Page 81 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

She looked at him, wondering what he was talking about before Frankie interrupted them to give them her box of spare cocktail shakers.

As Alex and Frankie chatted away, Hannah glanced around the café. During the day it was lovely but she had to admit that when she had been tidying up in the early days when it had just been her, with the fairy lights twinkling in the fading light and with the view of the sparkling lake beyond, it had felt really special.

She was excited to share it with any customers, if they came, she reminded herself.

But in the end, her fears weren’t justified. The following Saturday, the beach and lake were packed once more as the sun rose high in the sky and the temperatures matched it. People came into the café for cold drinks and lunch, then later on, when the heat of the day was still intense, people stayed for cocktail hour as well.

With the help of Faye and Lily assisting behind the coffee bar and in the kitchen, they were able to serve all of the cocktails and the café was packed with people looking for a little shade but also that incredible view of the water.

It ended up being a really fun evening. Everyone’s excitement at trying out something completely new in turn fed off the enjoyment of the guests and it was long into the evening before the last customer finally left and they could all relax at last.

‘What a night,’ said Faye, taking off her shoes and rubbing her feet.

‘Did you hear everyone asking when we were next open?’ asked Lily, her eyes shining.

Hannah nodded, also hearing her refer to the café as ‘we’, which pleased her immensely.

‘So is this where all the people went this evening?’ asked Ben, coming into the café and looking around at all the used glasses piled up on the counter.

‘It was brilliant,’ said Lily, suppressing a yawn. ‘I’m that excited but equally absolutely shattered.’

Everyone agreed that it had worked it for the best and began to make their weary way back to the hotel to their rooms.

Hannah found that she couldn’t relax and insisted that she was only going to spend five minutes tidying up. Half an hour later, when Alex came in through the front door, she was still there.

‘Thought I’d find you in here,’ he said, as Tiny rushed up to sit on her feet with a heavy lump of weight. ‘Everyone else has gone to bed.’

‘I was still buzzing,’ she told him.

‘You look like you enjoyed yourself,’ he said, smiling at her.

She nodded. ‘I thought I wouldn’t be able to cope but then I remembered what you’d said about being positive and all that and also that I’d already been a relative success with the café and thought, why not?’

‘That’s the spirit,’ he said, laughing.

She was about to contradict herself when she stopped. She was OK, she decided. She had done it and succeeded. She had to keep doing it over and over but now that she had done it once, she would be all right, she told herself.

And with the success of the new cocktail bar, she wondered what else she could succeed at.

44

The date of the Commonwealth Games had always been on Alex’s radar but he had tried to push it to one side.

But on the Thursday night of the triathlon, knowing that it was taking place on the other side of the world, the temptation to watch it live was too great. So he made his excuses to the family about having a headache and went back to the apartment to settle down on the bed.

Hannah had told him that she would take care of Tiny as they had only just finished dinner so he was all alone as he lay on the covers, staring at the images on his phone.

He thought that he would be OK. He thought that he would be relieved to watch the race and not be taking part.

But he didn’t feel like that at all. The hurt and guilt over the fractured relationship with his dad came rushing back, along with all the pain he had tried to hide, even from himself.

He watched the triathletes swim across the water, trying to remind himself how much he enjoyed swimming in the lake these days. And yet he could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared at the screen.

He barely registered the sound of paws and footsteps on the stairs until it was too late and Tiny was rushing across the room towards him, followed by Hannah.

‘I hope you don’t mind,’ she began to say. ‘I brought some pills for your headache…’

But her words were swiftly replaced with a gasp as she stared at him, noting his tears. ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, rushing across the room to sit down next to him.