‘Training starts next week, Marcus. It’s all there, if you want to read it yourself.’ I use the knife I’m holding to point at the contract.
‘And who’s taking care of the girls?’
Placing the knife down on the counter, I turn slowly towards Marcus, whose hands are crossed firmly over his chest. ‘In all of the years you played professional rugby, did I ever ask you who was going to mindourchildren?’ My voice is dangerously low, barely more than a whisper. Marcus has the grace to look at the floor.
‘This is your last chance to stop this, Marcus.’ I gesture at the signed contract once more. ‘I don’t have to send it back. I thought you were okay with things. If not, now’s the time to speak up.’
He swallows hard and runs a hand over his head. ‘I don’t want to stop you, Shelly. If you want to do it, I want you to have that opportunity. It’s just I don’t trust him…’ He emphasises his last word with a frustrated hand gesture.
‘Who?’
‘Ben, or all those other men shaking themselves up against you.’ Marcus’s jaw flexes as the words fly out with zero time for consideration.
‘You don’t trust them? Or you don’t trust me?’ Now it’s me folding my arms across my chest. I hate that every time we talk about this it ends up in an argument. I’ve loved Marcus since I was seventeen years old. Never once in that time have I ever given him any reason to doubt me.
‘I just know what guys are like. Do you understand how much of a kick Ben Battle will get out of touching up my wife every week for eight, no wait, ten weeks?’
‘Urgh! It’s still all about you, isn’t it? For once I’m about to be viewed as something other than simply in your shadow, and you just can’t handle it, can you?’ Disappointment and anger floods through my veins in a hot, ferocious burst.
‘I’m sorry, Shelly. It’s not you. Of course I trust you. It’s just after years of listening to lads talking in the changing rooms, I know what they can be like. And Ben Battle is the worst womanising wanker you’d ever meet. Even Callum will tell you that, and he had his fair share back in the day.’ He steps towards me again, cupping my chin, forcing my gaze upwards to meet his.
‘There are other contestants. The likelihood I’ll get paired up with him is slim. But you know better than anyone that I can handle myself. I turned him down once, Marcus, I can do it again, though I doubt the need will even arise.’ I blow a stray strand of hair from my face and Marcus raises his eyebrows. ‘Come on! It’s been years. You know he only flirted with me to get a rise out of you. I thought we were way past this. Jesus, the lot of us were all friends once upon a time. What went so wrong?’
I hate this tension between us. Do I hate it enough to willingly pass up this opportunity?
‘It’s all the changes, Shelly. Everything has changed so much in the last year and I’m struggling to adapt. You going out to work, doing this show is just another adjustment to get used to.’ His accompanying sigh travels straight to my heart.
‘I won’t do it, Marcus. If you’re not comfortable with it, it’s not worth it. Our marriage means more to me than anything in the world.’ Resting my cheek against his chest, the pounding of his heart speaks directly to mine.
‘You’re doing it, Shelly. I won’t let you miss out, not because of me. I’m sorry I’ve been an arsehole about it. I trust you, of course I do. And I’ll be cheering for you every single step of the way.’ His tone is so sincere, I almost believe him.
