Nancy stood up and kissed her on the cheek, and Nina leaned down and kissed Birdie.
‘Yes, good, thanks,’ Birdie replied. ‘We’re sitting here putting the world to rights.’
‘Same with me, I am glad to report,’ Nancy replied, pointing to a gin and tonic sitting on a beer mat next to an empty chair. ‘There you go. We got one in for you when we arrived.’
‘Perfect. How are things at the station? Busy?’ Nina said, addressing Nancy.
‘Yes, not too bad. Things are starting to get busier. Two people are off sick, we had loads of trainspotters today, and there was a glitch in the moveable platform, just to keep me more busy than I thought I was going to be. Oh and someone vomited in the bin. Never a dull moment in my job.’
Nina widened her eyes. ‘A glitch in the moveable platform? Oh my gosh, you’re lucky you’re still alive! I bet it’s all over the trainspotter Reddit boards.’
‘I know, right? When I saw that happen, I was scared for my life, thinking I might be murdered,’ Nancy joked. ‘Those people are scary when they’re not happy.’
Nina laughed as she sat down and took a sip of her drink. ‘Wow, it’s all going on here, and we’ve had all the weather today.’
‘No change there. Lovely Bay is a master of all weathers.’
‘No doubt we’ll get some hailstones this evening, just thrown in for good measure,’ Birdie noted.
Nina picked up her drink. ‘I’m still getting used to the thing where one minute there’s winter weather and the next minute it’s summer. Strange.’
‘It takes a while.’
Nina laughed and leaned forward. ‘I’m getting there.’
Birdie tapped Nina’s wrist. ‘I hear you did a viewing at the hotel. Do you have a new job title? You’re the local estate agent now, too, are you?’
Nina laughed. ‘Yeah, I did it to help out Ella because she’s moved to that new office and she was away. That’s the way we do it around here, isn’t it? Help each other out.’
‘It is. You learnt that fast. Good job.’
‘Anyway, how do you know?’
Birdie tapped the side of her nose. ‘When you work in the back of the chemist, you hear everything that goes on in town, and you know everybody’s business. It’s as simple as that.’
Nina bantered, ‘You’re scary.’
‘I am. How did the viewing go?’ Birdie asked. It was clear she was champing at the bit to hear more about The Summer Hotel.
Nina leaned in, lowering her voice. ‘It was quite something. I met these investors from Pretty Beach, real characters. They were interested in the place, but you know how it is with The Summer Hotel. It's not just about selling; it's about finding the right buyer.’
Nancy nodded, intrigued. ‘So, do you think they’ll bite?’
Nina shrugged. ‘Maybe. They seemed really interested, but they were pretty clear about the price being too high. It's all about the negotiation now, I guess. First of all, they were a flat no, but by the end, they appeared to be possibly interested and then at the end I wasn’t sure. Ruthless, I reckon. I wouldn’t want to mess with them.’
Birdie sipped her drink thoughtfully. ‘Well, if anyone could have got them interested, it’s you. You know that place inside out now.’
Nina smiled. ‘Agreed. I do. We'll see, though. It would be great to finally see someone breathe new life into that old place. Do you remember the state it was in when I first arrived?’
‘Only too well.’
Nancy sighed. ‘It’s sad that it’s been empty for so long. I mean, there’s been nobody in there since you were living there,and you’ve been over on the harbour for a while now. Before that, you were in the rental cottage first…’
‘Yeah, I know. Time surely has flown by, hasn’t it?’
‘When you’re having fun…’
‘Who would have thought that you would come here to do some house sitting and end up staying here, getting married.’ Nancy wiggled her right hand around. ‘Doing all the things.’
