Chapter 4
On the way back from the hospital later that afternoon, Alex stared out of the window at the countryside, only responding to Jake’s chatty conversation with the odd word or grunt of reply.
He knew Jake understood his muted responses. That was the thing about best friends. They knew all your faults and reactions, especially during the worst of times.
It had been a long wait of four hours at the hospital. Four hours since he had broken two small bones in his foot. Four hours of avoiding the texts and missed calls from his dad.
Alex had thought that he was finally going to get his gold medal that summer.
That he would finally make his parents proud, but now that dream seemed impossible.
He stared down at the large boot placed on his broken foot.
The hospital had told him it would be six weeks before he could begin even light training.
The more intense workouts would have to wait and that left him out of time for the Commonwealth Games.
The dream of the gold medal was now out of the question.
He barely registered the journey until finally Maple Tree Lodge came into view as Jake drove into the car park. He instantly felt a sense of calm, despite his muddled upset thoughts.
Whenever he had finished a competition, this was where he came.
It wasn’t his official home and yet it was always the first place he thought to come to.
He had planned to come home right after the Commonwealth Games in July, perhaps even take a bit of time over August to spend time with the family and his friends.
Now time was all he had, stretching out in front of him.
He huffed out a sigh. He had trained so hard this past year, perhaps harder than he had ever done before. He had sacrificed so much to be the fittest he had ever been. And now what? What came next in his life? He had no idea.
He thought back to when he had broken his first swimming record aged ten and that had lit the blue touchpaper for his dad’s ambitions.
A junior European cup had followed. At his first World Cup, he had crashed his bicycle and despite dislocating his shoulder had got back to training the following day.
He had thrown up sometimes on the finishing line, his body pushed over its limit time and time again.
He had been exhausted, crying on the ground on other occasions, having pushed on through various ailments and pain from his muscles.
He had trained harder and harder in every spare moment out of work.
Training for him wasn’t fun, but it was a means to an end and that end had always been a gold medal.
He had never given much thought as to what happened when that day arrived. And now it never would.
He glanced out of the windscreen to the glittering lake beyond the hotel car park.
Well, perhaps swimming across Dragonfly Lake had been fun, as well as biking and running the forest trail around the lake.
Here, training had never felt like hard work.
He enjoyed being amongst nature, staying at Maple Tree Lodge with the family.
Welcomed into the heart of the Jackson family with their generosity and kindness, they had always helped take him away to a better place mentally speaking.
A calmer, happier place where he could just be Alex.
Not a competitor, not racing towards a gold medal.
At Maple Tree Lodge, he was just like Jake, one of Ben’s best friends, and that was all with no judgement or pressure.
It was their adopted home, his and Jake’s.
And they were truly grateful for it. Here he could relax before time inevitably dragged him back to the reality of the next competition.
But what happened when there wasn’t going to be another one, perhaps ever?
Jake got out of the car and went around the bonnet to hold the passenger door open for him.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s get you inside to your adoring masses.’
The crutches were going to take a little getting used to, thought Alex as he manoeuvred them out of the car and slowly stood up.
Thankfully the flat in London where he lived had a lift but there was the small matter that driving would also be impossible for a while.
There were so many questions that needed to be answered about his future but right now he was just feeling tired and in pain.
As Alex and Jake slowly went across the car park towards the hotel, Ben came out of the front entrance and strode towards them. Alex braced himself. He loved his friend but he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to face any teasing, despite their long friendship.
But Ben merely stepped forward to give him a hug.
Over his shoulder, Alex turned to look at Jake.
If anyone was going to make a joke about his situation, it would be Jake.
But there was no quip this time. No funny drawled sarcasm.
Just support and strength from both of them as his friends gave him a gentle slap on the back.
In friendly silence, they headed inside across the large entrance hall and into the kitchen where he found all the family gathered to greet him.
Normally, the arrival of either of Ben’s best friends would cause a ripple of good cheer and greetings. But this time, the atmosphere in the kitchen was much more muted.
Faye rushed up to him first, murmuring reassuring words in his ear. She was soft and gentle and reminded him of his own mother.
Dotty was next and Alex had to smile as she had to reach up on tiptoes to give Alex a kiss on his cheek. Even then, he had to bend down to reach the diminutive grandmother. She gave his arm a squeeze before stepping back to let Walter come forward.
The grey-haired man stepped forward and gave him a firm nod.
‘Don’t let the buggers grind you down,’ said Walter.
Alex smiled at him in thanks.
Then there was Frankie, Faye’s oldest friend.
‘You know what I do when I’m sad?’ she said. ‘Pour myself a drink. So what’ll it be?’
There was a resounding ‘No!’ around the kitchen. Frankie’s cocktails were legendary and sometimes extremely strong. Thankfully she kept them a little milder but equally delicious when she was bartender in the snug each evening.
‘What?’ said Frankie, with a shrug at the chorus of negativity she had just received. ‘I was talking for medicinal purposes, of course!’
Faye smiled but shook her head at her best friend. ‘How about a coffee or a cup of tea instead?’ she asked.
Alex nodded. ‘Thanks. Tea would be great.’
Finally he looked across at Hannah as she walked towards him. She was studying him with those deep blue eyes, as if she could feel the pain that was just bubbling under the surface.
He was surprised but pleased when she came across to give him a hug.
She didn’t say anything reassuring. What could she say that would make any difference? But the extra squeeze she gave him before stepping back made all the difference and he felt better, despite the whole wretched day.
As she stepped back, she pointed at the pastries on the cooling rack.
‘They’re your favourite,’ she told him. ‘Maple pecan plaits.’
‘You remembered?’ he said, surprised and pleased that she knew him so well.
‘Just in case the hospital food was bad,’ she told him with a soft smile.
‘It was,’ he replied. ‘Truly dreadful.’
‘Sit down and I’ll bring them over,’ she said.
Jake was already making jokes about the pretty nurse who had helped them at the hospital.
Alex rolled his eyes. He knew that Jake’s revolving door on his love life was in direct response to the wretched divorce that his parents had suffered, and ensured that everyone else had suffered as well.
He was a loyal friend though, and for that Alex was grateful.
Ben, on the other hand, was happy and settled after a difficult year when he had lost his dad so quickly. Ben was happy, both in love and in life too.
How Alex longed for that happiness, he thought.
Even Jake’s love life had made him envious in his more lonely moments.
But it was Alex’s decision not to get too involved with anyone, despite encouragement from both of his best friends.
As an athlete constantly training and competing, having a long-term relationship had been near-on impossible and the spectre of Claire’s cheating had made him suspicious of getting close to anyone new.
As the family fussed over him, Alex checked his phone once more and grimaced as he saw there was another missed call. At some point he would have to face his dad and tell him the worst of news.
Later, he told himself, as Hannah brought over the pastries with a soft smile. She placed one on a plate and handed it over to him.
There was still so much that needed to be decided upon.
He needed to think about where he was going to work and earn a living.
His foot ached inside the boot and he desperately needed a shower.
He had always done the right thing by his family, worked hard and yet he was still utterly exhausted.
His whole future was a mystery to him in that moment.
For now though, as the Jackson family chatted around the table, he was happy to sit with them where there was no pressure to be anything but himself.