Chapter 36
Juliette walked along in Pretty Beach pushing her bike along the pavement with one hand and holding her hat in the other. Lottie had gone off over towards the ferry and Seapocket Lane to meet one of her boys who had forgotten his debit card, and so they’d agreed to meet up again by the war memorial and lavender stall and then go and get a coffee.
Wedging her bike up against the railings Juliette wound the lock around her bike and attached it to the fence. She pulled her basket from the front carrier, put her phone and keys in the basket, and felt the sun warming her neck and the backs of her legs.
Strolling along in her pale blue tea dress, she stopped outside Holly’s bakery to see a long line out the door, and looked down towards the Farmers Market and all the stalls set up in the closed-off laneway.
Not wanting to get in the queue for the bakery to say hello to Holly so that she could say another thank you for the night when they had all descended on her and cheered her up, Juliette decided that she’d stop in on her way home when, hopefully, it would be a bit quieter.
Juliette let out a long, deep exhale as she took in the bustling laneway filled with Pretty Beach locals and tourists alike. It was so nice to be out and about and to see everyone mooching around in Pretty Beach visiting the market and making the most of the lovely weather. It felt good to be alive. Really, really good.
Juliette looked all the way down the long line of stalls with their white awnings rustling in the sea breeze. Each stall beautifully set up and adhering to the Pretty Beach bylaw colours made for an amazing sight. She started to weave in and out of people, strolled along stopping here and there to look at stands, and said hello to the odd person as they passed by.
Approaching Prettybloom Fruit Farm’s stall she stood back and admired how lovely it all looked. Underneath the white awning pale blue gingham bunting was criss-crossed all the way to the back of the stall, and baby blue and white tablecloths covered the market tables. Stacks and stacks of beautiful soft fruits were lined up in blue cardboard punnets on every available surface, and a contrasting row through the middle was loaded with glorious blueberries packed into tiny white cartons.
Behind the table, in jeans, white t-shirt, navy-blue butcher’s apron and her beautiful blonde hair tied up in a big floppy bun on top of her head, stood Poppy who’d bought Prettybloom PYO Fruit Farm about five years before and had given birth at home in the farm with Juliette by her side. It was one of Juliette’s cherished memories of working in Pretty Beach.
As soon as Poppy saw Juliette she rushed around to the other side of the stall and hugged Juliette tightly.
‘I’m so sorry, Juliette. So, sorry about what happened with Bella.’
Juliette pursed her lips together and forced herself not to start to cry. Tears stung the corners of her eyes as she nodded at Poppy.
‘Thank you for the basket,’ Juliette replied. Poppy had delivered a basket of fruits, homemade jam, and a large carrot cake from her cafe on the farm in the first few days after the accident and Juliette had only sent a brief text to say thanks.
‘You’re welcome. I didn’t ring the doorbell. I heard you weren’t up for visitors.’
‘Thanks. No, I wasn’t. I definitely wasn’t. I barely got dressed if I’m honest - I was exhausted with it all. It’s only just starting to ease off now that I feel better.’
‘I know the feeling. When my mum died I slobbed around for months. I didn’t ever see myself getting better. I couldn't see the end of it. It was awful. Well, you know the rest of that story. I wouldn't have got out of that mess if it wasn’t for the surgery and for Sarah, thank goodness she flagged it.’
‘Yeah. I know. It hit me like a tonne of bricks once Bella actually got better - it’s funny how it works like that.’
‘So, how is she?’ Poppy asked, adjusting the straps on her butcher’s apron.
‘Doing well. She’s gone back to uni - which to be frank was her only worry. The toes are healing nicely according to the consultant. They'll never get back to what they were. They are quite deformed.’
‘At least she’s back to uni. I can’t believe she’ll have to live with that though.’
‘I know. It was the fact that they were crushed - not easy to deal with bones that do that.’
‘No, I guess not,’ Poppy replied smiling sadly.
Juliette looked behind Poppy at the line of customers forming behind her. ‘You’d better get back to it.’
Poppy turned around. ‘Oh right, yes,’ she replied and walked back around to the other side of the table. ‘Text me Jools. When you feel up to it come up to the farm for a cup of tea. It’s a madhouse as you know, but I’d love you to pop up.’
‘Will do,’ Juliette replied as she strolled on past the stall and walked through the middle of the laneway.
Juliette checked the time on her phone and made her way to the meeting point with Lottie. She passed Pretty Beach Herbs where stacks of huge white pots held bunches of parsley, rosemary and thyme, sage, lovage and oregano. Old white flour sacks lined the table and fluttered in the wind and from behind her glasses Juliette smiled at Tom, proprietor of Pretty Beach Herbs, but kept on walking and didn’t stop to chat.
Juliette was very pleased to have made the decision to venture out, but she didn’t want to be stopping every two minutes having to go through an update on Bella. She’d been through it enough in her own head thousands of times, if not more. She
