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I see Forrest giving me a sly look across the table, and I feel guilty for ignoring my friend. He’s travelled from Manchester to see me, and I’m off in my own thoughts. Sighing, I look down at my coffee.
“Sorry, Forrest. I guess I’m not in the right headspace for things at the moment.”
“You’ve been saying that for the last couple of months, Mark. I think you need to try a better line.”
I wince at that. Forrest is right; I’ve been saying the same thing over and over again since we got back from Paris. Things have been going on as normal, and I’ve been trying to get back into my usual routine. But I’m not completely with it.
I keep thinking about that night with Emma and how amazing she felt in my bed, in my arms. I’ve had enthusiastic lovers before, but Emma was another level. There was something different about the way things were between us, and I wanted to hold onto it. But we both knew that this was just a one-off, and we would likely never see each other again. I didn’t like that, but I wasn’t about to push it when Emma kept mentioning that it was a one-time thing. That would have made her run away sooner.
I wish I had told her I wanted to see her again. But she left while I was sleeping, and I never got the chance to get her number. If I had, I would have called her as soon as I got back to England. Anything to see her again.
“I guess I’m still a bit stuck on something,” I mumble as I sip my coffee. “All that online abuse aimed at me because of how the final went. You’d think people would have better things to do than get upset over something they have no control over.”
“I get that. You’ve got to have a special kind of tough skin to deal with that.”
“You know that as well as I do, given you’re going through the same thing.”
Forrest shrugs.
“At least I wasn’t on the pitch during that final. Just keep reporting the dicks, and it’ll stop eventually.”
“I hope so.”
My best friend and fellow referee leans towards me, a glint in his eye.
“But that’s not why you’ve been out of sorts lately, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Mark, I’m not blind. I was coming to join you that night after the game, remember? And I saw you with this cute brunette girl.”
I groan. I had forgotten about that.
“You really saw us?”
“Of course I did. And I saw you walk off with her. You looked like you didn’t want to be disturbed, so I left you to it.” Forrest smirks. “She was pretty cute, so I don’t blame you for wanting some fun.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Of course not!” I sigh and shake my head. “I was just being a gentleman after she had an…incident. And then things…they got carried away.”
“And I bet you never asked for her phone number,” Forrest teases. “So now you’re staggering around wondering if you’re ever going to hear from her again.”
“That’s not funny, Forrest.”
“I think it is. You said you were never going to do something like that, and then you broke your own rules. I’ve never seen you like this before, Mark.” Forrest sits back in his chair. “Why don’t you use your abilities as a lawyer to find out who she is? I’m sure you can do that.”
But I’m already shaking my head.
“That is not something I’m prepared to do. I’m not a private investigator, and that could amount to stalking.”
“You’re just trying to find a woman who captured your attention, that’s all. Maybe say she forgot something in an attempt to get her to come to you.”
I frown at that.
“But she didn’t forget anything.”
