Chapter 29
The following morning, Alex stood on the sandy beach as Dotty and her friends emerged from the hotel and began to walk towards him, giggling nervously in their excitement.
Nearby, Tiny snuffled at the sand and bounced around in giddy excitement.
He was growing day by day and now his legs were longer than his body, giving him the stance of a gawky, awkward teenager.
But there was no denying how big his head was, the dense fur of a Newfoundland who was going to grow to epic proportions.
Alex woke up each morning to find him sprawled across the bed, even though Tiny had silently promised that he would sleep in his dog bed each night. And yet it was hard to be cross with the puppy when his soulful eyes stared up at you.
In the meantime, Tiny was a great distraction. He gave Alex purpose in that he could focus on the dog training.
Training Tiny was just like his athletic training in the routine and purpose. Tiny was no different. Apart from the fact that he wasn’t human. And he didn’t always behave. But he was a stubborn, affectionate, gentle giant.
Alex had done thorough research on how to train him, as always telling himself that if he was going to do this, he would do it to the best of his ability.
The training was coming along well though and despite a few puppy tantrums and tussles, Tiny could now walk to heel on his lead and come when called.
Unless there were ducks nearby, of course, in which case he would bounce merrily into the water up to his ankles and try to get them to play with him, much to the ducks’ horror.
Right now, the dog was watching the group of elderly women making their way towards them, wagging his tail in hopeful anticipation that they would have treats stashed away somewhere in the many layers of clothing they were wearing.
Dotty had told Alex over dinner the previous day that she had invited her friends to swim with her in the lake.
It was unfortunate that it was cloudy that day, thus reducing the warmth of late spring in the air. The water temperature had begun to increase but still, it would be a chilly dip for them all.
‘Good morning, Alex and Tiny,’ said Dotty, with a beam. ‘Ladies, you all remember me talking about our hunky athlete, don’t you? Well, here he is! Isn’t he a marvellous specimen?’
Alex found himself blushing at Dotty’s indiscreet way but found he couldn’t be annoyed with her. She was such a force of life to be reckoned with.
‘I thought that was me, Grandma,’ said Ben, appearing from behind the group.
‘Darling boy,’ said Dotty, leaning up to give her grandson a kiss. ‘You’re welcome to join us.’
‘Not on your life,’ replied Ben with a shudder before wandering up to Alex. ‘Well, we did want the lake to be utilised more often.’
Alex nodded but he was still a little concerned about the lack of safety features laid out across the lake, despite adding a couple of lifebuoys around the lake edge and on the jetty where they were standing.
‘They really all ought to be wearing safety floats with lights on,’ he said.
His years of experience of swimming across various treacherous waters in competitions meant that he was well versed in the safety measures put in place for the athletes.
‘They’re not in a race though,’ Ben reminded him.
‘I know,’ he replied. ‘But safety should always be the number one priority where water is concerned.’
Dotty overheard him and walked over to stand in front of Alex. She was so short he had to lower his head to look down at her.
‘Young man, I’ve been swimming in this lake for fifty years,’ she told him, putting her hands on her hips. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
‘Just humour me this one time and please stick to the shallows until we work out a better system if this is to be a regular occurrence,’ he told her. ‘You might be used to the cold water but your friends aren’t.’
‘Humph,’ muttered Dotty. ‘I’m really too old to be mollycoddled but I see your point, I suppose.’
She returned to walk with her friends to the nearby beach. Dotty’s friends suddenly looked less keen on entering the water as without the sun, the lake looked grey and uninviting.
‘We must be mad,’ muttered someone.
‘Come on, ladies,’ hollered Dotty. ‘Just remember, adventure before dementia!’
With that, Dotty slid off her tracksuit bottoms and sweatshirt to reveal a bright pink swimming costume. She then shucked off her Crocs and headed for the water.
‘Go, Grandma!’ came a nearby shout.
Alex spun around and saw Hannah waving at the group from the balcony of the boathouse. He was glad to see her smiling, despite the nerves that she had confessed about the opening of the café the following day.
Among the group, and far more slowly than Dotty, robes and jumpers were then stripped off and shoes removed.
Then someone yelled, ‘Charge!’
With a collective groan, her friends followed suit, shivering across the sand towards the water’s edge. On putting their feet in, there were squeals of shock as the icy water hit the ankles and the cold bit to the bone. From his years of experience, Alex knew exactly how that felt.
‘Let’s just get on and get it over,’ muttered someone.
‘Ten minutes only,’ announced Alex. ‘I’ll be timing you all.’
‘Can’t you make it five?’ asked Mavis, one of Dotty’s least athletic friends.
He smiled at her. ‘Just remember, you’ll be at your coldest when you get out of the water so wrap up in your clothes as soon as you get out,’ he told them.
‘Come on, girls,’ urged Dotty, already up to her knees in the water.
Accompanied by various squeals and screams in deference to the cold temperature of the water, the women finally went in.
As they paddled out, Alex could hear their chatter as they all moaned and groaned in solidarity in the freezing cold. He checked his watch and set the timer, determined to watch them all.
Once exactly ten minutes were up, Alex called across for them to come out of the water. He noticed that there wasn’t too much resistance being made, and that included Dotty.
As they all waded back to shore, Alex kept an eye on each of the ladies to make sure that they didn’t go into shock from the chilly temperature.
‘Get dressed quickly, remember,’ he told them.
‘As if we’re going to stand around in the freezing cold,’ muttered someone.
Alex shot them a grin, just grateful that they were all safe and had survived their first icy-cold dip.