Wildflowers at The Summer Hotel Lovely Bay: Small Town Contemporary Romance by Polly Babbington

Author:Polly Babbington [Babbington, Polly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

24

In old, ripped jeans and a work shirt, Nina was in the new harbour property. She heaved herself up the timber stairs towards the third floor. She’d been working all day and was feeling it as she got to the top and stood looking at the room. Despite wondering when it was ever going to be done, she suddenly felt as if everything had come together. When she’d first bought the place, it had been covered in dust, cobwebs, and loads of junk. Now the junk was long gone, just a distant memory of one of the first few days when she’d taken possession. Not only was the place now free of junk, but the whole of the top floor was a beautiful, soft white. On the far wall, the old timber shelves that had stored fishing gear were a slightly warmer shade of white and now held pillar candles, a selection of photo frames, and a couple of plants. Nina was well on her way to getting the place sorted.

Across the room, she pushed up the beautiful sash window and stood for a while looking out over the harbour. Boats bobbed around on the water, the sunlight glinted off the sea, and every now and then, a seagull swooped down and landed on the back of a hull. After fussing with a sisal plaited rug that had been delivered the day before, she pulled a chair over towards the window and sat looking out at the same view, lost in thought. It was her and Andrew’s wedding anniversary, and despite telling herself that she was fine and everything was okay when the date had flicked over on her phone, she wasn’t very happy at all. She watched as Sophie crossed the harbour below, pushed open the window further, called out, and waved. At first, Sophie didn’t hear her, so she called again. Hearing Nina’s voice, Sophie peered up at the top of the building, put her left hand up to shade her eyes, and called out, 'Hello, how are you?'

'Yes, all good, thanks. How are you?' Nina replied.

'Fine.’

‘Tea?'

'Yes, please. Love one,' Sophie replied.

Nina shut the window and made her way downstairs, and just as she was pouring hot water from the kettle into the teapot, Sophie came through the back door. She hugged Nina and then, holding her arms out and keeping her hands on Nina’s shoulders, she raised her eyebrows in question. 'Are you okay? I know this is a sad day.'

Nina replied, 'Yes, I'm fine. Honestly.'

'Really?' Sophie replied, her eyebrows still raised in question. 'You seem very off.'

'No, I'm fine,' Nina repeated, as the Pity Smile Nina hadn’t seen for a long time landed back on Sophie’s face.

'Not the best day for you, is it?'

Nina shrugged and flapped her hand a little bit. 'I'm okay. I'm used to it. It’s just... I’ve had a lot going on, and I seem to be strangely full of emotion, which I didn’t think was going to happen. I’m just a bit fragile around the edges.

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