Jonah shook his head, dark hair moving at the same time. ‘It looks fun. But not as much fun as kayaking.’
He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘It’s great having you here and I don’t mind at all, you can even help outlike you seem to want to, but I do need to have your parents’ permission first.’
The boy nodded. ‘I know,’ he sighed reluctantly. ‘I need to get Mum to come down here.’
‘Or Dad,’ Leo suggested.
The boy looked away. ‘My dad isn’t around.’
Leo didn’t want to pry any further. ‘Tell you what. If you were a customer you’d be rooting through the racks to find what you wanted, so I don’t see there’s much difference if you take the contents of that box over there and put them in their rightful places in the shop?’
Jonah’s smile broke out. ‘Thank you!’ And he charged over to the box filled with roof rack straps in packets, surf leashes in similar packaging and a couple of SUP leashes.
Leo wondered what the boy’s story was, what really brought him here to the boathouse. Was it that he didn’t have a dad around and wanted male company? Was it a love of the water perhaps or simple loneliness or problems at school? But he wasn’t the parent, he couldn’t be the one to worry, and his main concern had to be that the boy let his mum know he was coming here, and so he’d remind him again before he left today.
When Jonah finished dashing around the boathouse, which was a shop area above the shed that housed water craft and equipment, to put everything away he wanted to sweep up.
‘Seriously?’ Leo laughed and gestured to the broom propped up in the corner behind the till. ‘Go for it, mate.’ He got the impression he could’ve asked Jonah to pick up a piece of litter a customer had dropped and Jonah would’ve happily done it. ‘But your mum really does need to come and see me, soon. I mean it.’
‘She will, I promise.’ He was already sweeping up the area around the counter. ‘Can I help clean the kayaks next time?’ When Leo opened his mouth to reply he rolled his eyes. ‘I know, ask my mum.’
‘You guessed it.’ Leo was mostly alone in the shop unless customers came in to hire or he was giving lessons, and he was quite enjoying having his young sidekick. Young boys could be annoying, mess about too much and get rowdy – he should know, he’d been one once – but Jonah had a serious edge and seemed to know how to behave. Whoever his parents were, he’d obviously been brought up right. And he had an enthusiasm too, something not all casual staff had. They were there for the money and nothing else whereas Jonah seemed to slot in with his willingness to help and sunny smile. Of course what Leo really wanted was for his brother Adrian to eventually come back into the business, the way they’d always planned it. But Adrian, like so many others, had turned his back on the bay after a summer tragedy and Leo wasn’t sure his dream would ever happen. It certainly hadn’t happened with Nina, the girl he’d given his whole heart to and thought she’d done the same.
The Stepping Stone Bay Boathouse had retained its name and its position in the bay. Once a far bigger operation for building and fixing boats, it might no longer be used for the same functions but it had kept plenty of its character, with the long concrete slope leading from the double doors below down to the golden sands and the sea beyond, and the big window at the back of the boathouse at the far end of what was now a shop afforded the same spectacular view it always had no matter the season.
Now the boathouse was Leo’s business and a successful one at that. He sold water craft – kayaks, SUPs, paddleboards, surfboards and bodyboards, plus all the paraphernalia that went with them. The boathouse also operated as a hire place for the same equipment and Leo sold buoyancy aids for all ages; they had a range of clothing – wetsuits, fleeces, ocean shoes – and accessories with everything from repair kits and dry bags to waterproof phone cases and insulated water bottles. He ran instruction courses too, popular with tourists who managed to find it. It wasn’t that the bay was hidden – anyone out on the water could see it, the buoys marking out the safe and calm waters where lessons took place or novices could use the kayaks, SUPS and everything else in relative safety – but it was more of an effort to find than the bigger beach in Salthaven which served as the main drag for beach lovers, with its pier, eateries and the cute little café, as well as the nearby town to cater for all your needs. Stepping Stone Bay was like the calmer younger brother to Salthaven and it suited Leo down to the ground, always had. It was a place he never wanted to leave and couldn’t really understand why anyone would.
Leo gave Jonah the go-ahead to open up the packets containing new t-shirts and he began to hang them out for display as Leo saw to his next customers, a couple of newlyweds who had hired a SUP each for two hours. He knew they were newlyweds because they’d told him how they’d just returned from honeymooning in Spain where they’d tried stand-up paddleboarding for the first time. Given it wasn’t as warm as usual today they’d both come in in wetsuits that reached down to the knees even though a lot of stand-up paddleboarders didn’t bother with the warmthof an additional layer, although some of them regretted it and cut short their two-hour slot, coming back to the boathouse covered in goose pimples, teeth chattering, and running on about paying for wetsuit hire next time.
The couple asked about waterproof covers for their phones and when Jonah overheard he ran over with a selection of colours for their perusal and even explained to them, not that it wasn’t obvious, that they could be worn around the neck so you’d have your device ready for photos. He even added that having the phone in one of those cases and therefore handy was a good idea in case of emergencies – it was something Leo usually suggested, especially if individuals came in to hire equipment. He knew from experience, having had to call out the lifeguard more than once when someone hadn’t returned at the expected time and the weather had taken a sudden turn. Luckily nobody had ever come to harm; the majority of them had simply lost track of the time, but having a phone would’ve cut down on a lot of worry, an extra charge for them – he gave a bit of leeway because it was the polite thing to do if they were in dire straits – and using up valuable resources at the seaside where things could go from fun to disaster in the blink of an eye. Something he knew only too well.
‘So you’ve got some experience of stand-up paddleboarding already,’ Leo confirmed after he’d perused the couple’s booking form.
‘A good number of hours’ lessons as well as practice when we were in Spain,’ the man smiled, his tan still lingering as well as what Leo presumed must be the honeymoon glow that both of them seemed to have. ‘Wouldn’t mind a run-down of the basics though,’ he admitted.
‘We’ll do that out by the water once we’ve selected your boards and your paddles.’ Maybe their minds had been more on each other than the lessons over there – understandable, Leo suspected, although he was surprised he could remember, given how long it had been since he’d been all loved up and besotted with someone.
He hadn’t really felt that way since Nina if he was totally honest. There’d been flings along the way, he was only human after all, but no woman had ever really captivated him in the way she had. And no woman had ever left him feeling quite so bereft either. His business had become his one true love, the reason he got up in the morning, the reason he could carry on when he was in so much pain. And over time he’d adjusted and these days he sensed it might be easier that way.
Leo pushed away the memories and instead ran through the safety information with his customers. ‘There is a lifeguard here in the bay right up until the evening and as long as you don’t go beyond the buoys as I already explained, you’ll be in sight,’ he tacked on the end. More experienced paddlers or kayakers often went beyond the markers for the calm bay, but only with prior discussion with Leo when they were hiring his equipment.
Leo selected buoyancy vests, returning to the rack for an alternative for the lady who was more petite than he’d realised and needed a smaller version so the shoulder straps fitted the vest against her in the correct way. Both of them had come with ocean shoes, something SUP users either liked or they didn’t, and so once they’d signed the relevant paperwork Leo motioned to Jonah that he had to go downstairs. Jonah knew the deal. And what Jonah loved was that Leo let him go and position the wooden sign outfront that said: ‘Back in 5 – wait here or follow the path and find me on the beach’, with an arrow pointing in the direction that descended a grassy slope at the side of the boathouse and emerged next to the doors beneath as well as the concrete ramp leading down to the sand and the sea. He had a different sign if he was running a lesson and on that one he could use chalk to let the customers know what time he’d return to the shop, but this sign Jonah was positioning now was enough when he’d be back shortly.
Once Jonah had sorted the sign Leo slid the bolt across the shop door, and using the internal stairs with direct access to the shed below he led the way.
The bottom of the boathouse was a type of shed-cum-garage with lockable doors at one end to keep all the equipment safe. Leo opened up those doors allowing access to the ramp at the far side, the sandy beach and the bay beyond. The doors were nice and wide, unchanged from back in the days when much bigger craft had been stored here and they made it ideal for hauling hire items in and out as needed before checking them, cleaning them and seeing to any repairs so the craft were ready for the next time.
On the sand-sprinkled concrete beneath his feet Leo walked to the correct row of equipment and pulled out two paddleboards, handing the larger to the man and the second smaller one to the lady, who was a good foot shorter than her husband. He indicated for them to head down onto the sand while he and Jonah followed with the paddles they’d need, which he’d selected according to size from the next row of equipment along.
On the beach Leo ran through the basics, and once the happy couple had their ankle leashes fixed on andthey were launched into the waters of Stepping Stone Bay Leo and Jonah returned to the shed, did up the doors and raced up into the shop area. The customers would return the equipment at the allotted time and usually Leo would be there to take it, and if not his customers usually came upstairs to let him know they’d left everything by the doors so he could bring it in as soon as he could if he was with someone else. Lucky for him, so far nothing had ever gone missing; he supposed that was the benefit of not being on the main tourist drag.
‘You’re way faster than me, kid.’ Laughing as he got to the top of the stairs after Jonah beat him to the back of the shed, Leo put a hand against his chest.
But Jonah had already clocked the time and grabbed his backpack from beneath the desk in the corner with the till. ‘Gotta go! Bye Leo!’
‘Shoelaces.’ Leo urged before Jonah unbolted the door. ‘Not safe to run with those undone, you know that.’
Reluctantly Jonah did up both laces that had come undone, the left worse than the right as Leo unbolted the door. ‘I’ll be back tomorrow!’ Jonah enthused.
