Chapter 34
Hannah stood on the beach and looked down at the paddleboard that Alex had just inflated.
‘This looks good quality actually,’ she said.
‘Let’s hope Dodgy Del has finally delivered something decent,’ he replied. ‘Otherwise we’ll both end up in the water sooner than we’d envisaged.’
It was only two days after the idea for the swim and paddleboard club but Alex had already got to work on buying some of the equipment needed. As the Boathouse Café was still extremely quiet, Hannah had offered to close the café early to give him a hand.
‘Have you used one before?’ asked Hannah, as she tested out the firmness of the other board that he had already inflated.
Alex straightened up. ‘No. But how hard can it be?’ he asked.
‘It depends on your sense on balance,’ she told him, smiling. She looked across the lake. ‘Well, at least the sun’s out.’
The weather had turned for the better in the past week or so and finally the warm sun was shining down on them, warming up both the air and more importantly the water temperature as well.
Not that Tiny seemed to mind as he dashed in and out of the water nearby, his long black coat growing wetter and darker.
Deciding it was now or never, Hannah stripped down to her swimming costume and picked up the paddleboard before taking it into the water. The cool temperature made her gasp briefly before she continued to head into the water up to her knees.
Then she turned around, wondering where Alex was. She watched as he played around with Tiny at the shoreline.
‘Come on,’ she teased him. ‘You can’t put it off any longer.’
Already in his swimming shorts, he picked up his own paddleboard and strode into the water, as confident as always.
‘So,’ she said. ‘How do we go about this then, teacher?’ she asked, looking down at the paddleboard she had placed to float next to her.
‘No idea,’ said Alex, with a grin. ‘But how hard can it be, right?’
He steadied the paddleboard on the water next to him and then carefully stepped onto it. But he was too quick and almost immediately the board flipped over, causing him to crash into the water.
Because they were standing in such shallow water, his bottom bounced off the sandy base of the lake and he sat up, spluttering.
Hannah burst into laughter, whilst managing to hold on to both of their boards and the oars as well. She couldn’t believe that he had fallen in!
He stood up, looking a little embarrassed. ‘OK. So that wasn’t good for a first try,’ he muttered.
She grinned at him. ‘I’ve got to say,’ she told him, ‘I wish I’d had my phone on me.’
‘If you think it’s so easy, you give it a go,’ he replied. ‘Go on. I dare you.’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘OK.’
Figuring that she couldn’t be as bad as Alex had been, she carefully knelt onto the top of the board, steadying herself with the oar. Then, once she had her balance, she looked at him with raised eyebrows.
‘Show off,’ he muttered. ‘OK. Second time lucky.’
Once more, he went too fast and went over the front of the board that time and not the side.
Hannah had only just stopped laughing when he had surfaced in the shallow water once more.
Meanwhile, Tiny thought it the best game that he had ever seen and was barking joyfully as he bounced around in the water, splashing them both.
From his prone position sitting down on the sandy bottom, Alex looked up at Hannah, who was floating nearby.
‘Well, it’s obviously not as simple as it looks,’ he said, with a sheepish grin. ‘Let’s be honest, you’ve taken the easy route.’
‘Have I?’ she teased him, feeling more confident about her chances by the minute, compared to his disastrous efforts. ‘How do you get to that conclusion?’
‘Because you’re kneeling down which is the safest way and therefore your balance threshold is nearest the board,’ he told her.
‘I see.’
She shot him another smile before she clutched onto each side of the board with her hands and drew herself up into a standing position. She then picked up the oar and slowly spun the board around in the water to face him.
‘How are you doing that?’ he spluttered, looking amazed.
‘Have we actually found something that the great Alex Grant can’t do? A sport that he isn’t good at?’ Hannah laughed. ‘Oh, this wonderful. How does it feel to be just like us other mere mortals?’
He grinned at her teasing before he stood up and grabbed hold of the board.
‘I can do this,’ she heard him muttering to himself. ‘I can.’
‘Can you?’ she teased him before deciding that he actually needed her help, for once. ‘OK. I can’t be mean to you after all the kindness you’ve shown me. So here’s what you’re going to do. Take it slow. And by slow, I mean slooooow.’
Step by step, she told him exactly what to do and finally, although still looking somewhat unsteady, he was kneeling on the paddleboard.
‘There!’ said Hannah, clapping. ‘That’s it! You’re off and running now.’
‘Am I?’ asked Alex, pulling the oar around him and looking unsure. ‘So why do I feel like I’m still going to fall off?’
‘You’ll be fine,’ she told him. ‘You really have no gift of balance, do you?’
‘I’ve never needed it before now,’ he replied, clutching onto the board as a ripple threatened to unseat him once more.
‘You rode a bike in every race,’ she reminded him.
‘Yes, but that had wheels and nice flat tarmac,’ he told her. ‘This is a whole different matter. Much harder on water, it turns out.’
‘Then how come I have mastered it first time?’ she asked, with a wide smile.
‘Well, I guess you’re just special,’ he told her, shooting her a grin.
She blushed at his words. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘How are you going to run a water sports centre looking like that?’
He was clutching onto the side of the board for dear life and, after a moment, reluctantly let go, looking unsteady once more.
‘I’m going to practise every evening when there’s nobody about,’ he told her. ‘I’ve never yet come across a sport I can’t master.’
She laughed. ‘Well, just remember that in this particular sport I beat you fair and square.’
‘Oh, I’ll definitely remember that,’ he told her, grinning. ‘Now, what about standing up?’
‘You’ll be fine now you’ve got your centre of balance,’ she replied, coming over to stand on her board nearby. ‘Just take it nice and slow.’
She watched as he carefully began to move into a standing position. It seemed to take forever and with every wobble of the board, she was convinced that he was going to land in the water again. But finally and with a tremendous look of satisfaction, he was up and standing on the paddleboard.
‘I’ve done it!’ he shouted, delighted with himself.
‘Well done,’ replied Hannah.
Unfortunately his exuberance had attracted the interest of Tiny who, until that point, had been happily bouncing around in the shallow waters. With a bark of delight, the puppy began to wade out towards where the paddleboards were.
Then, to Alex’s and Hannah’s amazement, Tiny then began to paddle in the water towards them.
‘He can swim!’ said Hannah.
Alex nodded. ‘They’re supposed to be good in the water but I had no idea it would come so naturally to him. Good boy, Tiny!’
Tiny ploughed on with his doggy paddle towards them, his front paws propelling him ever forwards until he was next to Alex’s board.
‘What a good boy!’ he told the dog, as he smiled down at him.
Tiny was so pleased with himself that he decided that his next trick would be learning to paddleboard and suddenly placed his front paws onto the board.
‘No,’ said Alex, shaking his head. ‘No. No. No!’
But Hannah realised that it was too late. With the weight of the enormous and somewhat heavy puppy leaning on the side of the board, there was only ever going to be one outcome. The board immediately tipped over and Alex went headfirst into the water once more.
As he surfaced, spluttering, Tiny swam around him in delight that he finally had a playmate to mess around with in the water.
Alex looked up at her as she stared down at them both, still laughing.
‘Maybe Tiny could teach the paddleboarding instead,’ she said, still giggling.
‘Maybe,’ he said, swimming towards her with ease across the water with Tiny in hot pursuit.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked, suddenly feeling nervous at his mischievous smile.
‘Just didn’t want you to feel left out,’ he told her, before turning around to look for Tiny. He called the dog over. ‘Tiny! Where’s Hannah? Go and find Hannah!’
Hannah’s face dropped as the dog began to swim towards her.
‘Wait a minute,’ she began.
But Alex had been using a familiar phrase whereby he normally rushed over to find Hannah when he came into the café and just because they were on the water, it didn’t appear to make any difference to his obeying the instructions.
So as the dog reached the paddleboard, he placed his paws on the edge and Hannah crouched down to settle it. ‘Hang on,’ she urged the dog.
But it was too late. He was desperately trying to climb up to see her and with one flip of the board, Hannah was now in the water as well.
She came up to the surface, spluttering, and found Alex laughing at her.
‘You rotten…’ she began, spraying him water as her hand skimmed the surface.
‘Hey, I’m already wet,’ he reminded her.
Eventually, they lay on their stomachs and paddled back to the shore using their hands with Tiny at the front of Alex’s board, looking like a ship’s proud bust at the front of a galleon.
Alex may have completely failed at his first attempt at paddleboarding but Hannah knew that he wouldn’t give up that easily.
And she found herself hoping that perhaps he wouldn’t give up on her either. Because despite telling him otherwise, her feelings for him were growing stronger by the day.