We hadn’t reminded him of what he’d said, and I didn’t think he knew that we knew. Neither Nate nor I were the type of people to say anything or gossip — fuck knew we carried a lot more than Nicky’s sex status — so as far as he was aware, we didn’t know that Kitty was his first everything.
Boy had a lot more guts than me.
“You reckon flowers?”
“I do. Flowers and a book, if she reads. She knows you’re loaded, so expensive presents are easy, but ones that you have to think about will make it seem like you’ve put thought into it.”
I wondered what gift I’d get Jerrica. Probably a book.
“Aren’t we going past that bookshop? The one Ryan went to the other week?” An independent bookshop had opened up on the road between the training complex and the city centre. It had a trendy coffee shop and I’d already seen a load of hipsters hanging around there.
“You think I should get her a book?” Nicky went through a light that had just turned red. I wasn’t sure he’d noticed.
“Would you know what to get her?”
He nodded. “She likes biographies and historical stuff — like books about cities through the ages.”
“Park up near it and we’ll go in.”
“Have we got time?”
I shrugged. “Rowan’ll be late and Ryan won’t notice — he has no concept of time.” Unless he was on the pitch. He was my partner, feeding me passes to try and score from and vice versa. Then, his timing was perfect. In real life, he was clueless, unless he was meeting his girlfriend, Otter Penhaligon, who was one of the maddest people I’d come across.
“True. I’ll find somewhere to park.”
We were only about five minutes from the bookstore, but it took Nicky another ten to find a space which he could actually park in without causing a grand’s worth of damage.
I managed not to say anything, because Nicky genuinely didn’t know how bad a driver he was, and he wasn’t the one who’d lost his licence — stones and houses and all that.
The bookshop was busy, a mixture of people who looked like they were skiving from the office and students who hadn’t bathed in a few days browsing the shelves. Nicky headed over to the biography section, going straight to the new releases.
I managed to find my way to the romance section.
I knew I wouldn’t find either of Jerrica’s books there. She self-published, which meant she didn’t have any mass market paperbacks in stores, as she’d explained to me, but I did remember some of the authors she liked whose books she liked to read.
I found one that was also a new release, picked it up and ignored the strange look that a woman in skinny jeans was giving me, then headed over to the sports section, specifically the biographies.
The book I was looking for was there, despite it being a few years since its release. Paul Lake had been my idol, even though I’d never seen him play for real. I’d watched clips, seen that he was class, and then he’d picked up an injury that he’d never recovered from. When his autobiography came out, I’d read it three times.
I didn’t quite understand why I was buying it for Jerrica, apart from that my gut told me she’d enjoy it, so it went into the pile with the romance.
Nicky was waiting for me at the entrance, bag in hand.
“Successful?” I pointed at the bag.
“Yep. Good idea that, for a bloke who’s never had a proper girlfriend.”
I shrugged. No point arguing, although I wished I could.
“What did you get?” He eyed my bag.
“Books.” It was a dickish answer.
“Who for? Because they’re not for you. Jerrica?” He raised his eyebrows so high, they almost disappeared into his hairline.
“What makes you think they’re for her?”
“Because you’ve got it bad for her.” He opened his car door and slid in. “You look at her like she’s everything you’ve ever wanted, and you’re not allowed even to get close enough to sniff her.”
