Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (51 page)

“I’ll see what I can do
.
” Paul replied.

“Do you see those three gentlemen in suits over on the other teams
stand?” Coach asked, Paul nodded
.
“They are here
to see some of the Epsom players but they have expressed an interest in Gavin,
this game could be his step into the big time
.
”

“Who are they scouting for?” Paul asked.

“Harlequins
.
” Coach replied
and saw Paul smile.

“Does Gavin know?”

“No, I’ll tell him after the game, I don’t want it affecting his
performance
.
”

“Good idea
.
” Paul ag
reed
.
“He has my full
support in whatever he decides to do
,
” he told the Coach.

“Excellent
.
” Coach beamed
.
“Time to get the game started. It was
very nice to meet you at last
.
”

It proved to be a tough game. The Epsom team were huge, far outstripping
the Ki
ngston team in size alone
,
but what they lacked in size they more
than made up for in speed and technique. Novak was screaming himself hoarse all
through the first half of the game.

During the second half, Gavin was on the receiving end of a particularly
h
ard tackle which resulted in him ending up flat on
his back.

“Get up
,
” Novak
whispered, his eyes not leaving the prone body of his friend.

“He’s not moving
,
” Angel said
getting to her feet, Paul was also standing and Novak followed suit. Gavin
seemed to
lie still for eternity.

“Get up, get up, get up
.
” Novak was
saying over and over.

Slowly, Gavin moved his arms, then raised his legs, grinning at Coach
Byrne looming over him.

“Are you alright?” Coach asked.

“Yeah, just winded
.
” Gavin gingerly
sat up.

“Can
you continue?”
Asked the ref.

“Yep
.
” Gavin said
grabbing the Coach’s hand and coming to his feet.

“Give ‘em hell Gav
.
” Novak shouted.

The game was a close run thing
,
with Kingston winning by the smallest of margins, the ecstatic players
running around the
field, congratulating each other
,
then soberly shaking the hands of the
rival team
.
Gavin and the
Epsom team captain swapped shirts just as he made his way over to the stands
and almost getting flattened by Novak.

“God, I wish I was out there with you
.
”
the big man
hugged him.

“We certainly could have done with your size alone
.
” Gavin replied, prising himself out of
Novak’s grasp and stepping into Angel’s arms.

“You were fantastic
,
” she breathed,
pressing her lips to his.

“I hope you say that later
,
” he l
aughed then handed her the defeated captain’s shirt, also
something expected of the winning Captain
.
“Dad
,
” he grasped his fathers’ hand and was
pulled up into the stands and into a very rare hug from the older man.

“Good game
,
” Paul smiled
.
“You played ex
ceptionally
well
.
”

“Thanks
.
” Gavin replied.

Coach Byrne approached the stands
,
“Gavin, get showered, we have the presentation to get through before you
can really start celebrating
.
”

Gavin rolled his eyes and jumped down out of the stands, he accompanied t
he coach through to the changing rooms amidst loud cheers
from his team.

Stepping out of the shower, Gavin noticed he was the last player in the
changing room; he had the entire place to himself. He took his time dressing
and had just buckled the belt on h
is jeans and
reached for his t-shirt when Paul, Coach Byrne and three men in suits
approached him. Paul noticed his son’s wary look at the new comers, he had
always been wary of strangers as a child, something that remained with him to
this day. Gavin stol
e a glance at his father, men in
suits usually meant he was in some kind of trouble but Paul nodded
encouragement at him so whatever this was, it wasn’t going to be unpleasant.

“Gavin, these gentlemen would like a few words
.
” Coach Byrne stepped aside.

“We
were very impressed with the way you played
today
.
” Suit number
one told him.

“Thanks
.
” Gavin replied.

“We are scouting for Harlequins and think you may fit the bill once you
have finished college
,
” Suit one
continued.

“We’ve studied your transcripts and
your match
results from your Gloucester county matches, we are most impressed
.
” Suit two spoke
.
“Coach Byrne was right when he said you
need to be bigger though, get yourself into better shape throughout the summer
and we’ll come and see you play again in
the new
season. Just so you know, I have heard on the grapevine that Surrey is going to
ask you to play for them next season, they would have asked you this season but
when you moved away from Gloucester you disappeared from the radar for a while,
what hap
pened?”

“My Mum passed away, I moved down here to live with Dad and I missed a
lot of school, I wasn’t in a fit mental state to make a clear decision let
alone play a decent game of rugby
,
” Gavin
answered.

“I’m sorry to hear that. How are you now?” Suit th
ree.

“I’m getting there, functioning, there are good days and bad days, the
good days are pretty consistent the bad ones few and far between.”

“That’s good to know
,
” suit three
said
.
“We’ll leave you to get dressed and see
you at the presentation
.
”

“Can I
just say something?” Gavin asked, all
three men turned to look at him
.
“This was my first time as Captain for this team, I didn’t really have
anything to do with them being in the position they were in, that was all down
to Coach Byrne and the previous Cap
tain
,
” he finished, he saw Paul drop his head
to hide a smile.

“That’s very generous of you
,
” Suit one
commented
.
“But your
transcripts speak for themselves. Had you been Captain of this team sooner the
likelihood would have been that they wouldn’t be in t
he
position to have to defend their title
.
W
ith you at the helm they would have had accumulated
enough
points that the County Championships
would have been handed to you without question.”

“I agree
,
” Coach Byrne
was nodding vigorously as the suited men tu
rned to
leave.

“You must be a very proud parent
,
” Suit one said as he passed Paul.

“I am
.
” Paul replied
but he was looking at his son
.
“Very proud
,
” he said to Gavin.

Smiling as he pulled on his t-shirt and grabbed his bag, Gavin stepped
closer to Paul
.
“We’re going to
be ok Dad, you and I, we just both have to work at it
.
”

“I sometimes think you are the adult and I’m the teenager
.
” Paul commented.

During this time, Angel had exchanged a few cross words with Julian when
he had protested at her insistence
to stay with Gavin
that night.

“Paul’s going to get fed up with this arrangement pretty soon
.
” Julian told her.

“Paul is fine with it as long as we stay in Gavin’s room
,
” she huffed
.
“I’m nearly twenty years old Dad, I can
make up my own mind if I’m stayi
ng with my boyfriend
or coming home
.
”

“That’s another thing, Gavin is two years younger than you, he is going
to outgrow you and while he may not intentionally hurt you, someone his own age
is going to come along and catch his eye and he’ll leave you in
the lurch
.
”

“He isn’t like that,
he’s far more sensitive than anyone
gives him credit for.” Angel folded her arms across her chest
.
“You like him Dad, I don’t know why you
are trying to split us up
.
”

“I do like him
,
” Julian sighed
.
“But no matter how old y
ou get, you will still be my baby girl, I don’t want to see
you get hurt
.
”

“I’m not going to get hurt, not anytime soon anyhow and if I do, then
that’s my look out, not yours
.
”

“I suppose you are right. I just don’t like to think that he’s
mistreating you
or disrespecting you in any way
.
”

“He treats me like a queen Dad and it’s clear to anyone that he respects
me, you are just being over protective. I’m going away to art school soon, he’s
struggling with that and I want to spend as much time with him as I c
an before I go, can
’
t you understand that?”

“Yes, I do understand
,
” Julian kissed
his daughter
.
“Tell him he
played well for me and I’ll see you after college tomorrow
.
”