Page 55 of Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge

‘Excuse me! It’s even better,’ said Walter, smiling at her. ‘And cleaner.’

‘Absolutely,’ said Alex. ‘You should see some of the places where I have to swim.’ He shuddered. ‘The water is disgusting sometimes.’

‘That’s not healthy,’ muttered Dotty.

‘Well, it’s definitely clean here,’ said Walter. ‘The limestone rocks see to that. You can see almost through to the bottom, even in the deep bits.’

‘I understand that it’s lovely and clean.’ However, Lily was still hesitating. ‘But it must be too cold, surely?’

‘Trust me, it’ll be warmer out there than it will be in March or April after the winter,’ Alex told her. ‘Anyway, a few minutes is amazing for the circulation.’

Lily looked at Hannah.

‘I’m game if you are,’ said Hannah, with a laugh.

Alex looked delighted. ‘Excellent! I’ll meet you both out there at 7a.m.’

Lily turned to look at Hannah. ‘Now you’ve done it,’ she muttered. ‘What am I supposed to do now?’

‘I’d pray for a heatwave, if I were you,’ quipped Jake.

27

The following morning, Lily, dressed in leggings and a large sweatshirt over her swimsuit, hovered nervously on the beach with a similarly dressed Hannah.

Finally, Alex came out of the hotel wearing his wetsuit.

‘Wow,’ muttered Hannah under her breath.

Lily silently agreed. Alex had the body of an athlete, broad shoulders and muscles everywhere, all of which was shown off by the skintight wetsuit. It was pretty impressive and Hannah couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him.

‘Good morning,’ said Alex.

‘Good morning,’ they chorused in return.

‘Why haven’t we got wetsuits?’ asked Lily, slipping off her flip-flops and tentatively touching her toe into the water lapping beside them. She gave a squeal at the freezing cold temperature.

‘Because it’s too cold for you to withstand the water for any length of time, especially if you’re not used to it,’ said Alex. ‘I know CPR but I don’t want to have to perform it on either one of you so you’d better stay in for a short time. Five minutes maximum.’

Lily shivered. ‘That’s a shame, I was really hoping to be in there for at least an hour,’ she joked.

‘Only if you want chilblains,’ said Hannah.

‘I’ll see you afterwards,’ said Alex.

They both watched as he waded straight into the water before striking out with an impressive front crawl across the lake.

‘He’s a true athlete,’ said Lily, awestruck at his athleticism.

‘He’s a true idiot if he thinks that’s the right way to start any day,’ said a male voice nearby.

Lily and Hannah spun around to find Ben standing behind them.

‘I’d rather have one of Mum’s pastries and a coffee, to be honest,’ he carried on, with a grin.

Lily smiled at the joke but found herself agreeing with him.

‘Are you joining us?’ asked Hannah in a hopeful tone.