Page 20 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

He nodded thoughtfully to himself. ‘Well, maybe I can help you with that,’ he told her.

‘How?’ she asked.

‘If I’m staying around for a couple of weeks, I’ll need something to do. I can help out in here and teach you how to run the accounts. Trust me, nobody wants to taste anything that I bake. But accounts? That I’m good at.’

‘Yes, you are,’ she told him.

‘Brilliant,’ he said, looking delighted. ‘So you’ll take on the business?’

She shook her head quickly. ‘Oh, no,’ she told him, laughing. ‘Not a chance. But it’ll be lovely to have you around for longer than the odd weekend.’

He studied her for a moment before breaking into a smile that lit up his handsome face. ‘That’s nice of you to say so,’ he said.

Hannah laughed. ‘Well, you are family,’ she told him.

And it was true. He was a friend, not only to Ben but to everyone.

She hated to see him so hurt by everything that had happened to him. Was he really thinking about not carrying on competing in competitions?

It seemed as if they were both at a crossroads in their lives and didn’t know what the future held for them yet.

11

Later that week, Alex was still mulling over his conversation with Hannah. She had seemed pleased that he was staying on at the hotel for a few weeks. And he was too, he realised, now that he had been able to spend a bit of time with the family over the past couple of days.

So despite the pain in his foot, he was feeling in a far more positive mood when he sat down with the family for lunch.

However, he had just finished his sandwich when there was a collective groan around the table. He looked up and saw a somewhat familiar face alongside an even more recognisable black puppy.

‘Afternoon, all,’ said Dodgy Del, coming into the kitchen with a wide grin.

Hannah immediately leapt up to fuss over Tiny.

Her brother’s greeting wasn’t quite so eager. ‘Where have you been, Del?’ asked Ben, frowning. ‘I’ve been trying to call you on your mobile.’

‘No can do,’ replied Del, shaking his head. ‘Dropped the thing last week and it broke. Why? What did you want?’

‘Remember that paddleboard you dropped off as a prototype?’ said Ben. ‘It sank to the bottom of the lake as soon as I’d blown it up and placed it on the water.’

‘No refunds,’ said Del quickly. ‘Can’t think why it didn’t work.’

‘Because it had a great big hole in it,’ said Ben, rolling his eyes. ‘You can forget about us ordering any more from your so-called mate. I don’t want to see the guests ending up in the water unexpectedly.’

Ben had mentioned to Alex only the previous night about hiring out paddleboards to guests that summer as a trial.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Del, with a heavy sigh. ‘I’ll get round to it. Look, it’s been one of them weeks, OK?’

‘Tell me about it,’ said Alex in a pointed tone, glancing at his foot which was resting on a stool. Five days after the accident and the bruising was now a spectacular rainbow of colours.

Del looked at him with a start. ‘Oh, yeah. I heard you got hurt. Sorry and all that, mate.’ He gave Alex a shared grimace. ‘Same thing happened to me at school.’

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you run anywhere except away from disgruntled customers,’ said Walter.

‘It was the egg and spoon race, OK?’ replied Del. ‘I was only six but I tripped over my own feet. Kids can be cruel, yeah? So I know where you’re coming from, mate.’

Alex looked at him in bemusement. Dodgy Del obviously had the hide of a buffalo. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘I think.’

At least someone could find humour in the situation, he thought.