As promised, Bailey got to work the next day planning a small birthday party for Sam. The team had their game against Crystal Palace the same day, so she wasn't planning much of a rager for Saturday. Just something small to let Sam know everyone was thinking of him. While she read over reviews for local bakeries, Ted entered the Manager's Office. He'd just returned from biscuits with the boss and carried in a care package Henry and Michelle had sent him.
"Say, Bailey, I know you've got a lot on your plate already, but I'm hopin' I can ask you to do one more favor for me." He looked over at the door to make sure no one in the locker room was listening to him. "Can you set up a meeting with me and Jamie's gal, Miss Keeley for me?"
"That sounds like a task for a personal assistant." She nodded. "I'm on it, Boss."
"Great, I just want to see if we can get some insight from her. See what makes Jamie Tartt tick. I'm gonna go rally the troops." He placed his care package on his desk. "Oh, but before I forget, Henry sent these along and told me to place them around the office and the house to keep me safe. I thought you aught to have one, since I'd like to keep you safe too." Ted placed an object on your desk before going out into the locker room.
At first Bailey couldn't identify the crude piece of plastic. It looked like a green plastic lump that hadn't formed properly in the mold. She only realized it once she'd picked it up that it was a little green army man. The kind that always seemed to be sold in bulk. Bailey had been gifted the laying down sniper. She placed the army man at the top of her spiral stack of post-it notes.
She'd chosen that spot because the post-it notes lived in a part of her desk that was always visible to her, even with her computer on it. This meant that at any time she could glance over at the army man and think about what Ted had said when he'd given it to her. I'd like to keep you safe too. Bailey couldn't hide her smile as she returned to her bakery research.
There was a knock on the manager's office door. Bailey looked up to see Roy Kent scowling at her from the doorway. She tried to look past him only to see that both coaches and the rest of the team had emptied out of the locker room. Roy chuckled when he realized what she were doing.
"They've all gone off to the pitch." He spoke. "I actually wanted a word with you."
"Me?" She repeated. "Why would you…"
"The gaffer said you're helping him plan the party for Sam, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I am. I was just looking at bakeries for the cake." She told him. Bailey angled her laptop so that Roy could see. He moved closer reading one of the names off the list.
"No don't go there, that place is shit!" He snapped. "So is that place…and that place." He pointed to two more on the list. "This one alright though."
"I wouldn't have guessed you had such a sweet tooth Roy." Bailey told him.
"I'm an athlete." He commented. "If I'm gonna put sugar in my body, I want it to be fucking delicious. I know most of the lads feel the same."
"Well if that's the case, I exactly where to get the best cake in London." She promised.
"Best cake in London?" Roy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I'll hold you to it."
"I might be over selling it, but I've got a friend who's pretty good at baking. I'll check in with them and see if they're available before I order anything." She decided.
"Look, I've to get going before they notice I've gone. I just wanted to say in the past when I've had mates who've been down, nothing makes 'em smile more than something that reminds 'em of home. You know snacks, drinks little trinkety things." He told her.
"Thanks, Roy. That's actually really helpful and very sweet." Bailey said.
"If you tell anyone else about this, I'll fucking kill you." He vowed before leaving the office and jogging out of the locker room.
With some major details about the cake still up in the air, she decided to take Roy Kent's advice. Bailey began to scroll through Amazon trying to see what, if any, Nigerian snacks she could order that would arrive in a couple of days. After loading a few things into the cart, including some balloons and small decorations she switch to attempting to contact Keeley.
Her first hope was that maybe Jamie had listed Keeley as an emergency contact on his paperwork, but either they hadn't been together very long, or the more likely scenario Jamie hadn't kept his paperwork up to date when he was loaned out to Richmond from Manchester City. Bailey suspected someone like Keeley might have an assistant of her own she could get in touch with, but they might be even harder to get a hold of than the woman herself. She could have asked Jamie for Keeley's number, but then he'd want to know what she wanted it for. In a bit of a Hail Mary play, she decided to send Keeley a direct message on Twitter.
"Hello Ms. Jones, my name is Bailey, I'm Coach Lasso's assistant, we met briefly a few days ago. I'm reaching out to you because Coach Lasso wishes to make an appointment with you at your earliest convenience."
She sent the message and turned the volume up on her phone. She continued party planning while waiting for a response. She wasn't waiting for more than a minute, however. Keeley Jones had lightning-fast fingers when it came to texts and DMs. She'd replied with her phone number and a short message.
"Hello! I'm doing a photo shoot most of the day, but I've not got any lunch plans yet. He can meet me on the set. Have him text me a time and I'll text him an address! -K."
"Well, that was easier than I thought." Bailey whispered to herself. She left the office to relay the information to Ted and catch the tail end of practice.
"Hey!" Ted's face lit up when he spotted her. It was slightly unnerving how happy he was acting after the chilling attitude he'd had the night before. Bailey quietly told Ted about the arrangements she'd made for Saturday.
"Oh, and you've got lunch plans." She handed Ted a post-it note with Keeley's phone number on it. "You text her the time and she's going to text you the address."
"Thank you so much, Bailey. I do appreciate that." He accepted the post-it and tucked it inside the pocket of his pants. "Say I was thinking maybe we could do another movie night tonight?"
"Sounds great, Coach." Bailey agreed.