Page 35 of The Alternate Captain
“Airport? Which one?”
“Heathrow. I’m flying back home for a few weeks.”
Her admission takes me by surprise. I never thought she’d be planning on flying back to Canada this soon after the season ends. I’m running it over in my head when Vicky prompts me for an answer.
“What time is your flight? Because I’ve got an appointment at ten.”
“Oh, shit. No worries. I’ll see if someone else can.”
“Have you booked your ticket yet?” I ask.
“Yeah, look, I need to go,” she says.
The line goes dead.
But I can’t worry about Vicky right now. I’m confused as I return to the café. Maybe I can catch Kelly before...
“Where the hell have you been?” Prez comes into view, and I halt. “Is Bettsy okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. Sorry—got a bit carried away, then Vicky called me.”
“Yeah, no worries. We’re just heading out since we can’t do much more here. Fancy a few drinks back in the hotel? Bettsy wouldn’t want us wallowing here when we’re playoff champions.”
I’m compelled to agree. When we make it back to the hotel, I get the guys a round of drinks and force myself to be in a better mood than I actually am. Of course, Prez sees through it straight away, but knows better than to ask me in front of the rest of theteam. In fact, I think I do a pretty good job of faking it until someone mentions their plans for the off-season and my heart weighs heavy in my chest.
The off-season.
They say everything bad comes in threes and there is the third thing. First Bettsy, then Kelly, then the harsh reality of months stretched out ahead of me which veer me away from my routine.
“Bettsy’s supposed to be coming to work with me and my dad on site,” Danny says. “What about you, Johnny? Are you going home?”
“I am home,” I say, draining my beer. Despite my birthplace being Canada, I feel more at home here than I ever did there. “But I am going with Scottsy to help him settle in before Ffordey and I hit the golf course.”
“Ah, of course. Well, if you’re looking for work, we always need extra muscle,” Danny says.
But my mood deflates even further when Prez says that he’s got Jenna tickets to the Senator’s playoff games. He called me out earlier in the season for being jealous and it hasn’t gone away. It’s the whole reason I resulted to downloading an app to meet someone. And I met a few people, but none of them held my attention like Kelly.
My low mood continues through the night, and even when I’m sitting opposite Justine, my therapist, the following morning, I’m simmering, ready to burst into flames.
4 Months Later
My nerves are offthe chart as we pull up outside Bettsy’s family home, a large detached new-build off the motorway near his hometown.
Ffordey and I returned from France yesterday, and Bettsy thought it’d be nice to have a barbecue this evening before we drive him back to the city tomorrow.
“I’m starving. I hope there’s not a long wait for food,” Ffordey says as we climb out of my car. The smell of a freshly lit grill wafts through the air, then the front door flings open.
“Thank fuck you guys are here,” Bettsy says, running out of the house like a dog who’s been home alone all day. He pulls me into a hug and pats heavily on my back. “I’m so glad you could make it. I’m going insane here.”
“How’s your summer been?” Ffordey asks.
“Shit. Please tell me all your golfing stories because I need to live vicariously through you.”
We spent three weeks touring Southern France before settling on a golf course for a week. And it’s been great. Except, it hasn’t been great, either. I’ve had too much time to think about Kelly. And since there’s every chance I could bump into her today, the anxiety is almost too much to bear.
“It was pretty uneventful,” I say. “But Ffordey and I had a blast.”
He’s my favourite travel companion. He doesn’t make idle conversation, and he doesn’t procrastinate with plans. I say ten, and he’s ready five minutes before. He’s perfect.
