Chapter 27
The following morning, Lily, dressed in leggings and a large sweatshirt over her swimsuit, hovered nervously on the beach with a similarly dressed Hannah.
Finally, Alex came out of the hotel wearing his wetsuit.
‘Wow,’ muttered Hannah under her breath.
Lily silently agreed. Alex had the body of an athlete, broad shoulders and muscles everywhere, all of which was shown off by the skintight wetsuit. It was pretty impressive and Hannah couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him.
‘Good morning,’ said Alex.
‘Good morning,’ they chorused in return.
‘Why haven’t we got wetsuits?’ asked Lily, slipping off her flip-flops and tentatively touching her toe into the water lapping beside them. She gave a squeal at the freezing cold temperature.
‘Because it’s too cold for you to withstand the water for any length of time, especially if you’re not used to it,’ said Alex. ‘I know CPR but I don’t want to have to perform it on either one of you so you’d better stay in for a short time. Five minutes maximum.’
Lily shivered. ‘That’s a shame, I was really hoping to be in there for at least an hour,’ she joked.
‘Only if you want chilblains,’ said Hannah.
‘I’ll see you afterwards,’ said Alex.
They both watched as he waded straight into the water before striking out with an impressive front crawl across the lake.
‘He’s a true athlete,’ said Lily, awestruck at his athleticism.
‘He’s a true idiot if he thinks that’s the right way to start any day,’ said a male voice nearby.
Lily and Hannah spun around to find Ben standing behind them.
‘I’d rather have one of Mum’s pastries and a coffee, to be honest,’ he carried on, with a grin.
Lily smiled at the joke but found herself agreeing with him.
‘Are you joining us?’ asked Hannah in a hopeful tone.
Ben laughed. ‘Absolutely no way,’ he said. ‘But I promised Alex that I would keep an eye on you both in case your hearts go into some kind of arrhythmia with the shock of the cold.’
‘Well, that’s really encouraged me now,’ muttered Lily, to which Ben shot her another grin.
Hannah shrugged off her sweatshirt. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We can’t let Alex get the better of us. Last one in is a frozen penguin.’
Hannah slipped off her leggings to reveal her swimming costume and quickly ran in, fully immersing herself in the lake water almost immediately with a shriek.
Lily groaned and looked at Ben.
‘I’d get it over with if I were you,’ he said. ‘I’ll time you both.’
Feeling self-conscious stripping off in front of Ben, Lily quickly undressed to her swimsuit.
Then, with a wail of determination and mostly terror, she followed Hannah into the water.
She wailed again at the shock of the cold water hitting her body and it almost took her breath away.
She could see why Alex wanted someone to keep an eye on them as the cold would definitely cause some people problems.
Once her pulse had calmed down, they splashed around a bit in the water, doing a bit of half-hearted swimming.
Lily’s main problem was her limbs going numb from the extreme temperature.
But she could at least appreciate the beautiful clarity of the water, crystal clear and a dark turquoise under the early-morning skies.
‘Five minutes is up! Come in,’ called out Ben, not a moment too soon as far as Lily was concerned. She could feel her whole body growing numb with the cold.
She and Hannah ran out of the lake and threw the towels they had brought with them around their shoulders.
Hannah shivered and she hopped from foot to foot. ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so cold,’ she wailed.
Ben headed over and rubbed his hands over her shoulders and arms to work the circulation back into her body.
‘Better?’ he asked.
‘Better,’ she nodded, still shivering. ‘You’d better do Lily as well. She’s just as cold as me.’
Ben seemed to hesitate before walking over to Lily.
‘Do you mind?’ he asked.
But Lily was so cold and beyond caring about anything other than growing warm again.
‘Please,’ she pleaded with him.
So, with a smile, he reached out and rubbed her upper arms and back with his hands. Instantly she could feel her skin beginning to wake up again.
‘Oh! That’s lovely,’ she blurted out, with a satisfied sigh.
Then she realised that it sounded as if it were the feel of his hands on her that was lovely and gazed at his face in embarrassment.
‘Oh, look, you’ve got the colour back in your cheeks at least,’ said Hannah. ‘Come on. Let’s go grab a shower to warm up properly.’
Lily’s cheeks were still glowing as she picked up her clothes. She just hoped Ben didn’t notice, but thankfully, when she checked, he was looking out across the lake where Alex was still ploughing through the water.