and took a big plastic box out of the boot and pressed the remote on her key fob to lock her car.
Walking across the car park, she looked up at the dark clouds overhead and hoped it didn’t end up pouring down because the afternoon consisted of a shoot for A Christmas Sparkle, and for that she needed good light.
She sent a text through to her friend Sallie.
Just checking I am all good to use the Orangery this afternoon still?
Yes, of course. I’m not going to make it - I’ve got a problem with a wedding.
No worries.
I’ll send you the number for the pad on the back door.
Sweet. Thanks.
OK. Hope it goes well.
Juliette pushed open the heavy door with the bright orange handle and walked into the reception of her storage unit where she kept her products for her online shop A Christmas Sparkle. Receptionist Michael was in the tiny little room out the back making a cup of tea.
‘Good morning, Michael, how are you? It’s looking like it’s threatening rain out there.’
‘Morning, Juliette, yep not looking as warm as it’s been. Can I get you a brew?’
Juliette looked at her watch. She just had time for a cup of tea before she had to get to the surgery for her shift at work.
‘I’d love one, Michael. Thanks.’
Juliette sat in the tiny room with the mini-fridge, kettle, and a few mugs and chatted to Michael about his weekend just gone when he’d spent most of it fishing. Juliette couldn’t think of anything more mind-numbingly boring than fishing, but Michael spent every bit of spare time he had on the side of a riverbank with a fishing rod in his hand.
After listening to how many fish he’d caught, how many had to go back in, and helping herself to three chocolate biscuits, Juliette started to relay to him her plans for the afternoon once she’d finished at the surgery and before she picked Maggie up from Jeremy’s mum’s.
‘I’ve got the Orangery for the afternoon. I’m going to do some simple shots in there of my latest lot of stock that came in from that listing on eBay in Australia I told you about. Then I’m going to do my first shoot in the teepee.’
‘Teepee?’ Michael said, his eyes raised in question.
‘Yes. Remember Maggie’s birthday and those pictures I showed you? Luke made it for me from poles.’
‘Ach, I’m losing my marbles, Jools! Yes, I do remember now you’ve jogged my memory.’
‘I’m going to do it up in a Christmas theme and get some content for my website and social media channels for Christmas in July. I’m cutting it really fine timewise, but I should just about make it if I get my act together.’
‘You should do a video on your phone.’
‘I’m not sure I’ve got the skills for that, Michael.’
‘If I can do it, anyone can. I did one for my fishing account at the weekend. All done on my phone, added some music, fitted it all together and bingo, Bob’s your uncle. It looked really good too, well good if you’re into fish.’
‘You know what, I might just have a go at that.’
Juliette walked all the way down the brightly lit corridor, opened the door to her unit, flicked on the light switch and spent fifteen minutes gathering all the vintage baubles and decorations that had arrived from Australia. Everything in the unit was tagged and logged so it was easy to find. She’d learnt the hard way once her shop had really started to take off. Now with it all labelled and tallying up to a spreadsheet on her phone, she firstly, always knew her stock levels, and secondly, anyone could go in there and find things, if and when she ever had anyone to help.
She finished putting the baubles in the plastic tub, walked back out, said goodbye to Michael, and drove back home to Pretty Beach and parked up outside Pretty Beach Surgery, everything ready for the photographs later in the back of her car.
***
Juliette finished up at the Orangery, made sure she’d locked up properly, and heaved the box of decorations back into her car. The photos had ended up turning out really well in the Orangery and she was on a roll. She just had enough time to head home and take a few more in the teepee in the garden.
She pulled up in Mermaid Lane, lugged the box down the path, and opened her front door. She walked all the way through to the kitchen with the huge plastic tub in her arms and looked out the window to the garden. The teepee was tucked up at the back exactly where she’d asked Luke to put it before he’d left for work. To the left, it was backed by the old Victorian wall and behind the pale pink shed.
She lugged the box all the way to the end of the garden, went back inside to get fairy lights, and an hour later had draped thousands of fairy lights all over the teepee.
The fading light and dark grey skies had done the opposite to what she had thought and provided the perfect backdrop, and the exquisite lighting for the photos and everything was beginning to look sparkly and festive. Almost as if it was Christmas itself and not a teepee in the middle of her back garden.
Inside the teepee, she placed faux fir Christmas trees at the back, covered the grass with soft white fur throws, and hung garlands of rosemary from each of the bamboo poles.
She’d placed two white vintage chairs right to the back and draped them with red tartan rugs, and a pair of vintage leather ice skates were perched next
to an old-fashioned sled.
‘Christmas in June!’ Luke said, as he poked his head around the door of the teepee.
‘Oh! You frightened the life out of me. Hello! I thought you were working this afternoon?’ Juliette said, putting down her handful of vintage baubles and draping her arms around Luke’s neck.
‘What a lovely welcome. Pleased to see me?’
‘Of course. It’s so nice to have you home, feels like we’ve been ships passing in the night lately.’
‘Well, now I’ve got you all to myself in a little sparkly tent I think I might have to lay you down on a white fur throw and have you do lovely things to me.’
‘Not sure I’ve got time for that!’
‘I’m sure you can fit me in Juliette. And make all my Christmases come at once.’
Chapter 11
Juliette sat in her car outside the school and checked her website. Lots of sales for A Christmas Sparkle - the content had done really well. The pictures of the tent with all the fairy lights had ended up looking even better once she’d put on a filter. The images made customers want to put up their Christmas tree, snuggle up on the sofa, and drink a hot chocolate with Bing.
She opened her emails and opened one from someone named Lucian McIntyre.
Hi Juliette,
Not sure if you remember Sallie mentioning it, but I’m the owner of the podcast Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? - I did the competition with Sallie last year with the wedding.
Anyway, she mentioned you were doing a Christmas in July shoot at the Orangery and then she also showed me your pics of the Christmas teepee.
Anyhoo, I’m always on the lookout for Pretty Beach success stories and she said you might be interested in coming on the show. I’ve attached some more info on the podcast. I’ve had a cancellation come up which is quite unusual, so I thought I’d get in touch right away.
Let me know.
Regards,
Lucian
Juliette sat in the car and remembered Sallie had mentioned about the podcast when they’d met for tea in Maisy’s a few months before. But what with the move and work, Juliette hadn’t really thought a whole lot more about it.
What she did remember was from what Sallie had said the exposure from Where the Heck is Pretty Beach? was priceless. Sallie had seen her bookings increase hugely since her feature on the podcast and then the subsequent competition.
Juliette read all the way down to the bottom of the email. It seemed simple enough and all it involved was going along to Lucian’s studio in his cottage in Pretty Beach and chatting about her history with Pretty Beach and what she did with her business.
She went to hit reply and then, seeing that she still had a good twenty minutes before Maggie came out of school, she scrolled down to the number and pressed the button to call him. She might as well cut straight to the chase and have a chat with him. The number began to ring, and she waited until it connected.
‘Helloooooo Lucian McIntyre speaking.’ The sing-song voice trilled on the other end of the line.
Sallie had said he was a character, it certainly seemed as if he was by the way he’d answered the phone.
‘Hello Lucian, Juliette Sparkles here. You sent me an email yesterday.’
‘I certainly did! Juliette Sparkles, darling, just love, love, love that name. I mean how far wrong can you go with a surname like that?’
Juliette started to chuckle. Sallie said he was a hoot and she liked the sound of Lucian already.
‘It’s very handy if you're a Christmas addict and own a Christmas store that’s for sure,’ Juliette replied.
‘Darling, I’m sure you’re not wrong. Any relation to the other Sparkles around here?’
‘Oh yes, if you mean Jeremy Sparkles, MP - he’s my ex-husband.’
‘Darling, I didn’t know! Apologies, I hadn’t put two and two together.
‘Well yes, ten years of marriage.’ Juliette replied.
‘And by the sound of your voice we won’t be mentioning that on the podcast if you decided to come on, I assume?’
‘You’d be assuming correctly, Lucian.’ Juliette answered nodding and smiling to herself.
‘Not a problem at all. So, would you like a few more details on what’s involved?’
‘Yes please,’ Juliette replied.
‘Right, darling, hang on a minute, I’m just getting your Instagram account up. Oh my! Oh yes, the teepee thing. How did that slip my mind? My peeps would just love that.’
‘They would?’
‘Indeed they would. Christmas, weddings, births, fetes, you name it if it goes on it’ll be loved by the listeners of Where the Heck is Pretty Beach?’
‘What would it involve from me then?’ Juliette asked.
‘Not a lot darling. I’ll do a run sheet with how it will likely go which I’ll give to you so that you can approve anything and then we simply chat. I ask you a few questions, keep the conversation steered so it doesn’t go too off track.’
‘Okay, seems simple enough to me.’
‘Then, looking at all this, I would run with the teepee thing and the interest it’s had on social media. Off the top of my head, we can pull in how you use local bits and bobs to put in with your parcels, and how the whole operation is run from the best little town in the country.’
‘Sounds delightful.’ Juliette said, chuckling.
‘Darling, my listeners will just adore you!’
‘Really? I’m not that special.’
‘I can assure you they will, and you must be a bit special darling, if you can produce stuff like this. We can’t really go wrong with your story.’
‘Okay, just to clarify, Lucian. How many people would be listening?
‘I've not got this month’s stats together yet as I’ve been sooooo busy darling, but it will be somewhere in the millions.’
‘What? Sallie didn’t tell me that bit! I didn’t realise it would be so many. Wow, I’d be quite nervous about that.’
‘Not at all, darling. You’ll be fine, I do it all the time. Some of the time it even seems like I’m sitting in a room talking to myself. Which in actual fact, I am. Look I’m really full at the moment, but I do have a cancelled recording spot the week after next. But that means that you’d have to come in pretty pronto. What do you think?’
Juliette chewed on the edge of her lip. What did she really have to lose? She was sure she could sit and chat about Pretty Beach and A Christmas Sparkle for an hour or so with this bright as a button Lucian. She chatted to people all day long in her day job. ‘I think we have a deal.’ Juliette answered.
‘Excellent, so I’ll need you in next week - it’ll be a tight turnaround with the editing, but it would then go up into the cancellation spot a week later. I was going to use a filler post in that spot, but having a Pretty Beach small business success story will be about a million times better, darling.’
‘Great, sounds both good and mildly terrifying,’ Juliette said smiling.
‘Trust me, darling. You’ll be more than fine.’
Chapter 12
A few days later, Juliette said goodbye to her last appointment, finished her notes on the computer, and closed everything down. She picked up her bag and leant over the desk to peer out into the car park to see if Luke’s car was there yet. She’d been riding her bike to the surgery on the days that she didn’t have to drop off Maggie, but she’d been running behind that morning and Luke had dropped her off on his way to work.
She closed the consultation room door, walked through the surgery, past the staff room, peered into the reception window, and said goodbye to the girls on the desk. She pushed open the door of the surgery, and very welcome fresh sea air hit her squarely in the face. It had been a long day and she was tired.
Juliette walked up to Luke’s BMW and got in and he kissed her on the cheek.
‘How was your day?’
‘Long, but without problems. I always like a nice day without problems. You?’
‘Probably the same,
and I needed an easy day without too many complications. They are few and far between these days. I must be getting too old for it all,’ Luke said as he turned on the ignition and checked his wing mirror while they waited for a man with an old lady in a wheelchair file past the back of the car.
‘I can’t wait to get home and sit in the garden with a drink.’
‘Ditto. Long may these light evenings last,’ Luke said, as he saw that the wheelchair was now safely parked near a bright red car. He reversed his car and pulled out of the car park.
‘Yeah, amazing how quickly you get used to the lovely long evenings. I do like it when it gets dark early too, though. I love those nights when you get all tucked up and in the warm for the night.’
‘I think I prefer sitting out in the garden with a beer myself,’ Luke replied, and drove slowly along the laneway. Juliette waved to Holly and Xian who were just coming out of the bakery.
‘We missed the bread then,’ Luke observed, looking at the closed sign on the front of Holly’s shop.
‘Not a problem, I got some out of the freezer this morning. Just call me a domestic goddess.’ Juliette giggled.
‘Ha, you’re perfect, you know that?’
‘Funny. Luke, we need to talk about money. So far you’ve paid for everything since you’ve moved in.’
‘Where did that suddenly come from? It’ll all work out in the wash. Let’s not start talking about all that. Far too boring.’
‘What about your house too? It’s just sitting there empty.’
‘I know, I’ve just been so busy. Look, it’s not a drama. I’ll get around to it eventually.’
‘I just like to have things sorted. Especially things to do with money, you know that.’
‘Let’s just keep it as it is for a bit. We don’t need to delve into all that yet.’ Luke replied and patted Juliette on her leg.
Luke pulled up in Mermaid Lane, put the car into park and they got out and walked up to the house. The hanging baskets either side of the door rammed with pink and white petunias and trailing white lobelia swayed in the wind and the coir doormat with white hearts made Juliette smile as they walked in.
A Pretty Beach Wish Page 4
