“Where’s Mummy?”
I knew those words were coming.
“I think she’s with her friends in London.” I braced myself for what was coming next.
“Why hasn’t she come home? She promised me we’d go to the seaside this week.” He wriggled away, enough so I could see the disappointment on his face.
I took a deep breath. “I don’t know why she hasn’t come home. I know she’s with friends and nothing bad has happened to her, but I don’t know when she’ll come home. It isn’t because you’ve done something wrong. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Doesn’t she want me anymore?” His eyes filled up with tears.
Whatever was planned for today wasn’t happening. I was taking Toby to the seaside, me and him. Training could be done anytime.
“She does want you. She loves you.” I knew that was true. “But I think she needs time to do things just for her, which is fine, because you’ve got lots of people who are here to look after you forever as well.”
He nodded, but there was a look in his eyes that told me he was never going to forget this conversation, even when he was eighty.
“Shall we go to the seaside today? Just me and you?” I stood up, pulling him back in for another hug.
His arms tightened around me. “But don’t you have to work?”
“I do. But I think taking you to the seaside is more important.” Because it was.
So much more.
CHAPTER13
Rowan
“There’sa visit to the children’s ward booked for you on Friday after training, and a visit to a care home for people with dementia on Sunday. Your agent’s putting some social media posts together promoting a charity that collects to support dementia research. A signed shirt, some other bits, a donation from yourself – you know the drill.”
Genevieve’s eyes aimed to pierce my soul, or at the very least, brand it.
“There are more positive comments about you on social media than negative after the soccer school and last week. Jade’s apology helped too.” Genny almost gave me a smile.
Jade’s apology had been courtesy of a strongly worded letter from my solicitors, followed by a phone call with the words ‘libel’ and ‘defamation of character’. They’d worked. She’d confessed to making it up, then pulled out the sympathy violin by talking about her mental health and the pressures of social media.
This was on social media, of course.
She’d also phoned me at least four times a day for two days, leaving messages about how she was sorry we were over and how she really needed my support. I paid for eight sessions of counselling from a reputable practice and had my team contact her, then I blocked her number.
“You know I don’t mind doing stuff for charity.” I genuinely didn’t. It was one of the aspects of being a footballer I liked; I could make a difference.
Genny nodded. “We’ll get you out more. Give Jesse a break.”
Jesse was our captain and the usual face of the charity stuff we did. He was a decent captain and a good bloke; I’d never heard him moan about doing anything, but it shouldn't be all up to him.
“Cool.” I watched Genevieve check her phone, her way of saying she was done with me now and I could clear off. “Where’s Dee today? She wasn’t at training.”
Genny put down the pen she’d had in her other hand and stared at me. Then smiled. “Why were you at the women’s training?”
“Because I wanted to catch Dee.” I folded my arms, fully aware that the Genevieve inquisition was about to begin.
“And why did you want to catch Dee?”
“To find out how yesterday went with all the stuff going on with her sister.” I knew it was Genny who’d looked after Dee’s nephew when we were in Scotland, so I wasn’t breaking any confidences here.
Genny’s smirk faded. “Social care came round today to check on Toby…”
