Page 13 of Always on My Mind

“No, why?”

“A year and a half.”

Jamie blinked, taken aback. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. And believe me, they danced around each other with their flirting and blushing for at least six months before becoming official. It was nauseating.”

Jamie chuckled, but her mind was filled with questions. How did no one know? Neriah Price was a well-known figure with the US Women’s National team. If she was dating someone, especially for that long, it would have been in the press.

Rebecca continued. “But Eliana’s parents are devout Catholics, so they keep it low-key.”

Jamie watched Neriah and Eliana share a kiss and a high five as they prepared to head out to the practice pitch. Rebecca put her hand on Jamie’s shoulder, drawing her attention again.

“Nothing from this dressing room ends up on Google.”

Jamie nodded, but didn’t have words to reply. Her throat was suddenly tight.

“See you on the pitch,” Rebecca said, and left the office.

Jamie lingered only a moment longer before following her out.

After warm-ups, they ran some passing drills. Jamie found easy chemistry with Niamh and Zahra, which surprised her since they were all new to each other. But scatterbrained as Zahra seemed in the dressing room, she was focused on the pitch—accurate and alert. She helped Niamh and Jamie find a rhythm with the squad with the grace of an orchestra conductor. It was especially impressive given she was only twenty-two years old. Six years younger than Jamie.

When they played first team against second team, Jamie’s nerves were all but gone. She inhaled deeply and grounded herself in the moment. This was where she was at her best. With acres of green in front of her and the ball at her feet. In the first thirty seconds, she passed a ball through to Monika, who dropped a shoulder to avoid her defender and took a shot. The ball rocketed into the back of the net. Monika ran over and gave Jamie a high five, smiling at her for the first time.

“I think we will keep you,” she joked.

Jamie laughed. And realized she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed at training. Monika elbowed her playfullyand jogged back out to restart. Jamie followed, feeling lighter than she had in years.

After training, once everyone was showered and dressed, Niamh stood up on the bench.

“Attention please, girls!” she shouted.

The room went quiet, and they all watched her.

“Thank you. Now, I wanted to let you know that you’re all invited to a housewarming party my flatmate and I are hosting. She’s a sweet girl, I think you’ll all love her. It’s this Saturday night, and the theme is the Spice Girls. How about it?”

The team exchanged surprised looks before collectively agreeing and pulling Niamh down into their arms. They created a group chat where she could send the details for time and place and what they all might bring.

“One note on the theme,” Niamh said. “You can’t all be Sporty Spice, so you’ll have to work it out amongst yourselves who gets to—”

She hardly had the words out before she was inundated with complaints. Even as they bickered with each other, there was laughter and smiles. Jamie was already planning her Posh Spice outfit.

Chapter 4

“Ugh, Itoldthem they couldn’t all be Sporty Spice,” Niamh said with a groan.

Tessa chuckled. “S’alright. It’s still less than I expected.”

A solid half of the women showed up as Sporty Spice, the other half divided pretty equally among Scary, Baby, Ginger, and Posh. They had the flat rammed, but luckily, Tessa and Niamh had thought ahead enough to stow the living room furniture in their bedrooms for the evening to clear enough space for mingling. Though there was more dancing than mingling when “Who Do You Think You Are” came on over the speakers, and a couple girls went into a full-on karaoke performance. With choreography and everything.

“Did they rehearse that?” Tessa asked.

“No idea,” Niamh replied through a laugh.

A knock on the door drew them over to answer, and Niamh introduced Tessa to the new arrivals.

“Tessa, these are more of the girls, Salma, Kiri, and Paige.”

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