A Pretty Beach Wish Polly Babbington (the lemonade war series .TXT) 📖

Ed pushed his glasses up to the top of his head and looked at Luke. ‘Ahh, yes, I’ve heard a lot about you, Luke. Not quite had the chance to meet you yet though.’

Luke held his hand out to Ed and smiled. ‘Nice to meet you, and where would you have heard about me?’

‘Hmm,’ Ed said with a wink and rubbed his chin, ‘Might have been a bit of a kerfuffle about you in the Smugglers around Christmas time. Word on the street said you’d better watch yourself around our midwife,’ Ed continued and laughed.

Juliette smiled to herself. Being the local midwife in Pretty Beach was hard work, but came with many benefits including the people of Pretty Beach having her back, and she loved how that made her feel.

‘Ahem, yes, right,’ Luke replied and they all chuckled.

‘Rightio. So, we have the double kayak, two life jackets and one wet bag. That’s what you booked in for, Luke. Correct?’

‘Correct,’ Luke replied.

‘Okay. Seeing as it’s Jools, have it on the house. You can sling me a few beers next time you're in the pub, eh?’

‘Wow, thank you Ed, that’s so kind of you,’ Juliette said with a smile.

‘The Pretty Beach way, my lovely. This place will be teeming with tourists in not so long and I won’t have a free kayak to my name to be able to offer anyone.’

‘Very much appreciated. So nice of you,’ Juliette said as Ed started to take two red life jackets from the timber cubby holes behind him and popped a tablet open to an insurance form on the counter.

‘Fill that in and we’ll be away. One of the best days I’ve seen for a long time. Where are you going to head off to? Got yourself a nice picnic in there, have you?’ Ed said, pointing to the basket over Juliette’s arm.

‘We have. We’re heading to Darling and hoping not to capsize.’

‘Capsize! You’d be the first, Jools! I’ve been here, what, thirty years and that’s not happened yet.’

‘That’s precisely what Luke said too. He said even I wouldn’t be able to sink one of these.’

‘Luke was correct. Now follow me. We’ll get you out there in no time. Darling will be glorious on a day like this.’

***

Juliette paddled along behind Luke in the double kayak. All her reservations about capsizing and her falling in were long gone. Even with her limited nautical legs, she could tell that the kayak was stable and with Luke at the front leading the way she felt safe. Happy even.

It was calm and bright out on the clear water of Pretty Beach bay. The only ripples in the water were when a brightly coloured fishing boat chugged past, or a seagull dived down from above splashing into the sea.

‘Okay?’ Luke called back and twisted around to see Juliette.

‘Yep, I’m fine back here. What a beautiful day.’

‘We’ll head over there to Darling Beach, then. Chuck our stuff out and then chill out over there for a while. Suit you?’

‘Yes, absolutely. We’ll weave in and out between the boats all the way there, will we?’

‘Yeah. I love looking at the boats - especially the old timber ones.’

‘Cool, lead the way.’

‘Are you paddling, Juliette?’ Luke asked, as Juliette rested her oar on top of the kayak.

‘Of course, I am,’ she replied.

‘Funny that, feels like I’m doing the work up here all alone.’

Juliette picked up the oar again and leisurely paddled behind Luke as they pottered in and out of the old fishing boats and vintage timber launches. Juliette peered up at the boats from the seat of the kayak. Some of them looked like they hadn’t been used for years.

‘Some of these are beautiful. I’ve always fancied a boat even with my limited experience. It always seems so carefree to me. Pottering around out on the sea and all that.’

‘Me too. I had one for a while a few years ago, actually. It was all a bit of a palaver though, getting it on and off the trailer, so I sold it,’ Luke said, from the front of the kayak.

‘You’ve never told me that before.’

‘It never came up. So, you’ve always fancied a boat?’

‘Well yes, the idea of a boat. The idea of buying an old vintage one and then doing it up. Making it all pretty. The actual practicalities of it though, not so much... I was more thinking of the aesthetics.’

‘Don’t tell me and putting bunting on it.’

‘How did you guess?’ Juliette laughed.

‘Ha! I know you too well. You are the woman with a pink shed, Juliette. But I don’t think pink would quite be my thing where a boat is concerned. I can’t quite see myself sailing around in a pale pink boat, I can tell you that for sure.’

‘How did you know I’ve always wished for a pale pink boat? Do you have an x-ray into my mind?’

‘Not quite, but you are the woman with pink wellies, a pink kitchen table, and you painted a floor in your house pale pink.’

‘So, I did Luke, so I did,’ Juliette replied and giggled. ‘That’s what happens when you’re devoid of girly stuff for ten years because your ex-husband doesn’t like it - you go into overdrive.’

Twenty minutes later and with Juliette’s shoulders feeling like they were going to come out of their sockets, they approached Darling Beach. Luke pushed his oar into the sand until the kayak was nearly on the shore.

‘Okay. Hop out here and then grab the wet bag from the front if you can. Then I’ll pull this up onto the beach.’

‘What, do I just hop out just like that?’ Juliette said and peered down into the water.

‘Yes. It’ll barely be up to your calves from here.’

Juliette looked down and felt dubious, but heaved herself out of the seat of the kayak and jumped into the water. Luke was spot on - the water came up to just below her knees. She grabbed the wet bag and picnic basket