Final Score (46 page)

‘Dada.’ Rico repeated, squirming in Amber’s arms as he tried to look at her.

‘Do you miss your daddy?’ she asked, stroking his dark hair, his eyes now concentrating on the toy rabbit he was holding.

‘Do you?’

She swung around, her heart almost stopping as she saw Ronnie standing there.

‘Jesus, Ronnie! You were supposed to call me when you landed at the airport. I was going to come and pick you up.’

‘Well, I thought I’d save you the job, seeing as it’s early. You should be careful, though, leaving your door open like that. Anyone could walk in.’

‘Anyone just did,’ she said, a half-smile on her face. ‘And the answer to your question is
no
.’

‘What question’s that?’

She just looked at him, raising an eyebrow. ‘Look who’s come to irritate us, baby. Your Uncle Ronnie.’

‘Give him here. Come on, kiddo. Come give your old uncle a big hug, because I doubt your mum’s got one for me.’

‘You thought right. There you go, little man.’ She handed Rico over and walked back into the house, leaving the huge French doors open to let the air in.

‘We need to talk, Amber,’ Ronnie said, following her inside.

‘Do we?’

‘Why else do you think I’m here?’

‘I don’t know, Ronnie. I don’t know
why
you’re here.’

‘Your mum is so stubborn, she really is,’ Ronnie sighed, smiling at his godson.

Amber ignored that and concentrated on making some fresh coffee.

‘Red Star won their match last night,’ he went on. ‘Ryan scored both goals.’

‘Yes, I know. I can get British TV over here.’

‘You watched the game?’

‘The last half hour.’

‘Any reason why?’

She fixed him with a look, because she knew what he was trying to do. ‘I work for Cloud Sports, Ronnie. It’s my job to watch football.’

‘Not when you’re on holiday.’

‘It’s not really a holiday.’

‘Isn’t it?’

‘I wouldn’t normally take a holiday this close to the end of the football season, would I?’

‘So, what are
you
calling it?’

‘I wanted Rico to meet his Mallorcan relatives. My uncle is very ill. They don’t know how long he has left, and I wanted him to see the baby. They’re very family-orientated here.’

Ronnie just looked at her. ‘They must be really confused with
your
situation, then.’

Amber narrowed her eyes. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Well, you’re not with Rico’s dad – not that I’m aware of, anyway…’

She walked over to him, taking Rico from him. ‘If that’s all you’ve come here to do, Ronnie, I’d rather you left.’

‘Okay, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

‘Are you?’

‘Yes. Jesus, Amber, I just worry about you, that’s all.’

‘We’ve been over this. So many times my brain hurts. I’m with Jim, whether people agree with our relationship or not, I’m staying with Jim.’ She looked at her friend, her voice quiet, almost a whisper. ‘He’s my forever man, Ronnie. My forever man. Deal with it.’

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the counter. ‘Things seem to have settled down with you two over the past few weeks anyway.’

‘Things are fine, thank you. He’s working hard, and he deserves all the praise he’s getting for taking Endleigh from mid-table to possible League champions.’

‘He’s a great manager. Nobody’s denying that.’

Amber threw him another look. ‘We’re going for a walk along the beach. Are you coming with us?’

He smiled at her, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah. Of course I’m coming with you.’

*

Jim leaned back against the huge floor-to-ceiling windows in Max’s office, looking around the vast space in front of him.

‘This is some place you’ve got here, Max. I thought my office at Parkfield was big, but this is something else.’

‘Sometimes I think it’s a little over the top, but…’ Max shrugged, sitting down on the edge of his desk. ‘This is me.’

Jim smiled, looking down briefly, shoving his hands in his pockets. ‘I can’t thank you enough, by the way.’ He looked up at Max, a genuine expression of gratitude on his face. ‘For doing this.’

‘Nothing’s definite yet, Jim. There are still a number of hurdles to get over.’

‘His contract’s up at the end of the season. All you have to do is make sure Newcastle Red Star don’t offer him a new one. Make sure his choices are limited. That’s all we need to do.’

‘For a man who’s been in this game for as long as you have, Jim, you’re coming across as extremely naïve.’

‘I’m desperate, Max.’

‘You’ve seen how Red Star’s season has panned out since you left. They’ve gone from a club to be reckoned with, down to mid-table mediocre. Now, I know that isn’t
just
due to your leaving – but it was the catalyst for all the unrest and uncertainty, wasn’t it? What happened with Ryan…?’

Jim looked down again, scuffing the heel of his shoe on the skirting board in an almost nervous manner. ‘I really am sorry for that, Max.’

‘Yeah,’ Max sighed, clasping his hands together in his lap. ‘I know you are. But it didn’t help, did it? Getting Ryan banned, all the changes Red Star had to make in his absence. And then look what happens the second he comes back to the first team – they’re winning matches again. Convincingly. And I’ve never been a great believer that one player can make a team but where Ryan Fisher’s concerned I’m beginning to think that’s true. In his case. Trying to convince Dave French and the Board of Directors not to renew his contract is going to be a tough job. You know their Chief Executive as well as I do, Jim, and he’s a tough nut to crack in terms of trying to get him to do something he doesn’t agree with. And there’s the other thing we have to contend with – the fact that Ryan can just walk at the end of this season. His contract’s up, he’s under no obligation to anyone, and, quite frankly, if he’s still got his heart set on moving back down south, both you and I know there are clubs desperate to sign him. Whatever he’s done in the past, however unpredictable he may once have been, Ryan Fisher is still one hell of a player, and he could walk straight into any club he chose. He’s that good.’

Jim fixed Max with a look. ‘Then you’ll just have to make sure he chooses the right club, aren’t you?’

‘I can only do so much, Jim. I’ve put the ground work in, put those feelers out and talked to the people who matter, and they want him. They do. They want him. But persuading
him
… Does it really have to be this way?’

‘You care about him, right? I mean, you’ve been with him through so much, and you care about him.’

‘I love the kid, if I’m being honest. He’s like the son I never had. But I also care about Amber…’

‘Let me worry about Amber.’

‘If she finds out what you’re doing…’

‘I said, let me worry about Amber.’

‘
She
still cares about him, too, Jim. And you fighting it like this, isn’t it only going to make things worse? In the long run?’

Jim said nothing for a beat or two, his eyes back down on the floor. ‘You want what’s best for him, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Max sighed, standing up and walking back over to his wall of photographs. ‘Of course I want what’s best for him. But this…’ He turned around, his eyes fixed on Jim, who was still staring down at the floor. ‘This feels wrong. I’m his agent, and I don’t think this is in his best interests.’

Jim’s head shot up, his eyes burning into Max’s. ‘I won’t lose her to him, Max. Not again. Too much has gone on, and I’m not strong enough to go through it all again.’

‘You really need to stop being so paranoid. Amber isn’t going anywhere.’

‘Maybe not. But the longer he’s around, the more chance there is that he can do more damage.’

‘He’s not the one causing the damage here, Jim.’

‘The longer he’s around, the more chance there is of him getting back under her skin. He’s the father of her baby and I can’t compete with that bond.’

Max leaned back against the wall, watching as Jim walked over, his eyes going straight to the photo of Amber.

‘I fell in love with her a long time ago, Max. And all those years I tried to deny those feelings I had for her… all those years I wasted. I can’t do that again.’

‘But you’re skating on such thin ice here, Jim. What you’re trying to do is immoral, and in a way it’s cruel.’

He didn’t move his eyes away from the photograph. ‘And I’m sorry. But this woman here, I can’t risk losing her.’

‘This is crazy. I don’t even know why I agreed to get involved with this.’

This time Jim directed his gaze straight at Max. ‘You know it’s for the best, Max. He won’t stop, because he’s tried… he’s tried…’

Max frowned. ‘He’s tried, what?’

‘She nearly gave in to him.’ Jim’s voice was quiet as his eyes turned back to the photo of Amber. ‘She nearly slept with him, and just thinking of him that close to her again…’

‘When? Jim, when did this happen?’

‘When she spent those few days up in Newcastle a little while ago. And she knew, going back up there – she knew what would happen. And I honestly believe that’s
why
she went back there. Because she knew what would happen.’ He turned and walked back over to the window, looking out at a crowded Covent Garden. ‘And if you let him sign for a London club then it’ll happen again, and again. It’s not that I don’t trust her, Max, it’s just…’ He turned around, leaning back, his hands back in his pockets. ‘I just can’t risk it.’

‘She won’t go back to him, Jim.’

‘Well, then we have the other problem, don’t we?’

‘Other problem?’ Max asked, frowning again.

‘She rejects him, she tells him
no
, but she lets it all happen first, because that’s a possibility. Whether you choose to believe that or not, it’s a possibility. Because he gets to her, Max, and of course she still has feelings for him. He’s the father of her baby. He is never gonna be out of her life, whether I like it or not…’

‘What other problem, Jim?’

‘If he won’t give up on her; if he continues to pursue her in some vain hope that one day she’ll fall completely, who’s to say what might happen? And if he chooses to go down that route he’s chosen before, the route that enables him to push things aside and forget all the shit that’s going on… if he chooses to go back to his old ways when she rejects him, that could destroy him. Really destroy him. And as much as I would once have loved to see that happen, I don’t think he deserves that. He’s a talent. He’s a great player. One of the best of his generation. But if he stays here…’

‘You’re assuming so much, Jim.’

Jim held Max’s gaze. ‘Are you saying you don’t agree with me?’

‘I’m not saying…’ Max sighed, closing his eyes for a second, wondering how the hell he’d got himself into this.

‘Why did you really get involved when I asked you to help me, Max?’

Max opened his eyes and looked at Jim. ‘Because every word you’ve said, in some warped and surreal way – every word you’ve said makes sense.’

‘Then all that’s left for you to do is persuade
him
it makes sense, too.’

*

‘So, when are you going back home?’ Ronnie asked, gently rocking Rico’s pushchair with his foot.

‘In a few days. It’s nice, being here, away from it all for a little while.’

Ronnie raised an eyebrow. ‘Away from it all?’

‘You have an ability to read anything into a perfectly innocent comment, do you know that?’

‘You don’t miss the old man, then? Old being the operative word, too. How old is he now?’

‘I’m not getting into this.’

‘Fifty years old, and he doesn’t look a day over forty… he’s such a lucky fucking bastard.’

Amber ignored him, her eyes going to Rico instead, but he was asleep now, shaded from the sunshine, his arms wrapped around his tiny toy rabbit.

‘We’re thinking of having a big party sometime over the summer. Maybe around my birthday. We never had any kind of wedding celebration after we got back from Vegas, and my dad wants to do something.’

‘A wedding reception, huh?’

‘If that’s what you want to call it. Jim and I are even talking about renewing our vows in church, back up in Newcastle. I think my dad really wants to do the traditional thing, you know? The whole giving-me-away thing, the father-of-the-bride speech, you know how it is.’

‘Well, to be fair to Freddie, you have kind of taken all that away from him, haven’t you? Twice.’

‘And he can have it all if we decide to go ahead with the service and the reception.’

‘What’s stopping you?’

‘Nothing.’

‘You sure?’

‘You’re doing it again.’

‘What?’

‘Reading something into a perfectly innocent comment.’

‘Well, it’s just that, if you really love Jim as much as you say you do, why even hesitate at the chance to marry him all over again? I would have thought you’d have been on it so fast you wouldn’t stop to take a breath.’

‘There’s a lot going on right now, that’s all.’

‘Like what? He’s only got to win one more game and he’s won another League title, and, let’s face it, the bookies have stopped taking bets on Endleigh United becoming champions because it’s almost a forgone conclusion. And, I’m guessing here, but I suspect Jim would quite like to get you back up that aisle before the champagne’s gone flat from the league-winning celebrations, just to make sure you don’t wander off anywhere again. So, that just leaves you, Amber. What’s your reason for stalling, huh?’

‘You know, I’m really tired of this, Ronnie.’

He leaned forward, folding his arms on the table in front of him. ‘Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t still feel something for Ryan.’

‘Of course I still feel something for him. He’s Rico’s daddy…’

‘Forget all that daddy crap. I’m not talking about the feelings you have for him as that baby’s father. That goes without saying. I’m talking about the feelings you still have for him as a man you once had a relationship with.’

‘Past tense. You’ve just used it. I once
had
a relationship with him. It’s over now.’

‘Really?’ He raised a questioning eyebrow, and Amber looked down, watching her fingers as they fiddled with her wedding ring.