Secret Evenings in Pretty Beach

by Polly Babbington

  Lottie hesitated. Even though she felt like she’d known Connor all her life and whatever they had was going really fast, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to be showering in his house. But she considered how grubby she felt and how glorious a shower sounded and decided to agree.

  ‘Okay, I will. Thanks.’

  ‘I’ll show you upstairs and I think I might do the same in the shower room out the back. I could do with getting out of this shirt,’ Connor replied.

  Connor put the curry down on the side and led Lottie to the first floor, showed her the shower, gave her a clean, astonishingly white towel, a pair of tracksuit bottoms, and sweatshirt with a Pretty Beach Diving logo on the front that she thought three of her would probably fit in, and Connor went back downstairs.

  Lottie walked into the bathroom, closed and locked the door, dropped her white linen shirt and chinos on the floor, pulled the lever on the rainshower, and luxuriated in the hot water. She looked around for shampoo and spied L’Occitane men’s toiletries.

  No wonder he smells so good. Who even is this man who shops in L’Occitane and has white towels?

  Getting out of the shower, Lottie wrapped herself in the towel, dried herself, put the underwear back on, and pulled on the soft bottoms and sweatshirt. She looked in the mirror and laughed. Not quite the look she had been going for on her first visit to Connor’s house. The tracksuit bottoms were so long they bundled up at her ankles and the sleeves hung down way past her hands. She smiled to herself, folded back the arms, turned up the legs, rubbed her hair until it had dried off a bit, and rummaged around in her bag for her tinted moisturiser.

  Five minutes later, barefoot and with her hair piled up on the top of her head, she was on her way down the stairs. Her phone buzzed from the pocket of the bottoms with a text from Juliette.

  Hey! I hear the evening went well.

  It did. Say thanks again to Luke. He was brilliant again.

  Will do. Did you get it all packed up and home okay?

  You could say that, yeah.

  ????

  You’ll never guess where I am and whose clothes I’m wearing.

  Omg!!!!!

  Yep.

  Who even are you, Lottie?

  I know. Hahahahhahahahah.

  Have a fabulous night.

  I will.

  Is the underwear in situ?

  It most certainly is.

  Lottie walked into the kitchen where Connor was sitting with a bottle of beer open on the table.

  ‘You look a million times better and you smell even better.’

  ‘I feel better. What an amazing rainshower that is.’

  ‘It is. Right. Drink?’

  ‘Umm. Not sure what to have.’

  ‘Glass of wine? Beer? Soft drink?’

  ‘I think I wouldn’t mind a shandy if you have any lemonade.’

  ‘Indeed. A shandy for the hardest working cook in Pretty Beach coming right up.’

  Connor passed over a shandy, took the plastic containers of curry out of the oven, put them onto a tray and then they walked along the hallway to the sitting room. Connor put the curry down on the coffee table, they helped themselves and tucked in.

  ‘You were brilliant tonight, Lottie. The whole thing went off without a hitch. Amazing organisation,’ Connor said tucking into the container of rice.

  ‘Thanks. A lot of it is down to Dimitri.’

  ‘Don’t you believe it. You were on fire.’

  ‘Thanks. Now I just need to replicate it a few times a week and start to make some real money out of it.’

  Connor put his plate on the coffee table, sat back on the sofa as Lottie finished her plate of food.

  ‘A lot of work but you’ll make it work. Once you get some help in, everything will settle.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘I know so. Now you’ve got Pretty Beach behind you you won’t look back. It’s a funny little place. You either slot in and are loved or you’re out on your ear and your business just doesn’t work.’

  Lottie nodded as she took another piece of naan bread. ‘You’re so right. The weird little Pretty Beach way.’

  ‘Yup. And I for one, am very glad that because of the Pretty Beach way and Sallie helping you out with the Boat House, that I have you in my life now. It’s been a great ride already, too.’

  Have you in my life now? Yessssssssss!

  Lottie sat back on the sofa. What did she say back to that? That she had palpitations just thinking about him and that she was thinking about the other sort of riding a lot of the time.

  ‘It has,’ was about the only thing Lottie could muster.

  ‘Ditto to that,’ Connor replied as Lottie moved along the sofa and he put his arm around Lottie’s shoulder and kissed her softly. Lottie moved her leg over his and put her hand under his shirt, her movements more intense.

  Connor got up, held out his hand, and led Lottie up the winding staircase to his bedroom on the first floor. He pulled the huge sweatshirt over her head, let the bottoms drop to the floor, picked her up, and carried her over to his bed.

  Connor ran his hands over Lottie’s tiny body, his hands stroking her soft skin, and caressing the nape of her neck. Lottie pressed her body into him and kissed him as she felt the golden shimmer wash over her whole body, and her skin shimmered and twinkled and danced, and Lottie lost herself in the breathtaking gilded delight of Connor and never wanted to be in a world without him again.

  Chapter 55

  Lottie rolled over in bed, opened her eyes and looked around. Oh yes, she wasn’t in her own bed! She was in Connor’s bed, in Connor’s lovely house, in Seafolly Passage. Lottie looked around and kept perfectly still, not wanting to move in case it was all a dream. She bet she had bed hair and stinky morning breath. She turned over to her left to see the other side of the bed empty and the duvet back in place.

  Oh, right. He’s not here. Is that how it works nowadays? What do I do now? Skulk home in last night’s clothes?

  As Lottie wondered where Connor was, she laid on her back looking up at the ceiling and thought about how the day before had unfolded, how the event had gone, how she had found herself at Connor’s house, and then ended up in his bed. She very much enjoyed reliving each part of it in her mind and hugged every last detail to herself.

  Connor had been just as good as she had daydreamed about. In fact, it had been better. She had been better. The whole experience had been better. Every part of it had been more than fabulous. All the feelings that she had experienced that first night when she’d kissed Connor in her garden a bit tipsy had quadrupled and she’d felt as if she had gone to heaven and back. As she laid there the next morning, she wished that she was still there and more importantly, that he was still there.

  Lottie got out of bed wearing one of Connor’s navy-blue diving tshirts which nearly reached to her knees. She walked over the bedroom to a small ensuite bathroom in the corner. There was no sign of Connor anywhere and no sound coming from any part of the house.

  Lottie went to the loo, washed her hands, and then went back into the bedroom and picked up her phone. There was a text from Connor.

  Good morning, Princess. I had an online early meeting this morning. I showered in the other bathroom as you seemed dead to the world. Make yourself at home. I’ll be back with coffee and bagels if you want to stay around? Oh, and thank you for last night. You are beautiful and it was AMAZING. x

  Lottie read the text and smiled. Do I want to stay around? Pah! Move me in please.

  She really should get back, make sure she got home before Dimitri got up and pretend she had been up early and gardening rather than having spent the night with Connor on the other side of Pretty Beach. However, she decided that she didn’t care what Dimitri thought and she really wanted to see Connor after last night. Indeed, she would be very happy to repeat last night.

  Lottie sent a text back.

  It was amazing. I’ll be waiting for the coffee and bagels.

  Lottie walked down
to the kitchen, made herself a cup of tea, went back upstairs to Connor’s bedroom, got back in under the covers and sat there drinking her tea. What a turn up for the books this all was, she thought to herself.

  Lottie sipped on her tea, looked out of the window to the view out to sea, and mused the whole thing with Connor. What was going to happen next? The whole thing had moved quickly and the night before it had been as if there was an unspoken commitment. Or was she imagining that part? Was she now in a relationship with this delectable man she’d first met on Strawberry Hill Lane or was this just a one-off?

  Lottie tried to keep everything in context. She assumed that other people had dalliances like this regularly. Other thirty-nine year old single women probably did this more often than she did and had presumably not resigned themselves to being alone for the rest of their lives. This was in all likelihood considered fairly normal in the relationship stakes. But to Lottie, it was not. Lottie had never been casual about anything in her life really and from the moment that she’d looked up into Connor’s eyes she knew that she was all in. As she padded over to the huge sash windows in Connor’s faded old diving t-shirt, cradling her mug in her hands, she looked out to the horizon in the distance and only hoped that Connor was the same.

  The man was to die for and it had only got better once she had spent the night with him. Was he a player, though? There had been no indication that he was. In fact, he’d been the perfect gentleman all the way. But would he break her heart and leave her not only as lonely as she had been before, but also heartbroken too?

  Lottie shook her head repeatedly to try and stop her mind from going over it all, finished her tea, put the cup down on Connor’s dressing table, and stretched her hands up in the air.

  Go with the flow, Lottie. Enjoy the ride. What have you got to lose?

  Just as Lottie had decided to shower and get dressed in Connor’s huge tracksuit bottoms and sweatshirt, her phone started to ring.

  ‘Hi! Gosh, I’ve been dying to call you! I’ve been on visits all morning and I’m on my way to one now. How did it go?’ Juliette asked.

  Lottie started giggling into the phone. ‘I’m still here, so I’m thinking that means it went well.’

  ‘Woohoo!’

  Lottie lowered her voice. ‘Jools, it was amazing. Like ah-may-zing. I can’t even believe it.’

  ‘Oh my! I think I might need to sit down. This is fabulous news, Lottie.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘So, what’s next?’

  ‘I don’t know. It’s really weird and I’m trying to keep myself realistic but I feel like we are together already.’

  ‘Fab! I’m more than thrilled for you. ’

  ‘Do you reckon that’s normal these days though? It’s really fast to be thinking we’re an item now, isn’t it?’

  ‘I’m not your best person for advice, but no it’s not if you just fit together. I tried to keep it slow with Luke because of Maggie and Bella, but I knew from the beginning. I reckon if you know, you know.’

  ‘Right. Well, I know. Blooming heck, Jools. I’m in up to my neck. Actually, scrub that, I’m way over my head.’

  ‘Enjoy it, Lottie. You’ve had no one in your corner since Charlie. Take this by the horns and go for your life.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I will. I mean, I am.’

  ‘Good girl. Right, got to go. I’m late already and will be spending the whole day chasing my tail at this rate, and I’ve got an appointment with the solicitor regarding the new house too.’

  ‘Okay. Thanks for calling. Good luck with the solicitor. I’ll let you know any updates later.’

  ‘Will do! Okay lovely, enjoy the rest of the day. I’ll be waiting with bated breath. Text me.’

  Lottie closed her phone, got in the shower and thought about the evening before and how the function had gone. Lovely Xian commanding everyone from the corner and giving Lottie little raised eyebrows every time Connor came into the room. At one point, after the lasagnes had gone out, Xian had shuffled up to her, nodded her head, and whispered to Lottie that Connor and her were a match made in heaven.

  As Lottie lathered shampoo over her hair, she smiled at funny little Xian and wondered what she would think if she knew how the night had turned out. If she knew that Lottie had ended up spending the night with Connor tucked up in his bed. Tucked up with not a lot of sleep going on.

  She smiled at that thought, pushed the lever on the shower, stepped out, wrapped her head in a towel and looked in the mirror.

  Hopefully, there would be many more nights tucked up in Connor’s bed to come.

  Chapter 56

  A few weeks later, Lottie walked out of Holly’s bakery just before they were closing with a loaf of sourdough tucked in her basket to go with the picnic she’d put together that morning. She’d made beautiful Greek chicken kebabs, a lentil salad, and had walked to the laneway that morning for fresh sardines which had been marinating in garlic, olive oil and lemon all day.

  Just as Lottie stepped outside the bakers she bumped straight into Holly, who was walking in from the street.

  ‘Hi! I haven’t seen you for ages,’ Holly remarked.

  ‘I know! How are you? I’ve been meaning to pop in. I’ve just been so busy with Secret Evenings.’

  ‘I’ve heard at the club.’

  ‘Right. Yes, Dimitri said he saw you,’ Lottie replied nodding.

  ‘He did see me, yes,’ Holly answered and lowered her voice. ‘He also told me the other exciting news. The Connor news.’

  Lottie started to laugh. ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about!’

  ‘I’ve heard it’s going faster than the new train.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘Good for you. I’m glad you decided to go for it.’

  ‘I did. I can’t quite believe it myself but I’ve jumped in with two feet and I’m loving every single second.’

  Holly went to push open the bakery door.

  ‘You enjoy it. You’re downright glowing, like you’ve been showered in gold. You’ve got the whole of Pretty Beach rooting for you, that’s all I can say. Couldn’t have happened to a better person.’

  ‘Thanks, Holly. You’re so kind.’

  ‘Not at all. Anyway, be seeing you. Be good or actually, don’t be good!’ Holly cackled and stepped into the bakery and waved.

  Lottie waved back and as she made her way down to the sea where the familiar Pretty Beach aroma greeted her as she got to the beach. A lovely combination of fish and chips, fresh coastal air, seaweed, and sun lotion. A group of teenage girls in bikini tops and turned up jeans walked in front of her towels under their arms as a flock of seagulls squawked around above.

  Lottie made her way along the promenade and watched the goings-on of Pretty Beach behind her huge sunglasses. It was a beautiful day and the locals were out to play. A family with a red gingham tablecloth laid out with a picnic sat in the old bandstand and a couple in matching Panama hats walked hand-in-hand in front of her pulling along a basket on wheels.

  As Lottie got to the very end of the promenade at the quieter end of the beach, she made her way to the meeting spot with Connor. She stood at the top looking down the beach to spot him and saw him standing down at the water’s edge looking out to sea.

  He’d set up a picnic blanket right up next to the last breaker, a couple of blue and white striped deck chairs sat behind it, and a small barbecue was nestled to the left.

  ‘Hey,’ Connor said as Lottie approached. ‘How are you?’

  ‘I’m great, and we have enough food for the whole of Pretty Beach and Seafolly in this basket.’

  ‘Good. I’m ravenous. It’s been manic at work with the new lot of recruits and I only had a quick, small sandwich at lunch,’ Connor said as he put his arms around Lottie’s waist and kissed her gently.

  ‘What a lovely evening,’ Lottie said as she put the basket down on the rug and looked at the changing colours of the sunset in front of them. ‘It really is very beautiful down here. I must do it
more often. Look at that sky.’

  ‘I thought the same thing. I need to spend more time taking in the pleasures of this lovely little town.’

  I need to take more time taking in the pleasures of you.

  Lottie took the cool bag out of her basket and held up a bottle of chilled white wine to Connor. ‘Wine or beer?’

  ‘I’d love a beer, please.’

  Lottie rooted around in the bottom of the cool bag, pulled out a bottle of beer and popped off the lid. ‘There you go,’ she said as she handed it over, grabbed one for herself and sat down next to Connor in the other deck chair. Connor took hold of her hand.

  ‘A gorgeous evening with my new gorgeous partner.’

  Lottie froze. So, he was calling it. She was now his partner.

  ‘That’s official, is it?’ Lottie looked at him and laughed.

  ‘Sorry, yes that suddenly came out. We didn’t talk about it,’ Connor replied and continued. ‘As far as I’m concerned though, there’s nothing to talk about. I’m in. You?’

  ‘Oh yes, Connor. I’m definitely in too.’

  Chapter 57

  Lottie tutted as she finished off wiping the spatula around the bowl of her KitchenAid, scooped the lavender biscuit mixture into a container, and put it in the fridge while her phone sat propped up behind the Aga on loudspeaker.

  ‘You are caller number three in the queue. Please hold,’ the robotic voice informed her.

  She really shouldn’t be complaining that she was having to organise the delivery of an oven for the outbuildings. She should be counting her lucky stars that the business had taken off and could already afford it.

  Time had marched on since the first event at the Boat House. The website was now getting regular bookings every time Dimitri added a new event, they had started to book out the summer months, and had even started talking about Christmas. Bar the regular problems with hospitality that inevitably came up, all the events had been a roaring success.

  The third Secret Evenings event had been in the courtyard of Sallie’s Orangery underneath the gazebo, another event had taken place at the bookshop, one had been held in an old summer house backing onto the beach at Suntanned Pete’s cottages, and after various problems with the power and water, they were nearly ready to start hosting the secret events in her house on Strawberry Hill.