“What you thinking?” Gabe had taken a tablet out of his bag now. He started by taking a couple of pictures.
“Covered swimming pool. Gym, sauna, steam room.”
He nodded, completely non-plussed. “Solar panels? You could easily power this from panels, including your sauna. What style were you thinking?”
“Scandi in design. Clean lines. Wood the main material.”
Gabe nodded. “Easy enough. Do you have a budget?”
“No. I’m going to be living here until they carry me out in a coffin, so I’ll be getting my money’s worth.”
“Noted. Let’s get some measurements.”
We spent the next half an hour looking at the old building and working out which parts of it, if any, could be incorporated. I wanted something that would look different from the older part of the main house, but would fit with the extension I was having done.
“Are you planning on living here alone?” Gabe had wanted to go back into the main house and remeasure something he was curious about.
I nodded. “At the moment.”
He raised his brows.
I raised mine back.
“Anya phoned me while I was driving here and told me to ask you about Otter Penhaligon. If I don’t come back with something, I’ll end up being in Anya’s bad books, which is a place I’d rather not be.” He tapped at a wall. “Partition. This can come down. Otter. Give me something.”
“We’re seeing each other. It isn’t serious.”
He nodded. “Anya won’t like that. Since we set a date for the wedding, all she wants is everyone she’s ever known to be getting married too.”
I shrugged. “She’s great, but I’m going to be living in the middle of nowhere and she splits her time between L.A., New York and London. We both know it won’t work out long term.”
Gabe laughed, looking up at me. “You’re talking to the man who thought his life was over. What you’ve just said is a load of bullshit.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, man. You met Anya who lived on the same island as you. Me and Otter aren’t even in the same worlds.” Spending time with her had kind of illustrated the differences between us even more. We weren’t in the same leagues. I was a common or garden footballer. She was likely to be nominated for an Oscar. The two didn’t really combine.
Gabe shrugged. “Your call. Any changes you want made to the plans in here? I spoke with Ava Callaghan on the phone the other day, and she suggested using that area to put in a pantry. Given the distance to your nearest shop, it’s probably not a bad call.”
We went through the details for the kitchen once more, looking at the extension, which was across two floors, and almost doubling the square footage of the property. I was excited about this. At twenty-nine, I had maybe another five seasons at the most left to play, more likely four. Not including this one. I had hopes for another Champion’s League medal, and after the way we’d played as a national squad in the Euros, I had high hopes for a World Cup medal. This was the next step.
“Have you given any thought as to what you want to use the basement for? That’s the only bit on the plans that isn’t finalised now.” Gabe had unrolled a copy of his blueprint. “I still advocate for extending the basement when we extend, because if you want to do something with that later, it’ll be a pain in the arse.”
“I don’t need it for a gym anymore if we’re using the old cattle shed.” That had been the original plan.
Gabe stared at the plans. “Entertainment area. Cinema, pool room, bar. At some point, even you will want to have people over. Keep them down there and they won’t wreck the rest of your house.” He tapped the plans. “Especially the cinema. You might want to have people round to watch whatever films Otter’s in.”
I chose to ignore him but agreed on the cinema. “Put a couple of bathrooms down there too.” If I ever had the stupidity to have the team over, I’d need somewhere to stuff Jude while he chundered up whatever shots he put down his neck.
“Will do. I’ll get the updates to you tomorrow. When do you complete?”
“We’re pushing for before Christmas and then the contractors can start in the new year. I know that time of year’s not ideal because of the weather, but the aim is to have it finished for Easter.” And that was with contingency because of the weather. “I’ll invite you to the housewarming.”
Gabe nodded but didn’t commit to coming to it. He liked to be on the outskirts of being sociable, or not there at all. I’d let his fiancée know when it was and let her try to persuade him to attend.
I’d received a message telling me to head over to one of the function rooms at Athletic’s campus. It was from Nate, so I knew it wasn’t some sort of prank, and as Rowan had been quiet all day – I hadn’t received any stupid memes from him for at least twenty-four hours – I figured he was probably chundering up the contents of his stomach with nerves at being about to propose.
Wednesdays was the day when the women’s team took over the training ground. We were scheduled strength work dependent on mid-week fixtures, but the women had the run of the facilities, which meant most of the staff breathed a sigh of relief at not having Jude hanging around all day, which was what he usually did.
Jude Whittingham was football royalty. His dad had played for England and had been a great player. Jude was going to be a great player too, and to be fair to the kid, he trained hard. He was twenty-one, chronologically, although more like nine in his head on a good day. He’d been signed by the club as a youngster and had stayed with them, signing a professional contract even when bigger clubs were interested, with higher wages at first.
