by Louise Hall
“Nonsense,” Vanessa said, “go on Thom, call him now.”
As much as he liked Cate, he was more scared of Vanessa so he went outside to call his uncle.
“He didn’t ask me to go,” Cate reminded Vanessa while they waited for Thom to come back.
“Who cares what he thinks?” Vanessa said. “Your little girl’s going to walk on the pitch in front of all those people, don’t you want to be there to see her?”
“Yes,” Cate said.
“Good, then it’s all settled then.”
“Well, did you get them then?” Vanessa asked when Thom came back inside.
Thom nodded, “yeah, he had some returns, they’re just regular seats. They’re not in a box or anything?”
“Excellent,” Vanessa said. “Thom, go and get us some more coffees, Cate and I need to discuss what we’re going to wear?”
Cate didn’t tell anyone she was going to the match. She’d arranged to meet Vanessa and Thom under the boards at Piccadilly Station. As usual, she got there far too early. It was nice though, there was a different atmosphere in the city on match day, all the people milling around wearing the navy blue and white shirts and scarves. Every now and then as another train pulled into one of the platforms, there would be sudden bursts of chanting and all the people who weren’t football fans would start to look panicked as if they were soon to be overtaken by the marauding hordes.
She had to laugh when Vanessa and Thom did eventually arrive. Vanessa was wearing the highest, spikiest heels Cate had ever seen – how was she ever going to negotiate the steep steps inside the ground? As they got closer, Thom gave her a look which said, “I tried to tell her.”
“Hi,” Vanessa said, giddily. As she leaned in to give Cate a hug, she nearly toppled forward.
“What are you wearing?” Cate asked, looking down at her boots.
“Aren’t they amazing?” Vanessa said, still wobbling a bit.
“Can you even walk in them?”
“Course I can,” Vanessa said. She turned and sashayed over to Burger King, swinging her hips like a catwalk model. A couple of guys in the queue whistled at her and she blew them kisses.
“Who is she?” Cate marvelled.
“She’s on the pull,” Thom whispered. “She’s determined to get a boyfriend out of this.”
“See,” Vanessa said, when she got back to them. “Told you I could do it.”
They joined the rest of the crowds and made their way downstairs to the tram station. When the tram arrived, the crowd on the platform surged towards the open doors and Cate found herself being pulled along with them. When she turned around, she couldn’t see Thom. The doors shut and the tram started to move and after finding something to hold on to, Cate nudged Vanessa, “where’s Thom?”
Vanessa stood on her tiptoes and looked up and down the carriages. “Next carriage,” she said.
As the tram went around a corner, Vanessa stumbled forward and grabbed on to the coat of woman, who didn’t know it was match day and was wondering why all these people were crowded on to her tram. “Sorry,” Vanessa apologised but the woman gave her a filthy look.
“Here love,” someone called. “You can sit on my knee, if you like?”
Cate rolled her eyes. There’s always one.
“Think I’ll take you up on that,” Vanessa said, tottering across to where he was sat. She sat herself down on his knee and smiled, “Hi, I’m Vanessa.”
“Adam,” the bloke said. “You going to the match then?”
As Adam and Vanessa got to know each other, Cate stared out of the window, waiting to see the Rovers Stadium come into view. She was so excited; she was finally going to a match instead of being stuck at home on her own watching it on TV. It just wasn’t the same. She blinked and there it was, looming up above them like a spaceship that had landed in the middle of an industrial estate. Already, she could see crowds of people outside and could hear the noise even inside the tram.
As the tram pulled up at the stop, Vanessa came back to her. “Adam’s sat in the same bit as us, isn’t that great?”
“Yeah,” Cate said. “We should wait for Thom though?”
“There he is,” Vanessa said. Thom was waiting for them by the railings. “Adam, this is Thom. Thom, Adam.” Vanessa introduced them quickly and then went back to talking to Adam.
“We’ve lost her,” Thom said, linking his arm through Cate’s.
As Vanessa and Adam pulled ahead of them, Thom gave her a nudge, “look at that?”
“What?” Cate said.
“His shirt,” Thom started laughing. “Look at the back of his shirt.”
“Where? I can’t see,” Cate said, leaning to one side. Suddenly, she realised what was making Thom laugh. Adam had Kian’s name and number on the back of his shirt. Thom’s laugh was contagious and soon Cate was laughing as well. As they walked along, she realised just how famous Kian really was – there were lots of people wearing shirts with his name and number on them. It became a game between her and Thom to spot them all. “There’s another one,” Thom said, pointing at a bloke with a huge beer belly.
“What are you two laughing at?” Vanessa asked.
“Have you seen your boyfriend’s back?” Thom whispered.
“No, why?” Vanessa asked, looking worried. “What’s the matter with it?”
She dropped back so Adam could walk in front of her. When she saw what he had on the back of his shirt, she started laughing as well. “I don’t know why I’m laughing,” she said, smacking Thom in the ribs. “It’s not funny.”
When Adam noticed they were all laughing, he stopped. “Hey, what are you guys laughing at?”
“Ignore them,” Vanessa said, composing herself. “They’re just being childish.”
“So, Adam” Thom said with an evil glint in his eye. “Who’s your favourite player?”
Adam thought about it for a second, “Warner. Why?”
Once they got inside the ground, Cate and Thom left Vanessa and Adam in the bar and went up the stairs to find their seats. “Wow,” Cate gasped, when she got to the top. “It looks so much smaller on TV.”
“Wait til it’s full,” Thom said.
They found their seats, which were about halfway up in the corner opposite the tunnel. Cate looked at the rows and rows of navy blue and white seats which would soon be filled up with people. She was here, she was finally here.
Thom gave her a nudge, “here they come.”
Cate looked back down at the pitch and there he was. She felt like a giddy teenager. “Don’t let me do anything embarrassing,” Cate said to Thom.
“Hold that thought,” Thom said, looking down at his phone. “Vanessa can’t get up the stairs in those bloody shoes, she wants us to go down and give her a hand.”
“Now?” Cate said, looking back at Kian warming up on the pitch. “Can’t she get Adam to help her?”
“Come on,” Thom said, “just do what I do. Keep telling yourself, she’s your friend and she needs you.”
“Let me just have one more look,” Cate said, turning back.
“Come on,” Thom said, tugging on her jacket.
When they got to the bar, Vanessa wouldn’t come upstairs because Adam was still there and she didn’t want him to see her getting carried up the stairs. By the time Adam went up to his seat, everybody else in the bar wanted to go up to their seats as well and there were a lot of grumbles as Cate and Thom blocked the aisle, helping Vanessa get up the stairs.
“She’s your friend and she needs you,” Thom whispered as they huffed and puffed up to the top.
“When we get back to the flat,” Thom said to Vanessa, “I’m going to take those bloody boots and throw them in the bin.”
“No,” Vanessa said. “You can’t do that, they’re my lucky boots.”
Cate looked down at the pitch but it was empty, the players had all gone back inside to get changed.
“What’s so lucky about them?” Thom said.
“This,” Va
nessa said, pulling a piece of paper out of her bra.
Thom had a look at it, “a receipt for a bottle of beer?”
“No,” Vanessa said, smiling, “try the other side. It’s Adam’s telephone number. I told you these boots were lucky. Just think if I hadn’t been wearing them, I never would have stumbled on the tram and he never would have offered me his knee to sit on.”
Thom rolled his eyes but then he looked over at Cate, who was watching the tunnel with such focus; it was like she was willing the players to appear. He nudged Vanessa, “look.”
Vanessa smiled and leaned towards Thom so she could whisper in his ear. “Maybe I should lend her my lucky boots?”
The match was just as good as Cate had hoped it would be. She loved every second of it. From the deafening roar when the players emerged from the tunnel, the sea of navy blue and white as people waved scarves and flags above their heads. The chants which spread around the ground like ripples, some she could make out and some Thom had to explain, lots of rude words but plenty of humour. Everybody wanted the same thing – for Rovers to win. It was infectious, she found herself urging them forward and holding her breath when they defended, oohing as a shot went just past the post. She’d watched hundreds if not thousands of football matches in her lifetime but actually being there in the stadium was different.
Rovers won the match 1-0. Kian didn’t score but she thought he played really well. At the end of the match, everybody stood up and applauded. The away team headed off down the tunnel but the Rovers players stayed out on the pitch. The manager stood in the middle of the pitch and said a few words, thanking the fans for their support. Then the players walked to the side of the pitch, where their families had gathered. As the children ran onto the pitch to join their Dads, Cate looked around for Lola. “I can’t see her,” she said to Thom and Vanessa.
“There she is,” Vanessa said, pointing her out. “Over there, Kian’s got her.”
As they started the walk around the pitch, Cate worried that it would be too loud for Lola. She wondered if Jean had remembered to put in her earplugs.
Then as they got closer to their stand, all of the worries floated away. She looked down at her little girl, holding Kian’s hand and proudly waving at all of the people. She wasn’t fazed by any of it, not the noise, or the people.
“Look at Warner’s little girl, isn’t she a cutie?” somebody said.
The TV cameras followed them as they walked around the pitch. When they got to the goals, a couple of the players’ sons had fun trying to get the ball past their Dads and into the back of the net. Lola watched and tugged on Kian’s sleeve. “Daddy, can I have a go?”
“Have a go at what, sweetheart?” Kian asked, leaning down so he could hear her above the noise of the crowd.
“I want to try and get the ball in the net.”
“Sure, why not?” He picked up the ball and put it down a few feet away from the goal.
“No,” Lola said. That wasn’t where the boys had kicked from; so she picked the ball up and took it back a few more feet.
Kian couldn’t help but laugh at the determined look on her face. It reminded him of someone.
“What’s she doing?” Vanessa said.
“She’s going to have a shot,” Thom said.
“I can’t watch,” Cate said, peeking through her fingers.
Some of the other players also stood and watched as the little girl studied the ball and the net just like she’d seen her Daddy do so many times. Even the crowd seemed to go silent for a second as she ran up and kicked the ball. She had a surprisingly strong kick for her age and size and it went straight past Kian into the net. The crowd behind the goal started cheering. When she saw that she’d scored, Lola’s whole face lit up with a huge smile. The crowd started chanting, “Mackie, sign her up, Mackie, Mackie, sign her up.”
After the players and their families had gone back down the tunnel and the crowd had started to thin out, Cate and Thom helped Vanessa down the stairs. “That was amazing,” Cate said to both of them. “I can’t thank you enough for that.”
Vanessa was really starting to struggle with her boots. As they got to the part of the ground where the players came out, Vanessa stopped, “I need to sit down for a minute.” She found a small wall and took off one of her boots and rubbed her foot.
“I told you,” Thom said.
“I know,” Vanessa said. Suddenly they heard a huge cheer and turned around. “What’s going on?”
People were crowded behind crash barriers around the players’ entrance. “I can’t see,” Cate said.
“Let’s get up on here,” Thom said, pointing at the wall. “At least we’ll be able to find out what’s going on.”
“Okay,” Cate said.
Thom climbed up first and then helped Cate get up. “What is it?” Vanessa asked, struggling to fit her poor foot back in her boot. “What’s happening?”
“Some of the players are coming out,” Thom said.
“Where?” Vanessa shoved her foot into her boot, ignoring the pain and climbed up on to the wall. They had a great view and could see above everybody’s heads. “Cool.”
After all the excitement there was a lull. “Shall we go?” Cate asked.
“A couple more minutes?” Vanessa insisted, “this is fun.”
The gates opened again and another batch of players came out with their families. Cate was just about to get down when she heard a voice she recognised through the crowds of people. “Mummy.”
She looked around and saw Lola being carried by Kian. “Mummy,” Lola said again, she struggled to get down but Kian wouldn’t let her.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“Mummy,” Lola pointed to where Cate was stood.
As he turned and looked across at her, Cate waved. “I knew this was a bad idea,” she muttered to Vanessa and Thom.
Kian had stopped and was obviously waiting for her. Lots of people in the crowd turned around to look at her so she quickly jumped down off the wall and made her way towards where he was stood.
“Mummy,” Lola said again, reaching her arms out towards Cate.
“Hi, baby girl,” Cate said, reaching out to take her from Kian.
“Cate?” When she looked back, it wasn’t just Kian that was staring at her; Ben was there with Jean and Sinead.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came with Vanessa and Thom,” Cate looked around for her friends but they’d been stopped by the stewards at the crash barriers.
Cate was about to hand Lola back to Kian when he walked past her and spoke to one of the stewards. They stepped to one side and allowed Vanessa and Thom through.
“Mummy, I scored a goal,” Lola said excitedly.
“I know I saw, that was so cool,” Cate said, smiling.
“How did you guys get here?” Kian asked Thom.
“Tram,” Thom said, clearly a little star struck.
“Come on, I’ll give you a lift home.” He said goodbye to Ben, Jean and Sinead and then led the way through the players’ car park to his car.
“It’s a bit of a mess,” he said, clearing some stuff off the backseat.
“It’s amazing,” Vanessa said.
Cate fastened Lola into her car seat and climbed into the back seat behind Kian. Vanessa sat on the other side of Lola, which left Thom with the front passenger seat.
“So you’re Thom,” Kian said as he started up the engine.
“And you’re Kian,” Thom said, matching him.
As they drove through the crowds, Vanessa and Thom savoured all the attention. “He’s really famous, isn’t he?” Vanessa whispered to Cate as hundreds of people clapped as they sped past.
Kian must have heard her because he caught Cate’s eye in the rear view mirror.
When they dropped Vanessa and Thom back at their flat, Kian gestured to the passenger seat, “why don’t you come and sit up front?”
As they reversed out of the parking space, Cate waved to Vaness
a and Thom and said to Kian, “you do realise you’re like a God to them now, I can never complain about you ever again.”
“Yeah, right,” Kian said. If I had the powers of a God, you wouldn’t still be at your Mum’s house.
When they got back to Irene’s house, Kian left the engine running. “You’re leaving?” Cate asked.
Kian nodded. “I’ve got some stuff to do. I’ll call Lo at the usual time.”
Later that night, Cate was finishing up some ironing; she needed to keep busy to take her mind off Kian’s absence. She didn’t understand why he hadn’t wanted to spend the night again? Lola was in the kitchen talking to him on the phone and Cate tried not to listen too closely. “No,” Cate shook her head, “I’m not allowed to miss him this much.” She took her frustrations out on a well-worn tea towel, pounding it with the iron. My bed is going to feel so cold and empty tonight.
“Here’s your phone, Mummy,” Lola said. Cate looked at the screen, hoping he was still there but he’d already ended the call.
CHAPTER 26
Cate met Liv coming up the stairs. “Can you do me a favour?” she asked, slipping on her black Toms. “Lo’s asleep. I should be back before she wakes up.”
“It’s 11pm, where are you going?” Liv asked. “Oh,” she nodded her head, suddenly getting it. “You’re going to see Kian, aren’t you?”
“Please don’t judge me,” Cate begged, “I can’t sleep on my own.”
“I’m not judging you,” Liv shrugged. “I just don’t get why you’re still living here, that’s all.”
She parked her car next to Kian’s Range Rover at the back of the house. It was raining heavily. “Ugh, what are you doing?” She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. She just knew that she needed to be with Kian.
She didn’t have a key anymore so she had to ring the doorbell. It seemed to take forever for Kian to answer. Maybe he isn’t home? The rain was lashing down, soaking through her clothes.
Kian opened the front door, wearing just a white t-shirt and his boxer shorts. “Cate, what are you doing here?”
“I…” Cate’s teeth were chattering, she hadn’t realised how cold it was. “I can’t sleep without you.”