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He sighed in relief. “Good. I tried your chatline number. Disconnected.”
“I’ve been suspended. Breach of contract.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.” His voice was so sad. “Do you need money?”
The offer smarted, although it was well meaning. “I’m fine. It’s temporary, I hope.”
“I’m so sorry about all this, Gemma. I didn’t mean any of this to happen.”
I couldn’t resist laughing, a horrible resigned laugh. “It’s not your fault I have a horrible, selfish bitch of a friend, Jason. I should be apologising to you.”
“Please don’t.” I could feel him smile. “I miss you. Please don’t let any of that shit in the papers get to you, it’s all bullshit.”
The lump in my throat made my words crackly. “You should go. You must be busy. I watched the game on Saturday, on the TV.”
“I wish you’d have watched a better one, I played like shit.”
“You looked amazing.”
“I don’t feel amazing.”
Neither do I.I kept quiet. “I see April’s putting on the face, I hope you manage to keep it together. You know, for the house and everything.”
“I don’t give a shit about the house, Gemma.” I heard him scrape his fingers through his hair. “I have to go, we’re training hard. Seems all the big games spring up at once.”
“Thanks for calling.”
“Thanks for answering.”
So much I wanted to say, but I said none of it. The call end tone hit like a sucker punch, twisting my stomach to shit.
Cara and Raven ventured out my end of town, calling in with a couple of bottles of wine and armfuls of sympathy.
“Motherfuckers, those journalists, all of them,” Raven spat. “I hate the sons of bitches. Never a good word to say about anyone, not until they’re dead or part of their backhanded political agenda.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “But they’re pretty nasty. They seem to love April Redfern, at least.”
“Only because she’s their victim,” Cara said. “They love a good sob story.”
“Maybe.” The wine went down a treat. “He called me.”
Two pairs of eyebrows shot up. “He did?”
“Just to see how I was.”
Cara practically pounced on me. “Did you tell him you missed him? Please tell me you did.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t say much. Wish I’d said more.”
“Call him back!”
“Maybe one day soon. He might be with her, or with his teammates, I don’t want to cause him any problems.”
“So text him.”
A niggle in my stomach, the same one I’d had for days. “I dunno.”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Cara said. “You miss him, don’t you?”
