Wags To Riches (25 page)

“No I’m fine” I say smiling, pushing my wet hair off my face.

“I know that Gail Auden,” Adam says in a low voice, “I’d say you were pretty damn fine actually” and he wraps his arms round me and kisses me passionately.

That’s it.  I’ve died.  I’ve died and gone to heaven.  I know I have

The next night we go to Tim and Gina’s house, which is a huge mock Tudor mansion in the middle of nowhere.  Gina gives me a tour round and Tim shows us his latest addition to the house - a twenty seater home cinema. 

“Wow - it’s got crimson velour flip down seats and everything!” I say. 

“It’s great isn’t it?” Tim says smiling.

“I hope it doesn’t give Adam any more ideas though” I say jokingly, “we’ve only just had a hot tub installed!”

“Oh yes - how is it?” Tim asks.

“Oh it’s great thanks” Adam replies and winks at me out of the sight of Tim and Gina.  I grin back at him as I remember last night.  There’s a lot of fun to be had in a hot tub.

“Oh - I bet it’s lovely!” Gina says.  “Just think Gail – you’ll be able to turn it into a right little spa retreat!”  Just then the doorbell rings.  “That should be Sharon and Tony” Gina says, “Excuse me a minute”.  She hurries off to answer the door and me, Adam and Tim make our way onto the landing. 

“Sorry we’re a bit late!” I can hear Tony say, “Bloody traffic!  It’s murder!”

“Don’t worry about it” Gina says warmly, “Glad you made it.  Oooh - that’s the timer on the oven ringing - I’ll just nip and check it”.

We make our way down the stairs to greet Tony and Sharon.  “Darlings!” Sharon says, kissing us all, “It’s been ages since we saw you!  That’s a nice top Gail” she says, “is it Dior?’ she asks.

“George at Asda actually” I say delighted.

“Wow!” Sharon says, “It looks really nice with your jeans”.

“Thanks” I say.  The top in question is made from deep turquoise satin, with short-sleeves and is slightly off the shoulder.  I really like it and couldn’t believe it when I saw it had been reduced to eight quid as well!

Just then Gina comes back through into the hall. “Dinner’s ready!” she says, “So if you would like to go and sit down.  Tim - can you open some wine please?”

We go through into a sumptuous dining room and Adam pulls out a chair for me to sit down, before sitting down next to me.  Sharon and Tony sit down opposite us.  “Now – I’ve made a huge beef stew” Gina announces as she carries in a huge Le Crueset casserole dish.  “So I hope you are all hungry!”

“Glass of wine Gail?” Tim asks, holding a bottle of wine in his hand.

“Oh yes please” I say.

“I’ll have a glass as well.  You don’t mind driving home do you?” Sharon asks Tony grinning.

“It doesn’t look like I have much choice does it?” Tony says laughing as Sharon takes a gulp of her wine and Tim immediately tops her glass up again.

“Do you want a glass sweetheart?” Tim asks Gina.

“Yes please.  I think I’ve earnt it!” Gina says smiling as she ladles some delicious smelling beef stew onto my plate.

“Would you like some bread?” Tim asks, passing round a basket of rolls and I select a small wholemeal one.

“Oh – not for me thanks” Sharon says.  “I try not to eat carbs after 7pm”. 

Tony rolls his eyes.  “I’ll have hers then” he says and takes two.  I feel a bit guilty for taking a roll, but I’m still going to eat it.  And with butter as well.

“This is really nice!” Adam says as we all tuck into our stew and Gina smiles.

“Oh thank you!” she says.

“Going to be a tough end of season match on Saturday”, Tony remarks between mouthfuls of stew.

“Nah – we’ll be fine” Adam says and takes a sip of water.

“You’re joking aren’t you?  Lillingham are playing that new striker they’ve just bought in and they’ve got Gracy in midfield!” Tony retorts.

Adam shakes his head.  “It’ll be fine” he repeats, “We’re playing at home don’t forget, Pierre is fit again after that ankle injury he had, Richard and Steve are working really well together and to top it all off, there’s you on the right wing and me and Tim up front.  How can we fail?” he says and we all laugh.

“Quite right Adam” Tim says.  “We’ll flatten ‘em!”

“Are you coming Gail?” Sharon asks me and everyone looks at me expectantly.

“Erm” I say as I hastily swallow a mouthful of beef stew, “I’d not really thought about it”.  Why do people always ask me questions when I’ve just taken a huge mouthful of food?

“Oh you must!  Gina and I are going.  You can sit with us!” Sharon says.

“I think Gail is still scarred from the last time she went to see a match” Adam says smiling, his eyes twinkling at me.

“Why?  What happened?” Tim asks.

“Oh nothing really” I say, “It was just really cold and this metal shelter kept rattling behind me in the wind all night.  The meat pies weren’t very nice either” I add and everyone laughs.

“Well it’s a lot better now Gail” Gina says reassuringly.  “Grandmere’s got proper seats and they do salads and everything in the corporate restaurant.  Come on – it’ll be fun!”

“Okay – why not?” I say and Adam beams at me.  It’ll make him happy I suppos
e even if I’m dithering with cold and bored out of my skull. 

After everyone has finished, Gina starts to clear the empty plates away.  As she comes round to take my plate, she leans forward and whispers in my ear “Don’t worry Gail – if it’s boring we can do what me and Sharon normally do - sneak off for some champagne half way through, get pissed and come back near the end”.  She winks at me conspiratorially and I grin back.  Now that’s more like my idea of a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon.

****

We arrive at the ground for the match and I give Adam a great big kiss and wish him lots of luck.  He explained whilst driving down here that if Grandmere win this match today, it will mean they have finished at the highest point in the league table that they have ever been.

“Are you nervous Adam?” I ask.

“No I’m quite looking forward to it!” he replies, giving me a manic grin and I laugh.

“Good luck!” I call as he heads off to get ready for the match and I go to find my seat.  I sit down and look round at the stadium, which is already packed to the rafters and feel absolutely overwhelmed.  The noise is incredible!  “Welcome to the crucial match of the season between Grandmere United and Lillingham Town!” says a voice over the loud speaker and the crowd roars, drowning out the rest of the announcement. 
I’ve
started feeling nervous, so goodness knows what Adam’s feeling now.  I can see the television cameras as well.  Adam mentioned earlier that the match was being televised, adding that the camera will probably pan over the crowd and may focus on me for my reaction if events dictate.  Great.  I know, I just
know
I’ll have this insane desire to pick my nose or something just before the camera starts panning round and the image of me with a finger up my nose will be beamed all round everywhere and – even worse - end up in
Slur!
magazine!  Oh God, I don’t even know why I came.  I didn’t know what to wear today either, so I thought I’d play it safe with jeans, T-shirt, cotton jacket and boots, along with a Grandmere United scarf I got in the shop just now to at least
try
and look like an normal fan.  I think these designer sunglasses that Adam bought me kind of give me away though.  I’m just putting them on my head when I hear my name being called.

“Coo-ey Gail!”  I look to my left and see Sharon and Gina making their way towards me.  Both of them are wearing jeans as well – albeit with heels a lot higher than mine.

“Hello!” I say as they come up to me.

“Hi Gail!” Gina says as she lifts up her sunglasses and peers at me, smiling.  “Sharon said it was you up here – I can’t see a thing through these bloody sunglasses – I’m going to have to take them back”.  She takes them off.  “I’ll just put a different pair on”.  She puts her handbag down on the seat next to Sharon and starts rummaging in it.  “Not those – they don’t look right with this jacket – ooh those ones, they’ll do,” she says, taking another pair of sunglasses out of her bag.  She swishes her hair round and then puts her sunglasses on.

“How many pairs of sunglasses have you got Gina?” I ask.

“Oh I don’t know.  About fifteen I think” she replies, fastening her bag and sitting down.

“I just have the one” I say, taking them off my head and looking at them.

“They’re nice Gail,” Gina says, “I might get some of those.  Let’s see them on”.  I put them on and both Sharon and Gina look at my face appraisingly.  “They look nice” Gina says, “I’m going to get some of them to add to my collection,” she adds as I push them back on top of my head.

“What’s this you’re wearing?” Sharon asks puzzled, reaching out to touch my scarf.

“It’s a Grandmere scarf I got in the shop,” I say.

Sharon bursts out laughing.  “Oh honestly Gail!” she says.  “Quite the little supporter aren’t you?”

“Shut up!” I say smiling, “I like it!”  I wave it in the air for a moment, then remember the TV cameras and stop quickly.

“We’re really glad you could come Gail” Gina says.  “The boys really appreciate our support you know and if it gets boring...”

“Or about twenty minutes after the match has started …” Sharon chips in.

“We’ll go and have a drink,” Gina says.

“They do like it when we come along and support them” Sharon continues, “it’s when we start talking about football they don’t like it – because obviously we don’t know anything!”

“Oh yes, every man is an expert” Gina asserts, “but some are worse know alls than others.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard blokes asserting that they know exactly what my Tim should have done in any given situation and how they do know?” she asks and Sharon nods in agreement.  Suddenly the crowd starts roaring again – the players are coming out on the pitch!

“Ooh look!  There’s Tony!” Sharon coos, waving at him and Gina waves at Tim.  I stand up, just in time to see Adam running out of the tunnel.  My heart leaps as he turns and smiles at me.  I wave madly and grin back.  He is the best-looking player there, definitely.  A huge roar goes up from the crowd and I feel
so
proud.

The game kicks off and my stomach growls loudly.  I’m absolutely starving.  I didn’t get chance to have any breakfast before we set off - having to get up at comedy o’clock
- and now I’m so hungry I can’t think straight.  “I’m just going to get something to eat” I say to Sharon and Gina who look at me rather puzzled as I run up the stairs and follow the directions towards the refreshments.

Luckily, there’s not a queue when I get there – just two old blokes buying meat pies and ordering cups of tea.  A huge roar goes up from the crowd outside, which sounds strangely far away.  Hope I’ve not missed anything important.

“Yes love?” the man behind the counter asks me.

“Erm – can I have a
cup of tea please, no sugar and...” I can’t think what to have to eat.  I turn and see the fat man tucking into a meat pie which looks really nice “what kind of pies have you got?”

The bloke behind the counter looks at the little display cabinet near the oven.  “There’s steak and kidney, minced beef and chicken and mushroom,” he says handing me a polystyrene cup with a plastic lid. 

“I’ll have a minced beef one please, actually make that three please” - best take one for Sharon and Gina, they might want one “and two more cups of tea without sugar please”.

“That’s £6.60 altogether then please love” the man says, passing me three foil trays with thick pastry lids and two more cups of tea.  “Do you want a bag?” he asks.

“Please” I say.  He puts the pies and teas in a bag and after paying and putting my purse away, eventually make my way back to my seat after getting hopelessly lost.  I was having visions of Adam having to send out search parties, and me be heralded as a miraculous survivor by the Daily Mercury after being found by a SAS team and an Alsatian specially trained to sniff out pies and me having survived on a sip of tea and a little piece of pie every day for days on end until they found me.

  “Where have you been?” Gina asks.  “You’ve been gone ages”.

  “Got a bit lost” I say, “Did I miss anything?” I ask as I edge past them both.

  “No, we nearly scored, but not quite” Sharon says, looking at what I’ve bought.  “What have you got there?” she asks.  “You can go into the VIP lounge behind us you know and get some food in there”.  She lifts her sunglasses and looks at the meat pies I’m taking out of the bag.  “You aren’t actually going to eat all those are you?” she asks incredulously.

“No, I bought one for each of you” I say, giving them each a pie.

Gina takes hers, looking aghast.  “I can’t eat that Gail!  Do you know how many steps that is on a stepper?”

“Nope and I don’t care” I say, easing the pie carefully out of its foil tray.

“Well it must be about 3000” Gina continues.

“Oh good” I say as I take a bite.  It’s lovely!  Gina watches me for a second and then sniffs her own meat pie.