Page 17 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

Alex shook his head. ‘No, but thanks for the reminder. I mean, I’m beyond embarrassed at what happened. I wish there was a pill you could take that could erase all bad memories. But I can’t.’

Jake slapped him on the shoulder with his hand. ‘Yeah. Time travel always sounds appealing.’

‘But the truth is that I don’t want to return to that life any more,’ said Alex. ‘I want more than just hours of isolation, training by myself on the open road. I want to enjoy eating whatever I like, whenever I like. I want to rest and relax and just stop.’

He sighed, wondering what on earth that would even be like.

‘What about work?’ asked Ben.

‘I guess job hunting is next on the list,’ said Alex.

He had given up his job at the accountancy firm in London a month previously, intending to concentrate on his training before the Commonwealth Games. Much good that did, he thought to himself. And yet that job hadn’t given him much pleasure anyway. It had paid him highly over the years so that he was comfortable and yet it didn’t fill his soul. And now that training for triathlons didn’t do that either, he had no idea what to do.

‘The truth is I have no clue what comes next,’ said Alex. ‘I know that I don’t want to live in the city any more in a soulless empty flat. I don’t want to train any more. I’m not sure I even want to be an accountant either.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘But beyond that I have no idea what happens to me next.’

There was a short silence whilst his friends exchanged glances.

‘Listen,’ said Ben eventually. ‘Maybe you don’t have to decide this minute. Why don’t you stay with us for a while longer? Stay for a week, a month, however long you want. Just relax for once.’

‘Ben’s right,’ added Jake. ‘You need to rest up and let your bones mend. Then hopefully you’ll feel stronger and more prepared for what comes next. Whatever that might be.’

‘Thanks,’ replied Alex, grateful for his friends’ support when everything else was so uncertain.

‘You’ll just have to put up with my snoring a while longer when I next visit,’ said Jake, before taking a last bite of his own pastry. ‘Mmm. One day, I’ll get your sister to give me this recipe. But then again,’ he added, after swallowing, ‘it still won’t taste as good as this. I tell you, she could make a fortune in London.’

‘Hannah hated London when she lived there,’ Alex reminded him.

Jake nodded. ‘The only good thing that happened to her there was to meet her friends.’ He picked at the crumbs on his plate. ‘Shame though. I tell you, talent like hers is few and far between.’

‘Well, as it happens, there is a bit of a plan that I might need your help with,’ said Ben. ‘As you know, the Boathouse Café is pretty much finished apart from a lick of paint.’

‘I’ve said all along it could be a great business,’ said Jake, nodding his approval. ‘I mean, look at the setting.’

‘Exactly,’ said Ben. ‘If it can attract more bookings or even just local people wanting to walk around the lake then that would be great news for our meagre profits.’

‘Or watching the light show,’ added Jake.

‘I thought that was finished now with summer on its way,’ Alex reminded him.

‘It is,’ replied Ben. ‘The light festivals have ended with the lighter evenings and later sunsets. So now what to draw people in over the summer? We need something new. Something different for the area.’

‘Well, nobody else has a lake, do they?’ said Jake.

‘Exactly!’ replied Ben. ‘So we’ve got our temporary licence until the end of September.’

‘So what do you need our help with?’ asked Alex.

‘My manager and baker has quit before she even began,’ said Ben, with a grimace.

‘I’d love to help you out, mate, but despite my amazing talents with food, I can’t bake a cake to save my life,’ said Jake.

Ben shook his head. ‘Actually, it was more of your persuasion techniques that I’m interested in. Especially with women.’

Jake and Alex exchanged a surprised look.

‘Don’t look at me,’ said Alex, laughing. ‘That’s your area of expertise.’

Jake grinned. ‘Indeed it is.’ He turned to look at Ben. ‘So who’s the lucky woman that I’m to woo?’