“Can we go and see how she is?” Maisie peered at Erin with her best puppy-dog eyes.
Erin supposed she was in a rather unique position. The rest of the team wouldn’t be able to check on her until the match finished. Plus, Erin knew what it was like to deal with a serious injury.
“Okay.” She slid off her seat and made her way to the treatment room with Maisie hot on her heels. As they stepped inside the stadium, the crowd roared—the penalty clearly scored and Albion’s lead assured.
The Albion pass around Erin’s neck afforded her access to wherever she wanted to go, and Erin was waved into the treatment room by one of the stewards. Inside, Lia was reclining on one of the beds. She rested her weight on her elbows, her face white and her teeth worrying at her bottom lip as her right leg was examined by the team doctor.
Her shin was cut, blood trickling along her calf, but it was the ankle that was the concern, a frown on the doctor’s face as she gently moved it from side to side.
“Not yet.” Erin stopped Maisie from bounding inside by wrapping a hand around her shoulder. “Give them a minute.”
Lia lifted her head, her eyes meeting Erin’s, panic in her gaze, terror that this could mean she was out for weeks or months, a feeling Erin knew wouldn’t be assuaged until a scan properly assessed the damage.
“Can I get you anything?” The doctors would be more focused on the injury than on Lia and her emotional wellbeing.
Lia shook her head.
“Anyone you want me to find in the crowd?”
“No one is here watching me.” Lia sucked in a harsh breath when her leg was stretched. “And there’s no one to call, either.”
Erin found that hard to believe. “You sure?”
“No one who will come.” Lia’s smile was tight. “All of my friends are footballers, too. And I don’t have the best relationship with my family. Certainly not one where they’ll come and hold my hand and tell me it’ll be all right.”
Before Erin could react, Maisie squirmed out of her grip and bounded over to Lia’s side. She took her hand, her nose scrunched, and regarded Lia with a serious gaze. “Everything will be all right, Lia. I promise.”
Erin leaned her shoulder against the wall and pretended not to see the way Lia’s eyes filled with tears.
* * *
Three days after being stretchered off the pitch, Lia walked back into Park Lane training ground with only the smallest of limps.
Thankfully, her injury wasn’t as bad as first feared—no ligament damage. Just a hefty sprain. She’d be out for a couple of weeks, but it was far from a season-ending injury. It did, however, mean she’d missed out on joining her Welsh teammates for the international window.
As a result, Park Lane was unusually quiet as Lia made her way to the gym to meet with Joey, the Albion physiotherapist who was in charge of her rehab. Lia hated it. Usually the building was loud and raucous, a teammate around every corner.
Today, she was met with silence.
Even the gym was empty. Joey must have been running late. Lia dropped her bag to the floor and started her warm-up stretches, wishing she were at Dragon Park with Cerys and the others. She hated letting people down, but at least the matches they were scheduled to play were friendlies, rather than qualifiers for the World Cup.
Those would be happening soon, and Lia wasn’t planning on missing them. Wales had never made the tournament, and she was determined to be the difference this time. But she couldn’t do that if she didn’t recover and recuperate from her injury.
The gym door opened and Lia turned, expecting to see Joey.
Instead, Erin strolled inside wearing shorts and her Albion jersey. “You’re back.”
“I am.” Lia should have realised Erin would also be in the gym. Her individual training programme still had her some way off from being back on the pitch.
“How’s the ankle?” As she crossed the room toward her, Erin gave Lia’s leg a once-over. “I heard it wasn’t too serious.”
Lia refrained from teasing Erin about checking on her, suspecting it wouldn’t be well received. Just because she’d come to see how she was afterwards didn’t mean anything had changed between them. “Should only be out a couple of weeks.”
“Good.” Erin’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. No doubt she was wishing her own injury had such a quick recovery time.
Lia hadn’t seen Erin since the match, since breaking down when Maisie had held her hand. “I, um, wanted to thank you. For coming to check on me when I got hurt.”
“Oh.” Looking uncomfortable, Erin shrugged. “It was Maisie’s idea.”
