Chapter 10 #2
Some would say Erin had that same expression whenever she was on the pitch—but at least when she did, she was the best player on it.
“If Lia’s still injured, why’s she warming up like she’s about to come on?” Maisie’s voice tore Erin’s focus away from the back of Hannah’s head as she walked down the tunnel.
Sure enough, Lia had stripped off her jacket and was jogging across the pitch in her full kit. One of their striking coaches ran alongside her, and they passed the ball quickly between one another.
Lia showed no hint of her ankle bothering her, nor of any nerves at the prospect of setting foot on the field. Good. Albion needed her, and they needed her at her best. Already a few of the Wanderers fans booed her, but they were soon drowned out by cheers from the Albion fans.
“Maybe she’s more ready than I thought,” Erin said, hoping it was true. As the second half commenced, and Lia took her place on the pitch, Erin swallowed down some of her own nerves.
She needn’t have worried.
Lia settled straight into the action, looking at home with the ball at her feet.
She skipped past Wanderers players with ease, seeming to drown out the noise from the crowd—and any words her former teammates said to her.
Their mouths moved whenever Lia got close, and Erin doubted they were shouting encouragement.
Through it all, Lia kept calm and composed, further cementing her status in Erin’s mind as one of the best. Watching her out there, knowing the state she’d gotten herself into less than half an hour ago, Erin gained a new admiration for Lia.
“Come on, ref!” As Lia was wrestled to the ground by her former captain just a few yards from the box, Maisie surged out of her seat. “That’s a yellow!”
“Keep calm.” Erin gently pulled Maisie down. “Don’t get in the habit of shouting at the referee, or you’ll be in trouble in your own games.”
“You argue with the ref every game!”
“A bad habit I’ve never been able to shake.” It was in her nature to point out clear mistakes. “You shouldn’t start it.”
Maisie grumbled as Lia dusted herself off, seemingly unfazed by the challenge. No yellow card was forthcoming, but the free kick Albion were awarded was in a promising position.
Erin leaned further forward in her seat as Cerys stood over the ball. In the box, Lia was marked by two Wanderers players, her former team clearly knowing how dangerous she was from this position.
It worked to Albion’s advantage. They were so focused on Lia that they failed to notice Shanice sneaking toward the back post. She headed the ball home, and Erin raised a fist in the air.
* * *
When the final whistle blew, Lia bent at the waist, resting her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Without the game to focus on, it was like all the energy had drained out of her: Her muscles ached, her chest was tight, and those pesky butterflies erupted again in her stomach.
A hand clapped her on the back, so hard she nearly toppled over, and Lia lifted her head.
Shanice beamed at her. “You were fab out there today. Best second-half performance I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
“Thanks.” It was all a blur. Lia had scored the winning goal, but all she remembered was the weight of Hannah’s gaze over the Albion players’ heads as they’d had hugged Lia in celebration.
“I’ve never seen a performance like that, either.” Emily—Lia’s former captain—appeared at Shanice’s elbow, a pained look on her face. “I wish you hadn’t left.”
“You know I had to.”
“I know.” Emily clasped Lia’s hand and squeezed. “Sorry I wrestled you to the ground.”
Lia managed a weak smile. “No hard feelings.”
Some of her other former teammates weren’t as kind, barely looking at her when they shook hands. A few expressed their wishes that Lia was still with them, but Lia couldn’t bring herself to wish for the same. She was happy at Albion. Happier than she thought she could ever be again.
Some of that happiness leached away as Hannah stepped in front of her.
Her face was pink with exertion and sweat beaded at her brow, but she still didn’t have so much as a single hair out of place.
Not surprising, she supposed, given that it took Hannah almost a half hour of painstaking effort to style it before each match—something Lia used to tease her endlessly about; her own matchday ponytail took her a mere thirty seconds.
Their gazes met, but it didn’t knock the air from Lia’s lungs like she’d been expecting. She didn’t want to double over from the pain of it. She only felt empty, like she was looking through a blurry lens at the future they could have had.
“You did well today.”
Why the hell had Hannah sought her out just to say that? “No thanks to you. Is that really all you have to say to me after all this time?”
Hannah winced. “That’s not what I wanted to say at all; I don’t know why I did. I actually wanted to ask if I could talk to you, just for a few minutes. Somewhere away from all the cameras.”
It was hard not to be aware of them, the broadcasters circling the pitch. The thought of them zooming in on them, trying to see what Lia’s old teammate was saying to her, made her skin crawl. Lia considered saying no but couldn’t shake her curiosity about what Hannah could possibly have to say.
“I’ll spare you five minutes in the tunnel after I’ve done my media duties.”
“Thank you.”
Brushing past Hannah without shaking her hand, Lia was soon snared by the BBC pundits.
She hated interviews, detested having a camera shoved in her face and being asked for her thoughts on the match.
At least Albion had won; the reporters were worse after a loss.
But she still found it hard to concentrate, worrying about what Hannah had in mind.
The second Lia could escape, she made a beeline for the tunnel. At the end was the safety of the changing room and her teammates, but before she could reach it, she had to confront the woman who had broken her heart.
Hannah stepped out of the darkness, wringing her hands in front of her like she always did when she was nervous.
The last time Lia had seen her do that was when she’d asked if Lia minded if she went away on a last-minute weekend trip with her sister.
Now Lia wondered if she’d spent the weekend with Carol instead.
“Five minutes,” Lia said, folding her arms tightly across her chest. “Not a second more.”
“That’s fair. I just wanted to say again that I’m sorry.
I never meant for any of this to happen.
I didn’t ever want to hurt you, even though I know I did.
I drove you away from the team you love.
I asked not to play today because I didn’t think it was fair to you, but the new coach made me.
He said there’s no room on the pitch for personal lives. ”
The words made Lia think of Erin, and she nearly made the mistake of smiling. “At least that should mean he won’t get fired for sleeping with one of his players.”
Hannah winced. “I know there’s no way I can make any of this up to you. I can’t say anything to make it better. I just wanted to be able to apologise to you again. Properly. I fucked up, and you deserved so much better.”
Behind Hannah’s shoulder, Erin and Maisie strode toward the changing room.
Erin caught Lia’s gaze, her eyebrows rising as she glanced at Hannah.
At least she was the one to spot them. If Adrianna or one of the other gossip-hungry members of the team saw her and Hannah talking, Lia would never hear the end of it.
Turning back toward Hannah, Lia drew herself up to her full height.
“Yeah, you’re right. I did deserve so much better.
I do deserve so much better. Even now, I’m still haunted by you.
Every week, there’s a new article about how it must have been me Carol was sleeping with.
I’ve had to deactivate most of my social media because I keep getting harassed on there for something I would never do.
And you’re just walking around like nothing ever happened.
You haven’t faced even a single consequence.
Carol got fired, as she should have been, but you haven’t been punished at all.
But I have, and the rest of Wanderers have, because I swear, Hannah, I will not rest until I and the rest of my team beat you to every single trophy this season.
It’s great that you want to feel better about yourself by saying sorry to me, but we both know it’s for selfish reasons.
Because you’re a selfish person. You only care about yourself. You and Carol deserve each other.”
Before Hannah had the chance to say another word, Lia headed for the changing room door, trying to school her expression into something neutral.
A cheer erupted as Lia stepped inside, and she smiled in spite of herself as an excited nine-year-old barrelled into her side and wrapped her arms around Lia’s waist.
“You were amazing.” Maisie peered at her with wide eyes, full to the brim with admiration.
“Thanks, kiddo.” Lia rested a hand on Maisie’s back, feeling more grounded with her close. “You enjoy the game?”
“I liked the second half more.”
“Me, too.” Alex appeared out of nowhere and narrowed their eyes at Maisie. “I used to be the first one you ran to. Am I not your favourite anymore?”
“Aunt Erin will always be my favourite,” Maisie said. She released Lia to hug Alex’s waist. “But you can both be equal seconds.”
“Equal second, huh?” Alex lifted a squealing Maisie over their shoulder. “I don’t know how I feel about that.” Alex glanced at Lia. “I didn’t know you two knew one another.”
“We ran into one another after training one day.” Lia didn’t know why she felt defensive with Alex’s gaze on her.
“And now we’re friends,” Maisie said into Alex’s shoulder. “Put me down!”
“How about I spin you around instead?” Alex whirled Maisie around, their laughs echoing off the walls. Lia watched them for a few moments before a warm presence appeared at her side and she smelled the familiar scent of Erin’s perfume.
“Glad you managed to get out of your own head.”
Lia tilted her head to meet Erin’s gaze. “Wouldn’t have been able to without your help. Thank you.” She reached out to squeeze Erin’s hand, the moment of contact fleeting but enough to make her skin feel like it was burning.
“It was for the good of the team.”
“Sure.”
“Although you looked pretty cosy in the tunnel just now.”
Lia had wondered if Erin would bring it up. It seemed out of character, but given she’d seen the state of Lia earlier in the match, she supposed Erin had a right to ask about it. “She was just trying to make herself feel better.”
“As long as she didn’t make you feel worse.”
“Careful, Finch.” Lia smiled, the memory of Hannah chased away by Erin’s narrowed eyes. “That almost sounds like you care.”
“Like I said, for the good of the team.”
It sounded even less convincing the second time Erin said it, but Lia took pity on her and let it go. Across the room, Maisie was now perched on Alex’s shoulders and talking to Shanice. “She seems at home here.”
“She is.” Erin’s lips curled into a smile. “She’s been coming here for years—they’ve watched her grow.”
“Does your sister never come to your games?”
“She usually brings Maisie when I’m playing, but with me out injured, I’ve been bringing her instead. Jessica hates football.”
“How?”
“I don’t blame her. She’s younger than me, and she spent most of our childhood being ferried around to training and football matches.
It was just my dad, so she had to come with us.
She spent hours watching me when she would have rather been with her friends or doing her own thing.
I think a part of her must hate that Maisie loves it so much—she thought she’d finally escaped. ”
“Does Maisie’s dad not come?”
“She doesn’t know her dad. Jessica got pregnant when she was eighteen—he wasn’t ready to be a father. When she kept the baby, he bolted. We never heard from him again.”
“Oh.” Lia wasn’t sure what would be worse—having an absent father who pretended you didn’t exist or never knowing your father at all. “That must’ve been hard.”
“It was. But she wouldn’t change it for the world. And I wouldn’t, either.” That was clear to see from the look on Erin’s face whenever she glanced at Maisie. “She’s the best.”
As Maisie raced back over to them, a contagious grin on her face, Lia had to agree.