Page 15

Jacob glances up, his eyes catching Adriana’s from across the pitch.

Even though he keeps talking to Coach, his eyes stay fixed on Adriana.

She is transfixed, like time has stopped.

When he looks away, he then doesn’t look back, and leaves shortly afterwards.

Adriana is left unmoored. Maybe he hadn’t been able to see her at all, maybe this is all in her head.

Either way, it hardens her resolve to somehow form a good working relationship with him, and one that helps her teammates.

By the end of the Friday session, Adriana is on edge to talk to him.

So when she catches sight of his luscious dark suit waiting by the exit of the training ground, typing on his phone waiting for his driver, she sprints down the stairs shouting after him.

‘Jacob! Er, I mean, Mr Astor!’

Jacob turns, frowning, like she’s a charity collector he’s already turned away.

‘Yes? Can I help you?’ He asks, his voice cool and unruffled.

Adriana glances around, checking that none of the other team members are watching.

In the same moment, Jacob glances up to see his driver isn’t here yet, and frowns at his flashy watch.

Adriana doesn’t know if he’s doing a performance of being a busy businessman or if this is happening naturally, but either way, she gets the idea.

‘What happened to keeping a low profile?’ Jacob asks her in a low voice.

‘Oh, it’s fine, I’m here with a business proposal,’ says Adriana brightly.

Jacob folds his arms.

‘Well?’ he seems unimpressed.

‘I think we should get coffee together! A professional coffee,’ she adds. ‘At a professional daytime hour. Sunday afternoon?’

‘You… want to meet me at the weekend?’

Jacob blinks behind his stylish glasses.

Adriana wonders if he’s remembering, like she is, her explaining to him her rules of not meeting people for dates after sleeping together, and how she would never go on a date on a weekend – weekends are for friends and family only.

Although Adriana has thought about this, it wouldn’t be sensible for them to meet in an evening after training – then they’d meet in a bar, and even if they didn’t drink, it would feel too much like a second date.

Whereas this, a coffee on a Sunday… is as far from a date as you can get!

‘Yes! For business. To tell you about the team. From the perspective of someone who knows all the players well. If you or Coach have any concerns, then I can provide context, information you might be missing from your records.’

‘Like… an informant?’

She doesn’t like how that sounds, but Jacob seems curious so she just nods.

Jacob raises an eyebrow. ‘I didn’t see you as someone who would want to play the traitor. You want to snitch on your teammates so that I don’t move you on from the club?’

‘Wh-What? No! No! I’m not going to betray my teammates. Never!’

Jacob still looks unconvinced.

‘I don’t understand what you actually want to meet for, Adriana.’

Adriana racks her brains for how she can persuade him.

‘One week of monitoring player’s performance in practice drills during training is simply not an accurate indicator of their overall applicability. I want to ensure that you have all the information available. New perspectives. Performance… indicator… business… reports?’

‘Ah yes,’ Jacob says deadpan. ‘My performance indicator business reports.’

‘Urgh,’ Adriana, throws her hands about. ‘You know what I mean!’

Jacob cocks his head.

‘But I have every faith in Coach Hoffmann’s ability to test the capabilities of the players. Why should I need any additional information from you? Over a Sunday coffee?’

Adriana tries not to shirk under his intense stare or the abruptness of his questioning. They are clearly misunderstanding each other, but she doesn’t know what Jacob thinks she’s asking him.

‘What if a player was just acting a little oddly this particular week? Off their A-game in times of stress? It wouldn’t be fair – I mean, it wouldn’t make good business sense – for them to be released from the team, if they’re usually the glue that holds the whole team together?’

‘Are you referring to yourself?’ He pauses, seeming wary.

‘What?’ Adriana is taken aback. ‘No, no, I’m not talking about me!’ She considers talking about the captaincy or even saying Maeve’s name, but it’s too risky, it can never get back to her best friend. ‘I’m being hypothetical.’

‘Really? Because from what I’ve seen so far, you are the glue holding the team together.’

Adriana blinks rapidly.

‘I– What? No I’m…’

The thing is, that is exactly what Adriana aspires to be. She’s just never thought about it that way before. She can’t believe that Jacob has immediately and intuitively identified something about her that even she didn’t know.

‘Huh,’ she muses. Then, saying aloud her train of thought, ‘I bet you’re really good at your job, aren’t you.’

It’s Jacob’s turn to look surprised now. Arms folded, they just frown at each other for a moment.

‘Fine,’ he says abruptly. ‘I agree to your proposal.’

‘What?’ Adriana pauses, somehow managing to forget what the point of this conversation had been.

‘Coffee. Sunday. Midday. Did you have a location in mind?’

Adriana does a happy little celebration dance. Jacob’s placid face twitches in barely contained amusement.

‘Yes! Ooh absolutely I do, I know all the cutest little coffee shops around here. I know somewhere that does a life-changing brunch. Most incredible hash browns I’ve ever had in my life, they’re almost like little fried tater tots!

’ She suddenly stops in her tracks and becomes serious again. ‘Do you have any dietary requirements?’

‘I do not have any dietary requirements,’ says Jacob. He folds his arms, studying her, frowning, like he can’t work something out. He chooses his words carefully.

‘And you really expect me to believe you’re inviting me for a life-changing tater tot hash brown brunch just for business? Is that really the right… place for a work meeting?’

‘As far as I’m concerned, a life-changing tater tot hash brown brunch could never be wrong.’

Jacob’s eyes twinkle, and Adriana loves so much seeing him look at her like that again.

‘But if you’d prefer,’ says Adriana, ‘we can just have pastries? Surely even the most serious business people are allowed pastries.’

His lips twitch into a smile now, playing along.

‘Business pastries,’ he says. ‘Croissants or, at a stretch, a pain au chocolat. No cronuts.’

Adriana grins properly at him now. She’s never heard someone try to be stern when they say the word ‘cronut’. They smile at each other with a sense of a shared joke, being in on something together, and Adriana feels relieved and excited. She’s won him over.

‘I know just the place.’