Page 85 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

‘Except Alex,’ said Lily.

Hannah was about to deny it but then she realised that she couldn’t deny it any longer, to herself or to her friends. So instead she nodded. ‘Except Alex,’ she muttered.

‘So don’t reject Alex just because he’s a man,’ Ella told her. ‘Although I admit the majority of them are pretty hopeless,’ she added with a grin. ‘Learn from Sean and build a better more honest relationship with Alex who’s a good guy.’

‘Except he’s already in a relationship,’ Hannah reminded them. ‘With Aimee.’

‘Actually, that might not be true,’ said Beth, frowning. ‘Aimee was just telling me about her hot date tonight with some drummer from a band. Definitely not Alex.’

Hannah stared at her. ‘You mean they might not be going out any more?’

‘Doesn’t sound like it.’

Hannah drew in a sharp breath. Could it be true? Was Alex available?

She looked out from the veranda and watched him wade out of the water after his morning swim. Looking at his perfect body half-naked in the water, she wondered how she’d ever managed to walk away after their kiss. His body was perfect. His personality was too.

She frowned to herself. Actually, he was too perfect a gentleman. Too polite. No searing looks since. No flirting. No hint or suggestion of any impropriety at all. It was completely infuriating and she was being slowly driven crazy with desire for him.

As she contemplated how on earth she could move things forward between them, she slowly became aware that her friends had gone quiet.

She turned her head and found them all watching her with smiles on their faces.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Do you need to jump in the lake to cool off?’ teased Ella.

‘I know the perfect lifeguard to save you if you want to drown,’ added Beth, with a grin.

Hannah huffed out a sigh. ‘You lot are impossible, you know? Nothing’s happening between us.’

‘But you’d like it to,’ said Lily, raising her eyebrows in question.

Hannah couldn’t think up a slick enough answer, leading to a flurry of more exchanged grins.

‘Oh, this is so exciting,’ cooed Beth who liked to see the romance in everything.

They all glanced over to where Alex was now sitting on the paddleboard. Hannah couldn’t stop herself looking at his skin glistening with drops of water and gulped.

‘Yes, but you know what they say,’ carried on Beth. ‘Good on paper or paddleboard, bad kisser.’

‘Actually, he’s a great kisser,’ murmured Hannah, lost in her own world of memory.

‘Yes, but you were drunk that doesn’t count,’ Ella reminded her. ‘You could have imagined he was a good kisser.’

Hannah shook her head. ‘I’ve kissed him twice actually.’

‘And you didn’t tell us?’ asked Lily agog.

Beth rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, the first thing she should have done upon being kissed by Alex is get on the phone to us all.’

‘Let her speak,’ said Lily, hushing her friends.

So Hannah explained how upset he’d been on viewing the triathlon event at the Commonwealth Games and how her support had somehow ended up with them kissing.

‘So now what?’ asked Beth.

‘I honestly don’t know,’ replied Hannah.