Page 72 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

‘Does Ben know?’ asked Beth.

Lily shook her head. ‘Men do tend to be clueless about this sort of thing, let’s be honest. And I wanted to make sure what was best for Hannah first before I let him in on the little secret. It’s best us women take charge, I reckon.’

Hannah shook her head, not able to believe any of her friends’ words.

‘Yes, but you’re forgetting one thing, aren’t you?’ she said, putting her hands on her hips. ‘If he likes me that much, why is he out on a date with Aimee tonight?’

‘On a date?’ stammered Beth.

‘Tonight?’ asked Ella.

‘With Aimee?’ said Lily, looking aghast. ‘How? When?’

‘She asked him the other day,’ said Hannah, coming back to the bed to sit down and slump against the pillows. ‘So I guess your radar is way off, for once.’

Her friends were silent for a moment after hearing her shaky voice and she could feel Beth and Ella’s sympathy even through the phone screen.

Lily, though, immediately drew her into a hug and Hannah couldn’t help but let a stray tear fall as she finally admitted to herself how upset she really was over Alex.

How long had she been lying to herself that her feelings for him were purely friendly? How long had she been harbouring a secret crush on him?

She had tried so hard not to give in to her feelings. And yet it seemed as if they were stronger than ever.

But with Alex out on a date with someone else, she had no choice but to just remain friends.

39

The water sports centre opened on the following Saturday morning.

Alex was hoping that the lack of hype surrounding the opening meant that there were no expectations on the place to succeed. Obviously he was desperate for it to flourish for the family’s sake. Ben had already impressed on him the need for the summer takings to be up on the previous summer.

‘They couldn’t be much worse,’ Ben had told him a few days previously, with a grimace.

But the hotel had been in the middle of extensive renovations at that time. Now it was open and a steady trickle of guests were ensuring that the rooms were at seventy-five per cent capacity each weekend.

The problem was encouraging new guests along during the week. However, Ella had done a sterling job in creating some hype around the opening of the hotel and so had made a similar effort with the water sports centre, such as a new Facebook page and advertising on the local community online hub.

‘They’ll come,’ announced Dotty that morning over breakfast. ‘How could they possibly stay away?’

Alex nodded, hoping that sheer willpower and prayer alone would help achieve that particular goal.

As it happened, when he headed past the hotel lobby after breakfast and went to nervously check on the noticeboard, he was amazed. There had been a blank list placed there the previous evening asking for any parties interested in renting out the paddleboards on the lake. To his surprise, all eight paddleboards had been reserved.

‘Looks like you’re in for a busy morning,’ said Ben, coming out of the hotel office and nodding at the noticeboard.

Alex nodded. ‘I can’t believe it,’ he replied.

Ben grinned at him. ‘Why not? They all heard that there was an experienced triathlete ready to hand over his expertise.’

Alex raised his eyebrows at his best friend. ‘And how did they hear that?’ he asked.

‘You know what?’ replied Ben, laughing. ‘I honestly can’t remember.’

As he headed outside, Alex felt a little embarrassed. Ever since the disastrous charity run where he had ended up breaking his foot and becoming somewhat of a local joke overnight, the thought of trading on his relatively infamous name had filled him with horror.

But it seemed that the hotel needed to capitalise on his infamy and, reluctantly, he had to agree with them. Especially if it brought in more people into the area.

So when the eight eager paddleboarders arrived for their lesson that afternoon, he fixed a smile on his face and graciously granted them all a selfie before he began to run through the health and safety rules.