Extra Time (60 page)

‘I’m just concentrating, Ronnie. If I miss this turn off I’ve got to drive miles before I get a chance to double back. Roundabouts aren’t as frequently placed here as they are back home.’

‘How did Ryan take the news of impending fatherhood, then?’

‘You really want to have this conversation now?’ she asked as she finally turned off onto the TF1 motorway to begin the short journey towards Costa Adeje. ‘I’m driving.’

‘And when did you suddenly lose the ability to multitask? Surely pregnancy hasn’t turned your brain to mush already.’

‘Ronnie, please…’

‘Okay, okay …  You had dinner yet?’

She shook her head. ‘Not yet, no. Can’t say that eating is high on my list of important things to do at the minute.’

‘You’re eating for two now, missy, remember?’

‘That’s such a fallacy.’

‘Yeah, well, keeping yourself healthy isn’t. So let’s go eat.’

‘Who died and made you my dad?’

‘Talking of your dad…’

Amber sighed heavily, throwing Ronnie a quick sideways look.

‘He’s worried about you. He hasn’t heard from you in days, every time he sees you, you look miserable…’

‘He knows I’m busy. And he knows I’m… he knows I’m missing Jim.’ She swallowed hard, trying not to let the mention of her estranged husband’s name get to her, but it was something she still had to work at.

‘He should know you’re carrying his grandchild.’

‘Jesus Christ…’

‘All right, okay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

‘But you’re not, though, are you? And I really hope you haven’t come all the way here just to nag me into the ground.’

‘As if.’

She couldn’t help smiling. ‘I really hate you sometimes.’

‘The feeling’s mutual,’ he grinned, and she laughed, suddenly feeling incredibly happy that her best friend was here. Because she needed him.

‘Okay, you win. Let’s go eat.’

Jim flicked through the pages of the paper, his head resting in his hand as he looked at the pictures of Amber over in Tenerife. She was walking along the seafront with Max, who Jim was well aware had gone out there because Ryan was doing a photo shoot with one of his sponsors. He was also aware that Amber had taken a bit of time off from Cloud Sports, which bothered him. She didn’t take time off, not just like that. Not Amber. He knew her too well, knew that she didn’t like to let people down, but he should have known something was wrong when she’d suddenly pulled out of hosting
Scoreline
the evening he’d been interviewed. He should have known.

‘Well, that’s the dishwasher loaded.’ Brandon smiled, coming back into the dining room from the kitchen, a tea towel slung over one shoulder, a bottle of beer in his hand. ‘Thanks for dinner, Dad. It was good to spend some time with you.’

Jim sat back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose. ‘Yeah, it was.’ He smiled at his son. ‘We need to do it more often.’

‘Dad…’

Jim looked back at the paper, once again staring down at that picture of Amber in a black bikini, a short sarong tied low around her hips, that beautiful dark red hair of hers piled messily up on top of her head so that loose strands fell over her bare, tanned shoulders. And he was divorcing her. Why? Only he knew the answer to that one. Nobody else needed to know. And, as painful as it was, it was the way it had to be.

‘What?’ Jim asked, not looking up. Not wanting to, because he really wasn’t in the mood for any kind of deep conversation.

‘When you were… when you were my age everyone said you had a bit of a reputation. Some even say you clash with Ryan Fisher so much because you’re actually quite similar. Or you were. Once upon a time.’

Jim looked up, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at his son. ‘A lot of my life at that age is a bit of a blur.’

‘So there
are
comparisons between you and him, then?’ Brandon smirked, but that smirk was soon wiped from his face when he saw his father’s expression change.

‘There are no similarities between myself and Ryan Fisher, Brandon. None.’

‘Okay, but you must have had lots of girlfriends. Everyone says you were a real hit with the women, you were good-looking and…’

Jim looked up from the paper again, pushing his reading glasses up onto his head. ‘Do we have to talk about this?’

‘I’m just curious.’ Brandon shrugged, taking a long drink of beer. ‘Curious to know what your life was like before me. Before Amber.’

Jim said nothing for a second or two, sitting back and rubbing the bridge of his nose again. He could feel another headache starting to form. This was something he really didn’t want to get into with Brandon. With anyone.

‘Before Amber… before Amber there was nothing, okay?’

Brandon frowned. ‘Nothing? Come on, Dad. You must have had other girlfriends before you met Amber. You were twenty-seven when it all started with her, so… there must have been others before that.’

Jim looked down again, pushing his reading glasses back down over his eyes. ‘Nobody that meant anything. Now, can we leave this alone, please?’

‘Do you miss her?’

Jim took off his glasses, throwing them down on the arm of his chair. ‘What the hell
is
this, Brandon?’

‘I just don’t understand why you’re divorcing her. I can’t get my head around it. She still loves you, because she told me so, she said those words. And you quite obviously still feel something for her, otherwise you wouldn’t get so worked up over all of this.’

‘The only reason I’m getting worked up over anything, Brandon, is because you’re pushing a subject I really don’t want to talk about. And shouldn’t you be getting home? It’s late.’

‘Thought I’d stay the night, if that’s okay.’

‘I don’t need looking after, thank you.’

‘I didn’t say that was the reason I was staying, did I? If anyone doesn’t need looking after it’s you. You seem to like being on your own, the way you push people who love you away.’

‘I really don’t need this, Brandon, and if you
are
going to stay then quit with the questions, okay? And any conversation concerning Amber is over now. Do you hear me?’

‘So why are you staring at pictures of her in the paper?’

‘I’m not…’

‘You are. I know what you’re doing, I can see. She’s over there, and it’s killing you to know why.’

Jim closed the paper, standing up and throwing it aside. ‘I’m going up to bed.’

‘You might just have pushed them together again, that’s what’s bothering you, isn’t it?’

‘I’ve told you, Brandon. I’m not talking about this.’

‘But you still love her. You’re still
in
love with her, aren’t you?’

Jim remained silent.

‘Aren’t you, Dad?’

‘Yes, okay. Yes. Is that what you want to hear? Yes, I’m still in love with her.’

‘So why the fuck are you divorcing her?’

‘Jesus Christ… what is the matter with you?’

‘Why, Dad?’

‘Because I have to, Brandon. I have to. And don’t… please don’t make me talk about this anymore. Please. This conversation – it’s over. You got that? It’s over.’

‘So, what are you going to do now?’ Ronnie asked, watching Amber as she lay down on the sun lounger next to him, the black bikini she was wearing leaving little to the imagination. It was hard to believe she was pregnant to look at her.

‘That question is really starting to give me a headache, Ronnie.’ She propped herself up on her elbows, sliding her sunglasses up onto her head. ‘Honest answer? I don’t know. In a perfect world I’d like to think that Jim would try and forgive what’s happened and tell me we can try and work something out, but…’

‘Hang on. Why is Jim the only one forgiving here? Have you forgotten what he’s done to you?’

‘Keeping a few secrets isn’t quite the same as sleeping with one of his players behind his back and getting pregnant, is it?’

‘Keeping a few…? I don’t believe you. You’re talking like some lovesick teenager, have you heard yourself? He’s no saint, Amber. And the sooner you wise up to that the better off you’re going to be.’

‘He’s my husband, Ronnie.’

‘And he’s told you he wants a divorce. He wants to end the marriage, Amber. Have you got that yet?’

‘Because I betrayed him.’ Amber’s voice was quiet as she stared out ahead of her at the stunning view of blue sea and cloudless sky, the palm trees swaying gently in the wonderfully warm yet cooling breeze.

‘You betrayed him,’ Ronnie repeated. ‘And he’s never done that to you before, huh?’

She turned her head sharply to look at her friend. ‘Once upon a time, yes, okay. He did. But since he… since he came back… Look, what do you want me to do, Ronnie? Forget Jim, just like that, and let Ryan back into my life just because he’s the baby’s dad?’

‘I didn’t say that, did I? And I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do, but I
am
going to try and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes twice.’

‘I think we’re over making mistakes, Ronnie. Don’t you?’

Ronnie sat forward, looking straight at her. His beautiful best friend. He’d do anything to make sure she was happy. Anything. But what he didn’t want was for her to repeat the past. He wanted her to move forwards, not backwards. Repeating the past wasn’t going to solve anything. ‘When are you going to tell Jim about the baby?’

She pushed her sunglasses down over her eyes, lying back on her lounger. ‘As soon as I get home. He needs to know before it becomes obvious. Before the press get hold of it.’

‘And you think it was wise coming out here? With the possibility of being seen with Ryan? You know how the papers love to put two and two together where you two are concerned. You’re probably giving them all the ammunition they need right now.’

‘They can think what they like, Ronnie, because I’m still living in a time when they weren’t on my back 24/7. I didn’t invite them to stalk my every move.’

‘Then you should be more careful who you hang out with, shouldn’t you?’

She lifted up her sunglasses and threw him a warning look. ‘I had to come here. It wasn’t fair to tell Ryan something like this over the phone. The least I could do was tell him in person.’

‘Speak of the devil…’ Ronnie sighed, hanging his head, knowing this conversation was finished now. But it was far from over.

Amber sat up, removing her sunglasses as she watched Ryan stride through the pool area of her hotel, handsome, hot and sexy as hell in three-quarter-length cargo pants and a black t-shirt, his dark hair all ruffled and messed up by the breeze. He had a wide smile on his face, and he looked happy. Happier than Amber had seen him look in a long time. She didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not. She couldn’t ignore the little flutter inside her, though. As much as she wanted to.

‘Hey, beautiful.’ He grinned, sitting down on the edge of her lounger. ‘You okay this morning?’

‘I’m fine,’ she replied, not missing the look Ronnie gave her. ‘Good win for Adeje the other night, by the way. And a couple of great goals from you.’

‘Yeah. It wasn’t a bad game. Did you watch it?’

‘We saw it on TV in a bar down on the seafront, didn’t we, Ronnie?’

Ronnie just looked at her, saying nothing.

‘I’m impressed,’ Amber went on, knowing full well she was only talking about football to avoid having to talk about anything else. ‘You’ve slotted into the team really well.’

She threw Ronnie a look as he let out a snort of derision that Ryan must have heard.

‘You all right, Ronnie?’ Ryan asked, not managing to hide the fact he wasn’t entirely happy to see Amber’s close friend here on the island. He was all too aware that
she
probably needed him right now, but Ryan could well do without his presence.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. How are
you
feeling? After hearing Amber’s news, I mean?’

Ryan let out a small laugh, looking down at his hands clasped between his knees. ‘I’m good, thanks.’ He looked back up, still speaking to Ronnie, but directing his gaze at Amber. ‘It was a shock, I can’t lie, but…’ He smiled, and Amber couldn’t help but smile back. Why was that smile of his so infectious? Was it something to do with the sun? With the change in atmosphere a different setting could create? ‘Yeah. I’m excited. It’s like I’ve been given that new start I’ve been looking for.’

‘Jesus Christ…’ Ronnie sighed, pushing a hand through his hair as he stood up, leaning over to kiss Amber quickly on the mouth. ‘You take care, all right? And remember what I said. About being seen with him.’ He cocked his head in Ryan’s direction, without looking at him. ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘Yeah. Later,’ Amber said quietly, watching Ronnie walk back across the pool area towards the hotel.

‘What’s he mean? About being seen with me? What’s he talking about?’

Amber sat up, twisting her hair into a loose knot and pinning it up on top of her head. ‘He thinks that if I’m seen here with you it’s only going to cause more tabloid gossip back home.’

‘Okay. Well, it doesn’t have to, does it?’

She looked at him, arching a sceptical eyebrow. ‘You know, for someone who’s a veteran of the gossip columns you can still be incredibly naive sometimes. Me and Jim split up, and then all of a sudden I’m spotted hanging around with you – and you don’t think people are going to start talking? You don’t think rumours are going to start flying around?’

‘So why did you come here, then? If you knew that’s what was going to happen?’

‘To tell you about the baby… Jesus, Ryan, come on. Would you rather I’d sent you an email? A text? Stuck a message on Facebook? I wanted to tell you in person, that’s all. It’s the least you deserve.’

‘And what if those rumours were true?’

She looked at him, pausing for a second before saying anything else. ‘But they’re not, are they?’

He looked down at his clasped hands again, and for a brief second Amber saw a glimpse of the ordinary young man he could be – underneath that famous footballer façade was the man she wanted to have as a dad to this baby, if that was the only choice she had. And it was. She could lie there, night after night, crying herself to sleep, wishing this baby was Jim’s, but nothing could change the fact it wasn’t. And she had to begin accepting that.