Page 35 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

‘That’ll show him,’ she thought, stabbing at the phone a couple of times before she could finally get it right.

‘You’re not drunk texting, are you?’ asked Beth, as she watched Hannah slip her phone back into her pocket. ‘Believe me, that never works and I should know.’

‘Wait!’ said Lily, sloshing her drink about a bit after one too many cocktails. ‘Who would Hannah be drunk texting? Who’s getting a booty call?’

‘A booty call?’ said Ella, looking amazed. ‘Who? What?’

‘Nobody,’ said Hannah, rolling her eyes. ‘I’m single. Always single. Dull Hannah. Single Hannah. That’s me.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Frankie, overhearing the conversation. ‘We appear to have reached the morose part of getting drunk and that’s never attractive.’

‘I agree,’ said Beth, removing the still half-full cocktail glass from Hannah’s hand and downing it herself. ‘There. No harm done.’

Excusing herself to go to the bathroom, Hannah was still feeling down. No amount of alcohol seemed to be numbing her senses.

She was just on her way to the downstairs washroom when she spotted Alex chatting with Aimee outside. Ever the gentleman, he was seeing her and her grandmother to their car.

Scowling, Hannah did an abrupt turn but stopped before going back into the snug. Everyone was being very judgemental that evening. She just needed to be alone. So instead, she went out of the back door and around the side of the hotel.

The fresh air hit her pretty hard but it was quite nice, she thought. If you liked being alone under a starry sky, that was. Always alone. Never with anyone. Why couldn’t she be sparkly and fun like Aimee? Why was she always so dull?

She didn’t even wild swim with her grandmother and she was almost eighty! Well, perhaps she should start now.

Feeling a little wobbly, she headed towards the beach.

18

Despite the ache inside his broken foot, Alex had enjoyed the party. He had missed so many parties when he had been training that it was nice to be able to join the family for once and not miss out.

Dotty had introduced her to many of her friends and he had had a very interesting discussion with Aimee about how yoga might help with his recovery. It was certainly something to consider, he decided.

Thankfully, with the painkillers he was still on for his foot, Alex had stayed on the zero-alcohol beer for the evening and wasn’t suffering the consequences of many of the family and friends who were reeling under the influence of Frankie’s strong cocktails.

Beginning to grow tired, from both Tiny’s disruptive nights and the pain, Alex had offered to see Aimee and Mavis to their car before turning in for the evening.

However, he was just returning from the car park when he saw Hannah disappearing around the corner of the hotel.

Wondering where she could be going at that time of night, and having noted how much Frankie’s cocktails had been flowing, he decided to follow her and make sure that she was all right and not upset.

He quickly realised that she wasn’t upset at all, given away by the fact that she was singing to herself as she staggered along the lakeside path away from the hotel. He could see now that she was actually pretty drunk. Perhaps she was going to the boathouse, he thought.

However, when she made a beeline for the beach, he quickly picked up as much speed as he could on one crutch. Lakes and alcohol were never a good combination, he reminded himself, wincing as he forced himself to move even faster.

But by the time he had reached the beach, Hannah was standing at the water’s edge and had already stripped off her top and skirt.

‘Hey,’ he said, his voice coming out as a croak as he took in her curves, almost all on show apart from her underwear.

She spun around and beamed at him. ‘Hey!’ she replied. ‘You found me.’

‘I didn’t know that we were playing hide and seek,’ he told her. He tried not to stare at her skin, creamy pale in the moonlight. ‘Aren’t you cold?’

She shrugged her shoulders up and down in an exaggerated manner. She really was quite drunk, he realised.

‘I’m a country girl,’ she slurred. ‘Born and raised. Of course I’m not cold.’

He could see the goosebumps on her arms even in the semi-darkness.

‘Let’s go back to the party,’ he told her gently. ‘Get you in the warm.’