"You like burgers?" Roy asked Bailey, already pulling into a parking spot in front of a Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
"I'm American, Roy, I very much like burgers." She assured him, already getting out of the car.
"Well, I don't know. You could be vegan or vegetarian or on one of those fancy celebrity diets." He shrugged also getting out of the car.
"If anything, I'm surprised you eat here. Back home the professional athletes are the ones creating those fancy celebrity diets." She told him.
"The burgers here are alright, but they give you a fuck ton of fries. Which are mostly carbs. Athletes need carbs." She walked towards the restaurant and Roy held the door open for her.
Bailey and Roy ordered thier food. A burger, an order of fries and a milkshake each. He insisted on paying. His logic was that he and Keeley had dragged her to the gala in the first place. He wanted her to at least have a good end to a shit night. Once their food was cooked and served up in brown paper bags, they claimed one of the high tables near the window that faced the parking lot.
"Are you gonna make me ask you what he said to you at the table?" Roy asked, shoveling fries into his mouth. She didn't need to ask who he was talking about.
"He said a lot of things." She sipped from your milkshake. Roy stared at her. Letting her know he wasn't going to drop the subject. Groaning she recounted the discussion that she and Ted had while they were alone together at the table.
"Jesus, fuck." Roy leaned back in his chair.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it." She spoke. "I've never heard Ted say something that mean to anyone before. I'm not where we go from here."
"I'll tell ya one thing, I'm gonna break his fucking knees." Roy decided.
"I appreciate the offer, but it is entirely unnecessary." She bit back a laugh. "He has a lot going on right now."
"Why are you making so many excuses for him?" He asked her. "He was a prick to you and deserves to be told off."
"Because it's the first time he's ever said something like that to me, Roy." She explained. "I've known him two years. In that time he's been sweet and caring and kind. I'm going to let him have one bad day. I'd do the same for you or Keeley or anyone else."
"What about Jamie Tartt?" He questioned, reaching for his drink.
"I suppose if Jamie woke up tomorrow and had a sudden change of heart. If he started treating Keeley with a little more respect, started treating his teammates with a little more respect, then, yes. Even Jamie Tartt would deserve a second chance." She answered.
"You asked me earlier." He paused to sip from his drink. "Why I'm so nice to you." That had been four hours and so many arguments ago Bailey was surprised he remembered. "You remind me of my sister. Not exactly like her, but she used to be quiet like you. Liked to see the best in people, like you. That's how she ended up with Phoebe." He rolled his eyes. "I always wondered if she turned out the way she did because I didn't take good enough care of her. If I didn't listen to her feelings and shit like that."
"Is that why you pay so much attention to Phoebe, now?" She wondered.
"My sister is raising a kid by herself because her idiot boyfriend walked out on them. She works harder than she should have too." He told her. "I look after Phoebe to make sure she doesn't turn out like her mother."
"I don't need anyone to protect me, Roy." She insisted.
"That's what my sister used to say." He said. "That's enough talk about all that. What do you want to do for our ten-thousand-pound date, since apparently Five Guys is no longer an option?"
"Actually, I did think of something." Bailey announced excitedly. "It might even be something you'd enjoy." He snorted with disbelief. She ignored him and continued talking. "I'd like you to teach me how to play football."
"Football? My kind of football or you kind of football? Because I'm still not sure what they've got a goal post for if you're only supposed to kick the ball through it sometimes." He confessed. "Besides isn't your sister like some football protégé or whatever? How do you not know how to play?"
"Because my sister was like a football protégé or whatever." You explained. "Look you may not have noticed, but Anna and I are both adopted."
"No way!" He feigned surprise. "You and the women with the spring dark curls and warm complexion aren't related?"
"Ha-ha." Bailey said sarcastically. "My point is that growing up we both sort of had this mentality that to stand out in a house of four women we'd have to have our own 'thing'. Anna's 'thing' was sports. She was good at them, some years she was the best player out there. By the time we were both old enough to realize that one thing didn't have to define our whole personality, we were adults living in different states. I didn't have a reason to pick up an interest in any sport in particular after that. Except maybe American football."
"Because Ted was the coach?" Roy guessed.
"Because Ted was the coach." She confirmed. "Aside from the fact that I worked at a college athletics department and didn't know anything about most of the sports, I went to Anna's games on and off since I was in middle school. Admitting to her now that I still didn't know the rules would be embarrassing."
"And it's not embarrassing to admit it to a professional footballer?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"No. Not when that professional footballer is a good friend. That's just utilizing your resources." She shrugged. "Players must teach people lessons for money. American footballers do. Basketball and hockey too, I think. So just think of it as a ten-thousand-pound football lesson."
"Which brings me to my next question. Where did you get ten thousand pounds?" He wanted to know.
After dinner Roy drove back through Ted's neighborhood. He parked his car on the main street and walked Bailey to the door. She thanked him for a wonderful evening, which made him snort. She assured him that she meant it and asked him to text her when he arrived home that she knew he got there safely. Roy told her that no one had ever asked him to do that before. She made it clear it wasn't optional. With final goodbyes and promises to see each other and work tomorrow out of the way, Bailey entered Ted's flat.
The head coach was already home. He was baking a batch of biscuits for Rebecca. It seemed out of sync with his usual schedule, but she assumed it was probably an anxious or stress baking situation. She did not want to get involved in it that late at night. So she tried to continue onto her room without a word.
"Bailey, there's something kind of important we've got to discuss." Ted told her from the kitchen. With her feet still sore, her throat dry and her eyes sagging from tiredness, she trudged into the kitchen.
"Is it something that can wait until morning?" Bailey asked as politely as you could.
"I 'spose the finer details can." He nodded. "Just thought you ought to know that Michelle and Henry should be here visiting sometime later on in the week. We'll have to make some room for them around here."
Just like that the fire and the anger that Roy had managed to pacify in the last forty-five minutes was back again. Ted hadn't apologized for the way he talked to her or the things he said. He hadn't asked how her night had been or told her how sorry he was for ruining it. He didn't even ask a single question about Roy. He was worried about making room for his family.
Bailey knew she couldn't hate him for that. He'd told her from the jump that his family was his priority. Maybe it was the exhaustion working its way through her limbs or just that his tone from earlier still hadn't sat right with her. It may have even been flippant way he'd told her that his wife would soon be standing in the same kitchen that the two of them had kissed in. But Bailey walked out of the kitchen and began packing her suitcase. She wasn't going to spend another night in that flat.