Looking after my nephew while my sister had been sleeping off the night before meant that we were outside from pretty much eight-thirty onwards; Toby in the pool and me half-watching him, half reading a book until Leanne appeared.
“You don’t need to tan. You look amazing as you are.” I knew Izzy was trying to change the subject, aware that she’d just passed judgement on my sister, which I didn’t like people doing.
She made a strange harrumphing sound and stood up, picking up her phone and earbud case. “I need to shower and get ready for this meeting.”
“Which meeting’s that?”
She looked at the floor. “With Coach. She wanted to go through an extra pre-season plan, you know, because last season wasn’t that great.”
“Everyone can have an off season. You just need to make sure this one’s better.” Izzy was right; last season she hadn’t played well. She’d been distracted with breaking up with her boyfriend, and having to move out of his apartment, and it had showed in her game.
Izzy nodded, but said nothing, looking at her feet. I had a feeling she was back seeing her ex, or at least in touch with him.
“Want to get a coffee after?” I didn’t have to rush back home. If I did, I’d end up looking after Tobias, and while there wasn’t much more that I preferred doing, my sister had been taking advantage of me being available and ‘nipping out’, which meant she was going to her new boyfriend’s – the one who didn’t seem keen on kids. ‘Nipping out’ meant she would potentially be away overnight too, which meant I’d be the sole carer for her son, potentially having to sort out childcare.
My teammate nodded, the look of worry still there.
“You’ll be fine, Iz. Coach will just want to know that your head’s in the right place. Which it is, right?” I started to strip the bar of its weights, never wanting to be one of those people who left the gym a mess. There was nothing I hated more than having to take weight plates off a bar that some meathead had been too lazy to do themselves.
“It needs to be.” Izzy looked away from me, out of the window and onto one of the training pitches. “Ste’s been around.”
Her ex. The one who’d treated her like shit.
“Why?”
She shook her head. “You wouldn’t get it. You’ve never had a long-term relationship. It’s hard when you first break up because everything in your life changes.”
“Don’t take him back. Please?”
“I’m not going to.”
I didn’t believe her.
“I’ll call you when I’ve finished with coach and if you’re still around, we’ll grab that coffee.”
“Sure.” I gave her a smile that pretended everything was sunny and perfect, when we both knew it wasn’t. “I’ll be around.”
Genevieve Casson was the hardest working woman at the club, as far as I was concerned. Her department was arguably one of the most important, yet overlooked, in the club, dealing with everything from coaching footballers on how to deal with the media, their finances, sorting out housing, and travel arrangements. If something couldn’t be cured by a coach, physio or medical professional, then it was someone in Genevieve’s team who dealt with it. Our head of media was putty in Genny’s hands, which also meant he was constantly seeking her advice, adding at least fifty percent to her workload.
Her office was an oasis in a very masculine desert, decorated in pastels, the team’s colours banned. There was no sign of football anywhere in it, no framed shirts, no photos of the team or any signage.
Genevieve hated the game.
Fortunately, she didn’t feel the same way about people, including me, and after we’d shared a very early breakfast when the part of the city where we both lived had a power outage, we’d become good friends.
I knocked before entering her den, but didn’t wait for a response. Her door was ajar, which meant she could be disturbed. Genny had strict rules. She needed them.
“I’m sorry.” She said it as soon as she saw me. “I apologise and I owe you a meal at Tom Yam, as well as copious cocktails.”
I sat down in the comfy chair and clutched the leopard print cushion close to me. “I don’t know what you’re apologising for.”
She glanced up at the ceiling. “Rowan Reeves. You have Rowan joining you tomorrow on the kids’ camp.”
I moved the cushion over my face and yelled into it.
“I needed something fast after everything that happened and this was the perfect opportunity. You don’t even need to have anything to do with him.” She spoke fast, probably hoping it would stop me from arguing. “He can work with the older kids. All we need is a bit of publicity to show him doing something wholesome and good and the media will change their tune. Hopefully.”
I moved the cushion from my face and then threw it at her. Luckily, she caught it before it knocked over her coffee.
