Page 29 of Seashells at The Summer Hotel Lovely Bay
Cally laughed. ‘I wondered if you were going to ask that.’
‘Do I ever let you down? Birdie smiled.
Cally flicked her eyes upwards. ‘Hmm, let me see. No, you don’t. Good bacon and egg rolls are music to my ears. Nearly as good as your chowder.’
Birdie smiled. ‘I made them last night. I just have to heat them up in the microwave.’
Ten minutes later, Nina, Cally, and Birdie were sitting in the tiny staff room at the back of the chemist. Everything about the chemist was beautiful, including the kitchen area. Lovely old white shaker-style units ran along the back. A small microwave sat beside a kettle, and an old-fashioned industrial sink had clearly been there since day dot. Old files and drug bottles were meticulously placed on shelving, and a small round table was graced with a vase of flowers.
Every time Nina had been into the chemist, it had felt like stepping into another world. If there was anyone who didn’t need Nina's organising services, it was Birdie. However, Birdie had taken on Nina to help with one of her huge orders. When Nina had first worked at the deli in the early days of her being in Lovely Bay, it hadn’t taken long for Birdie to realise that she and Nina worked together very well. Therefore, Birdie took any opportunity to have Nina on board whenever she could.
As they sat chatting and enjoying the coffee and bacon and egg rolls, the conversation moved to Nina's upcoming trip to Thailand.
Cally sighed and put her coffee down. ‘Oh, what I wouldn't give to go to Thailand and have a quick couple of weeks off. It sounds fabulous. I really do envy you. To be quite frank, Blackpool would work, too. Or Bognor. I don't really mind.’
‘If there’s anyone who deserves a break, it's you,’ Birdie noted.
‘Is there any chance you could get a few days away?’ Nina asked, well aware of the delicate situation regarding Cally's grandmother and finances.
‘No, not really. I've got as much help as I can get, but I always told Grandma that I would look after her wherever she is, but with all the cuts to funding and everything. So no, I don't really want to go into it, but I won't be getting a break until, well, you know. Probablyneverthe way I’m going. One nice day off would be nice.’ Cally smiled and rolled her eyes.
Birdie put her hand on Cally's shoulder. ‘It's a very tough time for you.’
‘Yeah, I'll be fine. I knew it was coming.’ She changed the subject, steering it away from her grandma. ‘Anyway, yes, Thailand. Is it going to be really hot over there? Is it the rainy season or anything like that? Doesn’t it like bucket it down for a lot of the year?’
Nina nodded. ‘It's absolutely boiling over there. Every time I look at the weather app, it seems to get hotter. From what I've gathered, it’s like that most of the time.’
‘Oh, how lovely,’ Cally replied. ‘So, Robby's meeting you there, isn't he? How did that come about?’
Nina nodded. ‘Because I had loads of work on, and he needed to go over to Singapore first. Initially, I was going to go to Singapore with him. But then, it wasn’t really worth it. So, yeah,we decided to actually have a holiday in Thailand after he’s done the contract stuff, rather than me being in Singapore first while he was working and then having to take another flight.’
‘Right, yeah, makes sense.’ Cally nodded. ‘Do you mind travelling on your own?’
Nina shook her head. She didn't mind doing anything on her own, really. Not that she’d done a lot of travelling, but it didn’t make much difference to her. She was used to it; she’d done everything on her own after Andrew had died. She wasn't bothered about getting on a plane and travelling by herself. How hard could it be? However, she was slightly apprehensive about dealing with immigration. She’d seen a few horror stories online but she’d deal with that as and when.
‘So, where are you staying in Bangkok?’ Cally asked.
Nina's eyes lit up. ‘I hope it's going to be nice, but after a lot of research, we've plumped for this what they call “boutique hotel”. It's a small place with about thirty or so rooms. It’s an old colonial property mixed with traditional Thai style. It looks magical.’
‘Sounds nice. Not a Travelodge then?’ Cally quipped.
‘Nope. It looks really beautiful on the website, and we scoured the TripAdvisor reviews and decided to go the boutique route.’
‘So you didn’t want to go for a mainstream hotel then?’ Birdie asked.
Nina shook her head. ‘We considered it, at first, yep, but then we saw this place, and it just blew our minds. It's quite different. However, it wasreallyexpensive. So hopefully, it will be worth it. You never know, do you? You can’t tell when you’re looking at things online.’
Nina took out her phone and showed pictures of the hotel to Birdie and Cally. They looked at the pictures of a traditional Thai villa-style hotel with teak furniture, lush tropical gardens, and asaltwater pool surrounded by beautiful sunbeds and umbrellas. Nina showed them one of the four-poster-draped beds in the bedroom and the massage tables at the spa.
Birdie cackled as she pinched the picture of the four-poster bed between her fingers and zoomed in. ‘Well, looks like there’s going to be lots of baby-making going on inthatbed.’ She laughed hysterically.
Cally giggled and Nina also laughed. ‘Not sure about that; I think it will be too hot,’ Nina said as she put her phone down.
‘It looks lovely. You're going to have a really nice break there, for sure. How long is the flight?’ Cally asked.
‘It's about twelve hours, I think. Something like that. Maybe just under.’
‘Wow, long haul. That’s a long way then, isn't it?’
