‘Yikes. That’s the tricky bit. What if no one books, Dimitri? I will be so embarrassed. Oh dear. What was I thinking?’ Lottie said, putting her chin in her hand.
‘They will. Trust me. I already put a few feelers out at the Marina Club when I was in there with Holly on the machines.’
‘Ahh, this makes me so nervous. At least if Holly is involved there’s a chance of success.’
‘I know, but you’re going to have to suck it up my little princess and that way we’ll get to stay in this house. Stay down here in the centre of Pretty Beach. Just think about that. Think about the alternative and the new estate on the hill.’
‘The thought of that alone is enough to make me do it,’ Lottie replied and shuddered, a grave look on her face.
‘Good. Me too. I don’t want to live out my last days up there surrounded by double-glazing.’
Lottie smiled and listened intently as Dimitri continued.
‘I’ve gone through everything. I’ve juggled the numbers back and forth. Taken your costings and broken them down, and there is only one real problem that I can see.’
Lottie sighed. ‘I knew it. I knew there would be something I had forgotten.’
‘On the contrary. Lottie, if it’s good, which it will be, the problem is that we need to have the next date sorted and potentially have the outbuildings ready to go. Or you need to ask Sallie if you can use the cottage again. Or find somewhere else. If people like it the next one needs to be there on the website for when they tell their friends how fabulous it was, or at least announced. First rule of marketing.’
‘Oh, yeah, you’re right. I see what you mean. That’s a load more work. Not too hard though. More brainpower on the theme and the food. But yeah, I see what you mean. Crikey we need to do that, and soon.’
‘Yep.’
‘I just don’t think we can turn those buildings around in time. Not for people to be here and host it here. Even if we all chip in. There’s not even any electricity out there yet. The plumbing needs doing too.’
‘I agree. I think you’re right. We’re not ready to be out there yet. I’ve been racking my brains for another location. So far, I’ve not come up with much. You see, I also believe that the setting for this will be the key to its success.’
Lottie leant her chin on her hand. ‘You’re right. As usual.’
‘The uniqueness of Pretty Beach and the special buildings are what will make it take off in the early days - and of course, all the other stuff that you are a gun at. Until we get it sorted out there Pretty Beach itself will be our marketing.’
‘I’ll get going on another menu then for the next one.’
‘That’s my girl,’ Dimitri said in Greek and got up to pop a nip of his Greek brandy in his tea.
‘Did you want to go through the menu again then?’ Lottie said as she topped up her tea from the teapot and adjusted the laundry above the Aga.
‘Nope. I think you’ve done that all perfectly well. The baked fish with the tarragon and garden herbs, the new potatoes and leeks. You already know I love the English jewel coconut macaroons with caramel pearls. Then there’s the wild garlic butter.’
‘I wonder how the fresh mint tea will go down?’
‘Not sure, but it’s virtually free to make and another thing to add on the end of the menu, so it’s in,’ Dimitri said chuckling.
‘Okay. We’re done. The social media posts are ready, the website is up and running with the date in. Captain, prepare for lift-off. All we need to do now is spread the word.’
Chapter 15
Lottie slipped out of her stunning, old brass bed, fumbled around for her slippers, and walked over to the bathroom. She looked at the paint peeling off the ceiling rose above as she turned the taps on the beautiful, old sink and sighed. Yet another room needing redecorating. When would she ever have the time or the money for that?
She looked in the mirror, her head barely reaching it, and smiled. Charlie had put the mirror up in the early days of their marriage and she’d laughed when she’d tried to look in it. Being so short, she’d had to pull herself up to see her reflection.
Lottie squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush and leant back on the old sink. Charlie being in the house was just a memory now. A happy, blurred around the edges, memory. The actual hard, cold, raw grief had slowly faded just as people had said it would. It almost felt nowadays as if she had lived with him in another life.
After Lottie finished cleaning her teeth she turned the big, old-fashioned taps on the shower, let her dressing gown slip to the floor and got in. As the piping hot water gushed over her and she washed her hair she started thinking about Secret Evenings. It made every little bit of her hopeful, but at the same time, every part of her felt taut and tense and desperate for it to work. And today was the day it was all going live.
The day she and Dimitri turned the slip of an idea they’d had at the kitchen table with a cup of tea into a little business that might just enable her to keep the life she loved.
They were at launch day. The day where they actually had to sit there and wait for bookings to come in. Or not. The day when they would see whether or not it would work.
Lottie thought about the part where it didn’t work and it all fell flat on its face. What was she going to do if it didn’t work out? She needed a plan B, and it needed to be able to be quickly implemented so that she could park the disappointment and move on.
She had a couple of options. One of the locals Pete, known locally as Suntanned Pete owned holiday cottages at the other end of Pretty Beach and when she’d bumped into him in the laneway he’d told her he was having problems finding anyone who actually wanted to work for a living. He’d told her if her new business venture didn’t work out all she had to do was shout. So that was one option. Not an option she wanted to take, but the one thing she’d learnt on the journey of finding a job as a single mum with not a lot of experience, was that beggars could not be choosers.
Then there was Pretty Beach Fish and Chips. Sallie had told her that when she’d first arrived in Pretty Beach, she’d done a few shifts to help her cash flow, and Jessica the owner was on the lookout for help for the upcoming tourist season in Pretty Beach.
So those were two options. She didn’t like either of them. At all. But if push came to shove these were not times to be choosy about how she was going to get some money into her life.
As she finished washing the conditioner out of her caramel-coloured hair she nodded to herself. Yep. If it didn’t work out she’d go and work for Suntanned Pete for the season, hopefully, top that up with a few shifts at Pretty Beach Fish and Chips, and then her dinner business on the side would get the cash flowing in.
Stepping out of the shower, Lottie tied a massive turban on top of her head, put a towel around her, and opened up her phone. Scrolling through her social media channels, she went cold - she hardly had any followers and few people saw her posts. There was no way it was going to generate bookings for Secret Evenings. Then there was her blog. She didn’t even know who read it. It had been going for years - she’d started it as a way to document her garden and her cooking, but maybe more people read it than she thought. Maybe something would come from that?
Lottie walked over to her wardrobe, opened it, selected a pair of white chinos, a white broderie anglaise top, and a pair of neutral ballet flats. Then she opened one of her many earring boxes and chose a pair of vintage, dangly, matte gold love hearts from the vast collection she had been gathering since she was a teenager. Lottie loved big earrings, feeling as if they helped her face the world and she’d worn them as armour on many occasions in her life. These were her good luck earrings and she needed them to work their magic, that was for sure.
Lottie walked down through the top levels of the house. It was quiet with all three boys away at school. She padded down and, with the morning air not quite as warm as she thought, picked her soft, grey, waterfall cardigan from the hooks in the hallway and opened the door to the kitchen
.
Dimitri was sitting at the table. A loaf of bread fresh out of the oven was sitting in front of him on a giant, old, circular cutting board, a small, white bowl with feta cheese doused in Greek olive oil beside him and the kettle already boiling on the Aga opposite.
‘Morning,’ Dimitri said, looking up from his phone.
‘Good morning. Everything good with the bread?’ Lottie asked.
‘Perfect. Thank you.’
‘Well, that’s a good start. Today is the day then.’
‘It certainly is. I have everything lined up and ready. All we need to do now is execute the plan.’
Lottie chuckled. ‘Good job I’ve got you in on this. You could organise anything.’
‘Yep. Right. Take a look at this list,’ Dimitri said, getting up to deal with the kettle and passing Lottie his tablet which was open to an extremely long checklist.
The comprehensive list to get the word out for Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach was long and exhaustive. It included every single online place they had been able to think of - the usual social media apps, all the local selling sites, the Pretty Beach community page, the website and Lottie’s blog. Then there was the page for the mums at the school, Juliette, who was linking to Secret Evenings from her Instagram account, and Sallie, who was doing the same and also adding it to her website for the Boat House Pretty Beach.
Then there were all the places they were going to hand-deliver the actual physical flyers and cards. Lottie had a beautiful hand-drawn watercolour logo made incorporating Lottie’s favourite pitcher of flowers from the garden with the Pretty Beach lighthouse embossed on the front and considering it had been done by someone they’d had no experience with online it had turned out much better than they’d hoped.
Dimitri had thought of everything and his list had them walking around Pretty Beach placing the cards on notice boards, the Fish and Chip shop, Maisy’s cafe, Holly’s bakery and according to Dimitri’s itinerary their last stop would be the Smugglers where they would be rewarded for their hard work by a Pretty Beach ale.
‘Phew. No rest for the wicked there then. That’s one very long list,’ Lottie said as she came to the end.
‘It is. I’m determined to get the word out. The only way to make this a success in the first place is to get the bums on seats.’
‘Yep. Hopefully, we’ll get some take up,’ Lottie said touching one of the large love hearts at her ears for good luck.
‘I haven’t included the Marina Club tonight where I will get all the old cronies talking about it and you need to give them out to the Gardening Club, too.’
‘So, you think we’re going to get some bookings?’
‘The only bit we can’t really answer for now,’ Dimitri replied in Greek as he spread scoops of Lottie’s homemade feta cheese onto the fresh bread in front of him.
‘Let’s just hope it goes well.’
Chapter 16
Lottie and Dimitri had pressed go on everything on Dimitri’s spreadsheet. All the social media channels had been posted to, groups published in, the blog had been updated, and Dimitri had scheduled a post to the Pretty Beach community page.
Lottie scrolled through the posts and pictures. They couldn’t have done a lot more. The lovely, pale pastels of the logo for Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach coordinated beautifully with the images from the Boat House cottage, and it all tied-in together superbly. If aesthetics and setting were going to be as important as they had first thought, they’d definitely nailed that initial part of the business plan.
Getting up from the table Lottie put the lid down on the Aga, collected their mugs, and put them in the dishwasher. She wrapped up what was left of the homemade loaf of bread and placed it in the bread bin. She looked out the window to the garden as she sprayed down and then sloshed out the sink thinking that she would much rather be out there for the day her fingers in the earth and pottering around with her plants rather than going around delivering leaflets. But needs must and they had to get as much interest in Secret Evenings as quickly as they could.
Just as Lottie was clearing off the worktops her phone pinged. She slipped it out of her pocket and opened a text from Sallie.
Hi, Lottie. Just attaching the invite to our little gathering at the house. It’s in a few weeks’ time. Pop it in your diary. Hope you and Dimitri can make it. x
Lottie checked on the calendar on her phone. She needn’t really have bothered. Her social life was non-existent. She could barely remember the last time she’d been out and her idea of a fun Saturday night consisted of a date with a podcast in the greenhouse while she pottered around with her plants.
Thanks so much. We’re free and we’d love to come. Let me know what I can bring. xx
Lottie finished tidying up the kitchen, went to the loo and grabbed her jacket from the hallway while she waited for Dimitri. He came up from the basement with his tan leather bag over his shoulder, tablet in his hand, a ream of flyers with the details of Secret Evenings, and a stack of business cards he’d had printed online at the best value place he could find.
Lottie took the stack of flyers and read all the way down.
Welcome to Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach.
Would you love to experience a beautiful, secret supper down by the sea in Pretty Beach?
You are cordially invited to one of our wonderful secret evenings where you’ll find delightful, home-cooked, high-quality food in various secret relaxed and gorgeous settings.
Our secret locations tucked away in the heart of Pretty Beach exude romance and character where you’ll be whisked away to the charm of life by the sea.
Our inaugural private event brimming with delicacies will be held in one of Pretty Beach’s most iconic heritage buildings hidden away safely right on the water. You will be served a delicious six-course mostly home-grown meal prepared and served by locals with fine seasonal produce.
Our menu will delight with virtually all of our delicious food and drink sourced locally right here in the bay and surrounding hills.
Enjoy a dazzling, clandestine evening surrounded by twinkling lights, an amazing supper and a wonderful decadent experience cosied up sampling all the delights of Pretty Beach.
To book go to our website and reserve your spot. Our secret destination right in the heart of Pretty Beach with the sound of the ocean in the distance will be revealed a few days before the event.
Lottie smiled as she finished reading through the poster. It did all sound rather lovely. She’d love a decadent supper in Pretty Beach herself. Hopefully, other people would think the same.
Chapter 17
Lottie and Dimitri closed the huge double front door behind them, walked down the path, looked up at the rolling clouds overhead, closed the gate, strolled along the pavement and made their way down Strawberry Hill. A few minutes later they got to the church noticeboard, opened up the little timber doors and posted a Secret Evenings poster next to a message advertising for church bell ringers.
Next, they made their way through Mermaids, stopping to chat to Juliette who had just parked up, past the Boat House and down into the laneway. After a warm welcome, lots of interest, and the Secret Evenings flyers going in the windows of various shops and the noticeboard near the fireplace in Maisy’s, Lottie and Dimitri made their way back down the other side of the laneway.
A fresh breeze coming in off the sea fluttered the pastel bunting overhead, the Pretty Beach ferry honked as it went past in the distance, and as Lottie and Dimitri approached Holly’s bakery they could see a line of people nearly out the door.
Lottie pushed open the door, the familiar smell of baking bread hit their noses and they stood in the queue as people filed out with their loaves, French sticks, and the odd local passed with a smile on their face and a closed white bag with cinnamon buns.
Lottie moved her head closer to Dimitri’s ear and whispered, ‘If Holly gets on board with this we’ll be okay. Look at this place. It’s always teeming with people.’
&nbs
p; ‘There’s no if about it. I’ve been telling her about it for weeks at the club. She’s in. I had her at ‘secret location.’ You know how she likes to know everything.’
‘She’s funny and touchy though about putting stuff in her window or on her board,’ Lottie whispered.
‘I’ve already broached the subject with her. She wanted to have a look at the logo and just went quiet and nodded,’ Dimitri replied.
Dimitri and Lottie finally got to the front of the queue and Holly seeing who it was came bustling around to the front of the counter.
‘I’ve been expecting you!’ Holly exclaimed to Dimitri, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek.
Holly’s mum Xian came shuffling out from the back of the bakery and Holly shouted something to her in Vietnamese. Xian took Dimitri’s hand, patted it and pulled a tiny bottle out of her apron pocket. Dimitri took the bottle, smiled and slipped the little bottle of amber coloured liquid into his bag.
‘Dimitri I cannot believe you drink that stuff!’ Holly laughed.
Dimitri chuckled. ‘Works for me, Holly. You want to try my brandy.’
‘Okay. I’ve reserved the board for you,’ Holly said gesturing to the small, black chalkboard standing right in the centre of the bread counter and only ever designated for very special notices and events like the Pretty Beach Bonnie and the Christmas Dance.
‘What? The blackboard?’ Lottie exclaimed. ‘Really! Oh my goodness. Thank you, Holly. That’s so kind of you.’
‘You’re welcome and you deserve it. You’ve worked your socks off with those boys raising them on your own. There’s no way we’re seeing you have to lose that house,’ Holly replied in a low voice.
Lottie, who hadn’t cried since Charlie had passed away felt a tear somewhere in the corner of her eye.
Holly took five of the flyers from Dimitri and straight away tacked one onto the little blackboard on top of the cabinet and then turned and walked towards the window to pop one in there too. Just as she was putting invisible tape onto one of the flyers another customer opened the door to leave, holding the door open for someone outside.
Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach Page 6
