Lovely Little Things in Pretty Beach : A magical feel-good romance book to escape with in summer 2021.

by Polly Babbington

  As she swiped her card, deadbolts unlocked and she pushed the heavy door open and stepped in. Raising her eyebrows, she shook her head. Thanks to Fenton, she had been in some classy hotels in her time. Fenton didn’t stay or go anywhere without a label and a high price tag but this place was on another level. A level people like her didn’t normally get to see ever in their lifetime.

  According to the website and the spiel Lulu had learned in her training, Cavendish hotels were a classic mix of English elegance and modern luxury. In this suite that concept had been taken to the hilt.

  On every available surface vases of exquisitely arranged flowers had been meticulously placed next to scented candles. Lulu ran her finger along a gleaming table, picked up one of the candles, and sniffed. They hadn’t nailed everything though; Lovely Little Things candles were better, of that she was certain.

  She walked into the bedroom where a huge super-king bed dressed in startlingly bright layers of white was topped with pale-blue dress cushions. On either side of the bed, huge chests of drawers which looked as if they had just stepped out of a country home in Berkshire were topped with white lamps together with small fish bowl vases of pale blue flowers.

  Lulu looked around to see if anything was out of place or if housekeeping had missed anything. As far as she could see, there was nothing amiss in the bedroom. The bed looked as if it had been ironed into place and the folds of the heavy curtains fell to the floor as if they had been measured with a ruler. Staring at the massive bed, it crossed her mind that she could pull back the covers, hop in and have a nap. Anything would be a lot more comfortable than the air bed in a dark study she had been sleeping on recently.

  Opening the door to the bathroom, Lulu gasped. Two stand-alone baths stood next to each other beside a marble fireplace where a flame-effect fire flickered to itself happily. High-end luxurious full-size accessories stood on the side and four fresh white full-length gowns were hanging from hooks on the right. Lulu looked in the sink, peered into the bath, checked the double walk-in shower and looked at the piece of gold-edged paper sealing the toilet. No problems there, either.

  After checking the kitchen area, Lulu had shaken her head at the pure luxury - a beautiful selection of teas, biscuits, fruit, a platter of sandwiches in the fridge and what looked like a homemade chocolate cake on the side.

  Just as she was looking into the microwave she heard the entrance door click, spun around, and walked out into the sitting room to see a tall man in chinos, crisp black shirt, dark glasses and black trainers.

  ‘Lulu Drinkwater?’ the man asked.

  Who the heck are you?

  ‘Err, yes. That’s me.’

  ‘Security,’ the man said and held out his hand.

  Lulu held up her bandaged hands and the man finally smiled. ‘Looks nasty. What happened to you?’

  ‘It’s a long story.’

  The man started to walk around the sitting room. ‘Here for the initial checks.’

  ‘Yes. I’ve been over everything and all is in order at my end, so I’ll be off and get out of your way.’

  The man smiled and nodded and Lulu headed to the door to make herself scarce. She was more than happy to keep out of the way unless she was wanted. Letting the door close quietly behind her, she made her way towards the lift and wondered when she would get time to have something to eat.

  A few hours later, Lulu had taken a call from the same guy to tell her that the guests had arrived, had dealt with a couple with a baby who wasn’t looking at all well and found them a doctor, and checked in a couple who had been travelling for over thirty hours from Australia.

  Lulu looked at her watch. No wonder her feet were aching, her stomach was rumbling, her left palm was throbbing, and her head was spinning. She’d had no lunch and hadn’t stopped since the moment she’d walked in the door. It was a good job the Cavendish group was paying her phenomenally well.

  After informing Lauren that she was going up to the staffroom Lulu grabbed her bag, walked to the service lift, pressed to go up, and before she knew it had taken off her heels, put on her trainers, and was peering into the fully stocked staff room fridge.

  As she stood there trying to decide between one of the sandwiches on the platter or a piece of quiche, she nodded to herself. She was, as William had told her she would, experiencing the Cavendish effect. She was pooped and hadn’t eaten but the calming atmosphere, essential oils wafting in the air, and plethora of options for things to eat reinforced that working for the Cavendish clan was a good thing and somehow made her forget she’d missed the regulation breaks and hadn’t even been to the loo since she’d left home in Pretty Beach.

  After choosing a round of prawn mayonnaise and lettuce sandwiches and pouring herself a glass of orange juice, Lulu sat at the worktop scrolling through her phone. One order for Lovely Little Things already. One of her beautiful crystal candles and a hand-blocked sofa throw in coordinating shades of cream and white.

  Finishing the sandwich and following the instructions to put the plate in the dishwasher and not switch it on, Lulu opened the door to the tiny massage room, walked over to one of the chairs, sat down, picked up the remote control, and turned it on. Even the massage chairs were high-end. As she sat there and the chair got to work on her shoulders and back, Lulu held out her hands and looked at the bandages. There was no doubt about it and now she was sure; the left hand was showing signs of red around the edges, it was thumping with pain, and her fingers were swollen. It looked like it may have become infected. She wasn’t surprised, it wasn’t as if she had sat around resting as the nurse had told her she should.

  Sitting back in the chair and closing her eyes, enjoying the kneading in her back, Lulu heard another member of staff come into the room outside. She heard whoever it was going through the same procedure she had. The fridge opened and shut, a kitchen cupboard door opened, and she heard the kettle come on.

  Thinking that she would go into the sitting room and have a few more minutes’ break, Lulu rubbed across the palm of her left hand, pushed herself out of the massage chair, picked up her bag, and slipped her high heels back on. After redoing her hair and pale pink lipstick she opened the door to the sitting room and stopped as she walked in.

  ‘Well I never. I thought it was a bit of a coincidence when Stuart couldn’t remember your name but said both hands were bandaged.’

  Lulu’s eyes widened as right there in front of her was honey skin and green eyes. Ollie from the accident was very comfortable on the sofa with a plate of sandwiches and a cup of tea in front of him on the coffee table. Lulu frowned. ‘Sorry. I’m confused. What are you doing here?’

  Ollie shifted in his seat and coughed. ‘I work here, well, I do at the moment but not for much longer, hopefully. As I said to you before I’m helping out the family business.’

  Lulu didn’t know what to say and sort of shook her head a little bit. ‘Right. This is the family business?’

  ‘Yes, yes, it is. And now it all makes sense. I’ve put two and two together. You are the new receptionist on loan from Pretty Beach, sister of the highly-efficient Willow,’ Ollie said smiling.

  ‘Indeed I am,’ Lulu said, trying to remember how to breathe.

  Ollie chuckled. ‘Well, Ms Drinkwater. May I personally welcome you to the Cavendish Group.’

  16

  Lulu sat on the toilet in the staff loos of the hotel, took her phone out of her pocket, opened her messages, and started to text Willow in the Caribbean.

  You are never going to believe who is in the hotel today!

  Don’t tell me, the Queen. Hahahahahah. I know you’re in Pettacombe and now you’ve told me who sometimes stays there I must be close.

  Lulu laughed to herself: she’d totally forgotten about that part of the day after the meeting in the staff room.

  Actually, not quite, but yes royalty did arrive. I have had the weirdest day. No, someone much more interesting than that.

  No idea. Tell me.

  Honey sk
in.

  What? The man who knocked you off your bike??? Willow typed back.

  The very one.

  Did you put him in the worst room you could?

  Like there are any bad rooms in these hotels?

  True.

  No, he wasn’t a guest!!! He works here.

  Right.

  He owns it!

  Lulu watched as the little dots flashed.

  Hang on. A Cavendish knocked you off your bike? Why didn’t you say that before?

  I didn’t know. He didn’t tell me his surname.

  Blimey. You could sue the *** off them.

  Very funny, Willow.

  So which one is it?

  ????

  Which brother?

  Ollie.

  Wth! Ollie Cavendish. Hottest Cavendish brother (and may I add divorced and therefore single) strimmed your lawn and came over for dinner!!!!!

  I know. Hello.

  So what did he say?

  Nothing much. Shame he doesn’t like me. He’s made that much obvious.

  He did come round for dinner though and help you with the rats.

  I know and he told me that he did it b/c he was guilty.

  Oh yes. There was that.

  Sorry, got to go, I’m on the loo and I need to get back. I just wanted to let you know.

  OK. God, I’m missing all the fun while I’m out here. Your life is nothing but interesting, Lulu. How come nothing exciting ever happens to me???

  Wills. Trust me. I’d rather be in St Barts on the beach in a bikini than stuck in Pettacombe behind a reception desk. Honey skin or not.

  True. Be good. Let me know if anything happens. Love you xxx.

  Lulu clipped across the lobby in her heels with the classical music soothing everyone around, smiled at a guest on their way out the main door and popped herself back behind the reception desk.

  Most of the day both she and Lauren had been run off their feet, but now the reception area was dead with no one to be seen. Lauren pulled up the two high stools from behind them, placed one beside Lulu and smiled.

  ‘Right. Get yourself on there and slip your shoes off behind the desk. Atlanta Cavendish herself trained me to do this. When there’s a lull, you sit here checking the enquiries and resting your feet.’

  ‘Thank you. So how long have you worked here then, Lauren?’

  Lauren looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. ‘Let me think. I started when I was in uni. So, umm, nearly eight years.’

  ‘Wow. So you’ve stuck around then.’

  Lauren smiled and nodded. ‘Why wouldn't I? They offered me way above what any graduate job was offering and I’ve been to Hong Kong, Dubai, and San Francisco for work. Plus, I get to stay most of the time in Pettacombe near my family. There aren’t a huge amount of opportunities in Pettacombe.’

  Lulu nodded looking at Lauren and could see precisely why she had kept the job. She was bright, very pretty, and well-presented. She fit what Lulu had already learned was the Cavendish brand, like a dream.

  ‘Then there are the bonuses and well, to be frank, the Cavendish family are just great to be part of,’ Lauren said smiling and lowered her voice, ‘I wouldn’t say no to a Cavendish. Just a shame there are none left for me.’ Lauren giggled.

  Lulu smiled and raised her eyes and asked nonchalantly, ‘What, they’re all taken for, are they?’

  ‘Yes, indeed. Well, not Ollie Cavendish, but he’s divorced and I don’t know, thirty-eight or something and there are rumours that he’s seeing someone up in London anyway. Some heiress to a tea fortune. Hmm, what was her name, gosh it’s on the tip of my tongue, Cressida, that’s it. Cressida.’

  Lulu pretended to be mildly interested but was actually desperately hoping that Lauren would continue embellishing her with information. ‘Yeah, that was all a big old bit of gossip when I first started here. The story goes that poor Ollie Cavendish went off to work one morning from his oh-so-nice penthouse apartment in the West End leaving his wife having a lie-in.’

  ‘How do you know all this?’ Lulu asked.

  Lauren tapped the side of her nose. ‘My sister was cleaning for Atlanta in London at the time and heard it all going on. Anyway, Ollie Cavendish came home from work early to surprise his wife, ahem, she wasn’t alone when Ollie arrived back at the flat.’

  ‘Yikes, sounds very unpleasant,’ Lulu observed.

  ‘Indeed. It gets worse. It turned out to be Cressida’s best friend. As in, her bridesmaid.’

  Right at that point, the entrance doors opened and quick as a flash, Lauren slid off her chair into her shoes, beamed at the approaching guests and Lulu quickly followed suit.

  Lulu smiled as another couple approached the desk and as she busied herself checking the guests into their room, she couldn’t stop all the information about Ollie Cavendish turning over and over and over in her head. When she got home she was going to Google the life out of it.

  17

  Lulu stepped out of the staff entrance to the hotel, looked up at a dark sky, hoped that it wasn’t going to rain, walked along the pavement, and waited for the lights to change so that she could cross the road. Still in her heels, she rested her left palm on her right to ease the throbbing and decided that she’d need to go back to the surgery, get it redressed and have someone take a look at it.

  After she’d crossed the road, she sat on the same bench she had stopped at that morning and slowly took off her heels. Wriggling her toes in the barely-there sheer tights, she rubbed her thumb under the sole of her foot and slipped on her trainers.

  What a funny old day. I’ll be glad to get back to Pretty Beach, Lovely Little Things and my days off.

  Looking out at the pier and a purple-grey sea, Lulu thought more about her day. It had been long and tiring, and she almost didn't want to admit it but even though it was very early days she was loving working for the Cavendish group. Just as Willow had said she would. There was something about it. It sort of didn’t feel like a job which was a really strange feeling. She couldn’t put her finger on it as to why. It was just that everything was nice. Nice guests, nice staff, nice surroundings, very nice pay. The added bonus and not a monetary one being the nicest thing of all; one extremely handsome honey-skinned owner.

  Shaking her head to try and remove thoughts and, more importantly, images of Ollie from her mind, Lulu got up from the bench and holding her Jimmy Choo heels in her hand started the walk to the station.

  Looking at the time on her smartwatch, Lulu started to pick up her pace to make it in time for the train. A few minutes later, a rumble and then a huge crack sounded overhead, the clouds darkened ominously, and suddenly huge drops of rain started to fall from the sky. Lulu rummaged around in her bag for her umbrella, cursed when she remembered it had slipped out in the back of the car, pulled her jacket around her, and tried to hold her shoes underneath her coat.

  The rain quickly changed from huge drops to pelting down and as people rushed along the glistening wet pavement the wind picked up, umbrellas turned inside out, and Lulu felt her hair get sopping wet and water trickle down the back of her neck.

  Typical. What an end to an extremely busy day.

  Trying to keep the shoes dry, Lulu waited opposite the station with a bunch of other commuters for the lights to change, then crossed the road and hurried into the station. She tapped her card on the pad, the barrier opened, and looking up at the sign overhead, she slowed down. Soaking wet and feeling like a drowned rat, Lulu relaxed seeing as she had three minutes to go before the train arrived.

  With a packed platform in front of her, Lulu squeezed in and out of passengers attempting to make her way to the end where she had calculated that she had more chance of getting a seat. She made her way past the lines of people waiting patiently, most of whom clearly hadn’t been caught in the same downpour she had. Finally, she got close to the end of the platform where there were fewer people and the guard was standing looking down the track and then down at his watch.

  Lulu fe
lt her wet hair and wiped under her eyes with a tissue. Her love of a smoky eye was all well and good, and she never went anywhere without it intact, but when caught in a downpour it could often be found halfway down her face. She looked at the eye make-up on the tissue and tutted. Yep, no doubt she looked a sight. Sopping wet and with black streaks under her eyes. So much for the immaculately presented woman who had got off the same train that morning feeling good about herself and the world.

  Smiling at a woman with a double buggy who was struggling with a rain cover and a screaming toddler, Lulu thought at least she wasn’t wet and travelling with two children. As the train slowly pulled into the station, the doors opened and the woman with the buggy lifted the front wheels to get on, Lulu patiently stood behind her waiting her turn.

  As the woman moved inside the carriage and Lulu stepped onto the train she jolted forward as someone bumped into her from behind. Lulu suddenly lost her footing, put her hand out to hold onto the handle on the left, and as she did so one of her shoes tumbled out of her clasp and bounced on the floor. She watched as it fell down the gap onto the track below.

  ‘Ahh, you idiot! What the heck do you think you are doing! Be more careful! My shoe!’ Lulu yelled and then followed it up muttering, ‘Great, another five hundred pounds down the drain,’ and she swore under her breath.

  ‘Sorry!’ a voice said, a voice Lulu recognised, and she snapped her head up from looking at the lonesome shoe lying on the track.

  ‘Ollie!’

  ‘So sorry, I slipped on the wet platform as I got on,’ Ollie said and with one foot on the platform and one foot on the train he called out to the guard.

  ‘Excuse me! Excuse me! Mate! Over here. We have a situation with a shoe!’

  As other passengers stood back the guard held up his hand, rushed over and looked down at the shoe. ‘One second!’

  He came back with a pole, scooped up the shoe, passed it to Ollie, and rushed off back to this side of the platform looking up and down the train.