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Beth’s eyes had drifted to the car park. Greg and Kevin had gone into the bar, but the under-eighteens were still loitering by an old Fiesta, waiting for lifts. Carly heard one of them ask whether that meant he was their manager now. Another shrugged.

“Kevin,” Beth said, as if the name had gone off in her mouth. “Ladies. Girls. You lot. Fifteen minutes with them, and not one name.”

“You were counting.”

“I was standing here. It’s not the same thing.”

“Jenna’s going to ask you again.”

“Jenna can ask whatever she likes.”

Beth watched the girls for another long moment. Then she turned her back on them, deliberately, and pulled her coat tighter.

“It’s freezing,” she announced. “I don’t know why anyone does this. It’s a ridiculous way to spend a Sunday.”

She stayed where she was until the last girl had been collected.

25

Lauren

The bar was heaving. Somebody had put Sweet Caroline on the jukebox, and half the team were singing it at the opposition, who were taking it with remarkable grace. Jenna was standing on a chair being toasted by people who didn’t need a chair to see her. Paige was in the corner by the radiator, under orders from Becky to stay twenty minutes and not one more, with Sam zipped inside her coat, Becky beside her with a pint, and at the end of their table sat Carly.

Lauren headed straight over and clapped her on the shoulder.

“Alright, mate. Good game.”

Carly looked up, and her smile came a beat late.

“Thanks.”

“Seriously, that tackle on the half-hour. I nearly applauded.” Lauren dropped into the chair opposite and stretched her legs out, as casually as someone who’d never once worried where to put her legs. “Can I get you a drink?”

“I’ve got one.”

“Next one’s on me, then.”

Paige was staring at her over the top of Sam’s tiny woollen hat. Lauren ignored her.

“How’s the hamstring?” she asked Carly.

“Held up.”

“Told you. All that warm-up paid off. Good work.”

Becky’s eyebrows had joined Paige’s somewhere near her hairline. Lauren ignored her too.

“You were brilliant,” Paige said to Carly, finally, still watching Lauren. “Becky said she’s never seen the back four that organised.”

“I’ve never seen the back four organised at all,” Becky said. “I didn’t know they could stand in a line. I thought it was physically beyond them.”

Carly smiled into her lemonade. “They just needed someone to tell them where to stand.”

“They needed someone they’d listen to. Different thing.”

Lauren nodded vigorously. “That’s what I keep saying. Leadership. You’ve got it, mate.”

“How are the girls?” Carly asked, turning slightly towards her. “The under-eighteens. After earlier.”