Birdie added, ‘Lovely Bay does that to you. That’s what the old rumours say anyway. You’re never going to leave now, are you?’
Nina shook her head. ‘Don’t worry. I don’t want to leave.’
‘Apart from jetting off to the other side of the world, where it’s hot and humid,’ Nancy interjected.
Birdie continued. ‘It is funny how you arrived to house sit, and the next thing you know, we were sorting out the lighthouse for you to be proposed to in. I loved that evening. I won’t forget it in a hurry. You must feel like the lighthouse is important to you after that happened.’
Nancy nodded. ‘Yes, me too. I remember that as if it was yesterday. That was such a good night. I was beside myself with nerves about it. Did you wonder what was going on?’
‘You were behaving so weirdly! I couldn’t work out what it was. You were so uptight about me helping. One minute I was helping the next minute, I wasn’t, and you were all over the show. Now I know why. Good memories, eh?’
‘Oh, yes. That evening is now a part of Lovely Bay's community history,’ Nancy joked. ‘You’re in the town ledger.’
‘Fancy getting proposed to at the top of the lighthouse, overlooking Lovely Bay,’ Birdie noted.
Nina nodded. ‘There’ve been worse parts in my life, that’s for sure.’
‘Yeah, true. You and me both. What a place for a proposal. The lighthouse is so special.’
‘What a place all around, really. What a place to live and work…’
Nancy, Nina, and Birdie clinked glasses. ‘Yes, cheers to that! To Lovely and the lighthouse and lots more great occasions there.’
14
It was a few weeks after Nina had met Birdie and Nancy in the pub. Nina stood on the back patio just behind her house and looked up at the trees swaying in the wind. She sighed to herself as she looked around. The small patio area behind the property was an absolute eyesore. There was no other word for it. Plus, it was embarrassing. She’d put up with it long enough and was ready for it to change. She’d marked the weekend to turn the place around so that when she arrived back home from Thailand and walked in, she would not be disappointed.
Now, as she was faced with the reality of the work involved, she wondered whether or not to about-turn on her plans. Could she really be bothered? She stood for a second with squinted eyes, analysing what was around her. A shed stood in the far right corner, in front of it an old-fashioned chair on its side had seen better days, and an old nautical weathervane on the top of the shed swung around in the wind. The patio area was a mix of ugly stones, broken pavers and gravel and to the right of the lawn area flower beds were in need of a good weeding and a whole lot of love. A couple of steps up led to a tiny patch of grass, topped with a lopsided archway with one lone rambling rose snaking over the top.
Nina felt a bit half-hearted about what she could do to turn the area around. She knew what she wanted; somewhere she and Robby could sit with a nice drink at the end of the day and somewhere to settle down and read a book at the weekends. As she stood in contemplation, it didn't feel as if that was ever going to happen as a right old mess looked back at her.
She’d been planning the patio makeover for a month or so and at first in the planning stage she had felt both quite inspired and ambitious at the same time. Now, not so much. As she’d scoured Facebook Marketplace and similar places to gather things for the makeover, she’d been full of hope that the area would scrub up well. Her finds were stacked just to the left of the patio area, waiting to be put to good use. Two huge terracotta pots that had come from someone on the Lovely Bay community page sat beside two Adirondack chairs acquired from Colin from the riverboat's sister, who was having a clear-out. She’d bought eight black solar lanterns from B&Q, and a load of white stones had been delivered from the back of a tipper truck. Along with that, her goodies included three recycled raised beds via someone Birdie knew from the chemist, loads of pots of herbs, lavender and rosemary bushes, and a couple of climbing roses to go over the arch.
The job for the day was to cover the original scrubby patio area with the stones, put the plant pots filled with soil in place, and spruce up the patio chairs. The plan for the raised beds was to use the bags she had delivered to fill them with new soil, plant the herbs and lavender, and pop in a few new plants she’d bought the week before from the garden centre.
Thinking she’d rather be reading a book with a coffee, she cracked on and hoped that by the end of the weekend, the patio area would look a lot better. Just as she was pulling on her welly boots and looking at the vast job of shovelling the white stonesfrom the huge pile onto the patio itself, Robby came in through the back gate with his arms full of plants.
‘Hey, how are you? Ready to crack on?’
‘Yep, good,’ Nina replied, gesturing towards the big pile of white stones. ‘I’m wondering now if this was a good idea or not. Best laid plans and all that. What were we thinking?’
Robby laughed as he looked at the huge pile of white stones. ‘Too late now! We need to put our money where our mouth is.’
‘Wow, it’s such a lot of work.’
‘I did tell you that when you started talking about doing all this before we went away. Did you listen?’
‘I know! Do you think we’ll get it done by tomorrow evening?’ Nina asked and winced.
‘I can’t see why not. Yeah, it’s worse than it looks.’
‘It’s going to look good when it’s done, I suppose. I need to keep that in mind as I shovel those stones around.’
‘So, what’s the plan then?’
‘I thought you were in charge,’ Nina said jokingly.
‘You just need to tell me what to do. I will be at your command for the day.’
