I got back four voice notes and fifteen messages, the general gist of which was excitement for me, happiness that it had all worked out, mild gloating that I should listen to him more often, and a list of dates for me to pick from so he and Eric could comedown and meet him. I was surprised they hadn’t simply turned up, but then I realised the dates were weekends when Danny wasn’t playing, and I was touched at how much thought he’d put into it.
Even if it was just because he wanted to be nosy.
I managed to slip out of my office at lunch because I desperately needed to stretch my legs and get away from a screen. And as the door clicked shut behind me, I saw Clive heading towards his office with a clipboard tucked under his arm. It was going to have to be now; food and a break could wait.
“Clive,” I called, striding towards him like my arse was on fire.
He turned and raised an eyebrow, looking slightly concerned about the way I’d made a beeline for him. “You all right? Is there something wrong?”
“Not wrong, I just need to talk to you quickly. Have you got five minutes?”
“Sure, come in.”
He smiled as he waved me into his large office, pointing at a couple of padded chairs near the window as he headed over to a little table in the corner where he had a small coffee machine set up. “Grab a seat. Do you want a coffee? I don’t have any biscuits, though. I keep forgetting to restock after I’ve eaten them.”
“Coffee would be great, thanks.” I’d planned to go down to the canteen to grab something to eat, and hopefully they’d still be serving when I got there. I looked out of the window, trying to ignore the tightening in my chest as the machine whirred, the smell of fresh coffee not doing anything to settle my anxiety. Clive and I had always gotten on well in the past few months since I’d started working here. But that friendliness was about to be put to the test because I still wasn’t convinced he’d take kindly to me fucking around with one of his players.
Danny was sure it would all be fine since we were both consenting adults and I had nothing to do with his career or training, but that could mean fuck all if there were rules against this that I’d somehow missed. Not that I’d bothered to look at the rules. At the very least I could get hauled up in front of HR and put through a disciplinary procedure, and since I still hadn’t quite completed my six-month probation period, they could easily decide to throw me out on my arse.
The future still felt unsteady beneath my feet, despite how much more confident I felt about it.
I had Danny at least, and that was the important thing. The rest of it could be figured out when we got to it. And I’d always been good at thinking on my feet.
Clive offered me milk and sugar before bringing two mugs over to the chair, handing me one before he sat down. There was another long moment of silence as we both took a sip, and I debated whether I could find any room in the budget for a coffee machine for our office because this was so much better than what they had in the canteen.
“So, do you wanna tell me what’s going on?” he asked, his gaze meeting mine. It was kind but curious, and I wondered if he already had an idea of what I was going to say. I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knew. He seemed like the sort of man who saw and heard everything, even things people tried to keep secret.
“I’m dating Danny Wheeler. We started messaging just before the team came back for preseason training and everything went from there. We’ve been keeping it to ourselves while Danny figured some things out, but he’s decided he’s ready to tell people and I said I’d mention it to you. But he’ll probably want to say something to you as well.”
Clive hummed and nodded, sitting back in his chair as a small smile played across his lips. “This decision wouldn’t have anything to do with West seeing you yesterday, would it?”
I stared, feeling like a teenager who’d been busted by their favourite teacher. Clive chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I was going to leave it for a couple of days before I said anything. Figured you’d both want time to get your shit together.”
“How did you…” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer. For someone who’d always been so sure of what to say, suddenly I had no words.
“You weren’t being subtle. Next time you want to make out, shut a bloody door behind you.” He shook his head as he sipped his coffee, his eyes drifting over to the window. “Always wondered but I never wanted to say anything.”
“About us?”
“Him,” he said. “Just had a feeling. It’s the mullet. I had one myself in the nineties. Alan still says it’s the worst haircut he’s ever seen.”
“I think it suits him,” I said, a little smile pulling at the edge of my lips. “I’m sorry, I know this is a bit of a mess. But I don’t have any regrets. And this is more of a common courtesy than asking permission. Unless there’s some fine print that says I have to.”
“Not as far as I’m aware. It’s not ideal, but we don’t exactly do things by the book around here. Look at me for a start, then Jonny and Devon.” He shrugged casually. “There’s no rules against players dating, though, because nobody ever thought they’d need them. Might be different if we had a women’s team, but I still wouldn’t enforce it.”
“What about staff and players?”
“More of a grey area,” he said. “But you’re not coaching, medical, or support staff, so it’s not like you have anything directly to do with his career.”
“That’s what I thought. Sometimes I do deal with sponsorships but I can ask someone else to handle Danny’s. And Adam’s doing all the video editing for TikTok, so there won’t be any favouritism there. In fact, I can ask Adam to deal with all of that, and whoever we get in to cover Leigh’s maternity leave.”
“How’s she doing?” Clive asked, his concern obvious.
“Not great,” I said, my mouth pulling in the corner as I frowned. “Last time we spoke she said she could barely get out of bed. She’s been signed off by the doctor for six weeks to see how she gets on, but I don’t know if she’ll actually come back until after she has the baby. I’d rather she took care of herself than try and rush back to work.”
“Fuck, that sounds rough. We’ll make sure she’s taken care of, though. I’ll speak to the powers that be.”
I nodded. I’d never known a manager to be so closely involved in the admin side of running the club, but Clive knew everyone, and he really seemed to care. He was the first person anyone went to with problems and the one who always had solutions, whether it was his job or not. “Cheers. I’ve spoken to a few people, but we’ll see what happens.”
