Page 11 of Love from Pretty Beach

I t was a beautiful day in Pretty Beach, cold, yes, but with a bright blue sky and matching sunshine.

Not a bad way to start the day. For sure, it was a morning when Darby was very pleased with her decision to move to the coast. Sometimes, she’d wondered what she’d been thinking in moving to a small town where she hadn’t known a soul, but mostly it had been one of her better decisions in life.

Walking along with the wind in her hair and Lola stopping to sniff just about everything, she stood on the coastal path looking over the town and smiled.

With its lines of pretty pastel houses and lighthouse in the distance, she’d lived in worse places, that she knew for free.

Making her way back down, she stopped to chat with one of the girls from work who was also walking her dog.

Then, ambling past the wharf, she strolled down the laneway, dawdling as she went past the bakery and fish and chip shop.

It was a nice day to stroll around doing not much but mooch.

Stopping to look in the window of the bookshop, the woman who owned the bookshop, Daisy, opened the door with a chalkboard in her hands, propped it up by the doormat and smiled.

Darby had been one of the early adopters of a couple of wingback chairs in the bookshop and had followed Daisy’s rise in popularity on Instagram.

‘Oh, hey. What a beautiful morning. Hello, Lola.’ Daisy bobbed down to pat Lola and smiled up at Darby.

‘I know. I’ve just been up on the coastal path. It was a lovely breath of fresh air up there.’

‘Lucky you. Ahh, I bet it was nice up there on a day like this. I’ve just had the joys of the school run, which I cannot describe as pleasant.’

Darby flicked her eyes upwards. ‘Thankfully, my days of that particular delight are over for now. I don’t ever want to go back, thank you very much. Although, actually thinking about it, the school run in Pretty Beach can’t be too bad, can it?’

Daisy laughed. ‘I try to tell myself that when one or both of the twins is having a meltdown.’

Darby shuddered. ‘I know that feeling only too well.’

‘Are you coming in for a cup of tea? I’ve got cinnamon buns.’

Darby looked at her watch. ‘Actually, I need to get back. I have a video call with Molly.’

‘Right. How’s she getting on?’

‘Great, really well. She’s loving it.’

‘That’s nice.’

Just as they were chatting, a car pulled up and a man got out.

Not any old man. The man who had asked her to move her car.

That one. Darby held her gaze on him for a long second just as he raised his hand to wave.

Darby felt extremely pleased by that. It didn’t last long as she realised that he’d waved to Daisy and not her at all.

Thankfully, Darby hadn’t waved her hand and made herself look stupid.

The man called out. ‘Hey, Daise! How are you?’

‘Hiya. Good, thanks, Archie.’

Darby smiled. The plot thickened. So, Daisy knew the man who had awakened something in her.

Archie, mmm mmm, we have a name. Darby wanted to yell a million questions at Daisy all at once in a nice, long hurl of information gathering.

She, however, was no fool. One question and the whole of Pretty Beach would know that she’d inquired as to who he was.

She was surprised she’d never seen him before.

Then again, she didn’t get out much. Forcing herself not to turn around and stalk him up the laneway, she tuned back to Daisy and fired off a question that had nothing to do with the man or blood currently zooming around her body.

‘How are you getting on with the shop? I love this week’s window display.

You’re so good at it. I don’t know how you come up with so many lovely ideas, I really don’t. You’re so creative.’

‘Thank you. Yes, it’s going really well.

Since I got the runners-up prize in that retail award, I’ve definitely seen sales go up.

Yes, I can’t complain. It’s slow, but the little bits of the puzzle are all starting to click together to make it a success.

’ Daisy chuckled. ‘I don’t think I’ll be retiring anytime soon, not that I want to. ’

‘You and me both. Good for you. You’ve really done well with it. It’s certainly brightened my day.’

‘I think being in Pretty Beach helps and my social media accounts definitely play a big part. People love a bookshop in a coastal town and Pretty Beach doesn’t disappoint. We have become a bit of a star on the Insta-worthy destination trail. It’s working really well for me.’

Darby pointed to the beautiful old bookshop. ‘Totally deserved in my opinion. You’ve really put your heart into it.’

‘Yes, I suppose I have.’

All Darby could think about was who was walking away behind her down the laneway. She tried to continue to make conversation as her mind raced. ‘It’s such a nice success story.’

‘I guess it is. Did you get your email about the author’s talk with all the details?’

Darby nodded. She’d bought a ticket for an event Daisy was putting on for a local author.

To be quite honest, she had little to no intention of actually attending.

She’d purchased the ticket to support Daisy’s bookshop, but the author and the book itself hadn’t sounded up her alley at all.

She pretended she was looking forward to it when really she’d probably make up some excuse on the night.

A mystery bad thing she’d eaten or a migraine would appear.

‘Yes, thanks for that. I’m really looking forward to it. ’

‘Me too. I hope it goes well. The tickets sold out at lightning speed.’ Daisy rolled her eyes. ‘I’ve done something right.’

Darby gestured to the shop. ‘The whole shop is something you’ve done right. Yep, the evening will be fabulous, I bet.’

‘Thanks. Right, well, I’d better get on or it’ll be school run time again.’

‘Yep, me too. See you then.’

‘Will do. See you. Nice chatting.’

As Daisy walked away, she looked up at the bunting crisscrossed all the way along the laneway and wondered about the man.

Archie. Nice. Was seeing him again another sign from the universe?

Was it heck. She’d seen him as many times in as many days, but it wasn’t a sign, duh.

Shaking her head, she made a face and rolled her eyes.

The universe did not give her signs. He was just a random man whom she’d happened to cross paths with a few times because he was working in the farmhouse near her place.

Seeing him had nothing to do with the universe, signs or anything else.

Little did she know, the universe had plans. Hello Archie, nice to meet you.