Chapter 26
Not knowing quite what to expect, Noah had been impressed with the professionalism with which the Halloween night swim on the lake had been organised by Alex.
There was a separate car park already established for the water sports centre and it was full by the time Noah left the barn workshop, having started to assess what his boat restoration would entail.
Normally used to working in peace by himself, he found himself unexpectedly drawn to the music and conversation near the boathouse and so finished his assessment earlier than expected and wandered towards where there appeared to be an outside party occurring.
There were many people in swimming costumes and wetsuits which had been adorned with various Halloween-themed T-shirts.
Some swimmers wore luminous hats. Others had really gone to town on customising their swim hats with devil’s horns, witches’ hats and Noah even spotted a couple of fake pumpkins on top of people’s heads.
Tiny the dog, who was apparently an honorary lifeguard for the water sports centre, was also wearing a costume, albeit a superhero cape. Having heard how good he was at swimming, Noah had to concede it was a suitable costume for him.
There was lively music playing from a couple of speakers outside the Boathouse Café, which looked equally busy, with people in costumes milling around on the veranda drinking and posing for photographs.
Noah had already seen the impressively decorated cakes that Hannah had made with a Halloween theme, along with the many pumpkins that Faye and Lily had carved out earlier that day.
On a late October evening, the air was cold and quite a few people were dashing in and out of the portable sauna that was set up on the main sandy beach alongside the lake. Others were huddled around the various firepits that had been built to keep everyone warm.
Not knowing anyone, Noah was about to turn away when he spotted Beth sitting on a deck chair by herself on the beach. His eye had been caught by the reflective glimmer of the bright silver jumpsuit she was wearing and he smiled to himself as he drew nearer.
‘You look like an alien,’ he told her by way of greeting.
She looked up and grinned. ‘Actually I’m an astronaut,’ she told him, pointing out the NASA pin that looked like it had been hastily coloured and pinned on. ‘Lily loaned me the jumpsuit. I think it must be from her Ibiza party days.’
He looked at the thin material. ‘Aren’t you cold?’ he asked.
‘Thermal underwear,’ she told him, the thought of which temporarily made Noah’s brain disconnect.
‘When you’re out all the time on cold nights, you kind of get used to it.
’ She held up a steaming travel mug. ‘Although Frankie’s hot buttered rum is helping.
Must be the cinnamon,’ she added, with a grin.
He sat down on the empty deck chair next to her. ‘You’re not tempted to go in for a swim tonight?’
She shook her head. ‘I’ve been helping Hannah in the boathouse, although it’s finally begun to calm down a bit in there.’
‘You’ve got baking skills as well as astronomy?’ he teased.
‘Oh, no!’ she laughed. ‘Just many years’ experience of waitressing.’
He looked at her with interest. ‘I guess that was to fund your studies.’
She nodded. ‘You name it, I’ve pretty much done it to earn some money over the years.’
Beth then chatted through the numerous low-paid jobs that had paid for both her degree and PhD. He learnt that she hadn’t had enough money to attend university but had studied alongside two part-time jobs. He considered himself a hard worker but Beth made even him feel like a slacker.
What impressed him the most was the matter-of-fact way that she described how difficult things had been for her and how hard she had had to work for everything.
‘That’s why my telescopes are so precious,’ she finished by telling him. ‘I’ve never had much spare money, if any, to be honest, so they’re even more special because it took me so long to save up for them.’
Beth had had nothing handed to her, he realised. She had worked hard for everything she had ever wanted, such as her PhD and even her telescopes. She had had to graft and save for it all. He admired her.
He found himself wanting to know more about her and why life seemed to have been so hard for her up to that point.
But he realised that she was looking up at the sky, smiling at the stars twinkling above them.
‘The dark skies are amazing here. Absolutely perfect, especially when you can see the constellations so clearly. They’re like a giant dot-to-dot puzzle, aren’t they?
You know that was the first thing that attracted me to them. I’ve always liked puzzles.’
He joined her in staring up and saw at least one set of stars that he recognised. ‘Well, I know the Big Dipper,’ he said, suddenly finding that he wanted to impress her with even a small amount of knowledge.
She looked across at him. ‘The plough? It’s one of the famous ones but it’s not actually a constellation, I’m afraid.’ She gave him a pity smile. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘So what is it?’ he asked.
‘Just part of Ursa Major, the great bear.’ She pointed up at sky. ‘Can you spot the much fainter stars around the plough? If you join them all up, you can see the outline of a bear’s legs and head.’
Noah stared at the sky until he could see what Beth was trying to show him.
‘That’s amazing,’ he told her. ‘I’ve never seen that before.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s easy if you know where to look,’ she replied.
‘You write yourself off quite often,’ he said.
‘Besides, it depends on the time of year and where you are in the world as to what you can see,’ she carried on, appearing to ignore his comment.
‘Did you hear me?’ he said. ‘You put yourself down, maybe even more than your awful ex-boyfriend did.’
She frowned. ‘Not everyone is interested in stuff that I am,’ she muttered.
‘So?’ he told her. ‘That’s not a reason to hide what you are. You’re super intelligent. Maybe he was just threatened because you’re probably brighter than he is.’
Beth broke into a grin. ‘I did have to show him how to programme the satnav on his car.’
Noah grinned. ‘Told you so.’
‘There’s also still a huge inequality in science,’ she carried on. ‘It’s starting to change but there’s still not enough women in that field.’
Certainly not women who looked like her, thought Noah, glancing at the tight silver jumpsuit which showed off her curves and long legs.
A group of swimmers huddled up to join them at the firepit and Noah found himself hoping that he would find the time to learn more about Beth whilst they were both at Maple Tree Lodge.