Page 4 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

‘Keep an eye on him, would you?’ said Del, glancing at his phone. ‘I’ve got to take this call.’

Hannah looked up as Alex came around the corner, smiling and nodding at all the applause as he came home way ahead of everyone else to claim first prize, the competition trailing him by some yards. She was so pleased that he would win. How wonderful it would be to be that successful and happy in life, she thought wistfully. Despite having run hard, he made it look as effortless as always.

Alex caught her eye for a moment as he ran towards them and gave her wink.

She was so distracted at his wide smile that she didn’t notice a couple of ducks sliding into a landing in the shallows of the lake on the other side of the track. But Tiny did.

Suddenly the lead was yanked in her hand and Tiny was off like a rocket, charging across the mud towards the water.

Desperately trying to hold on to the lead, Hannah was amazed at the dog’s strength, despite his young age. Having no choice but to trail after him at a run, she found herself in the path of Alex, whose run had faltered as he headed towards the ribbon strung across the track for the finishing line.

Alex tried to dodge out of the way and was desperately trying to avoid them. Hannah thought that she had just about got away with it when Tiny became distracted at another dog’s barking and abruptly changed course, almost doubling back on himself.

Hannah, still desperately hanging on to the lead, found herself heading back directly towards Alex and this time there was no chance to avoid him.

She hit him at speed with a clatter and she heard him cry out as they both went down onto the ground in a crumpled heap. Meanwhile Tiny had run off, the lead trailing behind him as he went, barking in happy delight as he wreaked havoc in the shallows of the lake.

To her horror, Hannah then saw a small group of athletes run past them as they lay sprawled on the ground. It appeared that Alex’s hopes of winning the inaugural Dragonfly Lake Triathlon were well and truly over.

2

Alex Grant felt numb with shock as he lay sprawled on the ground next to Hannah. What had just happened?

One minute he had been comfortably in the lead of the Dragonfly Lake Triathlon, the next he was lying in the mud with his foot in agony. He sat up slowly, feeling the severe pain shooting up his lower leg and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that at least one of the bones in his foot was broken.

One of his best friends, Ben, rushed up to them. ‘Are you both OK?’ he asked, helping his sister to stand up before looking down at Alex. ‘Mate, I can’t believe you didn’t win! What a disaster! I thought you had it all wrapped up.’

Despite his own pain, Alex immediately looked at Hannah to check that she wasn’t hurt. Mud was smeared down one side of her body but thankfully she appeared to be fine apart from that.

‘I’m OK,’ she muttered, slowly standing up. ‘But I’m so sorry about the race, Alex,’ she said, looking down at him with tears in her eyes. ‘The puppy just ran off and I couldn’t hold on to him!’

‘It’s not your fault,’ snapped Ben. ‘It’s bloomin’ Dodgy Del. Honestly!’ He turned back to look down at Alex with a roll of his eyes. ‘At least you can guarantee that this kind of thing won’t happen in the Commonwealth Games!’ He held out his hand. ‘Come on then. Let’s get you up.’

But as Alex stared up at his best friend, the reality began to sink in. The Commonwealth Games were only four months away. He tried to wiggle some of his toes once more and winced at the effort. The pain registered something in his brain. A broken bone would mean having to abandon his heavy training for at least two of those months for the healing to happen properly, leaving him vastly underprepared and unfit.

In that moment, he knew that pursuit of a gold medal was over. Everything that he and his dad had been working and training for the whole of his adult life was at an end. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

All he knew was that he had let his dad down and now they wouldn’t win the biggest prize of them all. Because as long as he could remember, Alex had been pushed by his father, the relentless burden to win at all costs bred into him at a young age.

His father had been a winner himself many years ago. He had been a long-distance runner and the bronze medal that he had won at the World Athletics Championships still hung in his study next to his desk. But he wanted more. He wanted the top medal. However, when his own body wasn’t able to continue with the pressure, he had projected his gold-medal ambitions onto his son.

From a young age, Alex had known that winning at school sports competitions had only been the beginning. It had continued into his university degree as well. His dad didn’t care about Alex’s academic career, nor his accountancy qualifications of which Alex was quite proud. Alex had worked for a large firm despite his dad wanting him to have his own company, thus being able to have even more time off work to train. But the pressure that Alex was under in his personal life was not something that he wanted transferred to his career, so for once, he had said no to his father, being content to turn up, do a good job and then go home to unwind. Not that he’d ever had much time to relax. Any free time, including vacation time, was filled with competitions and training.

He had always followed the sensible route away from the competitions which had meant a good, steady income and then using his savings prudently to invest which had resulted in him owning a couple of properties in London. One was rented out, the other Alex used as a base. He still made good money from his job and investments and yet he had no time to spend it. He felt as if he spent nearly all of his adult life travelling around the globe, not to relax or enjoy the sightseeing of the many different countries. But instead having to swim, bike and run over and over again. Different rivers and seas, different streets and circuits. They had all begun to merge over the years until he had felt ground down by the relentlessness of it all.

Now in his early thirties, he wanted to pursue his own dreams, to be his own man in charge of his destiny. He wanted to be settled, to have a home, a family, a life away from the training and competitions.

However, his parents had made many sacrifices on his behalf, giving up time where they could be relaxing on holiday for the constant training in order that Alex would be in top condition. So, despite his growing reticence, he had carried on trying to pursue that elusive gold medal.

In the past couple of years, however, Alex had begun to secretly long to stop. He had thought that perhaps the Commonwealth gold medal would put an end to his father’s ambitions at last. But even that dream appeared to have been taken away from him, given the sharp pain in his foot at that moment.

He found Ben still looking down at him, reaching out a hand to help him up.

‘I can’t stand,’ he told his best friend, shaking his head. ‘I’m hurt.’

Ben looked horrified before glancing around at their other best friend, Jake, who had come to stand next to them.

‘Can’t say that wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever seen,’ said Jake, his handsome face lit up with humour in his usual relaxed style. ‘That was so funny. Should have videoed it. Couldn’t do it again, could you? Just for me?’