Free Life's a Beach and Then... (The Liberty Sands Trilogy Book 1) by Julia Roberts Page A

eat later and then
forgotten about it. The chocolate chips had melted in a forty-degree wash
creating a gooey mess that she had to scrape out before re-washing them.
    After walking back from the playground Giulietta was ready
for a cool drink. ‘It is time for your nap now. Say Ciao to Holly,’ her mother
said. Instead of saying anything the little girl toddled over to Holly, reached
into her pocket, retrieved what she had picked up earlier and handed it to Holly.
    ‘You’re very honoured,’ Mathilda said. ‘She doesn’t normally
like to share what she has found until she has had chance to play with it.’
    Holly looked down at the tiny white curled feather the
little girl had given her. ‘ Grazie , Giulietta.’
    Holly watched mother and daughter walk across the grass
towards her father who was still sitting on their terrace, working at his
computer, and thought of her own father as she always did whenever she saw a
white feather in an unusual place.
    It had started the day of his funeral when a devastated
Holly, clutching eight-month-old Harry, stayed at her father’s graveside long
after the other mourners had left. She had been about to leave when a solitary
white feather spiralled slowly down and landed at her feet. Holly had felt that
it was her dad trying to communicate with her. She had picked up the feather
and later slipped it in to a compartment in her purse to always carry with her.
There had been many white feathers appearing in random places over the years,
usually when Holly needed comfort, reassurance or guidance. White feathers and
also rainbows, the two things that she felt were a connection from beyond the
grave. Holly wondered what her dad was trying to tell her this time?
     
     
    Mathilda returned to the beach after putting Giulietta to bed
leaving Umberto to listen out for his daughter. Holly was pleased as it gave
them the opportunity to have a proper chat. They ordered a couple of colourful,
non-alcoholic cocktails from the refreshment buggy that drove up and down the
sandy path next to the beach, and settled on their sunbeds.
    ‘Your husband seems to spend a lot of his holiday working,’
Holly remarked.
    Mathilda sipped her drink. ‘He was promoted four months ago
so he feels the need to always be on the end of a phone line until he has
really established himself in his new role.’
    ‘What does he do in Rimini?’
    ‘Well in Rimini he was the import manager for a Swiss
computer software company but his promotion meant that we had to move to Geneva
where their head office is.’
    ‘That must have been a bit of a wrench, leaving your family
when Giulietta is so young?’
    Mathilda turned to look at Holly. ‘I hate it. Umberto is
working so hard that Giulietta and I hardly ever see him, and of course there
is no family there to help watch my baby for a few hours if I want to go
shopping. I feel so isolated.’
    Holly knew the feeling. She had spent the whole of Harry’s
early years virtually alone until he had started at primary school and she had
begun to mix with other young mothers. Even then it had been awkward if they
were having people to dinner as it was mostly couples.
    ‘Have you told Umberto how you feel?’
    ‘No. I don’t want to seem ungrateful when he is working so
hard for our future. It was so difficult to persuade him to come away for this
holiday but despite him still working at least we have been able to spend some
time together as a family. Have you ever been to Switzerland?’ she asked.
    ‘No I haven’t. Most of my trips are to beach resorts,’ said
Holly, phrasing it in a way that was truthful and didn’t mention holidays.
    ‘Maybe you would like to come and visit us in Geneva
sometime?’ the Italian woman asked hopefully. ‘Giulietta has really taken to
you and I would certainly welcome a familiar face.’
    ‘I would love that,’ said Holly.
    After they had exchanged details, Mathilda excused herself
saying she needed to check on her little