Page 30 of Always on My Mind

One of the things Jamie learned about Stanmore when she researched was that their facilities were all close together. The main stadium, the Hive, served as the stage for all the matches. But beside it were three other pitches. One for the professional men’s team to train, one for the academy and women’s team to train, and one for the women’s team and academy to play their matches. It had about a quarter of the seating capacity of theHive. The four clustered together gave the appearance of a hive or wasp nest, which was how the facilities got its name. The academy training pitch was on the other side of the stadium from the men’s training pitch.

“A jog, indeed,” Rebecca said with a sigh. “Way to find the positive, Monika.”

“Does he seriously think this will make the public forget about him paying for sex?” Paige questioned. “I mean, it’s a performative gesture. Not that sex work should even be criminalized or carry a stigma, but—”

“I can’t explain the inner workings of Ray Rogers’ mind,” Rebecca said. “Apparently, there was also an incident at the end of the 22/23 season with a female employee getting assaulted at the club. He thinks that showing the women’s team this kind of ‘support’ will give himself and the club a better image.”

Jamie remembered reading that too. Stanmore’s head lawyer had attacked a legal assistant when she discovered that he had been hacking players’ personal emails to prevent certain players from being traded. The lawyer was fired, but the legal assistant still left the club, though not without pressing charges against the lawyer. The club put their full support behind the legal assistant, publicly stating they worked with law enforcement and had offered to let her keep her job. That statement was one of the reasons Jamie chose Stanmore. They protected their people.

She held back a shudder as the memories of Manchester City crept up on her. She couldn’t think about that now. It was behind her. She had moved on.

“The thing to keep in mind is the positives,” Rebecca went on. “They will want to fill the seats if we’re playing at the Hive, so we’ll get more marketing and exposure. It’ll be a boost to our spirits throughout the season. Because make no mistake, the season will be tough with us newly promoted.”

Jamie had not played professionally in a league lower than the WSL. And she and Niamh were newcomers to a team who had worked hard to get to that level. She hadn’t known these women long, but she was determined not to let them down.

“The Lionesses filling Wembley for the women’s Euro final was only the beginning,” Rebecca said. “With the support we’re getting from the highest level here at Stanmore, we can get people regularly and genuinely interested in women’s football. So let’s go out there and show them that this isn’t being gifted to us. We earned it.”

They nodded, smiles appearing on their faces as they readied themselves for the next challenge.

Monika led the team in the jog across the grounds to the men’s training pitch. It had about as much seating as the academy match day pitch, but it wasn’t risers, it had individual seating. Similar to the ones at the Hive. Five rows of them. On the practice pitch they shared with the academy, the women only had two rows. Jamie watched the frowns form on her teammates’ faces as they took it all in.

“What the fuck are they doing here?”

All eyes turned to the source of the question, a forward from the men’s team named Peter O’Riley. He ran a hand through his auburn curls as he glanced frantically between their manager, Donny Warren, and the approaching women. Who came to a stop at his accusatory glare.

Coach Warren, a stocky, sweet man, heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you’d been on time, O’Riley, you would’ve heard the announcement. The women’s team is training with us until further notice.”

O’Riley’s jaw dropped, and he cast a furious glare around at his teammates, as if hoping they might contradict their manager and say it was a joke. When no one moved, he scowled at the women.

“No fucking way,” he said.

“Get over yourself, O’Riley,” their goalkeeper and captain, Jordan Frawley said in his thick Scottish accent. He stood almost a head taller than the rest of the team, though Jamie thought Eliana could give him a run for his money. The outline of a ring hanging on a chain around his neck protruded through his shirt. He faced the women with a friendly smirk. “Alright, lads, let’s make them feel welcome.”

Jordan led the way, and the rest of the team—sans O’Riley—followed him. Monika ushered the women forward to meet them halfway. Jamie clasped hands first with a Colombian national, Hector Rizo, who greeted her with a warm smile and a kind “Bienvenido.”

“Thank you,” Jamie replied.

He nodded and moved to Zahra next, who did not extend her hand, but placed it over her heart instead and offered a humble nod. Hector didn’t miss a beat, mirroring her even as a flush came over his dark skin as he looked at her face. His teammate and Egyptian national, Osahar Shadid, leaned over and whispered something in Hector’s ear. Hector grinned and, eyes still on Zahra, said “Marhaba.”

Zahra beamed when she answered with, “Gracias.”

Jamie held back a laugh as the pair continued to stare at one another. Osahar greeted Jamie with a knowing smirk.

“Do you think it’s love at first sight?” he joked.

“If there are any skeptics about the concept, they are surely believers now,” Jamie said.

Osahar chuckled. “Welcome. Don’t let Peter deceive you, most of us are fine with you all being here.”

“Thanks very much,” she replied.

It turned out Osahar was right. All the men but O’Riley were perfectly friendly as the managers lined them up for drills. Jamie paired up with Zahra for a passing drill, but noticed the latter’seyes kept drifting over to where Hector was paired with Artem, a Ukrainian midfielder. Jamie didn’t have it in her heart to even tease Zahra, not when she knew how it felt to be drawn to someone so strongly and so quickly. It was how she had felt about Tessa. It was still how she felt about Tessa. In fact, it almost reminded her of her dream about Verity and Abigail. Whatever that meant.

Chapter 10

“Come on, Tessa, please,” Niamh begged, forcing her bottom lip into a pout. “You’ll really be helping out the club. And it’s only part-time. You’ll still be able to work at the magazine.”

Tessa heaved a sigh. The last thing she wanted was a part-time job that put her in Jamie’s vicinity. But theLondon Pursuithad been giving her fewer assignments, and her bank account was reaching a point where she wasn’t sure she could afford her next trip to Tesco. But Jamie. . .

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