“We’ll see what the specialist says. I’m hoping it’s not necessary to have surgery but they won’t know until the swelling has gone down. And I’m hoping that I’ll be able to go home soon.” He carried on asking questions about the game.
“I’m going for a coffee,” I said, when they’d stopped to take a breath. It was like sitting with a bunch of old women.
“I’ll come with you,” Callum said. “I’m feeling dehydrated.”
“I’m not surprised after last night.” I was snappy and I knew why. And I was pretty sure everyone else did too.
We walked together in silence to the café and I let Callum get the drinks, sitting at a table that hadn’t been cleared in hours. It had clearly been a busy day.
“Spit it out,” Callum said, sitting down. “Because you sitting there in a grump, not knowing what to do with yourself isn’t going to help the man you’re besotted with.”
I glared at him and debated kicking his shin under the table like I would’ve done when we were kids. But I wasn’t a kid.
“I don’t know how to help him,” I said. “I hate seeing him hurting and pissed off and I’m worried it might be serious.”
“Now you know how we felt when you were spiked,” Callum said. “Not that I’m glad it’s happened this way. And, just to add, Eli’s not going to want you to give him space.”
“No, he’s already said he wants me waiting on him,” I said with a laugh.
“Now that I’d pay to see.”
“Nah, you wouldn’t.”
Callum shook his head. “Before you start, Ava, I’m not worried about you.”
I raised my brows.
“Seriously. None of us are your keeper. But I don’t want to see you fuck this up,” Callum said, his elbow on the table and staring at me intently.
“Why do you think I will?” I said. “I’m not sure I want this conversation right now, Cal. Eli’s hurt his ankle…”
“And you’re panicking. It’s a rugby injury. These things happen and he’s going to be pissed off because it means he won’t be playing or training properly for a few weeks at least, but he will be okay. And he knows that. He’s a smart guy,” Callum said.
I nodded. “Why did you follow me for coffee?”
“Because you were sat beside Eli all twitchy and fretting and pissed off at us because we’re talking about the game.”
“You were saying you’d have won by more if Eli had been there – don’t you think that’s going to piss him off?”
Callum laughed. “Aves, it tells him how good we think he is. And it was the truth. Keep it light for him. He doesn’t need to worry about you worrying. And when his ankle’s better, he’ll be back playing again.”
“You men are stupid.”
Callum grinned. “We’re not the ones who wear stupidly high shoes to dance in. Or take our shoes off while we’re dancing.”
I nodded. “I hear what you’re saying. I’ll calm myself down. It’s just – I haven’t done this before.”
“I know. That’s why I’m trying to stop you from fucking up.”
I squinted at him. My brother was a manwhore, more so than Seph who’d had a long term on-off girlfriend. “What would you know about fucking things up in a relationship?”
His expression changed. “There was a woman while I was working away, we’d known each other when we were students too. We hit the same reservations at the same time in Africa and Thailand. She was another vet.”
“You had a girlfriend?”
“No. She wasn’t interested. She knew my reputation and she was seeing someone and it got serious,” Callum said. “Mum knows about it.”
“Oh,” I said. “Is that why you’ve been grumpy recently?”
