Page 21 of Love from Pretty Beach

As she put the kettle on and began the process of clearing away the morning’s debris, she took a quick few snaps of the doors and carcasses and decided to load them to the Pretty Beach community page and see what happened.

Tapping on the pictures, she felt as if for once she’d done well.

She’d gone and grabbed the offensive units by the neck and rid them from offending her eyeballs.

The satisfaction was immense, her shoulders out of their sockets.

The kitchen looked like a building site with debris scattered across every surface and the pile of displaced cupboards taking up loads of space, but it also looked like progress. Like the beginning of something new.

Precisely four hours later, just about everything in Darby’s body hurt.

The backs of her legs were sore from crouching on the worktop and it felt as if someone had pulled her wrists out.

Despite this, she was so pleased with herself in actually getting the job done that she was hyper.

She could feel it in her bones that she would crash and burn, but soldiered on regardless.

On a roll, she was piling the parts of the cupboards by the old stone wall at the front of the property in an undercover wood storage spot where they were waiting for someone to come and collect them from her Facebook post. By the time she was on the inner shelves from the third dismantled carcass, she’d been back and forth to the kitchen many times.

Just as she was attaching little clear plastic bags full of screws to the corresponding doors with tape, she heard a car pull up.

Most definitely not wanting to see anyone, she kept her head down, hoping that the person wouldn’t see.

A few minutes later, heaving herself up after taping all the screws to the doors, she was face-to-face with Archie.

He had some sort of gadget in his hand and was standing not far away, pointing it in the direction of a stone wall which housed the old right-of-way running to the left of her house.

As he waved the gadget, Darby hoped he didn't see her. He did.

‘Oh, hi.’

Archie frowned. ‘Hey. Sorry, where did you pop up from?’

Darby pointed to the wood storage. ‘I was in there.’

Archie smiled. ‘Hiding in the woodshed. Okay.’

‘Ha. No, I was putting things in there for well, anyway, someone’s collecting my old kitchen cupboards. It’s dry there and means they can come whenever it suits them.’

‘Right you are.’ Archie eyed Darby’s outfit. ‘Doing a spot of DIY?’

Darby brushed her top off and suddenly felt embarrassed.

Looking presentable, she was not. This man had now seen her a few times, each of them, she’d not looked her best. ‘Yes, actually. In my wisdom, I decided to tackle a job I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. Like a really long time. Like years.’

‘Uh huh.’

‘You know what it’s like.’ Darby wondered if he did.

She imagined that in his cosy little life tucked up in Pretty Beach somewhere, Archie would be a dab hand at DIY and everything else.

He looked like the sort of together person who would be good at just about anything.

Unlike the loser men that had been in her life.

It flashed through her brain that he probably had a cosy little perfect family too, all together in a neat, happy unit.

Also, unlike her. If there was one thing her family unit was, it wasn't neat. A bit like a lemon, she didn’t know what else to say and so just stood there saying nothing.

The gadget beeped. ‘I’m not a huge fan of DIY personally.’ Archie deadpanned.

Darby raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh, right, I assumed, doesn’t matter, anyway. Nope, that’s why this job has been on my list for five years.’

‘I have many jobs like that of my own.’ Again, the gadget beeped.

Darby frowned. ‘What is that?’

‘It’s reading highly scientific properties of this Grade II listed wall.’

‘Right. Is that what you do? Fix listed walls.’

‘Something like that.’

‘Right, well, I’d better get on. What a day it’s been already and I still have loads of clearing up to do. Best laid plans and all that.’

Archie glanced at his gadget. 'Need a hand? I've just finished taking readings from this riveting bit of medieval stonework.’

Darby thought about the carcasses. She went to say no and then changed her mind. ‘That would really help me out.’

‘No worries.' Archie checked his watch.

'Actually, you don't have to help me. I’m fine.'

Archie didn’t appear fazed. ‘Fair enough.’

Darby backpedalled like crazy. ‘Umm, yes, it would help me out if you’ve got time.’

Archie pocketed the measuring device. In a pocket near the legs. 'You sure about that?’ He winked.

‘Yep, love to, absolutely positive.’

‘Great.’

Looking back toward the house, where the remaining cupboard sections were stacked, the thought of Archie helping her was very appealing. ‘Thank you.’

‘What’s the story on the cupboards, then?’

'It's not really a story, just a job I should have done ages ago. I've been staring at them since I moved in, and this morning I finally snapped and decided they had to go. Typical me, really. I think I will crash and burn later, but there you go. It feels good to have done it.'

'Ah, the impulsive renovation approach. I've been there before.'

Back in the kitchen, Darby internally sighed at the chaos. Externally, she blinked many times at the specimen who had offered to help her.

Archie pushed his sleeves up and picked up three of the carcass panels at once. Darby gulped. 'These are going in the wood store out there?'

'Yes, someone is coming for them tomorrow. I was just going to carry them out individually. They are heavier than they look. My arms feel like they've been stretched on some sort of medieval torture device.'

Archie laughed. 'These old things are properly made, not like the rubbish nowadays.'

'Correct. They were made to last.'

'What made you finally crack today?'

There was no way that Darby was going to tell Archie about the new thing in her life, her channel and that it was that which had nudged her into motivation. 'I don’t know. When I got up this morning, they greeted me and it was the final straw.'

Archie nodded in the direction of the empty wall. 'So, what's the plan?'

'Open shelving on a cream-coloured wall and lots of hooks. It needs lightening up.'

With Archie’s help, the rest of the cupboards and panels were out in the wood store in a jiffy.

As they stood outside, Archie brushed the dust off his hands. 'I'd call that a successful operation. It didn’t take long at all.'

'Thanks so much for helping. I was starting to think I'd bitten off more than I could chew.'

'Nah, it will look great in here. Right, well, I think we've both earned a drink. You reckon?' Archie checked his watch. ‘It’s the end of the week after all. I've got nothing planned except going home to stare at spreadsheets about lime mortar compositions.’

OMG! Am I being asked out for a drink by a star? **** my life! An actual movie-star-esque man is asking me to go for a drink. I might die. I need oxygen.

Darby looked down at her filthy clothes and dust-covered hands. 'I look like I've been in a fight with a building site.'

'It's late afternoon in Pretty Beach. The bar's going to be set pretty low...'

'I'd love a drink.'

'Perfect.’

Oh, you’re telling me this is perfect.