‘What the fuck are you doing? Did you need to call me back? You know it’s not polite to pick up the phone when you’re fucking someone.’
He grunted. ‘Don’t be a little shit. I’m moving stock around.’
A pang of guilt tugged inside me.
‘I’ll be there in a minute. Leave it.’
In our own ways, George and I had built our careers from the ground up—with blood, sweat and tears. I spent my teenage years perfecting techniques and practising scoring in the back garden whilst George was bent over our mum’s rose garden, taking every instruction from mum as gospel. That garden had been her pride and joy. My heart clenched as I recalled the last few days with her when she was too weak to get out of bed. Too weak to see the thing she loved most in this world apart from us. Nature.Life.
All those years out in the garden with Mum, George cultivated a love for plants and the outdoors. That was why he took a hefty loan from the bank to open his nursery in our mother’s name.
Cora’s.
My career might have been yanked from underneath me,but my brother had worked goddamn hard to keep his dream from crumbling. As hard as it was, I wouldn’t make his life harder than it already was.
‘Have you spoken to Dad this week?’ His voice crackled down the line.
I slipped on boxer briefs and hunted my bedroom floor for my black jeans. I sniffed them, wrinkling my nose before tugging them on. They could go another day.
‘I think he’s called once or twice.’
George sighed, ‘Did you answer?’
‘He always catches me at a bad moment. I’ll call him back soon.’Iknew I was lying.Georgeknew I was lying. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself out of the hole I knew I was digging with my dad. For two months, I’d avoided seeing or talking to him. I couldn’t bear the disappointment on his face or hear it in his voice.
‘I won’t be long.’ I hung up the phone, about to slip it into my back pocket when a message popped up on the screen. A ghostly hand gripped my lungs and squeezed tightly, robbing me of the ability to take a deep breath.
Ashley: Come on, Ol. We need to talk. You can’t ignore me forever.
Another text popped up.
Tony: I’ve got you booked on a radio show in a week. Non-negotiable Oliver. If you want to play football again, you need to un-fuck this mess.
I clenched my hand into a fist, taking a few deep breaths. Deleting both messages, I shoved my phone into my back pocket and left my house.
The dark cloud hovering above me cracked with thunder. Today was shaping up to be a fucking train wreck.
George putthe car in drive and pulled out of the car park. I’d left my car there when he said he wanted to grab some food together before we both went home.
I agreed although I was all too aware that I stank of shit.Literalshit that I’d been hauling from one end of the store to the other all day. The work was mundane; the most I could say about it was that it gave me a workout I’d been slacking on for the past couple of months. My body ached as I buckled in my seatbelt. It was obvious to me now how my brother got those muscles. Since George didn’t go to the gym—he couldn’t stand thegym bros,as he called them—his physique wasn’t the kind you got from working with plants all day. But as it was my first week on the job, my brother had given me all the hard labour tasks, since most could be done out the back so no one would see me.
Not that people coming to a garden centre would expect to see the world’s most notorious footballer carrying manure around.
I’d just told George about my encounter with Fallon the other day and his face creased in concern as I relayed everything she’d said.
‘So she justaccidentallyran into you again?’ George scanned the road, not taking his eyes off it as I told him about the pink-haired stalker I’d unwittingly gained.
Although the term stalker didn’t quite sit right, I’d had my fair share over the years, and she didn’t fit the bill. She appeared utterly exasperated with me at times, and I got the sense she was constantly talking herself out of punching me in the throat. Her eyes would narrow whenever I assumed the urge rose, but she controlled it with deep breathing. It was hilarious.
‘Apparently, she was looking for you, so she could find me.’
I didn’t look up but I could feel the presence of George’s frown.
‘Do we need to do something about her? I can call a security company-’
I held up my hands. ‘Nah, it’s not like that.’
At this, George glanced in my direction throwing his trademark scowl of incredulity my way. ‘How exactly is it “not like that?” This woman keeps showing up wherever you are, and now she even found out where you work and wants to write a book about you… it’s sketchy as fuck, man.’
