Extra Time (46 page)

‘We make a right pair, don’t we?’ she sighed, sitting back against the wall of the booth they were sitting in at the bar in the Cloud Sports complex. They’d just finished presenting an episode of
Scoreline
together and were taking the opportunity to wind down after another long day. ‘Both of our marriages, over within months.’ She looked at her best friend, who was staring down into his drink, fiddling with the stem of his wine glass. ‘But you weren’t to blame for the way yours ended, were you? I was.’

Ronnie looked up at her, reaching out to take her hand. ‘Hey, come on.’ He sat forward, clasping both his hands around hers, smiling a smile that was designed to try and get her to smile back. ‘Look, why don’t you take a trip back up north? Talk to Jim. If that’s what you really want.’

‘Do you think I should?’

‘You know my feelings on Jim Allen, kiddo, but please don’t let that cloud your judgement. You’ve got to do what
you
want to do, not what you think anyone else
wants
you to do. If that makes any sense.’

‘There’s no point,’ Amber sighed. ‘I mean, he hasn’t contacted me in all that time, has he? Two weeks, and he hasn’t called, hasn’t texted… he hasn’t even emailed me. Nothing. Surely I’ve got to take something from that, haven’t I?’

‘You’re giving up, then? Just like that?’

‘Maybe he’s right, Ronnie.’

‘About what?’

‘About us being together, how it wasn’t good for us. We got carried away, getting married as quickly as we did. We let our hearts rule our heads, and we didn’t even stop to think about the reality of it all. He’d only just walked back into my life and I was confused and overwhelmed, but I knew from the second I saw him again, I knew I was still so in love with him… or in love with the memory of him. Because sometimes – sometimes I wasn’t sure if I really knew him at all. Maybe it was the younger Jim I was still in love with, not the one who came back to me sixteen years later… Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know, Ronnie.’

He squeezed her hand, bringing it up to his mouth and kissing it gently, his eyes meeting hers. ‘You know, maybe we really should have listened to your dad when he said we would have made the perfect couple.’

She couldn’t help smiling at him, so glad he was there. So glad he could be with her to keep her sane and stop her from wallowing in that self-pity she knew she would have quite happily sunk into if she’d been left alone, despite what she’d just said before. ‘Yeah. Maybe.’

Their eyes stayed locked together for a few seconds longer, a loaded silence hanging in the air, a silence that Ronnie was about to break when they were interrupted by a rise in the noise level near the entrance to the bar. And the moment was broken.

‘What’s going on over there?’ Amber asked, pulling her hand away from Ronnie’s, standing up to get a better view.

‘Dunno,’ Ronnie muttered, sitting back and topping up his own wine, finishing his drink in one mouthful before grabbing the empty bottle from the middle of the table. ‘I’ll go get us a refill. Something tells me we’re gonna need it.’

Amber sat back down and frowned as she watched him walk over to the bar, forgetting all about the sudden activity over by the entrance.

‘You on your own?’

She looked up sharply at the sound of that familiar voice, her heart involuntarily jumping slightly. He was the last person she’d expected to see, but there he stood, all cocky and handsome in scruffy jeans that probably cost more than she earned in a week, his dark hair falling over his eyes. He’d let it grow a bit longer recently, and the beard he’d once had was now just heavy stubble. He looked hot, sexy – everything she wished he didn’t. ‘You’ve had a shave I see.’

He grinned, sliding into the seat Ronnie had just vacated.

‘And no, I’m not on my own,’ Amber went on, just a tiny bit irritated by his sudden appearance. ‘Ronnie’s getting the drinks in over at the bar.’

‘Yeah, I know. He’s getting me one, too.’

‘Aren’t you supposed to be on a plane heading towards the Canary Islands?’

‘Not leaving until tomorrow morning. First thing. We’re flying from Gatwick instead of Newcastle. Me and Max had a few things to sort out down here first. But, all being well, by tomorrow afternoon I should be settled in a bar somewhere sipping on a cold lager and thinking how great it is to have left the British weather behind.’

She looked at him, hoping he was joking.

‘Jesus, Amber, come on. I’m kidding. As soon as I land I’m heading straight to CD Adeje’s ground for a follow-up medical and a proper look around the place. Then I’ve got to move into the villa the club have sorted out for me somewhere in La Caleta… Haven’t got a clue where that is…’

‘It’s a small fishing village just a short walk away from Costa Adeje. Jim and I visited it when we were over in Tenerife pre-season.’

Ryan didn’t miss the way her expression changed the second she’d mentioned Jim’s name. ‘You okay?’

‘Not really.’ She looked up at him, those dark, almost navy-blue eyes of his looking straight into hers. ‘My marriage is over, I can’t face going back up north because I can’t deal with the memories, and you’re sitting here in front of me for a reason I’ve yet to fathom.’

He sat back, looking over at Ronnie as he approached the table. Ronnie looked from Amber to Ryan, his expression carrying more than a hint of warning. Aimed at both of them.

‘I’ll be fine.’ She smiled at Ronnie, answering his silent question, taking the bottle of wine he held out for her. ‘I promise.’

He paused for a second, hoping she’d change her mind and tell Ryan to leave. But she didn’t. So he did the only thing he could do, and conceded defeat. ‘Well, I’ll only be over there, if you need me. And if you don’t, I’ll see you in a bit, okay?’

She nodded, still smiling. ‘Okay.’ Amber waited until Ronnie had gone back over to the bar – but not without throwing Ryan a look first – before she turned her attention back to her surprise visitor. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again before you left.’

‘Was that a conscious decision?’

‘Don’t start, Ryan. I’m really not in the mood.’ She so badly wanted to ask him how Jim was, but something inside her was far too stubborn to let the question out. And show Ryan how vulnerable and upset she still was? Yeah. That’d be a great idea.

He sat forward, clasping his hands together on the table in front of him. ‘I couldn’t leave, Amber. Not without seeing you first.’

‘I thought we’d already said our goodbyes.’

‘Then call me greedy, because I want the chance to say another one. Although, if I’m gonna be totally honest about why I’m here, I don’t really want to say goodbye at all.’

Amber looked at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. ‘Like I said, Ryan. I’m really not in the mood for games so just get to the point, okay?’

‘Come with me. To Tenerife.’

She couldn’t break the stare as she tried to digest what he’d just said. ‘What the hell are you talking about? Are you out of your fucking mind? Have you forgotten why you’re out on loan in the first place?’

Ryan shrugged, sitting back and making himself comfortable. ‘Things have changed.’

‘Things have… I don’t believe you… Is this just some kind of game to you?’

‘Your marriage is, by all accounts, finished, Amber. And the world and its mother seems to think that’s because of me and you anyway, so why not just go with it?’

Amber was still staring at him, almost speechless. Almost. ‘Why not…? I’m not hearing this. You really do have to be taking the piss… Get out of here, Ryan. Go back to your hotel, get a good night’s sleep, then get on that plane tomorrow and start that new life. Okay? Get your head together, get it sorted, and come back a grown-up.’

She took one last gulp of wine as she stood up, grabbing her bag from the banquette beside her.

‘I’m serious, Amber.’

She looked at him again, still unable to get her head around the fact he’d had the nerve to come here and do this to her.

‘Two weeks, Ryan. It’s been two weeks since my husband told me he wanted a divorce and I’ve had to go through it all with the eyes of the media on me constantly. And as well as that, I’ve had to put up with rumours that my marriage broke up because me and you were having some kind of affair, which couldn’t be further from the truth…’

‘I still love you, Amber.’ He stood up, too, reaching for her hand, but she pulled it away, shaking her head as she quickly made her way out of the bar, pushing past the growing crowd of people in there, almost running across the car park.

‘Amber, wait!’

She really wanted to jump into her car and drive off, away from this ridiculous situation, but something – some feeling she hadn’t encouraged and didn’t welcome – was causing her to stay rooted to the spot.

‘We need to talk.’

‘Do you know how sick I am of hearing people say that to me lately, Ryan?’

‘I still love you.’

‘Which is why you’re going away.’

‘And I want you to come with me.’

‘Which then renders this whole loan period a pointless waste of bloody time! Don’t you get it, Ryan? Are you listening to yourself?’

‘Amber, it’s over. You and Jim, it’s over. And I’m still here.
I’m
still in love with you, still waiting for you to come back…’

She shook her head again, blinking back tears that she was so angry had appeared in the first place. She was trying to be strong again, trying to work out in her own mixed-up, messed-up head how she was going to get through these next few months, and the one thing she’d been more than relieved about was the fact Ryan would be far away. He wouldn’t be around to confuse her or make her think she wanted something she really, really didn’t. And yet he was here, doing exactly that, saying things she really didn’t want to hear.

‘You have no right, Ryan… no right to come here and do this. It isn’t fair.’

‘Okay…’ He pushed a hand through his hair, looking away for a second. ‘Okay. Maybe I’ve played this completely the wrong way…’

‘You think?’ Amber asked, raising a sarcastic eyebrow.

‘Maybe I’ve played it all wrong. There’s no way you’re just going to up and leave everything you’ve got here to be with me in a different country, I see that.’

‘Oh,
now
he’s finally talking some sense.’

‘It’s a mess, right?’

‘Understatement, Ryan.’

‘But maybe, at the same time, it’s fate guiding us in the direction we should have been going all along.’

She frowned as she stared at him, still feeling as if she was in the middle of some surreal dream. ‘And now you’ve stopped. Talking sense, I mean. Fate doesn’t come into this, Ryan. Not anymore.’

‘You used to believe in it.’

‘I used to believe in a lot of things.’

‘Do you blame me?’

She looked at him, right into those dark blue eyes, just staring at him for what felt like ages but was really only a few seconds. ‘Blame you for what?’

‘For your marriage breaking up. I mean, it all happened just after me and you…’

‘Go back to the hotel, Ryan.’ She turned away from him, opening the driver’s side door, but he quickly grabbed her arm before she had a chance to climb into the car.

‘Come with me, Amber. Please.’

She swung round to look at him, laughing slightly. ‘You
are
joking, aren’t you?’

‘He’s left you, your marriage is over, what’s stopping you…’

‘No, Ryan.’ She shook her head, wishing he hadn’t turned up here. Wishing a lot of things.

He carefully pulled the car keys from her grip, sliding them into his pocket, which was met with another incredulous look from Amber.

‘What are you doing?’

‘You’ve been drinking, Amber. Remember? And I suspect, even though we may just be talking slightly here, that you’re over the limit. So I can’t really be seen to condone you getting behind the wheel of that car now, can I?’

‘Saint Ryan. How ironic is that, huh?’

He just smiled, his hand still gripping her wrist. ‘The last thing you need is any more headlines.’

‘Yeah. Thanks for your concern.’

‘We’ll get a cab, okay?’

‘Okay… Hang on. What’s with the
we
?
We
aren’t doing anything.
I’ll
call for a cab, thanks. Go on. You can go now. Just give me my keys back first.’

He let go of her, shaking his head, smiling as he shoved his hands in his pockets, along with her keys. ‘You’re not getting those back until the cab gets here and you’re safely in it. With or without me.’

‘Without. Definitely without. And you really are quite irritating, do you know that?’

He was still smirking, leaning back beside her against her car. ‘Well, from one irritating person to another, I’ll take that insult with a pinch of salt.’

She just looked at him before turning away, scrolling down the contact list on her phone to find the cab firm Cloud Sports used. Just a few more minutes and she’d be safely on her way home to her little house – her quiet, empty, little house…

‘Is this really what you want, Dad?’

Jim looked up, placing his fork down on his half-eaten plate of food. ‘It’s what I’ve got to do, Brandon.’

‘Why? You see, I don’t get it. I don’t get why… If you love her so much, why do you need to do this? I mean, a divorce? I know what she did was wrong, but you were no saint either. By your own admission.’

‘I didn’t sleep with anyone else while we were together.’

Brandon looked at his dad from across the table. ‘Not this time around, maybe, no.’

Jim held his son’s gaze for a minute before turning his attention to the glass of whisky by his side.

‘You kept secrets from her, Dad. Big secrets. Things you probably should have told her about and…’

‘Are you saying I drove her to sleep with Ryan Fisher?’

‘No. Of course I’m not saying that. What I’m trying to say is…’

Jim scraped his chair back and got up from the table, throwing his napkin down beside his unfinished food. ‘It was a mess, Brandon. From the start it was a mess and we should never have tried to go back there. Too much had happened already, too many things had been said that couldn’t be taken back. We were naive to think we could make a marriage work.’