‘Sorry, they really shouldn’t be rearranging the furniture like that,’ I say, though I can’t muster up enough energy to actually be frustrated. The girls have drawn up their chairs to the tables now, sitting elbow to elbow as they grab at the menus and shout over each other to be heard.
‘Dina?’ the woman asks.
When I turn to look at her – really look at her – I place her immediately.
‘Jen?’
Jen smiles, and it almost feels like I’m suddenly transported back to school. Back to the football field, where Jen’s encouraging smile led me to every victory that I ever had. It’s been so many years since I saw her – too many years – but somehow, she looks almost exactly the same. Only her brown hair is a little shorter, and she looks a little older, like age and experience have settled into her youthful face.
‘It’s so good to see you,’ Jen says, extending her arms out towards me. I wrap my arms around her too, almost out of instinct.
‘You too. What … what are you doing here?’ I ask. ‘Those … aren’t all your kids, are they?’ I ask with a hesitant laugh, nodding at the group of girls that are still shouting to be heard by each other, despite the fact that the rest of the restaurant is completely deserted.
Jen chuckles. ‘No. Not my kids. I’m coaching a football team for the local council, and we just had training.’
‘Wow.’ Now that I look at the girls a little closer, it’s easy to see that they’re wearing what could almost constitute football attire. They’re not decked out in matching jerseys and football boots, but there’s an array of loose T-shirts, shorts and brow-beaten trainers.
‘Yeah, I’m sorry they’re … a little excitable,’ Jen says. ‘I’ll try to get them to calm down, and I can have them put the tables back if—’
‘No, no. It’s fine,’ I say, shaking my head. It’s not like any other customers are going to use those tables anyway. ‘It’s good to see that you’re still coaching.’
‘I like doing it.’ Jen shrugs. ‘I had to step away from the school to take care of family, but honestly, I had kind of missed coaching.’
I glance at the girls from her team again, and wonder what she missed about it. It couldn’t have been dealing with teenage girls all day.
‘Well, you were good at it. I bet the school misses you.’ I still remember all the times she cheered me on from the touchline, and how she always fought for the school to fund the girls’ football team when it was often only interested in the boys’ team.
Jen rolls her eyes in good humour. ‘Please. I don’t think sports teachers are that hard to come by and I wasn’t trained in coaching football teams. Besides, I was still learning the ropes back then.’
‘It never felt like that to me,’ I say. Jen had seemed like someone who had been coaching football her whole life. She knew how to get the best out of us by caring about us. Each and every one of us.
‘You made it easy,’ Jen says. ‘You were already so good at football.’
A bloom of pride warms me. I can’t remember the last time someone complimented me on doing something well. But my high comes crashing down as fast as it came when I rememberher. It’s like I can’t even think about football without her face appearing in my memory.
‘Well, I’m glad another team gets to experience your amazing coaching,’ I say, trying to shake my memories off.
Jen’s smile wavers a little. ‘Thanks, Dina. Though, truthfully, this coaching job is a little different from when I was doing it at school. I mean, back then, it was part of my job, and I was younger and had so much energy. Now, I always have a million things on my plate. Sometimes, I feel like I can barely fit coaching into my schedule, so it falls to the wayside. Which is pretty unfair on the team.’ She pauses, looking at me closely. ‘I’m actually looking for an assistant coach to help me out. The council finally managed to find some funding for a part-time position, but I’ve had no luck with finding someone so far.’
The way she’s looking at me makes me think for a second that she’s consideringmefor the position.
‘Well, a sedentary office job doesn’t really qualify one foran assistant coach position.’ I chuckle. ‘I’m sure you’ll find someone soon.’
‘Yeah, I hope so,’ Jen says. ‘I shouldn’t be talking your ear off about all of this anyway. How have things been with you?’
‘Things have been … good, yeah,’ I say, nodding, though the last thing I want to get into is details about my life. Being unemployed and having no future prospects is not the kind of thing you want to share with your former mentor. ‘I should, um, get you some water and then take your orders. Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll be right back?’
I turn around and almost run right into Deen, who is already heading to the table with a jug of water and a stack of metal cups.
‘Whoa, careful there,’ he says, weaving around me. He greets Jen and the girls with a grin, serving them their water and taking their orders with his signature charm.
Jen flashes me a smile as Deen leaves the table, and it’s clear that she wants to catch up some more, but catching up would require me having to share things about my life too. And I’m definitely not ready for that. So, I give her a small wave, before retreating back to the office and closing the door behind me.
‘So … that was your old coach, right? What was her name again? Anne?’ Deen asks later as we’re closing up the restaurant.
‘Jen,’ I say, clearing up the area where the girls had been sitting. They made a total mess of things: the tablecloth is half off the table; rice and curry stains all over it. I pull it off the table and toss it aside. It will have to go in the wash, and even then, I’m not sure if those stains will come off.
‘It’s nice that she’s still coaching,’ Deen comments.
