CHAPTER 14
Checking her phone for the time, she saw that Josh was running a few minutes late, but what she had been hoping to see was a text from Mr. Wrong Number.
He hadn’t messaged her since asking her about breakfast the other morning, and when she had tried to see if he was up for another movie when he came back from whatever he was doing, he hadn’t answered her.
It was a little like being set afloat, like an iceberg in the middle of a vast ocean.
Maybe he was busy. Or maybe whatever they had had merely fizzled out.
Either way, it wasn’t a good experience.
“Hey, Simmons,” Josh said, coming around the table, his eyes dropping. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks,” she said, shifting in her seat. She was wearing another one of Maxie’s dresses, a black, strappy number that she would protect with her life, considering the designer’s name on the tag. She lifted her wine. “I ordered a drink.”
“Yeah, sorry I’m late. Ross laid into us a bit after the game,” he said, his face contorting slightly. “He’s insisting on running doubles tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? But doesn’t he fly on Saturdays?”
Josh shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wish he’d take the day off, but he says we’re not playing like a team.” He paused. “He’s been on the warpath the past few days. But I don’t want to talk about Ross or the game today. I want to talk about you, Simmons.”
“I think you can call me Scarlett. As long as we’re outside of work.” She winked, and Josh grinned. “So, what do you want to know?”
“The basics, I guess. Any siblings?”
“I have a sister. You?”
“Four brothers.”
“Oh, dang.”
“Yeah.”
“Are they athletes too?”
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “Patrick is a lawyer back home in North Carolina. Matthew lives by the beach with his wife and kids—they manage a bunch of properties. Gabe is a teacher in Virginia, and Kevin is in New York, trying to be an actor.”
“Wow. Those are all pretty different pursuits.”
“Yeah. I mean, they all played sports in school, except for Kevin, but then he never much cared for sports.”
The waitress came over, and Josh ordered a beer, then they picked out three appetizers to share. When the server left, Scarlett put her forearms on the table and leaned forward.
“So, tell me how you feel living on this side of the pond. Do you like it? Hate it? Miss home?”
“I like it. I told you I was scouted when I was a freshman in high school. The University of North Carolina was hosting a summer soccer program over in Chapel Hill. I was there for a week before a talent agent picked me up and signed me to a program over here. My parents wouldn’t let me go overseas until I finished high school, so in the summers, I would fly over and work all season, and then fly back to finish school. ”
“I guess you were pretty good.”
“Still am,” he said, puffing out his chest. She laughed as he took a swig of his beer. “But unfortunately, I got hurt, and, well, I haven’t really been able to play to my full potential.”
“Because of the injury?”
“Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m all better. Stronger than before, really, thanks to all the physio workouts I’m doing now. But, you know…” He made a face, as if Scarlett was supposed to understand something.
“No, I don’t.”
He frowned, apparently perplexed. “Really? You don’t know about Ross’s little aversion to Americans?”
Scarlett’s face dropped. “Oh. That.”
“Yeah.”
“So what? Because you’re American, he’s sidelined you, to the detriment of his team?
” Taking another sip of wine, she suddenly became even more inclined to drink.
Not because she was eager for alcohol, but the mention of Theo made her remember their kiss, and she was trying to use this Chianti as a mouthwash. “Seems like a stupid move.”
“Well, yeah, but you can’t blame him. After what happened, I’d be salty too.”
She frowned as she swallowed. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“You know, about him and the athletic trainer?” Scarlett’s interest was piqued as Josh leaned over the table. “You don’t know about him and Tiffany?”
No, she certainly did not, and had he said athletic trainer?
“Who’s Tiffany?” But then her phone buzzed. “Oh, excuse me.”
It was a message from Mr. Wrong Number.
I’m back… And at the risk of sounding foolish, I have to say, I missed our texting sessions.
Scarlett swallowed as her heart began to thud in her chest. She wanted nothing more than to answer him, but it would be rude to Josh. She placed the phone face down on the table and tried to ignore the desire to text back. “I’m sorry about that. So, who’s Tiffany?”
Josh leaned back in his seat and let out a low whistle, right as their food was delivered to the table. After thanking the waitress, he picked up a cheese-stuffed pepper. When they were alone again, he leaned forward again.
“Tiffany was Theo’s fiancée—or almost fiancée. They were never really clear about that.”
“What?” Scarlett asked loudly, and a couple at the next table glanced at her. She cleared her throat and adjusted her volume. “He was engaged?”
“I think so, for about a year. They met when he was still working for his previous team, before he took the head manager position at the Bees. He brought her along, had Chard hire her on the spot. She was good, too. Friendly. Dedicated to her job, but…”
“But what?” Scarlett pressed, now fully invested.
“She didn’t like it here. In England, I mean. She was only at her other job because of some sort of medical internship. She was supposed to go back to Colorado at the end of her term, but Theo found her a job here and so she stayed, but I don’t think she was ever happy with that decision.”
“Why do you assume that?”
He shrugged. “She would always find me, search me out almost daily, to talk about home. Don’t get me wrong, I miss it too, but I’ve been here on and off for so many years that I’m equally at home here as I was in North Carolina—but Tiffany wasn’t.
When she wasn’t engaging with players, she always acted sort of sad.
She mentioned not being able to make any friends here, which I always thought was strange, since she was so personable, but that’s what she said. ”
Scarlett wondered why she hadn’t heard about this before.
A part of her felt sorry for this girl, and she wondered what it must have been like for her to be in a place she didn’t like.
Honestly, Scarlett felt as comfortable in Manchester as she had in Portland and New Jersey, a trait she shared with Josh, apparently.
“I’m guessing it didn’t end well between them, then?”
Josh’s brows lifted. “That’s an understatement.”
“Why?”
“Well, no one knows for sure, but the team has always suspected a bad fallout. She flew home for the holidays last year, and he couldn’t go, obviously. It was his first year as manager and he had to be here. But then she didn’t come back.”
“She moved?” Scarlett asked. “What, without telling him?”
“Without telling anyone. She was only supposed to be gone a week, but then New Year’s came and went, and she still didn’t come back, so then he left.”
“He left?” She blinked. “Did he go after her?”
Josh shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. You know how tight-lipped he is about things.
But he was gone for four days, and when he got back, he was different.
He was at the stadium constantly after that.
Practically lived in his office. And we were losing, constantly, because Chard wouldn’t let him manage the team the way he wanted.
He made us do drills during practice from January to April.
We were exhausted. And he never really stopped blaming me for his breakup. At least, partially.”
She frowned. “Why would he blame you?”
“He made a comment once last season when I was discussing something with one of the players… I forget what, exactly. Maybe I was complaining about practice? I don’t know, but he overheard it and told me that it was my mouth that had us running drills in the first place.
I always took it to mean that he believed I’d convinced Tiffany to leave or something—of course, I hadn’t, but he’s not been too pleasant to be around in general ever since. ”
Scarlett stared at him for a long moment, digesting everything she had learned. So, Theo had been engaged to an American, no less, who had apparently broken his heart, and was now taking it out on people like her and Josh.
Well, if that wasn’t the most unfair bullshit she’d ever heard.
“What a jackass,” she hissed before taking another sip of her wine.
“Pardon?”
She put her glass down. “A jackass. Just because his girlfriend or fiancée disappeared, that gives him the right to be an unmitigated jerk to everyone else, particularly to you and me?” She shook her head. “I mean, that’s a sucky way to be dumped, but it’s not your fault.”
“Well, I think he partially blames me—”
“But that’s ridiculous. You didn’t buy her a ticket to Colorado and tell her not to come back, did you?”
“No, of course not.”
“See? It has nothing to do with you.” She picked up a prosciutto stuzzichini and bit into it. “The nerve of that guy.”
“I mean, he was probably pretty torn up about it.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t try to earn him any sympathy points from me.” She let out a huff of breath, somewhere between a laugh and curse. “I can’t believe him.”
A moment passed before Josh spoke again.
“I didn’t realize it would make you so upset.”
“Upset? Me? I’m not upset. I’m annoyed, and rightly so.
He doesn’t have a right to treat me—er, us—poorly because he went through a rough breakup.
He’s an adult. He should be handling it better—like going to therapy or shoving it down deep in his soul.
Something,” she said, and another awkward moment followed.
Josh was staring at her. Clearing her throat, she sat up.
“Let’s talk about something else—something that doesn’t have to do with work, or the game or any of that. ”
“Sure.”