Robby waved from the front of the boat as Nina hopped on, walked towards him, and got comfortable. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi, gorgeous. Good morning?’
‘Yep. Oh, I’m so looking forward to this. Where are we going?’
‘I can’t tell you that. Highly classified information. As I said. It’s a surprise.’
Nina looked down at the floor under Robby’s feet, where a basket was wedged underneath the seat in front. ‘Come on, just tell me.’
He laughed. ‘Completely and utterly a surprise. You’ll have to wait.’
‘Oh well, I know it’s not a surprise proposal. You already ticked that box, right? I’ll just have to wait and see.’
About fifteen minutes or so later, they were at the stop at the mouth of the river nearest to the beach. Nina inhaled the salty fresh air coming off the sea as they walked along in the direction of Lovely Bay beach. 'Are we going to the bay?' Nina asked.
Robby shook his head. 'You don’t need to know that.’
Nina laughed, and as they strolled along, the sea breeze whipped through her hair. They walked past where she thought they were going, the main beach of Lovely Bay, and strolled further to the far side, taking a path through some trees. Then went over gritty sandy gravel, through a small wooded area, up some stone steps, and back down the other side until they came to a small, almost private, and definitely deserted beach.
'I bet you haven’t been to this one before,' Robby said with an expectant look on his face.
Nina raised her eyebrows in surprise; she didn’t even know where they were, and she definitely hadn’t been there before. ‘Nup.’
Robby shook his head. 'Mostly only known to locals, and at this time of the year, not really that busy. Not on a Friday, at least.'
'You can say that again,' Nina replied as she looked around, spying only a few people on the beach; a family with a couple of toddlers sat behind a red and white striped windbreaker, a couple with camping chairs were tucked up near to a breaker, and another family with a huge picnic blanket had a disposable barbecue, sending plumes of smoke up into the air. Tucked onthe far side, a small line of beach huts perched just above the sea, and the roofline of Lovely Bay sat just behind in the far distance.
Nina squinted and looked around. 'Wow, this is really nice. It’s so quiet.'
'Thought you might like it,' Robby replied, holding up the picnic basket. ‘This will help.’
A few minutes later, they were sitting on the beach on a striped rug. Nina had a drink in her hand, her head held up to the sky, and Robby was pulling things out of the small picnic basket. He secured the legs on a compact, low picnic table, put a bowl of salad on the table, and started to chuckle as he pulled out an insulated bag from inside the basket. Unzipping it, he lifted the flap and showed what was inside to Nina.
Nina peered in. 'It looks like a crumble.’ She frowned, ‘Where did you get that from? What in the world, did you make a crumble?'
Robby chuckled. 'I wish. I wouldn’t even know where to start with a crumble. June made it.’
'June made you a crumble to take on a picnic?' Nina's voice lilted into a question at the end.
'She certainly did,' Robby replied. 'I get all the perks, me, and this insulated bag.' He patted the bag. 'Apparently, this will keep it warm for so many hours. Don’t worry. I’ve got lots of instructions from Auntie June. You are experiencing a professional level picnic here. And there I was going to make a cheese sandwich.'
Nina giggled. 'I don’t mind instructions from Auntie June. I’m surprised she hasn’t been giving us directions on what to do with the wedding.'
Robby laughed. 'No, we’ve been lucky there so far.'
Nina took a sip of her drink and settled back onto the picnic blanket. 'How come I am being treated like this then? I’m not complaining. This is so nice.'
'I thought you deserved a bit of time off. What with the work on the house, your new business, and everything else. I thought we both needed downtime, away from talking to anyone about the wedding or the business or the house or anything else at all.'
'You’re right, actually. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind few months.'
Robby nodded. 'I think we’re all set, though. Everything is done for the wedding, right?'
Nina smiled. 'I think so. And I think your spreadsheets and organisation have put me to shame.'
Robby laughed. 'So, everything is in place for the party in the garden? Tables are organised, chairs coming from the hall, Birdie doing the chowder, and staff serving drinks. Registry office is booked. My mum knows precisely what is what. What else?' Robby asked.
'Hmm, let me think. Oh, there’s the small problem of a dress. I haven’t got one I love yet.'
