Secrets at the Loch (Loch Lannick #5) - Hannah Ellis Page 0,17
very good upper body strength but had assumed he wasn’t going to be much better.
She caught him on the balance beams, which tipped in the middle like a see-saw. His balance wasn’t great and he stumbled off the end of his plank of wood. They were both laughing amid the encouraging cheers coming from Damian and the lively crowd of kids.
Lexie took a deep breath and continued around the course.
“I was expecting this to be embarrassing for me,” Nick said, grinning down at her when he reached the top of the climbing wall. It was only about six feet high but Lexie was struggling nonetheless.
“My arms are tired,” she complained. “And you’re making me laugh.”
“I’m not doing anything,” he insisted with a twinkle in his eye.
“I know, but I can’t stop laughing.” The course was difficult at the best of times, but running it in fits of giggles made it even more challenging.
“I think the kids are all laughing at you too,” he said jokily.
“Shut up!” she said as she made it to the top of the wall.
Nick immediately set off down the steps at the other side and Lexie hurried to keep up with him. She was fine on the parts of the course that required balance or speed, but anything that used her arms she was hopeless.
“Wait!” she said pathetically as he swung across the rings which made a more difficult version of the monkey bars.
“I thought it was a race?” he said in amusement. “Why should I wait for you?”
“Because it’s embarrassing,” she said through ragged breaths. Her fingers slipped from the rings and she dropped to the ground, laughing.
“Don’t worry,” Nick said. “I think this is the last bit.”
Lexie groaned as she looked up at the rope they had to climb. For the younger kids, there was a ladder, but Lexie was sure she’d never hear the end of it if she took the easy option. She wiped the sweat that trickled down her brow, then hoisted herself up the rope.
“You do realise it’s a race, right?” Nick asked, making it look easy as he pulled himself up. “You’re supposed to do it as fast as you can.”
“Stop it,” she said, losing her focus as she laughed.
“Stop what?”
“Making me laugh. I can usually manage the course easily. You’re putting me off.”
The kids cheered loudly as Nick reached the top. Lexie took a couple of calming breaths, then ignored Nick who stood pulling faces at her and hauled herself to the top.
“I never knew you had a competitive streak,” she said, climbing down the ladder at the other side of the platform.
“I don’t think I have,” he said when they stood at the bottom panting and trying to catch their breath.
She screwed her nose up at him. “You’re either competitive or mean!”
“I’ll go with competitive then.”
Damian split the kids into two teams and explained the concept of the relay race while Lexie and Nick grabbed bottles of water and gulped them down.
Having the kids go around the course in relay killed a fair amount of time. It was fun to stand and cheer them all on and occasionally run in and help the less able kids when they needed it.
There was a loud cheer when the winning team finished, then everyone joined in with encouraging the final runner to finish the course.
Damian told the kids to grab their backpacks and take a break for a drink and whatever snacks they’d brought. The noise level died out as they dispersed, finding logs or rocks to sit on in small groups.
Lexie followed Nick to the edge of the clearing and sat beside him on a large rock. He pointed to the branch of a nearby tree where a dappled brown bird sat. “That’s a redwing,” he said. “They’re part of the thrush family. Common on Skye but I always think they’re pretty.”
Lexie pretended not to notice the snickers from the group of kids nearest to them, then tried to ignore the way Nick’s cheeks turned red.
He drank from his water bottle until the kids went back to their muffled conversations. “I’m glad I teach adults,” he said. “I don’t think I could cope with this age group. It feels like being back at school.”
“Didn’t you like school?”
He screwed the lid back on his bottle. “Parts of it.”
“You liked learning?” she asked, fairly sure she could imagine exactly what Nick was like as an adolescent.
He nodded. “I wasn’t so keen on the social aspects.”