Page 31 of Love from Pretty Beach

A fter he'd walked away into the Pretty Beach evening, Darby stood by her front gate for a few minutes. Processing the fact that she'd just had what could only be described as a successful dinner date with someone who seemed to find her interesting, she couldn’t quite believe her luck. Remarkable. The evening had been lovely and nothing like she'd feared. Despite her vaulting around brain, there had not been a single awkward silence, no desperate attempts to find common ground, no sense that either of them was trying not to be themselves. As far as she’d seen, he’d not wanted to tie her up, chop her up and dispose of her body parts in a freezer, either, so that was a plus.

Not that people tended to advertise that fact, but anyway.

As she unlocked her front door and stepped into her house, Darby mused that Penny had been absolutely right about not overthinking things.

Sometimes the universe did send you exactly what you needed exactly when you were ready for it.

Sometimes the best things happened when you just showed up in a blouse you’d stalked for a very long time and were yourself.

Walking in and checking that Lola was settled for the night, again, Darby felt happy and things were good. As if having someone genuinely interested in her life had buoyed her a little bit. Chatting with someone other than a wall, phone, one of her offspring, or dog had been genuinely lovely.

Trying to decide on a nightcap, a hot chocolate or a cup of tea, she plumped for tea and sat in her kitchen, looking at the bare wall where the orange cupboards had been, thinking about the evening.

In her partially renovated kitchen, surrounded by jobs, she felt more optimistic about the future than she had in ages.

Which, considering how low she’d been at the turn of the year, was saying something.

Wrapping her hands around her mug and breathing in the steam, she thought about the evening.

Her phone buzzed on the table, lighting up with a message from Molly.

Molly: Well?

Darby smiled and pondered what to respond.

With her fingers over the screen, she wasn’t really sure what to say.

It was sweet that Molly was concerned and interested.

No doubt all of her children were sick to the back teeth of her disasters with men.

At the end of the day, she was always a parent.

It wasn’t as if she was going to say to Molly that she wanted to jump on the man.

Darby: It went well xxx.

Molly: Well, as in just fine, or well as in you actually enjoyed yourself?

Darby: Well, as in I actually enjoyed myself.

Molly: Oh! This is excellent news. Tell me everything.

Darby: Not much to tell, really. It was easy. No awkwardness. I actually had a nice time.

If it hadn’t been her daughter, Darby might have said that she fancied the pants off him, too.

Molly: I’m so glad, Mum. You deserve it.

Darby: It felt nice. Different. In a good way.

Molly: You sound happy. Are you happy?

Darby shook her head. How funny for Molly to pick that up just from a text conversation.

Darby: I think I am.

Molly: OK. I’m so pleased it went well. I was just checking in. I’m going to bed early b/c I’m getting up for yoga in the morn so I’ll spk to u tmr.

Darby: Thx for asking. Love you.

Molly: Love you loads. xxxx

Darby rinsed her mug, put it in the dishwasher and turned it on.

With Lola shuffling out of her bed and following her as she went upstairs, she could hear the dishwasher rumbling away to itself and somewhere along the lane an owl hooted.

As Molly had so cleverly clocked, she felt almost deliriously happy.

Not just because of one date and one man.

More because she’d forced herself to start feeling better and it appeared that it was working.

Upstairs, the top stair creaked as she padded towards the bathroom, washed and then changed into her oldest pyjamas, soft with years of washing, and folded herself into bed.

Lola made one attempt to get on the bed and then hopped into her basket and let out a ginormous contented sigh as if she had picked up on Darby’s mood.

The sound was almost comically loud in the quiet room and quickly turned into a Lola snore.

Lying in the dark, with the duvet tucked under her chin, Darby listened to Lola’s little snoring sounds.

The pub had been just the right casual setting and the conversation had rolled easily from one thing to the next.

The best thing was that she hadn’t had to edit herself or be anything she wasn’t.

Archie hadn’t annoyed her either, which was not only unusual but a bonus.

With her brain still tumbling over and over the evening’s happenings, she tried to listen to what was going on outside and let her brain calm down.

The tide was clearly on the turn because she could hear waves and shingle on the beach.

Somewhere further off, a boat’s rigging clanged against its mast in the breeze and another owl hooted away into the night.

Turning on her side, Darby watched moonlight on the floorboards touching the corner of the rug under her bed. As she willed herself to drop off to sleep, she tried to remember the last time she’d felt good about something that was just for her, but couldn’t. Not in recent years, at least.

Closing her eyes, she did a few rounds of block breathing to get herself to drift off and as she finally did, things felt on the up, good even.

With her body heavy after a good day, she drifted.

Maybe all the lows of the past few years were behind her.

Was it too much to ask that good bits were finally on their way?