‘True. Will do. Hopefully, someone will buy it this time.’
‘I’d be there like a shot if I had the cash.’
‘Same! Let’s hope they like it.’
‘Won’t hold my breath.’ Clive laughed.
About ten minutes later, Nina hopped off the boat at the jetty nearest to The Summer Hotel, waved cheerio to Clive as he pulled away, and started to walk down towards the hotel. It was a gorgeous day in Lovely Bay. Nina nodded to herself as she looked at things almost glowing in the glorious sunshine. If there was a day the hotel was going to sell, it was a day when Lovely basked in the sun. As Nina got to the hotel, she was flooded with memories of the first time she’d walked up the road not a clue what she had let herself in for. It had been drizzling for hours, she’d been wet through and not happy. She remembered how she’d felt suffocated by the shackles of grief from her husband passing away. Now, she hardly remembered that person at all. She certainly didn’t want to go back to being her, either.
Following more or less the same footsteps as she had that first day, she let herself in through the hotel’s side tradesman's entrance, walked through the living quarters, and opened the windows to give the place a good air. She then walked around the ground floor as fresh air rushed in, and did the same on the upper floors, too. She then came back down and was sitting at the kitchen table when she heard a car outside. Going through the hotel to the main entrance, she pulled the door open, went down the path, and frowned to herself as she saw a black Range Rover with huge black wheel hubs, blacked-out windows, andvery shiny metallic paint pull-up just along from the hotel’s driveway.
Nina stood on the porch for a second and watched as a woman got out of the driver's seat, walked around to the passenger door, and pulled it open. Nina had to stifle a giggle as she spied a tiny woman with humongous gold earphones on her head, a bright pink, fluffy jumper, and purple tracksuit bottoms take the other woman’s hand and hoist herself out of the car. The woman in the pink jumper was drowned by the size of the shiny black car and huge headphones. As the two women got to the gate, Nina took in the first woman, who was tottering on sparkly wedge sandals, black trousers with a line of diamanté going down the legs, and a black jumper with just as many sparkles as the shoes. The younger woman’s face was absolutely immaculate, with not a line on it; she was so perfect and pretty, almost like a doll, that Nina was speechless for a second and just stared as she got closer to the two women.
The first woman smiled, and Nina couldn’t quite comprehend for a second how she was smiling when everything else on her face didn’t move. The woman was so pretty it took Nina’s breath away. The woman held out her hand. ‘Hello. I’m Holly and this is my mum, Xian.’ Holly indicated to the woman in the fluffy jumper, who was wearing huge plastic bubble sliders and thick socks on her feet. This older woman, Xian, held her hand up in front of her and continued to chat in the direction of her phone screen in what Nina thought might be Mandarin.
Holly batted her hand in the direction of her mum. ‘Don’t worry about her; she’s chatting to our relatives in Vietnam, and she’ll probably start shouting in a minute. Ignore.’
Nina raised her eyebrows. ‘Right, I see. I’m Nina. Nice to meet you.’
Holly laughed and rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t be concerned about my mum. She’ll be taking everything in as we go around. She’salso doing a share deal at the moment, so she's kind of half in the conversation to Vietnam, half here and half not, oh and she’ll probably start texting her bridge partner, too. Even though all those halves don’t add up.’
Nina wasn’t sure what to think as Holly laughed at her own joke. ‘A share deal?’
Holly raised her eyebrows. ‘Yes, you wouldn’t know it by the look of her, but she’s all over it. Full-on trading account. Not that I’m complaining; it’s how we got to where we are. My mother loves a good deal, and she’s been working the markets for years. I, on the other hand, don’t have a clue. I spend what she makes on bags and diamonds. Ha! Works for me every day of the week.’
‘Wow, you never do know, do you?’ Nina said with wide eyes, not sure what to think of the pair.
‘Anyway, how are you?’ Holly gestured up at the sky. ‘Beautiful day for it.’
‘Great! Welcome to Lovely Bay. How was the traffic?’
‘The traffic wasn’t too bad, actually. We whizzed along.’
‘Well, here we are.’ Nina gestured up towards The Summer Hotel. ‘This is it.’
‘Yep, thanks for meeting us. Ella told me all about your story,’ Holly said.
‘Yes. I started here a couple of years ago. I came to Lovely Bay and I haven’t really left.’ Nina laughed. ‘I’ve been taken a prisoner by Lovelies.’
‘Oh, I like the sound of that. You must enjoy it here, then. Settled in well, have you?’
‘Oh yes, absolutely. I love it. Where are you guys from? Ella did say.’
‘A little town called Pretty Beach. Not too far.’
Nina squinted. ‘Oh, yes, that’s right. I hadn’t heard of it when Ella told me, but isn’t there a fast train that goes there?’
‘Yes, yes, that’s the place.’
‘How nice to have a train like that.’
‘Absolutely. It’s changed where we live, anyway.’
‘I bet. Right, so you’re looking at this as an investment property, that’s correct, isn’t it? You’re not looking to move to Lovely Bay.’
‘Gosh, no! We’re not looking to move. I’m sure it’s lovely here, as the name suggests, but our heart belongs to Pretty Beach.’ Holly said.
Xian butted in. ‘Always was and always will be.’
