Page 67 of Match Point

‘Not bad,’ he comments.

‘A top-notch cuisine,’ I say, already sawing away with the spoon to split the next strawberry.

I hold out the bowl to him again and he grins, gratefully taking his half and plopping it in his mouth while turning to watch the match being shown on the screen. For the next few minutes, we sit together watching the tennis, polishing off the bowl of strawberries. When they’re done, I put the bowl to the side on the grass, and he stretches his legs out in front of him and leans back on his hands.

‘This is it, isn’t it,’ he sighs wistfully. ‘This is what they mean.’

‘Who?’

‘When people talk about Wimbledon, this is it,’ he explains, his eyes fixed ahead on the screen. ‘Sitting in the sunshine, eating strawberries, watching tennis.’ He turns to look at me. ‘It’s perfect.’

I rest back on my hands too, stretching my legs out next to his. This playsuit has a cut-out detail below the tie knot that sits in between my cleavage and I notice him glance at the skin of my stomach on show, making me blush.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘It is.’

He smiles at me and then goes back to watching the screen. A few moments later, I feel his fingers brush over my hand, before he interlaces his fingers through mine. My breath catches and my heart swells in my chest, my skin tingling at his touch. I keep staring ahead, just like him. Neither of us say anything. We don’t need to.

*

‘There you are!’ Neil exclaims, appearing in our pathway as we make our way down the steps next to Murray Mound. ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere, Kieran. You don’t answer your phone now?’

‘Neil, have you ever had the strawberries and cream here?’ Kieran asks breezily, unfazed by the sharpness in his coach’s tone. ‘They’re delicious.’

Neil stares at him in disbelief. ‘What are you talking about strawberries for? I’ve been trying to reach you. We had a post-match press conference, remember?’

‘Slipped my mind.’ Kieran shrugs, continuing to go down the stairs, ignoring the glances he’s receiving from people he passes along the way as he’s recognised.

I slow my pace, walking a step behind him. He didn’t say anything to me about missing a press conference whilst we were just lounging on the grass doing nothing. My stomach knots at Neil’s murderous expression.

I have an idea that I’ll be the one fielding the blame for this mishap in his eyes.

‘You can’t do that, Kieran, it’s not a good look,’ Neil hisses, falling into step with him.

‘I don’t care how it looks. I’m here to play tennis, not win over the press.’

Neil sighs, getting out his phone. ‘Yeah, I think they got the message. Nicole is concerned that your image is going to go from bad to worse if you keep up this attitude. We’ve said that you missed the conference due to concern about injury and you had to rush to the physio. We’ll have to do some damage control at the drinks tonight. You can give some quotes to the reporters or something.’

Kieran stops in the middle of the pathway to address Neil. ‘I’m not going tonight.’

Halting abruptly, Neil blinks up at him. ‘What do you mean? You’ve been invited to drinks at the club with the members tonight. You have to go.’

‘I can’t. I’m busy.’

‘Doing what?’

Kieran turns to me. Having stopped behind him, I’ve been pretending to look around at all the other people milling about as though I’m not listening to every word of the conversation.

‘Flossie, do you want to go for a drink tonight?’ he asks. ‘We could go somewhere in the village. The Dog and Fox maybe?’

My mouth drops in surprise. ‘Uh. Well, yeah, but only if you’re not needed somewhere else.’

‘I’m not,’ he tells me. He turns back to Neil. ‘I’m busy having a drink with Flossie at the Dog and Fox tonight.’

‘Kieran,’ Neil begins, his voice low and urgent, ‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’

‘I think it’s a great idea,’ Kieran counters. ‘Tonight is not important, Neil, and after a long day, I don’t want to have to wear a tie and make polite conversation with a bunch of people I don’t know. I promise I’ll be at the All England Club chairman’s big fancy do for the players tomorrow, okay? I’ve got my tux ready and everything.’

Neil takes a moment to respond, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the ground, shaking his head. I glance up at Kieran nervously, but his mouth remains straight and serious. Neil eventually lifts his eyes up to him.

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