AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay,” says the girl in the green dress, laughing awkwardly. “I’ll do it.”
“Cool. If you don’t mind, just put your arm around my waist, like this.” I offer my hand and let her take it before I maneuver her into position. “Nice one.” Then I look at her friends and add, “Sorry to have interrupted your night.”
“No, this will be a great story later,” says the brunette. “I don’t suppose I could give you my number.”
I wince. She’s pretty enough, but I’m just not interested. “Sorry, babe. Rumor has it Miles Hamilton’s taken.”
She gawps at me and, before I can get interrogated, I turn around with her friend and march back past my team. “Easy when you know how,” I call out, walking with my head held high, ignoring all their leering.
We get out to the front of the pub, the wind washing over us the second we step outside. It’s kind of cold, so I pull my jacket on.
“Thanks, hun,” I say, pulling out my wallet to hand three hundred pounds over. “You’ve done me a real one.”
She giggles. “Not every day a footballing legend wants to give you money.”
I smile with a sigh. “I hope you realize I could have chatted you up if I’d wanted to. I haven’t lost my touch.”
“I’m sure,” she says with a toothy grin. “Can I get your autograph while we’re here?”
“Sure thing,” I say. “What’s your name?”
“Suzanne.”
She pulls a notebook out of her handbag and turns to a blank page. She holds it and a pen out to me, and I sign it, writing her a funny message to make it personal. That’s what people like. I flip it back to her, and she reads it. “Thank you,” she says, then turns back to the pub. “Have a good night.”
“You too, babe,” I say, watching her go.
Then I breathe out into the cool air, feeling it fill my lungs and wash around me. I can’t exactly go back in there, so I zip my jacket up, slip my hood over my head and start to walk home. Nobody bothers me as I go. I’ve learned how to blend in and not be noticed.
I walk slowly, taking a winding path home. It’s not like I have anything better to do. It’s not like I’ve got anyone to go home to. I look up at the sky and feel a tightness in my chest.
I wonder if she’s thinking about me at all?
CHAPTER 29
OLIVIA
I drop my head in my hands, fighting back the tears. I swear I never used to be this emotional. It's funny what pregnancy can do to you.
Pregnancy plus a furniture kit is an absolute recipe for madness. I'm not far along enough yet to be showing, but I’m trying to get as much preparation done as I can now before I’m huge and can’t do anything at all.
So here I am, sitting all alone on my bedroom floor, trying desperately to construct a crib and failing completely. I swear they design these things to be as difficult as possible for a normal person to follow. Sometimes you look at the weird illustrations and the parts in your hands and feel like you need a degree in engineering to follow any of it. That, and the way that none of the screws are ever the right size for the holes. Makes you wonder why we keep buying any of this stuff.
This is not my first existential crisis of the day, and I doubt it will be the last. But at least the morning sickness has passed. For now, anyway.
I’ve read various worrying things that say it can come straight on back when you get further along. That’s something I could really do without.
Carefully, I take a deep breath and calm myself enough to try again. I can’t be defeated by this. I can do anything. I pick up a plywood slat and a screw and start trying again to wrap my head around how they all go together.
I stare at it for five minutes before throwing it to the ground again, defeated. With a groan, I get to my feet, my knees aching. I’m going to find my phone. I need help with this. And I know exactly who to ask. Tali is like a legend for this kind of thing. It all makes sense to her. She always laughs at me and Elena for complaining about how difficult the instructions are to follow.
“It’s not difficult,” she always says. “It's written right there for you.” One day I’d love to agree with that.
My phone is in the kitchen, abandoned on the counter. I pick it up to a whole bunch of unread messages from Tim. I swipe to open them and nearly drop it when I read the texts. Big news. Miles coming back to Macaws. Call me.
I have to read it again to make sure I’m not just reading what I want to see, then, with shaking hands, I hit dial.
He picks up almost straightaway. “Olivia, hi. How are you?”
