Half the World Away

by Rebecca Banks

  As she tapped again, Abbie wound down the window and smiled.

  ‘You are Abbie! I recognised you immediately from the photos I looked at on the internet. I’m Kitty. How is everything? Did you get everything you needed? Do you need help with anything from the car?’

  Abbie laughed. ‘Hi, Kitty. Everything is perfect, thanks. I was just taking a moment after my trip over. I haven’t done much driving on this side of the road so it’s taking a little getting used to.’

  ‘Oh of course, I didn’t even think. I’m sure you’ll soon adjust. Let’s get you into the office and get you some coffee and then we’ll get you set up.’

  Abbie climbed out of the car and gladly followed Kitty in through the glass double doors marked ‘PERSONNEL ONLY’. Her new colleague scurried down the long corridor, pointing out things at breakneck speed.

  ‘There’s the security office, that’s human resources, through there is the staff cafeteria, although I hardly ever eat there as there’s a lot of good places around. That’s the assistant manager’s office, those doors take you to the marketing suite where you’ll be based, and I’m right along here next to Mr Henderson’s office. Come in, and welcome.’

  Abbie knew she would have to retrace her steps and look at the door signs herself as she’d had no chance to take anything in.

  ‘Please sit down. Mi casa es su casa, as they say – you’re always welcome in here. Let me get you a coffee. How do you take it?’

  ‘Do you have tea?’

  Kitty looked at her strangely. ‘Not normally this early in the morning but yes, we have some. Hold on just a second and I’ll get you some. Do you like it sweetened?’

  ‘No sugar for me, thanks.’

  With that Kitty dashed out of the office and Abbie had a good look around. Hank Henderson III’s PA clearly had OCD. There wasn’t a piece of paper in sight – in fact there was nothing on her desk except for her computer screen, keyboard and a wrist support pad – and above the desk on the wall was a row of books all lined up in height order. Four tall filing units lined one wall, and on the facing wall, four equal-sized framed photographs hung. Three were of the Utah Saints in action during matches and a fourth showed a group of people in ski gear looking like they were having a whale of a time. She stood up to take a closer look. There were about fifteen people in the photo, all men with the exception of Kitty who stood out in her bubble gum pink salopettes, grinning front and centre in the frame.

  Abbie started as the door flew open and Kitty came back in clutching a mug of steaming coffee and a lidded cup with a straw.

  ‘I was just looking at your photos while I waited.’

  ‘You’ve seen the skiing one? I don’t know if I mentioned but I’m president of the social committee here. I plan fun things for us to do together outside of work and that was a ski day we went on in Park City. You’ll have to come next time.’

  ‘I’ve only been skiing once, and I wasn’t that good so I haven’t done it since. It scares me a bit,’ Abbie said sheepishly.

  ‘Oh. I don’t think I know anybody who doesn’t ski. Anyway, here’s your tea.’ Kitty brandished the cup with the straw and Abbie took it, confused. It was freezing cold to the touch and she could feel ice cubes clashing together in the cup. After the brief ski discussion, she didn’t want to feel any sillier so she took a sip from the straw. Try as she might, she couldn’t disguise the look on her face as she swallowed the bitter, freezing liquid that tasted nothing like tea.

  ‘Oh goodness, are you okay? What’s the matter?’ Kitty exclaimed, eyes wide.

  ‘Nothing, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. Usually in England our tea is hot and it comes with milk. I was a bit surprised, that’s all.’ She quickly tried to straighten her features but she could feel her cheeks warming and she knew she must look red.

  ‘You wanted hot tea! You should have said! When we say tea here, we mean iced tea, either sweetened or unsweetened. Have you never had it before?’

  ‘It’s safe to say that I haven’t, no. I’m sure it’s really nice though. As soon as you get used to it.’

  ‘Well, you don’t ski, you’ve never had iced tea. This is a real education for you over here, isn’t it, Abbie!’ Kitty seemed to think the whole exchange was hilarious and launched into peals of squeaking laughter. ‘It’s like your American version of Hogwarts.’

  Abbie couldn’t help but look at her like she had gone mad. What on earth was she talking about?

  Kitty carried on laughing. ‘You know, your name is Potter, like Harry Potter! And he went to Hogwarts and learnt all sorts of things. And now you’re here learning about tea.’

  Abbie forced out a laugh and decided she needed to get this conversation back on track.

  ‘Kitty, thanks so much for organising everything for me with the apartment and the car. I couldn’t have wished for a more perfect welcome. You really took the stress out of arriving here.’

  ‘You’re more than welcome, I’m so pleased it all worked out! Now, you’ll meet human resources to talk through a lot of your stuff, but any problems with the apartment, let me know.’

  ‘It’s an incredible apartment. I’ll have to start looking fairly soon, so I was wondering what the monthly rent would be on a place like that. I can even downgrade as I don’t really need two bedrooms.’

  When Kitty mentioned the figure, Abbie gasped as she did the rough sums in her head. The rental on her beautiful park-side unit was less than she paid for a room in a flat share in London.

  ‘If you want to stay on at the end, the owner said you could probably extend if it makes it easier and it’s within your budget.’

  Before they could continue the conversation, there was a tap on the door and it swung open.

  Abbie’s jaw dropped when she looked up at the newcomer and came face to face with the freight train from the park the day before. He saw her straight away and looked surprised.

  ‘What’s up, England? Now this is a small world. Have you tracked me down to sue my ass?’

  Abbie started to splutter out a plea, but then she noticed the twinkling in his caramel-coloured eyes and the grin on his face and she too broke into a smile.

  ‘I work here, I’ll have you know. I think it’s you who’s tracked me down. Wanting to make sure you didn’t do too much damage so I don’t sue, I’m sure.’

  ‘You’ve met already?’

  Having almost forgotten she was there, Abbie turned at the sound of Kitty’s voice and then looked back towards the freight train as he spoke.

  ‘Apparently walking backwards is a thing in England and so we had a bit of an accident yesterday in the park when I ran into her. She was a trooper though, got right up off the ground and told me right off.’

  ‘What were you doing in Liberty Park, Kyle? You don’t even live near there.’

  ‘It’s a nice place to run.’

  As Kitty continued to engage him in conversation, Abbie took another look. So, Kyle was his name. He was so stereotypically all-American that he could have been in the movies. Good-looking, muscly, around six feet tall, with tanned skin that looked like he spent a lot of time outdoors and dark tousled hair, she guessed he was around mid-thirties. He was a walking, talking cliché. And she was a cliché for appraising him like a breakfast platter. She metaphorically slapped herself on the wrist and brought herself back into the room.

  ‘Don’t you think, England?’

  ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ Abbie cursed herself for switching off.

  ‘I was saying to Kitty that it was pretty cruel of her to put you over East of Downtown. There’s not much going on there. You’re going to get really bored.’

  Kitty threw him a dirty look.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Abbie said. ‘If I can wake up every day to the view of those mountains, I think I’ll be just fine. And Kitty’s been really helpful.’

  ‘Thank you, Abbie. That’s her name you know, Kyle: Abbie. So you can stop being rude and calling her England.’

  Ab
bie eyed them both curiously. They were squabbling like brother and sister. She brushed it aside when she remembered where she was. She was sure people at American football clubs had just as much banter as at home. Britain hadn’t cornered the market on humour.

  ‘Oh simmer down, Kitty-Kat. England knows it’s a term of endearment. We’re old friends by now. In fact, because she’s new to town I’m going to make it my duty to make sure she experiences all the fun stuff we have to offer.’

  ‘No need, Kyle. I’ve got it under control. I’ve told her about the social committee and I’ve invited her to come skiing with us next time.’

  Kyle chuckled. ‘She can’t even walk properly; I don’t like her chances skiing.’

  As Kitty gave him daggers, Abbie couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He had no clue how true his words were.

  ‘Kyle, you can leave now, Abbie and I have things to discuss. What did you want anyway?’

  ‘Hank’s schedule for Friday. I need him to meet the new youth players.’

  ‘I’ll check Mr Henderson’s schedule and let you know if he has a window,’ she said primly.

  ‘Alrighty, you do that. England, I’ll catch you later.’ With a salute he left the room, and it suddenly felt empty without him occupying the space.

  Abbie sensed a tense atmosphere and rushed to fill the silence.

  ‘So, small world isn’t it? I can’t believe that the only person I’ve spoken to since I got here works here too. What does he do?’

  ‘Kyle Miller is an ex-soccer player and he runs our college scouting programme and youth team. You probably won’t need to have much to do with him.’

  ‘He seems nice, reminds me of some of the guys back home.’

  ‘Well, appearances can be deceptive, Abbie, and I would be really careful if I were you. You need a friend here and I can be that person. I can see he’s got his eye on you but let me just tell you that you’re far from the first. I’ve seen this so many times before from him. He’s what we call a major player and he’ll hurt you. I promise you’re better staying as far away as possible.’

  Abbie was surprised at the openness of the girl she had met not thirty minutes previously, but thankful for the heads-up. Not that she was interested in a man right now anyway but, if she were, she absolutely didn’t need another heartbreaker. Why were the good-looking, charming ones always the worst?

  ‘Look, let me show you to your desk. I know you have a bunch of emails waiting for you, and I can get this paperwork to you later. Then we’ll have lunch and get to know each other better.’

  Kitty’s voice had lost its severity, so Abbie threw her a grateful smile and followed her down to her new office.

  CHAPTER 7

  Clicking ‘save’ on her document, Abbie crossed another action off her to-do list and looked up at the clock on the wall of the office. Technically she could have gone home an hour ago and started her Friday night, but she’d wanted to finish a few things and only had the quiet apartment to go back to. She was planning to do some exploring at the weekend but, after a week of information overload and trying her best to remember everyone’s names, she was looking forward tonight to simply going home, putting on some jogging bottoms and ordering a pizza.

  It had been a good week. Everyone had been welcoming and she was loving getting stuck into her new job and learning all about her new team. The culture did feel different to where she’d come from, and she was grateful for it.

  She was missing Violet like mad but they had messaged every day, which helped ease any moments of homesickness. Violet had taken to sending her an email each morning with a summary of key British news, celebrity gossip and a weather report. She didn’t have the heart to tell Vi that she could get all of that from Twitter as she never wanted the emails to stop.

  She had also spoken to her parents, and hearing in their voices that they were totally fine made her feel better about her decision. It was as if she were still just a few motorways away. Lily was also apparently doing well, although her parents hadn’t seen her much as she was in a whirlwind of starting her A level revision and also wanting to see her friends at every conceivable moment.

  Feeling that she still had close connections to those who were important to her had made it easier to throw herself into the new job. She’d had a great meeting with Hank Henderson earlier in the week and his enthusiasm at having her there was only matched by her enthusiasm at getting stuck in. The season started in two weeks and her focus for the rest of the year was to increase publicity around the team. Hank wanted the Utah Saints to be operating at the top so it could mix amongst the big teams like LA Galaxy in the years to come. He told her that within the next year he wanted to sign a big-name Premiership player to show that they meant business.

  After the meeting she had hidden herself away with a blank piece of paper and started brainstorming ideas on how to bring in new fans, and found the germ of an idea that quite excited her. She was working on fleshing it out in between getting to grips with everything else that she had to get a handle on. She had less than a fortnight to familiarise herself with the players, the game and the basics of her job, so at the moment, her head resembled spaghetti junction. She had been dreaming of player formations, fixture dates and the names of journalists in Salt Lake City that she had yet to meet, so she knew she needed to take some time this weekend to clear her head or there was a danger it would explode before the first game. Then all that work would have been for nothing.

  One thing that had surprised her was how well she was getting on with Kitty. Her first impressions had been that Kitty was a bit strange. She had been prickly, perfunctory and slightly overzealous, but Abbie couldn’t criticise her for her friendliness since. She perhaps wouldn’t be Abbie’s usual cup of tea but, since that first odd meeting, Kitty had calmed down a bit and been awfully helpful. She had taken Abbie for lunch every day, showing her some of her favourite food spots in the area surrounding the football club. They had enjoyed spicy Mexican fajitas, one of the most mouth-wateringly delicious burgers Abbie had ever tasted, a huge grilled sandwich and soup combo and today, as a Friday treat, they had gone for Chinese. She’d have to curb these lunches or she would soon have to buy a whole new wardrobe as the current one wouldn’t fit her. She didn’t quite understand how Kitty stayed so slim if that was her usual diet. She must have a hell of a good metabolism.

  Kitty had asked lots of questions, interested in finding out all about Abbie’s life back home in England. She had asked about her past jobs, her family and her friends. Abbie had willingly answered, thinking how nice it was to have someone to talk to. Kitty was no Violet or Polly, and Abbie wasn’t as comfortable as she was with them, but it was nice to have already made a friend and know that she wasn’t going to be lonely across the pond.

  At work Kitty was also proving a real gem. She had introduced Abbie to everyone, made sure she knew where everything was and been helpful whenever she had needed to ask a random question. Kitty had even managed to save the day yesterday when Abbie’s laptop froze up and she couldn’t get it restarted. Apparently, she doubled as the team’s computer A&E, managing to solve most issues before it got serious enough to need to call their external IT company.

  Realising she had just wasted time thinking back on her week, delaying her leaving the office, Abbie looked down at her notebook, mulling over what else she wanted to finish before going back to her apartment, when the door to the marketing office swung open. She looked up in surprise, as she thought she was the only one left in the building, and saw Kyle walking towards her, smiling.

  She hadn’t seen much of him this week since their meeting in Kitty’s office, only a couple of times from a distance.

  ‘Haven’t you got a home to be going to, England? Why are you here so late on a Friday night?’ Kyle perched on the corner of her desk, filling the space all around her as he seemed to do whenever he came into a room.

  ‘I’ve got a lovely home, thank you. I’m finishing a few things up here the
n I’m heading back there for a thrilling night of box sets and pizza.’

  ‘What?’ Kyle threw his arms up with a look of horror on his face. ‘Your first Friday night in the city and you’re staying in? This can’t happen. Come on, turn off the computer and we’ll head out. There’s this amazing Italian that does the best meatballs in the world. We can eat there then go onto this awesome bar—’

  ‘I wasn’t angling for a pity invite. I’m honestly fine. I’m still a bit jet-lagged and I have a ton of things I need to do,’ Abbie interrupted, tripping over her words as she felt flustered.

  ‘Garbage. What do you need to do on a Friday night that can’t wait until Monday? I said I’d show you around the city and I meant it. There’s nothing pitiful about it. You’re new to town, hell, you’re new to the country, and it’s not that much of a hardship to spend time with a bright, beautiful woman, you know.’

  Kyle’s eyes twinkled as he delivered this last line and Abbie remembered Kitty’s warning that he was a man who liked to, for want of a better phrase, sow his wild oats. She had been wavering on saying yes. She hadn’t explored and felt a bit silly at the thought of going into restaurants and bars on her own, but getting into a situation with a guy like Kyle was not the way to go about building a lasting career at the club or finding friends for the long-term. And it went without saying that heartbreak was as far down the list of ‘things to do’ as it could possibly be.

  ‘Really, I’m so tired I couldn’t.’ She looked down at her lap as she spoke, nervous to meet his eye.

  ‘Shoot, sorry, England, I wasn’t throwing you a line there. I genuinely want to show you around, no funny business. How about it?’

  He seemed such a nice guy, but she knew that type.

  ‘I promise you I’m not giving excuses. I wouldn’t even be able to stay awake for the meatballs. Let me get on this time zone a bit more, then maybe I’ll feel more like getting my social life on track. Is that okay?’

  She felt a pang of regret at turning him down but she knew it was better this way. She could think of some better excuses in case he asked again. Not that she assumed he would. From the sound of it, he’d have someone else to take out for the world’s best meatballs before her jet lag had managed to leave her be.