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Erik dropped into the seat next to her, with Didier on the outside.
“You guys find something good?” she asked, taking a sip of her beer.
“Des frites,” Didier said, handing her a basket of fries. “They actually look good.”
“This is incredible,” Erik said, waving at everything. “I had no idea it was like this.”
Jamie leaned around her to look at Erik. “Haven’t you ever been in a stadium?”
“On this side of the barrier? No.” Erik shook his head, taking a bite of a hot dog. “In my town, there wasn’t really any big sports. We haddødsing.”
“What isdødsing?” Didier asked.
“Where you jump off the cliff into the sea,” Erik said, “but you have to hold your arms and legs out in an X until right before you hit the water.”
Rachel gaped at him. “You have asportwhere youbelly flopinto theocean?”
“It’s the sea, and you aren’t supposed to flop. But that’s what happens, and, yes, it’s very cold.” He shrugged. “Usually it’s from a diving board into a pool, but in my village we don’t have a diving platform tall enough, so we just use the cliff.”
Jamie leaned back, his arm around Rachel’s shoulders. “Now I really want to visit your hometown.”
“You did not have football?” Didier asked.
“We did, but just our small-town teams.” Erik shrugged. “Then I went to university and I didn’t have time to go to sports. The first time I was in a stadium, I was playing for Manchester.”
Rachel shook her head. “You aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
“I’ve never been to Kansas,” Erik said reflectively.
Amused, she glanced at Jamie. He looked amused too. He winked at her as if to say Erik’s literalness was cute.
The opening pitch was thrown, and they all turned their attention to the ball game. “I haven’t been to a game in a long time,” she told Jamie. “I think the last time was with Chris, before he left to explore the world.”
Jamie held out the carton of fries to her. “Do you like it?”
“I wouldn’t watch it at home, but going to a game is fun.” She popped one in her mouth, studying him. “Do you like it?”
“I love watching sports,” he admitted, taking a sip of his beer. “I love the competition and seeing people decide to win.”
She wanted to hold his hand, but they were full. “Are you going to miss it?”
As if reading her mind, he set the fries on his lap and reached for her hand. “I’ll miss some aspects of it, but no, overall I won’t miss it.”
“You sound so sure.” She looked into his eyes, trying to see. “It’s hard to believe that you wouldn’t miss it. You’ve spent most of your life playing.”
“Yes, but I’m done. I’m done with the drama and the traveling. I’m especially done with the media.” He flashed a smile, but even at its edges it had no humor. “If you knew what it was like, you wouldn’t doubt it.”
“I promote media like that,” she pointed out.
“Yes, but you do it with your clients’ blessings.” He put his arm around her back again. “I didn’t want the paparazzi following me. It’s different.”
He was right—she really couldn’t imagine what that was like.
She sat back in his embrace and thought about that as she watched the game. She was looking around the stadium when she saw a woman making googly eyes at Erik.
She nudged his side. “That woman’s interested in you.”
He stiffened next to her, kind of like a deer in headlights. “Where?”
