"Sam's down in every stat since Nigeria." Beard told Bailey and Ted that evening over dinner. The three of them were sat together at the Crown and Anchor, a pub located near both Ted and Beard's places. The two coaches were meeting up to discuss how they thought their first official day had gone over and maybe start a strategy for the rest of the season. Bailey was mostly there to take notes and keep them on track.
"Maybe the premiership is too much for him?" Beard suggested.
"No," Ted shook his head, "He just needs to get a little more comfy here. That's all."
"He turns twenty on Saturday." Beard said.
"Well there ya go! We'll get everybody together and do something special for him." Ted was enthusiastic about the idea. "Bailey, you think that's something you could help us out with?"
"I can get started on it tomorrow." She offered.
"Great." Ted nodded. "Now the main event." Ted pulled out the suggestion box Bailey had made. At first glance it appeared the fellas had taken the suggestion box to heart. There were several slips of paper inside when he cracked open the lid. After about the third slip with just the word "wanker" written on it, Ted began to have his doubts. He was careful not to let Bailey or Beard see that though, reaching into the box as optimist as possible each time.
"Here's something!" He remarked at last. "Shower pressure is rubbish."
"We can do something about that." Beard agreed. Ted handed that slip over to Beard before inspecting the remainder of the suggestions. They were mostly all insults, but this didn't deter Ted.
After one more round of drinks he suggested everyone call it quits for the night. Bailey and Ted bid Beard a goodnight, who shared the sentiment before starting the walk home. They walked towards his apartment in silence. She realized it was the first time they'd been alone together since that morning. Bailey wondered if that had been the Head Coach's doing or if it was simply a coincidence.
When they arrived home, Ted mentioned he was going to try to get some unpacking done. Bailey offered to help, but he assured her he'd be fine on his own. She tried to tell herself that she was just being paranoid. She had no reason to suspect Ted was purposefully avoiding her. Maybe he just wanted to unpack his things alone. She suspected that was a reasonable thing to want. So Bailey smiled and promised to see him in the morning before going into her room and closing the door.
Ted waited until he was sure he'd heard the door to Bailey's bedroom click closed. Even then he waited another five minutes to be certain she wasn't going to resurface again. He collapsed onto the couch and closed his eyes. These days it seemed he didn't know which way was up and which was down. He squeezed his eyes even tighter still, but that didn't stop his head from spinning.
This had all started when Michelle had said she'd needed space. No, first it was time, then space. That's right. She'd told him she needed time to sort things out. He did know at the time what "things" she was talking about and even now that some time had passed he still wasn't confident he fully understood. She'd told Ted that he was her best friend and that anyone would be lucky to have him. Anyone except his own wife apparently.
This new job across the pond had seemed like a good idea at the time. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Maybe he hadn't given the distance enough time to do its magic yet, but based on the conversation he'd had with Michelle last night; it was doing the opposite. Ted had been living in a hotel for weeks before Rebecca had even called with her offer and Michelle seemed to be happier without him.
The idea of her being happier with him gone was killing Ted. He didn't hold any ill will towards Michelle, which only made the whole situation harder. Maybe if he'd been one of them vindictive types, he'd get some sort of joy from seeing her miserable. That just wasn't who Ted Lasso was. The crux of the whole situation was that his heart ached without Michelle and hers ached to be around him. Only one of them could win that sort of tug o' war and Ted suspected he was losing a little more ground every day.
He tried to think of other things besides Michelle. He thought about Rebecca and how her divorce must be weighing on her. He thought about how big of a risk she'd taken by giving him this job. He hoped that he could do enough and be enough to make Richmond the best dang club in the league. He thought about the team and the individual players. How he hoped he could be a good enough coach to make them all great men and good players. He thought about Beard and wondered if he told the man enough how much he appreciated his support at work and with other things too.
Lastly, he thought about Bailey. She hadn't even hesitated at the idea of leaving everything behind to join him there. He'd learned that afternoon that she had said yes without even knowing exactly what the job had entailed. All she knew was that he was asking her to do it. No one, except maybe Beard, had ever show that much blind faith in him before. He'd meant what he said before about her always knowing what he needed before he did.
Like making him a cup of coffee that morning. He also had his suspicions that she'd been lying about not being able to sleep the night before too. Bailey was passed out for almost the full twelve-hour flight. It seemed more likely that she was offering to keep him company. He probably should have just thanked her for the offer before hiding in his room, but the truth was Ted didn't want to be alone anymore.
Ted Lasso wasn't always the smartest man in the room, he knew that, but he did always pride himself on noticing the little things about people that they thought no one would. Some people made it difficult to remember things about them. Their favorite color might change every week, or they might just not like sharing. Bailey wasn't much of a sharer herself. The conversation they'd had about her moms was a prime example of that. But Ted found it easy to remember things about her.
He'd noticed a long time ago that Bailey would blush whenever the two of them barely touched. Even their shoulders colliding in a hallway was enough to turn her cheeks into two plump tomatoes. She always seemed to look up at most people through her eyelashes when she talked to them. Like she wished she could just fade into the background. Bailey didn't do that when she talked to him. She always looked Ted square in the eyes. She didn't mind tellin' him when he was being a nuisance and even when he was getting in her hair or messing up a schedule that she'd taken a week to organize, Bailey always smiled when she saw him. Which always made him smile right back.
Ted had suspected she'd had feeling for him before the move. Despite what he'd said that morning, he had a guilty feeling in his stomach that maybe he had invited her along with an ulterior motive. The truth was he didn't know. When he'd taken that first call with Rebecca after she convinced him that he was what A.F.C. Richmond needed, she asked Ted what he'd need to make the change was worthwhile. Ted hadn't hesitated before asking for a house big enough for his family, Beard as his assistant coach and to take Bailey along as his personal assistant.
He hadn't even offered her the job yet. He just knew that he would miss seeing her smile every day. He'd been so nervous to ask her to work for him that he'd baked up a storm the night before. He wasn't sure how he'd cope with the rejection if she said no. Luckily, he didn't have to.
Ted rolled over on the couch from his back so that he was laying on his side. This was the first time amongst the chaos of packing and moving that he'd been alone with his thoughts for this long. There were so many of them racing around in his mind at the moment he felt like they ought to be competing in the Talladega 500. Ted opened his eyes and then closed them again, as if the blinking motion would reset the mental movies playing in his head.
In a way it sort of worked. When his eyes were squeezed shut again, only one memory flooded back to him. It was the night before. The two of them had both reached for the popcorn bowl when his pointer and middle finger had somehow ended up gripped onto Bailey's. He made no move to pull away and he noticed she didn't either. He thought that maybe he ought to hold her whole hand instead. But then she looked down at the bowl and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She began apologizing straight away.
Missing her smile everyday might have been his first inkling that he had some unaddressed feeling towards Bailey, but the popcorn bowl was when he knew that one way or another, he'd have to do something about those feelings. Then last night, while his head was swimming like it was right then, he'd gone and messed the whole thing up by telling Bailey he loved her. That was probably for the best anyhow. He was her boss after all. (Even if neither of them knew exactly what her job was.) Ted wished he could call Beard and ask him about it, but he didn't want to risk her overhearing them. He knew what his best friend would say anyway at this time of night, sleep on it, Coach.