As the week went on Evelyn didn't see much of Ted or Roy. Well, sure she saw them, but they were on the pitch running plays or drills. They'd both turned their attention where it should be, the impending game that weekend. So, Evie sat up in the stands, with her laptop open, and worked on her book about Ted. She'd made a surprising amount of headway on it too. Which in the end turned out to be meaningless, as you received a call from your publisher informing her that they were stopping the book.
"I-I don't understand." She stammered to the person on the other end of the line. "The book was the whole reason…" Evie was pacing in the stands by then. Thankfully the players were on a break, no one was around to see her waving her hands around and walking in circles. "One of the reasons that I came out here. Why would they want it stopped? The book wasn't even my idea!" She reminded with frustration.
"They want you to write about something else." Her editor explained. "You can still use some of the stuff about Coach Lasso, you know for background."
"Who in the world would they want me to write about where I could still use Ted as background?" Evie asked.
"I warned them you're not going to like it." The editor sighed. When Evie failed to respond, they continued. "The powers that be, have decided instead of writing a biography on Coach Lasso, your book should focus on your romance with your footballer fiancé. Don't pretend like you don't know why either." They added impatiently. "He's everything a good writer yearns for. Handsome, athletic, and apparently elusive. And your story, meeting from two continents? United after you suffered such heartbreak. I can see the New York Times best seller blurb now."
"How long did they give me to decide?" Evie asked apathetically.
"Till Monday. Midnight, our time of course." They replied sharply.
"I'll mull it over." She declared before ending the call without a formal exit.
"Everything alright?" A deep voice asked behind her, causing Evie to jump.
"Sweet baby Jesus, Roy!" She exclaimed turning around. "I thought you were inside with everyone else."
"I was. Then Nate said he saw you pacin' up here and flailing your arms like a lunatic. Said you looked upset 'bout something." He explained.
"That was my editor." She indicated the phone in her hand before telling Roy about the conversation she'd just had. "Obviously I'm going to tell them no, I just have to think of the best way to…"
"Why the fuck would you tell 'em no?" He wondered.
"Well for one, I assumed you'd be against it. They'll want exactly the sort of fluff commentary you're against." She told him.
"Yeah, but we'd be in control of it. Wouldn't be like all the tabloids who make shit up. Plus, you're writing isn't shit either." He insisted. Evie's heart fluttered at the idea that Roy had read something she'd written. She wanted to ask him more about it, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
"They also mentioned wanting my very recent divorce to be a key plot point. I'm not sure I'm in a place where I can explore that." Evie confessed.
"So don't." He shrugged.
"that's not how book deals usually go, Roy." She sighed. "My contract pretty much makes it clear the publisher has the final say. I've had a lawyer look into it before."
"You still get to negotiate don't ya?" He asked. "Even footballers can do that. Maybe you can compromise. You'll write the full book about us, but you won't write about your arsehole ex. Unless it's to say I'm better lookn' than 'im or something."
"I've got 'till Monday." Evie told him. "I'll take the weekend to think about it."
"Let me know if I can be of any help." He offered as the players and coaches were funneling out to the pitch once more. Roy jogged down the steps towards his team. Evie couldn't stop herself from thinking, he'd certainly been right about one thing. Roy Kent was absolutely better looking than her ex.
She put off making a decision until the last possible minute. Evie and Roy had both agreed they shouldn't mention anything to Ted until after her decision was made. (No sense in worrying the Head Coach right before a game.) Which made it possible for Evie to nearly forget about the proposed change all together. Instead, she were able to focus on her new living situation with Roy.
In some ways. Living with Roy had been easier than expected. He was cleaner than David had been. Didn't like to leave things lying around and he liked washing the dishes a chore she was sure everyone hated. He made her a tea every morning. And always poked his head into Phoebe's room to say goodnight to Evie before heading to bed.
In other ways, it was more difficult than she'd anticipated. There was always the reminder in the back of her mind not to get too comfortable. This wasn't her home. She wasn't meant to be staying long. Evie tried her best to stay out of Roy's way. To take up as little space in his life as possible.
"You know, I've still got to go through all that junk in the spare room so we can make you an office. Next week's an off week, no game. If you decide you still want to do this, maybe we can work on it then?" Roy offered on Saturday morning. Evie nearly asked him what she was meant to be deciding before remembering her call with her editor earlier in the week.
"I've got till tomorrow." She said mostly to yourself. "Besides, I don't need an office."
"You can't work properly with just your laptop on that lumpy old mattress." Roy argued, sipping from his morning cuppa. "Makes my back hurt just thinking about it. Yours must be killin' ya."
"I've worked in worse places." She commented, ignoring the sudden ache in her lower back. "We should get going if you don't want to be late." Roy glanced at his watch.
"Yeah, alright." He agreed.
Her fiancé wasn't the type to comment either way, but Evie hoped she looked the part of a future footballer's wife on game day. Naturally she had to wear a Roy Kent jersey and had acquired a Richmond cap from the fan shop. A cap which she decided to wear backwards, admittedly likely looking very American. Evie had even painted her nails in alternating blue and red, matching the team colors as best she could.
When Evie and Roy arrived at the dog track, she walked him to the locker room, a ritual apparently common among the other player's significant others. She wished the team good luck and was heading out the door when she heard Jamie calling out to Roy.
"Grandad, your old lady doesn't know she's supposed to give you a good luck kiss before the match?" Evie turned around to see Roy standing where she'd left him. Roy's hands had turned to fists at his sides and he was glaring down Jamie. She walked back, blocking Jamie from Roy's view.
"He's just being a prick." Roy grumbled. "Ignore him."
"Don't be silly, Honey. I know how important superstitions are to athletes." She insisted. "I'm not going to be the reason Richmond loses today." Evie leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on Roy's cheek. "Good luck." She spoke. "Oh, and Jamie?" She wheeled around to face him. "Who's here wishing you good luck?"
Naturally this comment earned many mature "Ooohhs" from the team. Which was followed with some shoving and verbal jesting. The room was back to its usual rib jabbing within seconds. Evie's fiancé appeared relived to no longer be the center of conversation. She stopped in the manager's office briefly to pass on good vibes to Ted, Beard and Nate before leaving the team to their pre-game routine.