Page 66 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

Alex may have completely failed at his first attempt at paddleboarding but Hannah knew that he wouldn’t give up that easily.

And she found herself hoping that perhaps he wouldn’t give up on her either. Because despite telling him otherwise, her feelings for him were growing stronger by the day.

35

Alex found to his surprise that he was really excited about the idea of running a water sports centre over the summer at Maple Tree Lodge.

It was something completely different to get stuck into, he realised. Something new. A feeling that he hadn’t experienced in so very long. His life had consisted of work and competitions over and over, week after week, year after year. Only his intermittent dating life had been any different but even there, he hadn’t felt particularly energised. He had been a polite, interested date and yet there hadn’t been a spark with anyone.

Except Claire, of course. And look how that had turned out. Trust was still a bit of an issue for him. He had trusted his parents, his dad, and they had almost rejected him because of his decision to step away from the competitions. But he was thirty-four now. He wanted a life of his own. And perhaps the water sports centre might just be the start of that.

But before he could almost start to relax and enjoy himself, there was an awful lot of work to set it all up.

First and most important was the practical side of things to work out. Alex sat down with the family to brainstorm.

‘First off, we’ll need an official lifeguard,’ began Alex. ‘Which will be me, of course. I’ll position myself on the jetty where I’ll have the best vantage point.’

‘I can lend you my binoculars,’ said Walter. ‘And then there’s always the boat which can be used to get to anyone quickly.’

Alex was glad that Walter was offering to help, considering he still had reservations as to the lake being utilised so much that summer.

‘Excellent,’ replied Alex. ‘But if things go well then I may just need some assistance with that.’

‘Well, I can help with that too,’ said Walter.

Everyone turned to look at the octogenarian in surprise.

‘What?’ he snapped. ‘I can make a call and get help, can’t I? I’m not completely feeble and useless.’

‘Nobody said you were, Grandad,’ said Ben in a reassuring tone. ‘But how can you make a call when there’s no signal out there?’

‘Walkie-talkies,’ said Frankie, nodding. ‘That’ll do the trick.’

‘Good idea,’ said Alex, making a note on his phone. ‘OK, Walter. If we’re a runaway success, you’ll be my number two lifeguard.’

Walter smiled and nodded, looking smug. Everyone else looked a little alarmed but Alex tried not to worry about that for the time being.

‘I think the best way to monitor everyone safely is to set up some strict timings for being in the water,’ carried on Alex. ‘At least if anyone is swimming laps of the lake, that is. Say, give an hour or two per session.’

‘I agree,’ said Dotty. ‘If they’re all going in at different times, how do you keep track if anyone gets into difficulties?’

‘Exactly,’ said Alex, with a nod. ‘So I suggest some kind of morning swimming session, say 8–10a.m. Then a lunchtime one from 11–1p.m. Then the afternoon can be for the paddleboards, say, until four o’clock. Finally one last swimming session from 4–5p.m.’

‘You think that many?’ asked Faye, looking surprised.

‘I agree, actually.’ Ben shrugged his shoulders. ‘I guess we should try to attract as many people as we can, by giving them as much choice as we’re able to do.’

‘But we make sure that it’s all done and dusted by 5p.m.,’ said Walter, with a firm nod. ‘Then we get the peace and tranquillity back for us and our guests.’

‘Talking of hotel guests,’ said Lily. ‘They should be able to swim free, I think. As part of the perk of staying here.’

‘But outsiders will have to pay a fee,’ added Ben.

‘If we’re going to do this properly, we’ll need some kind of check-in system,’ said Alex. ‘Especially if it’s not just going to be restricted to hotel guests.’

‘Ella’s working on a local Facebook page,’ said Lily, checking her phone. ‘Maple Tree Lodge Water Sports Centre. It’s already got over 100 followers and she only started it two days ago.’

‘That’s great,’ said Hannah. ‘She’s a star, isn’t she?’