CHAPTER 3
By the time Wednesday came around, Joe put his foot down and insisted we were travelling to Lady Macbeth Park together before the match that evening. I tried to make my excuses, but he asserted his dominance and I naturally submitted.
As he pulled the Porsche into the car park, I was relieved to see the media attention had already died down with only a couple of photographers there to snap pictures of us.
Joe made sure we were holding hands and smiling for them, as he led me into the ground.
Willie nodded to us both, but said nothing.
Hilary Duncan noticed us too, but completely ignored us.
I escaped to my office and closed the door, while Joe went to meet the team as the crowd began to arrive.
With 19:45 fast approaching, Joe appeared in my office and demanded I accompany him to the dressing room to see the players.
My heart was pounding as I walked with him, again hand-in-hand, terrified of facing DeShaun for the first time.
Joe opened the door and ushered me in.
The players all cheered.
I felt horrified at being in the very room where I'd been intimate with DeShaun only minutes before my world had imploded days earlier.
He wasn't there.
“Lads, Ms Liu and I wanted to address you all together and say thank you for your support during what's been a hectic few days,” Joe said.
I feigned my smiles more than ever.
The lads broke into an applause.
While the goalkeeper, Joe's nephew Rab, mildly patted one gloved hand on his knee.
“See,” Joe whispered in my ear, “I told you there'd be a new positivity now.”
Kyle walked by me with a face like thunder, almost clashing his shoulder against mine.
I wondered how long it'd take until he let slip to Joe about our little arrangement for him to take over.
East Fife got the better start, taking the lead going into half-time.
The attendance was announced as 689, a lot less than our league matches had been averaging recently, but I reasoned it was a re-arranged fixture and not our usual Saturday 15:00 kick-off. I didn't dare let myself suspect my relationship with Joe might be the real reason.
Lachlan Williamson came off the bench to equalise for Broxburgh with ten minutes to go, rousing a crowd which had already seen some fans start to leave early.
Joe made a second substitution, taking off defender Graeme Crawford and replacing him with the young striker Stephen MacKenzie.
It was a blatant gamble, and one which could easily backfire.
But we needed all 3 points if we were to salvage something from our season, especially after taking only 1 from our last 4 league games.
MacKenzie won a corner in the dying seconds of injury time.
Leo Martin ran out to take it.
Even Rab McDonald surged forward to try to help find the winning goal.
Broxburgh held its breath.
I wondered where DeShaun was.
Martin whipped the ball in.
An East Fife defender met it with his head, knocking it clear of our attackers.
Rab started to run back.
An East Fife player latched onto the ball. He looked up to our goal and saw an open chance for a winner-
He was tackled out of nowhere by MacKenzie, who stayed on his feet, swivelled with the ball and struck it from 45 yards out.
The next few seconds seemed to play out in slow motion as the ball soared through the air, between East Fife players and Broxburgh ones alike, towards the goal and seemingly beyond the fingertips of their goalkeeper at full stretch.
Lady Macbeth Park erupted as MacKenzie's effort found the back of the net.
The referee blew the whistle.
We had our 3 points.
We knew what it meant for the league table too, lifting us from 8th position up to 6th.
Joe celebrated hard, pumping his fist to the fans then walking around the pitch applauding them. He pointed me out too and blew me a kiss.
I was too embarrassed to blow him one back.
Yet I knew I'd be punished for that when we got home that night, and I was.