Chapter 43

“Oh, my hero.” Sam fluttered his eyelashes at his boyfriend.

* * * *

“You’re right!” Sam exclaimed, his head pushed forward between the front seats as Kielder Water came into view through the windscreen. “It is a big lake!”

The boys said they’d studied the lake in geography at school and wanted to see it for real. As it was such a nice day—far better than the day before—we decided to drive over and take a look.

“I don’t fancy walking around the whole thing,” Billy said.

As it was about twenty-seven miles around I agreed with him.

“Maybe we can hire a rowing boat,” I suggested, spotting a number of small boats dotted across the smooth surface of the lake.

“Yeah, why not,” Mark agreed.

“Cool!” Sam said.

“I’ve always wanted to trail my hand in the water as Sam rowed,” Billy added.

“You old romantic,” I said. “Though looking at it, I bet the water’s freezing.”

“It is,” Mark said. “I only got wet the once, that was enough.”