Chapter 44
Nina walked along the road beside Robby, strolling in the direction of the jetty not far from the High Street. With Faye in her pram, they watched as the riverboat puttered along, and Clive waved from the front. Nina smiled and waved. It was a bright day in Lovely Bay, with sunshine darting in and out of clouds and the riverboat was busy with people out and about. Robby bumped the pram wheels up over the ramp, wheeled it towards the front of the boat, put on the brake, and sat down.
‘Bonjour,’ Clive said as he approached. ‘How are you guys?’
‘We’re doing well. How’s baby Faye?’ Clive asked, peering into the pram where Faye was asleep.
‘She’s doing well, but she’s been quite unsettled, so we came out for a walk. She’s dropped off, thank goodness. We’re on our way to the hotel to check on that water leak it had.’
‘Oh yes, I heard about that. What was it in the end?’
‘Something to do with one of the drains,’ Robby replied. ‘It’s one of the main pipes that runs along through the back of the property there. It was blocked. We had to call the water people in the end.’
‘That doesn’t sound good. Garden full of water, wasn’t it? That’s what Birdie said.’ Clive asked.
Nina raised her eyebrows. ‘Yes, it was. And then, on top of that, all that rain we had didn’t help matters. Water everywhere! We’re popping down there to check it out.’
Robby nodded. ‘Combining it with getting Faye out for a walk, so hopefully, it”ll settle her a bit.’
‘What’s wrong with her then?’ Clive asked. ‘Poor little sausage.’
‘Not really sure. She’s been quite grizzly.’
Clive sighed. ‘Not nice.’
‘Nope. Not nice for anyone involved.’ Nina agreed with a laugh.
About fifteen minutes or so later, they strolled towards The Summer Hotel and both grimaced as Faye stirred. Robby jiggled the pram, and Nina whispered, ‘Oh, that didn’t last very long, did it?’
‘Maybe she’ll drop back off.’
Nina peered into the pram as Faye closed her eyes again, looking as if she might go back to sleep. ‘Poor little thing.’
As they arrived at Robby’s aunt’s house, they knocked on the door. A couple of minutes later, June answered and beamed. ‘What a nice surprise. How is she? Feeling any better?’
Robby smiled. ‘Not really, she’s been quite unsettled, so we’ve brought her out for a walk. She did drop off, but she hasn’t been that happy.’
June tutted and shook her head. ‘Sad. Maybe it’s her tummy. What a sweet little cherry pie she is, though.’
‘She is. And guess who’s been booked into baby swimming lessons?’
June clapped her hands together. ‘That’s so cute.’
‘Yeah,’ Robby smiled, ‘I can’t wait to take her and see how she gets on. You’ll have to come.’
‘Daddy and baby going swimming, how sweet!’ June exclaimed.
‘Robby is taking her when I’m at work, so that works out nicely.’ Nina noted.
‘Fabulous!’ June enthused.
‘Anyway, June, how are you?’
‘Doing well. No complaints from me at my age.’ June replied and joked. ‘Still have all my own teeth, too.’
‘Ready for your trip to the caravan?’ Robby asked.
‘I can’t wait. I’m going to have lots of time to put my feet up and I have loads of good books to read. I’m sorted on that front.’
‘Excellent, just what I like to hear.’
‘Anyway, where are you two off to?’
‘Just going next door to check everything is still okay after all the kerfuffle with the pipe,’ Nina answered.
‘Yep, okay. I think it’s fine from what I saw yesterday afternoon. Still no sale?’ June asked, raising her eyebrows.
‘No, not yet. Not as far as I know.’
‘What about those two women you were telling me about?’ June said and jerked her thumb in the direction of the road. ‘Whatever happened to them?’
‘Yes, they are or were definitely interested, but not at the price wanted.’
‘Did they negotiate on the price?’ June asked. ‘I can’t remember what you said now.’
‘Yes, they did. But Jill wasn’t budging, so that’s that. Those ladies from Pretty Beach drive a hard bargain. They made an offer and wouldn’t increase it. They knew their figures down to the penny, according to Ella.’
‘Interesting.’
‘Yes, apparently Ella had another viewing last week with another interested party, but they said the same thing, that it was too expensive for the work involved.’
‘Oh, well. I’m sure the right buyer will come along at some point.’
Robby pointed the pram in the direction of the hotel. ‘Right, we’d better get on.’
‘Yes, see you later.’
Robby and Nina proceeded to The Summer Hotel, going down the side and pushing the pram to where the pipe had caused problems. Parking Faye on the path, they examined the area and finding nothing but a lot of muddy grass, Nina flicked the brake on the pram and headed down in the direction of the River Lovely at the back of the property.
She pointed to the river. ‘I might take her down there for a bit for the air.’
‘Good idea.’
A few minutes later, Robby was sitting with Faye by the back gate and Nina was strolling along by the shore. She picked up shells as she walked along, examining the pearly pink of their insides and squinting to try and find white ones for her huge glass jar full of seaside finds. After about ten minutes, she turned back, headed towards Robby and sat down next to him.
‘Any nice ones?’
Nina held out her hand, showing Robby a white shell. ‘This one is gorgeous.’ She held the shell up, the edges catching the sunlight. ‘It’s going in our collection at home.’
Robby smiled and looked down at Faye, who was still blissfully snoozing in her pram. ‘I wonder if she’s going to love a bit of shell hunting and all the outdoor stuff we do?’
Nina nodded. ‘I hope so.’ She watched a couple of birds dart across the water. ‘It’s so peaceful here, isn’t it? Just sitting here, no rush to do anything. I thought that when I first arrived back in the day.’
‘It is when there aren’t any leaking pipes, just us and Faye.’
‘It’s moments like these I want to bottle up for the rough days.’ Nina said with a chuckle.
‘What, like when we can’t get her off to sleep?’
Nina watched the waves tumbling again and again onto the shore. ‘Precisely. Last night wasn’t too bad, though. She only woke up a few times.’
Robby looked at Faye. ‘You know, I just can’t fathom how much I love her. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes, I just can’t wrap my head around it.’
Nina squeezed his hand. ‘I’m hearing you.’
Just then, Faye stirred, her little arms flailing slightly. Robby leaned over, adjusted the blanket and patted Faye’s tummy. ‘Looks like someone’s waking up.’
Nina sighed. ‘I could have stayed here all day.’
Robby smiled. ‘Plenty of time for that. We’ll be sitting on this bench when we’re grey and old.’
‘Aww, that’s sweet. If it’s still here, then. By the way, I don’t intend to go grey.’
Robby laughed. ‘It will be.’
‘I guess you’re right. We’ll always be able to come down here and just sit and look at Lovely, watch the boats, collect seashells and do our thing. How lucky are we?’
‘As long as I’m doing it with you Neens, it sounds good to me.’
‘Right back at you. All of this is more than enough for me. I’m just so glad I found Lovely Bay.’
The new Polly book (Cally’s story)
One Nice Day is available here.
***