The game in Wolfsburg had been dreadful. Erin had gotten a mere twenty minutes, but she’d played even worse than she had at the weekend, and that missed chance… That would haunt her for years to come.
It had happened a handful of times in the past. Open goals missed, excellent saves denying her, trophies slipping away. But for it to be her fault, to feel the weight of the loss heavy on her shoulders—Erin hated it.
And if Alex was right—if trying to make it work with Lia would get her out of her own head, would get her back on track, would make her feel less of an aching loneliness when she was trying to sleep at night, it would be worth the risk of putting herself out there.
Lia was worth the risk.
Erin could see that now.
She finally spotted Lia, hovering near a shape Erin recognised as Cerys as she drifted closer.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you at home?” Cerys said, failing to notice Erin’s approach. “Save you from walking in the rain?”
“Um, I’m actually sorted.” Lia scratched at the back of her neck.
“Sorted? What do you mean? You’ve not called an Uber, have you?”
Erin cleared her throat, announcing her presence and making both Cerys and Lia jump. “I’ve offered her a ride.”
Even in the darkness, Erin could see the way Cerys’ eyes narrowed into slits. Her gaze flickered to Lia. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Lia shrugged. She was trying hard to look unaffected, Erin thought. “We live in the same building—it makes sense.”
Erin suspected Lia was saying that for the sake of any other ears that might be listening in nearby.
From the look on Cerys’ face, she didn’t seem to agree it made sense at all. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Can we please not do this now?” Lia turned her pleading eyes toward her friend. “Please?”
“Fine. But call me tomorrow. Or tonight, if you need me to pick up the pieces. Again.” Cerys gave Erin one last poisonous look before turning and walking away.
“She doesn’t hold back, does she?” Erin raised an eyebrow in Lia’s direction.
A guilty expression stared back at her. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Knowing it would be easy for them to be seen, Erin refrained from reaching out to touch her. “While I wish she’d been less obvious about glaring at me every chance she got the last week, you should have someone to talk to.”
“Like you have Alex?”
“Did they say something to you?”
“Not in so many words, but they made it clear they knew enough.” Lia didn’t sound angry about it, though. “Should we get out of this rain? I’m getting drenched.”
“Sorry.” Erin clicked the car key in her pocket, and her Audi lit up in the night. “I’m over here.”
“I didn’t know you had a car,” Lia said after they’d stowed their bags in the back and she’d climbed into the leather passenger seat.
“I don’t use it often.” Didn’t need to, when the training ground was a mere fifteen-minute walk away. “But I like to drive home after a flight or a late-night match. You don’t drive, do you?”
“I can, but I don’t have a car. Never saw the need for one—not when I could use Hannah’s, if I needed to.”
A fifteen-minute walk was a five-minute drive so late at night, but it dragged as a heavy silence settled between them. Erin should be the one to break it—she was the reason Lia was there, after all—but she didn’t know what to say. She’d spent the remainder of the flight after Lia had left her alone, as well as the coach ride from the airport, trying to figure out what she should say, how she could possibly put into words the weight of what she was feeling.
And trying not to think of how crushed she would be if Lia let her down gently.
Because that was the thing, wasn’t it? Lia might not want anything more than they had already shared.
“I can hear you overthinking.” Amusement tinged Lia’s words.
