One Sweet Day in Lovely Bay

Chapter 1

1

C ally de Pfeffer liked nothing better than revelling in her new life in Lovely Bay. It wasn’t just the fact that Lovely was so pretty with its sweet winding streets, huge towering lighthouse, shell-shaped roof tiles, rows of gorgeous shops, and lines of pastel bunting. Oh no, there were many other aspects about living in the third smallest town in the country that she loved. She also liked things such as the riverboat and using it to get around. It was definitely one of the nicer modes of transport she’d used: it sure beat the dirty old bus she’d taken to school back in the day. Add on top of good transport and beautiful aesthetics, the friendly local community, Lovelies, as they were known, and setting up anew in the sweet little town by the sea had been one of her better moves in life.

Strolling along quickly with a bit of a hustle to her steps and her nose tilted up to the warm breeze, Cally smiled at the beautiful day as she made her way down towards the River Lovely. Lovely itself was oddly quiet all around her and she couldn’t quite work out why. Maybe Lovelies had some knowledge she didn't yet know about that the ever-changeable Lovely weather was about to turn. On her way to meet Logan for a coffee, she kept her fingers crossed that that wasn't going to be the case. She’d much rather stick with sunshine and warm breezes, thank you very much.

A few minutes later, as she turned the corner, she slowed her pace as one of the River Lovely jetties came into her line of sight. She smiled to herself as she spied Colin, the skipper, standing by the little hut on the jetty, looking out in the direction of the bay. The riverboat bobbed and clanged around beside him and the sunshine glinted off the top of the water. By the looks of it, Colin and the boat were waiting for a train to come in from the nearby Lovely train station and for its passengers to make their way over to the boat.

Approaching the jetty with a wicker shopping basket in the crook of her arm, Cally pulled her phone out of her pocket in order to pay. She walked briskly across the old, weathered boards, and pointed her phone in the direction of the new little payment gadget slotted just next to the entrance to the hut adjacent to the gangplank.

Colin smiled as he came out of the hut. Cally raised her eyebrows and gave a little wave as she pointed to the payment machine. ‘Hiya. How are you? The new machine is working well. How are you getting on with it?’

Colin laughed. ‘I know. It’s been good. Bit of a palaver to get it fitted but I got there in the end. They don’t just call me a pretty face, you know, our Cally.’

Cally felt all the warm and fuzzies at being referred to the local way, whereby an ‘our’ was automatically put in front of her name. When she’d first heard Lovelies address each other as such, she’d thought it a bit odd, old-fashioned, and, to be frank, strange all around. Now, she clung onto it with a passion, so very happy to be considered and recognised as a Lovely. It was the little things about living in the town that made all the difference.

Cally bantered, ‘Oh, I know you’re more than just a pretty face. You got it working in the end. Was it too much of a faff?’

Colin rolled his eyes. ‘Not too bad. It wasn’t going to beat me.’

‘Too funny,’ Cally said as she walked onto the boat. ‘Well, as long as you got there in the end.’

‘I did, indeed.’ Colin gestured with a nod of his head in the direction of the station. ‘Just waiting for that lot and we’ll get going.’

‘Thanks.’

Once settled at the top, with her basket tucked up on the seat beside her, Cally sat waiting for the riverboat to depart. Lost in a world of her own for a bit, she stared over to the other side of the water, watching Lovelies doing their thing. A couple strolled along the river path hand in hand, two dog walkers chatted as they trailed behind their pups and a jogger looking very fit made Cally consider for a moment her intention to take up some exercise. The same intention she’d had for what felt like ever but had ultimately resulted in the fact that she’d never actually found the time. If truth be told, she’d never been that bothered and had little to no inclination.

As the boat finally pulled away, she settled in. The engine puttered, water swished against the bottom, and the river path began to slide slowly by. She heard Colin call out from the deck below. ‘Next stop Lovely Harbour, then the bay. Stay on for the marshes and all other stops.’

Cally smiled, put her sunglasses on, squinted down in the direction of the bay, and marvelled at the weather. After working all the hours all week with early starts and late finishes, she was looking forward to meeting Logan, walking along by the harbour, getting a coffee, and doing not much with her day at all. Taking it easy was what she was going to do. No irritated retail customers, no cartons in the chemist, and no decluttering for people who didn’t have the time, inclination, or effort to do it themselves. She was thoroughly looking forward to the gentle art of doing nothing. Bring that right on.

Edging closer to the stop for Lovely Bay, she took in the queue of people on the jetty waiting to get on and realised that, unlike the side of Lovely she’d come from, the beach area was busy. Picking up her basket, she slipped her phone in her pocket, held on tightly to the railing and made her way down the stairs to wait to get off. As Colin steered in the boat, she peered and shaded her eyes to see if she could spot Logan waiting for her. As she spied him, her stomach jumped, and her heart flipped. With a bag over his shoulder, sunglasses on his head, and a blue short-sleeved shirt, he was leaning on a railing watching the boat approach. When he saw Cally, he raised his hand and waved. As Cally waved back, she thanked her lucky stars that their two very different worlds had collided. It had been on the very boat she was standing on when the bottom of her bag had given way and spilt its contents all over the deck. Logan had been sitting on the back of the boat when her things had fallen all around him, a raw chicken breast landing at his feet. He’d been swift in his role as knight in shining armour. She’d liked that part a lot. He was her kind of knight, indeed.

Once the boat had docked and she’d made her way off, she walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. As he put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed the top of her arm, she still couldn't quite believe that she and him were a thing. She’d take it for the team, though. She wasn’t going to complain. Hottie patottie and then some.

Logan held up a brown paper bag. ‘I have goodies from that bakery I was telling you about.’

‘Excellent.’ Cally mirrored his movement with her basket. ‘I have goodies, too.’

‘Ha. How was the boat?’

‘Quiet the top end, busy down here.’

Logan nodded in agreement. ‘I know. The sunshine brings out the beachgoers, right?’

‘I thought the same as we made our way along the river.’

‘Enjoy the trip?’

‘I did. I sat and looked out at the world going by. I needed it after the week I’ve had.’

Logan pointed down the river. ‘It never ceases to amaze me how nice the River Lovely is, and on a day like this, it doesn’t disappoint. The colours are something else.’

‘Agree.’ Cally looked over her shoulder and took in the full view of the river. ‘I’ve had worse places to commute to and from.’

‘Tell me about it. How were the chatbot horrors this morning? Behaving themselves?’

‘Oh, you know, the usual whining culprits. Someone was complaining that she was a technophobe and couldn’t work out how to start a return - while she was speaking to me on the app via the wifi on a plane. But she’s a technophobe. Course she is. You can’t make it up.’

‘Not that old technophobe thing. Makes me chuckle when people say that as they use an app to pretty much drive their car.’

Cally nodded. ‘Trust me, I’ve heard it all in that job. My eyes are no longer able to roll far enough back in my head. How many times have I heard a parcel was lost in the post when I have the picture from the delivery driver of the parcel in situ?’

‘You make me laugh.’

‘A job, though, is a job, is it not?’

‘You betcha.’ Logan wiggled the brown bag. ‘Remind you of anything?’

Cally put her head to the side and pretended to think. ‘Hmm, let me think.’

‘The day you threw a raw chicken breast at me just to get me to notice you. I mean, talk about desperate.’

‘Yeah, nope, not quite, but I’ll let you think that was what happened.’

Logan chuckled. ‘If it hadn’t been for that dodgy paper bag, we might never have crossed paths.’

‘I suppose not. Though I might have met you at the manor.’ Cally felt the ripple she felt, when Logan looked at her, zoom from her feet to her heart.

Logan smiled. ‘If I hadn’t been down here because my office was being renovated and I’d needed to keep an eye on the horses, we might not have ever met.’

Cally squinted and put her head to the side. ‘You’re right. I’ve never thought about it like that.’

‘There were a few sliding door occasions. When we scrounged those speakeasy tickets that night, I thought you might be there and you were.’

Cally giggled. ‘That’s why when I came out of the bathroom, you were gone.’

‘All part of a carefully strategised plan to get my wicked way.’

Cally punched Logan gently on the arm. ‘It was not!’

Logan laughed, took Cally’s basket, and hooked it over his arm. ‘You made it easy for me. Chucking poultry at me and pulling shelves down on yourself.’

Cally shook her head as she remembered her first day working for Nina when a shelving unit had collapsed around her. ‘Gosh. I thought I was going to have to pay for that unit.’

‘But I saved the day.’ Logan joked and smiled.

‘You hero, you.’

‘I think I made quite a good hero.’

‘I guess you did.’

‘You were quite the piece of work. I knew I had to up my game.’

‘What? What are you on about? Up your game?’

‘Hot air balloons, Royal boxes.’ Logan gesticulated with the basket. ‘Flipping picnics. I hope you know how lucky you are, Blackcurrant.’

‘Right back at you, Henry-Hicks.’ Cally laughed and bantered. ‘You’re the one who is lucky. It’d be good if you never, ever forget that.’

‘Trust me. I won’t.’

L ogan chuckled and smiled as they turned from the jetty. ‘Well, let’s hope we don’t have any more calamities with bags. Right, let’s get going. I need a coffee.’

After strolling along by the harbour and enjoying the sunshine, they stopped at a coffee kiosk and after Logan had queued up, they sat right by the water on a bench, and he handed her a cup. Cally sipped her coffee, looked up at the blue sky, and smiled. ‘Well, this is the life. After a week of nothing but work, a nice coffee with this view is just what I needed.’

‘You need a break, if you ask me. You’re working like three jobs.’

‘I didn’t ask you. I’m fine.’

‘Three jobs is quite a lot, you know,’ Logan said with raised eyebrows. ‘For normal people, at least.’

‘Funny. I’m quite tired, but my little pot of savings is growing by the day, and that’s all I’m interested in.’ Cally rolled her eyes. ‘Just a shame I have to work on that chatbot with women who spend more on a scarf than my laptop cost.’

‘Is it still running really slowly?’ Logan asked.

Cally rolled her eyes again. ‘You could say that. I really need to get on with getting a new one. I’ve decided I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and get on with it. Eloise mentioned about getting a reconditioned one. She sent me a link. I’m going to have a look later. It’s time for the old relic to go. I just need to suck it up and make it happen.’

Logan made a funny face. ‘Well, you might not have to bother with that.’

Cally screwed her nose up. ‘Yeah, I will. I’ve had that laptop for a long time. It’s from the dark ages. It doesn’t work properly with all the current technology and it’s becoming an issue at work. I’ve had my money’s worth.’

Logan pulled his bag around, put it beside him, and slid out a beautifully wrapped parcel. ‘I was saving this until later, but seeing as it came up… it might help. I’ve just been to collect it. Great minds think alike, as it were.’

Cally looked at a box wrapped in pink paper with a huge white bow on the top. ‘Sorry? What is this? It’s not my birthday or anything.’

‘Doesn’t need to be your birthday for me to buy you something. I decided someone needed to do something about the state of your laptop and it wasn’t going to be you any time soon. Though it seems I was wrong and we were, in actual fact, thinking along the same lines.’

‘Oh my God, did you get me a new laptop?’ Cally slowly took off the white ribbon and carefully unwrapped the pink paper to see a white box. She shook her head, pulled off the lid, and picked up a gold laptop. ‘Wow! It’s absolutely gorgeous.’ Cally hissed as she turned it over and held it up as if to assess its weight. ‘Goodness, it’s on a different level to the one I’ve got. I can hardly even pick that one up. This is so light!’

‘It is. I tried to use yours the other day and just lugging it from the table to the sofa was enough. Honestly, Cal, it really did need an upgrade.’

Cally ran her hand across the top of the laptop and then squinted as something caught her eye. ‘Oh my goodness, did you get it engraved?’ She looked closer to see that Logan had had the laptop engraved. She chuckled as she saw the word “Blackcurrant” just underneath the serial numbers on the back.

‘I thought you’d like it,’ Logan laughed.

‘Like it? I love it. I can’t believe you’d do this for me!’ Cally swallowed as she traced her finger over the engraved word. She couldn’t quite get her head around the gift. She felt pathetically grateful. An image of sitting in the spare room at her grandma’s house in the early hours of the morning, wrapped in a duvet, trying to finish an assignment on her old laptop, flashed in front of her eyes. Her voice was thick with emotion. 'I don't know what to say. It's too much. You shouldn't have. It must have cost loads. I looked at these and, well, that’s why Eloise suggested a reconditioned one.’

Logan shook his head. 'Nonsense. You need to stop saying that. You deserve this and so much more. I want to spoil you. Get it?’

Cally didn’t get it. Not at all. Not even close. She thought about what her friend Eloise had told her about money blocks. This was clearly one of them right in front of her, wrapped in pink and topped with a bow. ‘Right.’

‘If a new laptop makes your life a little bit easier and brighter, then it's worth every penny as far as I’m concerned.’

Overwhelmed, Cally felt a prick at the corner of her eyes. She put the laptop back in the box, hugged Logan, buried her face in his neck, and breathed in the familiar Logan smell. 'Thank you. So much.’

‘You are more than welcome.’

‘I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I am so grateful to have you in my life.'

Logan squeezed her and then held her way from him. ‘Are you getting soppy on me, Blackcurrant?’

‘No, no, course not.’

‘Ha, you are. I like it. Continue.’

‘I’m just happy.’

'You deserve everything good in this world, Cal. I feel great to be the one who gets to share it with you.’

Cally was silent for a bit. She mused how she’d spent her whole life before meeting Logan, caring for other people and holding up the sky. ‘It’s taking me a while to understand being treated.’

‘Get used to it, chicken-licken. It’s here to stay.’

‘Thank you. I love you.’

‘Right back at you. I’m so happy you came crashing into my world. Let me tell you, I love buying stuff for you.’

‘Aww, thank you.’

‘When I first laid eyes on you, I knew that you were special and a bit weird. Now I know you’re very weird and I love it.’

Cally laughed, thinking back to their encounter at the manor, when she’d been covered in a huge blackcurrant stain. 'Ah yes, nothing says "soulmate material" like someone who throws chicken at you and turns up to a new job in a dirty great stained blouse.’

Logan grinned. ‘It just goes to show that you have a talent for making a memorable first impression.’

Cally rolled her eyes and swatted his chest. ‘Memorable is one word for it. I’d say "disastrous" or "cringe-worthy," but each to their own.’

'Well, I wouldn't change a single thing about that day or any of the days that followed. And I want more of them, though I might give the continually bumping my head on your flat’s ceiling a miss.’

‘You’ll have to put up with it until I’ve saved enough money to start looking for my own place.’

‘You’re worth a few bumps.’

Cally carefully smoothed the wrapping paper, folded it into the laptop box, added the laptop, tied the bow, and then slid the box into the bag. She turned around and squinted across the harbour. ‘Right, I feel an ice cream coming on. It’s the weather for it.’

‘Laptops, ice cream, coffee. Anything else?’

Cally giggled as they got up and she took Logan’s hand. ‘What a day, eh?’ She looked up at the sun high in the sky as a few seagulls wheeled and cried overhead, and a salty sea breeze rustled through her hair.

‘Yeah, we’d better make the best of it before the weather changes again. We are in Lovely, after all. We might get hailstones later.’

As they walked, Cally couldn’t quite get her head around the laptop. Little did Logan know how much it actually meant to her. How, also, as she walked along beside him, she felt as if it was exactly where she was meant to be. She glanced up at him, her heart skipping a beat, and wondered if he really felt the same as she did deep down in her bones. From her side of the fence, without a shadow of a doubt, she felt as if they were meant to be. They just slotted together despite their different backgrounds and vastly different lives. So far, it had been marvellous. She couldn't wait to see where the journey would take them next. Little did she know what was coming. A little on the bumpy side sprang to mind.