Page 6 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

Faye looked at the foot which was already swelling and changing colour. She shook her head. ‘It’s not good. I think you’d better go to hospital,’ she said softly. ‘You need a doctor to look at this.’

Alex nodded. He had already known that it was serious and would need to be checked to see if it were broken.

‘I’ll take him,’ said Jake, with a heavy sigh.

‘Thanks,’ said Ben, still staring at Alex. ‘Sorry, mate. I need to stay here to take care of the guests.’ The hotel had full occupancy due to many of the athletes staying over that weekend, one of the many reasons that Alex had been so keen to participate in the triathlon and ensure that the hotel’s tentative prosperity continued.

As Alex carefully stood up, only putting his weight onto one leg, he glanced once more at Hannah who was still staring at him with an ashen face and shaking her head in misery.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he told her softly. He hated seeing her so upset.

‘Absolutely,’ added Ben, ever the supportive big brother. ‘It was just an accident.’

‘Yeah, he’ll be running around as usual and making the rest of us look lazy before the weekend’s over, I reckon,’ said Jake, giving her a wink. But as he turned away from Hannah, Alex saw that Jake’s serious eyes betrayed his jovial tone.

Ben looked at Alex and said, ‘Well, mate, it looks like you might finally get that holiday that we’ve all been nagging you about for the past decade.’

As his friends took him by the shoulders once more to help him towards Jake’s car, Alex was surprised to find that, despite everything, a tiny part of him was relieved when he thought about Ben’s words. A holiday? He wasn’t even sure what that was. He and his dad had declared many times that the Commonwealth Games were the big goal. And without that, the pressure was over at last. The shock that he was finally free from competing swept over him.

And yet he could feel himself thinking that, at last, it was at an end. He had even given up his accountancy job a month ago to focus on the Commonwealth Games. Suddenly he had no work and no triathlons either in his calendar.

At least perhaps he could get in a rhythm now, he found himself thinking. Have a normal life, whatever that was. Whatever happened from here on in, it was his own future at last. That dream of normality away from the competitions perhaps made the pain just a little bit more bearable, in spite of knowing with sure certainty how that decision was going to impact on his dad.

He was comfortably off for money in the meantime. But his soul? It felt empty a lot of the time. Away from the time when he was swimming, cycling and running, not much else happened in his life. Take away the triathlete and he wasn’t sure what was left in its place.

Despite being on his way to hospital, Alex realised that now he had nothing but time on his hands, he might just have a chance to find out, he thought with a glance back towards Hannah before his friends helped him out of the room.

3

Hannah sighed. ‘What a morning,’ she said.

She couldn’t believe that she had tripped over Alex and lost him the race. What must he think of her?

‘For the last time, it wasn’t your fault,’ Lily told her, coming over to give her a hug. ‘And you can’t blame that little puppy either.’

‘Nothing little about that enormous creature,’ muttered Walter. ‘More mountain bear than puppy. Tiny indeed. Humph!’

As the family began to drift out of the kitchen, only Hannah and Lily remained.

‘Listen, I’d love to stay with you but we’ve got a hotel full of guests that need taking care of so I’ve got to get going,’ said Lily, biting her lip as she looked at her best friend. ‘Are you going to be OK?’

Hannah nodded. ‘I’ll be fine. I’ll do some baking.’

It was her automatic response to any stress. She had already made a chocolate and raspberry tiered cake for the guests. It was a simple sponge filled with cream and raspberries which she needed to finish decorating with chocolate shards and coloured chocolate eggs.

‘I think we’re nearly out of your biscuits in the lounge as well,’ called out Lily as she went.

Hannah had already made some spiced Easter biscuits but wanted to bake some macarons as well as finishing off another batch of hot cross buns.

She began to bring out the ingredients and, although still worried about Alex, she could feel the tension begin to leave her. The kitchen was her favourite place in the home. The oak cupboards were weathered from many years of use. Open shelves were packed with all the dishes and bowls ever needed. The aroma of home cooking mingled with the fresh scent of the herbs in terracotta pots along the windowsill. A huge oak wardrobe acted as a pantry, stuffed full of every conceivable ingredient.

Baking was the one class in school that she hadn’t struggled with. She could lose herself in the feel of the food under her fingers, despite getting a few recipes wrong thanks to her dyslexia. Nowadays baking soothed her stress and anxieties and she no longer needed recipes most of the time. She followed her heart once she had memorised all the numbers and weights of the ingredients and it came to her naturally, creating magic when she could at Maple Tree Lodge.

It was a talent that she had inherited from her mum but she truly enjoyed baking. The kitchen was where they all gathered. Where her mum was. Her strength. The beating heart of their home. And it still felt as if she were connected to her dad in there as well.

She glanced over at the long oak table where they often gathered for meals. Her mum had placed a vase full of sprigs of apple blossoms and pink tulips on the table.

Through the open doorway, she could see that Lily had added some touches of spring colour and Easter decorations around the reception and lounge as well. Lily had been an interior designer and her taste was impeccable. Hannah would love to bottle the confidence that her three best friends exuded.