Winter at Pretty Beach Polly Babbington (best novels to read txt) 📖

She opened the timeline on her phone and tallied it up with what was written on the planner - everything had a goal and then each goal was broken down into what needed to be done to complete that task. Once it was laid out in front of her, Sallie sighed in relief - all the early planning and organisation had paid off. All she really needed to do was turn the Orangery into a Christmas scene and process bookings if and when they came in as a result of the competition coverage and she was sure she could manage that if she needed to look after Tillie at the same time.

She sat back and sipped on the coffee she’d bought from the catering carriage, its bitter aftertaste sticking in her mouth, and ran her pen down through the dates. Yes, all was set.

As she was checking through one of Lucian’s spreadsheets a message pinged from him.

Darling, I hope you’re okay? Don’t worry - I’ve got everything covered this end. The only thing you need to do is the decorating.

Just been cross-checking all my lists - I’ll have to let go of some of the social media plans but the main thing is to make sure the place is dressed up for Christmas - after all it is a Christmas wedding. 

Indeed! Don’t worry about social media anyway - as long as you keep it fairly updated it will still be ok.

Yep, I thought the same. I’m just going to go through the decor plans and look for anything I’ve missed. Then there’s the tree to sort.

OK. All good darling. Don’t worry about anything - sort out that little baby and lovely Nina and the rest of it will be taken care of by moi!

Thank you. You’ve taken such a load off my mind. Thank goodness you’re organised and on top of everything. 

I aim to please darling. Text me tomorrow when you’re back in the land of the living and know what you’re doing. I have a recording in the morning but that’s all. Let’s meet for a cup of tea and go through everything if you’ve got time.

Will do.

Sallie flipped through the documents on her phone until she arrived at ‘Christmas Decor’ and went through it. She started going through each one and looking at the corresponding boards on Pinterest and envisaging in her head how it would look and more importantly how it would look on camera. She very quickly realised she’d overlooked something very big. It was quite simple - with the size of the Orangery, the arrival of the bride and the logistics of how the room was laid out inside, she would be needing more than one tree.

Chapter 37

Sallie got off the train to heavy grey clouds swirling angrily above her head, patches of ice from the night before hadn’t yet defrosted and dirty slushy snow lodged in the gutters. What a day to arrive back - the weather was looking grim.

As she hurried along dragging her case behind her she wasn’t sure that going straight to the hospital was such a good idea. She felt exhausted by the journey which amplified the worry she had for Nina. They were so close - Nina was more like a sister to her and her going into hospital wasn't in the plan anywhere, at any point. Sallie felt like a cloud of worry was hovering over her head as she walked through Newport Reef station. The idea of walking into the hospital and seeing Nina in a bed surrounded by machines suddenly seemed all too much.

She gripped the handle on her case harder, the whites of her knuckles showing through her skin, and wondered whether she should have gone home first, had a night in her own bed. Made sure her head was straight.

Opening the map on her phone it told her that Newport Reef hospital was a ten-minute walk and even in the weather she was grateful for the cold fresh air after the hours in the plane, airports and train.

Hurrying along up the hill, and too late to hop in a taxi, the heavens opened with sheets of rain. Ducking into a shop doorway, Sallie fished around in her bag for her umbrella, opened it up and carried along up the hill with cars whooshing past showering the pavement with more water. By the time she arrived at the hospital she felt harassed, damp, tired and irritable.

Hospital noises were around her at every turn - an ambulance screamed past with its siren blaring and a parking attendant in a fluoro vest was shouting as he was directing traffic. A reversing catering van’s beeps sounded loudly for all pedestrians to stop and get out of the way - she waited for it to finish the manoeuvre and walked into the hospital and approached the large circular desk of the newly renovated hospital. It crossed her mind that the inside of the hospital looked as if it had been designed by the same architect from the airport she’d just left.

As she approached the desk she was greeted by a middle-aged woman with long, thick dark hair, a tight uniform jumper and baggy wide-legged trousers.

‘Yes?’ The woman said, her face not looking either particularly welcoming nor happy.

Sallie was taken aback - it was a far cry from the customer service she’d experienced all the way across the Atlantic and it crossed her mind to take the name from her badge and complain.

‘ICU please,’ she said politely and smiled.

‘What? ICU?’ The woman in the ghastly, overly tight jumper barked.

‘Yes, I’d like directions please.’

‘We don’t just let anyone in there you know.’

‘Yes, thank you I am aware of that. I’ve had an email from the ward. I’m the legal guardian of the child of one of the patients.’

She tapped on the computer. ‘Name?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Your name?’

‘Ms Broadchurch-Chalmers, thank you.’

‘Mrs of Miss?’

‘As I said, it’s Ms.’

Sallie didn’t elaborate further - this woman and her attitude were