Chapter 7
Hannah wearily came down the stairs the following morning and found Alex slowly making his own descent, at the very bottom.
‘Morning,’ she said, with a yawn.
‘Morning,’ he replied, wincing. He was clearly in pain as he struggled with the boot and crutches.
A few of the hotel guests glanced over at them, not that Hannah was surprised. As usual, Alex didn’t just enter a space, he filled it with his presence and enormous muscles.
But where most people would only see his breadth of shoulder and powerful arms, Hannah knew him well enough to note the shadows under his eyes and the strain that he was trying so hard to hide.
‘Busy night at the pub?’ he asked.
Hannah nodded. ‘Like always. How are you feeling?’
‘Pretty sore,’ he admitted, before giving her a soft smile. ‘If you’ve slept half as badly as I did last night, we both need some caffeine this morning,’ he told her.
It was true, thought Hannah. She had returned from the pub at 1 a.m. It had turned out to be her last shift.
Before leaving, the manager told her that the pub had been shut down indefinitely due to finance problems and she had been let go from her waitressing job.
She hadn’t particularly enjoyed it but at least it had been a steady, if relatively small, income. Now what was she going to do?
‘Are you in much pain?’ asked Hannah.
Alex grimaced. ‘I don’t feel great, to be honest,’ he replied.
‘It’s still early days,’ she told him. ‘Come into the kitchen.’
They found the normal family gathering as everyone went about their busy morning.
‘Morning,’ came the chorus of greetings.
The family fussed over Alex for a while longer until he had sunk down onto a chair in grateful relief before almost everyone began to disperse to start their duties for the day. Only Hannah, Ben, Alex and Jake remained behind.
Hannah made a fresh pot of coffee and took it over to the table, along with a plate of pastries.
‘Here you are,’ she said, placing them on the table. ‘A breakfast special.’
The previous day she had made Alex’s favourite blueberry muffins that she knew he liked.
‘Great,’ said Jake, instantly reaching out to grab one. ‘I need to stock up on your delicious bakes before I leave for London later.’
‘They’re for Alex!’ protested Hannah.
‘He can’t eat them all!’ Jake told her. ‘He’ll get fat now he’s not in training at the moment.’ He shot Hannah a grin. ‘Besides, you know I can’t resist your pastries. It’s the one thing that I can’t make.’
As a chef, Jake’s food was always amazing but he was always very supportive of Hannah’s baking. Although Hannah knew that he was just biased because she was Ben’s sister.
Hannah’s brain, however, lingered on something that Jake had just said. ‘I suppose all your training will have to be put on hold for quite a while now,’ she said to Alex.
As far back as she could remember, he had always been training for a competition. Any weekend he visited Maple Tree Lodge had been half spent running or cycling around the lake to keep up his fitness.
‘Only for his six weeks’ recuperation,’ interjected Ben with a grin. ‘Then he’ll be off and gone again, as usual.’
But to Hannah’s surprise, Alex shook his head. ‘Actually, I think I’m done with the whole thing,’ he told them, before reaching out to take one of the pastries.
There was a silence as Hannah, Ben and Jake exchanged shocked looks.
‘You mean, you’re done with training for the time being,’ said Ben, assuming it was the pain in his foot making his friend misspeak.
‘And who can blame you?’ added Jake, nodding. ‘You deserve a break, mate. Literally, as far as your foot is concerned.’
But Alex was still shaking his head at them. ‘No. I mean I’m done. Finished. No more training. No more competitions. Ever.’
More shocked silence followed.
It was Hannah that finally spoke first. ‘What will you do now?’ she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
Alex shrugged his shoulders. ‘Live. Breathe.’ He gave a heavy sigh. ‘Relax, at last.’
‘Well, you’re in the right place for it,’ said Jake, but he was still frowning at his friend.
Hannah looked once more at Alex with concern. He appeared almost in shock, hardly surprising given the way that he had lost his last race. Surely he didn’t mean that he wouldn’t ever compete again? Perhaps he did need a break after all, she thought.
‘Well, I’d better get baking later then,’ she said. ‘Hopefully my cakes will help you heal faster.’
‘I’m sure they will,’ he replied with a soft smile.
As Lily came into the room, Ben exchanged a look with his girlfriend before turning back to Hannah.
‘Speaking of baking,’ he began, in what sounded like a well-rehearsed speech.
But Hannah immediately shook her head and walked out of the kitchen, giving the excuse that she had chores to do. If her brother found out that she had lost her job, he would be haranguing her once more about taking over the management of the Boathouse Café.
She knew he loved her but he was being totally ridiculous.
Of course she couldn’t run the café. She had no experience.
None. She deliberately kept away from any kind of responsibility, knowing that it would be a total disaster.
Despite knowing that things were still so tough business wise, it was better that way, no matter how much she wanted to help out her family.