Chapter 9
Back in the kitchen, Alex looked down at the blueberry muffin that Hannah had said she had baked just for him. He felt ridiculously pleased that she knew that it was another of his favourites.
The blueberries were a superfood, packed full of antioxidants, their sharpness contrasting with the rich cake and the sweet vanilla icing which he quickly wolfed down.
‘Is that true?’ asked Ben.
Alex finally looked up from his empty plate to his best friends who were both looking at him with concerned looks on their faces.
‘You’re really giving up competing?’ carried on Ben, still frowning.
Alex nodded. ‘That’s right.’
Jake wiped his hands on a napkin and leant back in his chair. ‘Listen, mate,’ he said. ‘We all get setbacks. And we both get it, we really do. But there’s no need to make a rush decision today, is there?’
Ben nodded. ‘He’s right. You’re exhausted and in a lot of pain. Take some time and rest up.’
Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise at his friends. ‘You’re both always nagging me to take it easy and so the moment I want to retire, you’re telling me to carry on?’
Ben shook his head. ‘No. If that’s not what you want to do any more, then we’ve got your back like always. Just don’t be too hasty, that’s all we’re saying.’
‘Like Claire,’ murmured Jake.
Alex shot a look at his friend. ‘That wasn’t impulsive. That was madness.’
Jake nodded. ‘I agree. That woman was dreadful.’
Claire had been a knee-jerk reaction to finding out that Hannah had moved in with her boyfriend.
Both failed relationships appeared to have cast long shadows over their future love lives.
Hannah had never been on any more dates, as far as he knew.
And Claire’s cheating ways had caused him to put a wall up around his heart with regard to any future relationships.
‘We all make mistakes,’ said Alex, with a shrug. ‘Look at your track record!’
Jake laughed. ‘Yeah, but at least I didn’t get engaged to any of the dreadful ones!’
Ben rolled his eyes. ‘Away from Jake’s questionable dating history and back to the question in hand,’ he said. ‘Have you spoken to your dad?’
‘Yeah because he’s not going to take this well,’ added Jake with a grimace.
‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ replied Alex. He leant back in his chair with a sigh. ‘I spoke to him last night. As you can imagine, he was not exactly thrilled at the idea.’
After his dad had hung up on him, his mum had sent a text sending her love and advising him just to give his dad a bit of time. He hadn’t heard from his dad since. But perhaps there was nothing left to say. Perhaps they both needed time and space away from each other.
He looked at his friends. ‘Look, I know you’re both a bit shocked but this has been coming for a while. I’m exhausted.’
‘So this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to you messing up in front of everyone?’ asked Jake.
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?’
‘Hannah,’ Ben told them.
Jake gave a choking sound in his throat and Alex nearly fell off his chair in shock.
‘Hannah!’ spluttered Alex, feeling ill. The thought of watching Jake become romantically entangled with Hannah made his brain misfire.
‘Let me clarify,’ said Ben, with a grin. ‘Keep your hands off my little sister. Any wooing is to be entirely mental.’
Alex looked at Jake in confusion.
‘You’re losing us,’ said Jake, equally puzzled.
‘I want her to run the Boathouse Café,’ said Ben.
Although Alex was still trying to dismiss the idea of Jake and Hannah together from his mind, he spoke almost immediately.
‘She’ll never do it,’ he replied. He knew her so well that her lack of confidence and shyness would mean that it was a step too far for her.
‘That was her initial reaction, unfortunately,’ said Ben, making a face. ‘But I was hoping that with a bit of persuasion from my oldest friends, and if we all work on her together, then she might just make a go of it.’
Jake shrugged his shoulders. ‘Don’t think there’s much hope, mate, to be honest. But yeah, I’ll talk to her.’
They both looked at Alex, who nodded slowly. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘We can only try.’
He was still touched at Ben inviting him to stay on after the weekend and rest. After all, he had always loved staying at Maple Tree Lodge. Perhaps it would give him more time to plan his future. To think about building his own life away from the endless competitions.
Of course, he secretly hoped that perhaps he could ask Hannah out one day. He had waited for so long. Been so patient.
He had never let on to either of his best friends about his crush on Hannah. Thankfully, as the quiet one in the threesome, he was able to keep his feelings private. Or at least he had done so far.
However, Ben’s warning to Jake about being hands off only served to remind Alex that his friend would never be happy with either of them dating his little sister.
But he could daydream, couldn’t he?