‘Oh, wow, excellent! Well done.’
‘Yeah, they messaged me too.’
‘Amazing news! Not that I’m surprised. I mean, you’ve been working towards this for a very long time.’
‘I know.’
‘It was all worth it in the end.’
‘Yep. So, it looks like we’re going to Singapore and Bangkok.’
Nina beamed. ‘I could do with some tropics in my life. I’m all in. Cannot wait.’
12
It was a couple of weeks after the day trip to Darling Island. Nina frowned as she saw Ella, Lovely Bay’s estate agent's number, flashing across her phone screen. She wasn’t sure what Ella might want and contemplated not answering. Perhaps it had something to do with The Summer Hotel. Nina had continued to oversee the hotel’s buildings and garden while Jill was away, and Ella had continued to try to sell it. So far, it hadn’t worked. Ella was also very busy attempting to open another estate agent in a neighbouring town, and she’d had a few niggly health problems which had affected her work. Nina had said she could help out with the new office building. Maybe it had something to do with that. She swiped to answer the phone.
‘Hi Ella, how are you?’ Nina asked. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Yeah, good, thanks. Yep, I’m okay. You?’
‘Yes, I’m well, actually, thanks.’
‘Good to hear. You’re going away soon, aren’t you?’ Ella asked. ‘Birdie said when I was in the chemist picking up a prescription.’
‘Yes, off to Thailand with Robby. Ask me if I am counting down the days to sunshine. Ha!’
‘Ooh, fancy! Sounds good to me,’ Ella chuckled. ‘Wish it was me.’
‘I know, I can’t wait. I’m really looking forward to it. How are you, anyway? How’s the new office going?'
‘Organised chaos. Actually, that’s why I’m calling you. I hope you don’t mind.’
Nina had had a feeling it was why Ella was calling. Since starting her business, she’d helped out plenty of people in Lovely Bay. She was more than happy to lend a hand but wasn’t sure whether it would be possible before she went to Thailand. ‘Yep, what can I help you with? Do you need me to organise the new office? Or get you decluttered?’
‘Gosh, absolutely. Yes, there is that,’ Ella said. ‘But that’s on the back burner for the moment. I’ve got so much work on that I’ve literally just set the desk up and dumped everything else in the room behind it. Anyway, no, so it’s not that. I’ve had an inquiry from someone about the hotel. Aseriousbuyer. However, I’m at that conference I was telling you about, and I don’t really want to leave this with one of the junior members of staff because The Summer Hotel is such a complicated sale, and you’re the one who knows everything about it apart from me. So, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind showing them around? Obviously, you can invoice me. Say no if it’s too much.’
Nina rolled her eyes. As if she was going to say no. It would fly around Lovely, and she would be out of everyone’s good books. ‘Of course, I don’t mind. When is it?’
‘I haven’t locked in a time yet, but they want to come on one of the days I’m at the conference. I thought I’d phone you first and see what you said.’
‘I can do whenever you like, really. I’ll work around you. I’m local for the next few weeks, so it doesn’t really matter to me. Just tell me when and I’ll be there.’
‘Okay, excellent. Thank you so much. I’m really grateful.’
‘No worries. I had to agree. It’s the way it works in Lovely Bay, isn’t it?’ Nina joked.
‘Yeah, well, if you’d said no, you would’ve been in trouble,’ Ella bantered back as quick as a flash. ‘You would have been hung up on St Lovely green and left for dead. Or stuck on top of the lighthouse. Ha!’
Nina chuckled. ‘I wish you were joking. I meant to ask you, actually, completely changing the topic. How did you get on in the storm?’
‘We just hunkered down for the night and got on with it. I actually quite enjoyed it.’
‘Yeah, me too. Did you have any damage?’
‘We did have a bit. A tree branch fell on the greenhouse, smashing a few panes and causing quite a bit of damage and loads of loose roof tiles, but other than that, nothing. I had to claim on the house insurance, so I'm waiting for that to come through, which is always so slow and such a palaver despite what they claim in their adverts. But yeah, no drama, no one injured, so that’s good.’
‘Good luck with that. Yep, they work to a different clock to the rest of the world. I suppose it is what it is.’
