Page 22 of Playing the Field
I tell him about our plan to hold a rounders game on Saturday.
‘That’s exactly the kind of thing,’ he says. ‘Honestly, so much of it is about developing that team mentality. If you haven’t got that, you’ll really struggle to succeed.’
‘Is Bailey okay about you being here?’ Cassie asks, the first words she’s said to him.
I follow her eyeline and see Bailey making his way towards us, with Levi and Scott not far behind him.
‘Yeah, he knows I’m here to help, not to try and steal the limelight,’ Ben assures her. ‘And he’s more than used to me giving him footballing tips.’
She nods curtly and I’m glad he doesn’t seem too put out by her standoffishness. It’s no worse than I expected and at least I had the chance to warn him.
I turn to welcome the trio of players, and I swear Scott and Levi pull themselves up to their fullest height as I introduce them to Ben, which convinces me we made the right choice bringing him here. Even if all his presence does is make each of our players step up a gear, it was worth pushing Cassie to agree to it.
Elliot, Jacob and Adio are next to arrive and they jostle each other like excited schoolkids when they first clock Ben. There’s no denying he comes with kudos, despite his suspension. He’s one of the top goal scorers in the Premier League this year. He’s achieved what they barely dare dream of.
Of all the players, it’s only Craig who doesn’t react enthusiastically. Instead he regards Ben with a cool expression, back stiff, as if he sees him as a threat. Ben either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. I imagine he’s come up against this kind of machismo plenty of times during his career. But as he’s taller than Craig– and in fact all the players except Elliot– Craig will have to look up to him physically, even if he doesn’t metaphorically.
Bob and Dad arrive just in time for the warm-up, having stopped off to pick up some agility training rings and hurdles for Cassie from the sports superstore just outside Hamcott. Both thankfully hide any scepticism they might still be harbouring as they shake Ben’s hand and welcome him.
Barbour and his two sons put in an appearance not long after that. His youngest, Nathan, is apparently desperate to meet Ben, so he can tell his friends at school, and Barbour has brought folding chairs so they can sit and watch the team training and say hello at the end.
Ben encourages Cassie to run the session just like she did on Tuesday, proposing that while she organises the players, he’ll move among them and flag up anything he thinks they could be doing better. And from this set-up, Adio gets to learn how he can make his crosses more accurate and Nico gets some tips on how to best avoid injury from a wayward tackle.
From where I’m standing, Ben appears to slot in as if he was always meant to be there. I think even Cassie starts thawing towards him when she sees the positive effect he’s having.
But the real turning point comes after a misjudged ball from Ben himself flies straight towards Barbour and his sons, catching Nathan smack bang on the side of the head. It almost knocks him off his chair.
As Cassie and I race over to check on him, out of the corner of my eye I notice Ben sprinting in completely the opposite direction– towards the exit– at full pelt, and my heart sinks. Just when he was starting to look like an asset for our team, he turns out to be nothing but a coward. I feel slightly sick at the thought of how hard I fought to have him here and how easily I was taken in by him.
But seconds later he reappears at the gate and comes hurtling towards us until he’s kneeling in front of Nathan, who is thankfully shaken but not hurt. He ignores the furious glare Barbour is throwing his way and apologises to Nathan, who nods solemnly when Ben asks if he thinks he’s going to be okay.
‘Do you know what makes me feel better when I’m hurting?’ he asks, to which Nathan shakes his head.
‘Haribo,’ Ben says, producing a packet from his pocket, which makes the little boy’s eyes light up. ‘I always keep some in my car for moments like these,’ he explains.
And I think all our hearts melt a little when Nathan shyly accepts the bag of sweets from him. It does make me feel guilty for jumping to the wrong conclusion so quickly.
‘And do you know what else I think might help you feel better?’ Ben says, beckoning for me to pass him the offending ball. He retrieves a marker pen from his other pocket and scribbles his signature in big letters across the surface.
‘This is for you,’ he tells Nathan, whose eyes are now wide. ‘You can tell all your friends at school about the time you got splatted by Ben Pryce from Millford City. That sound like fun?’
Nathan nods furiously and looks up at his dad, who by this point is thankfully looking less like he wants to murder Ben.
‘Say thank you,’ Barbour says.
‘Thank you,’ Nathan repeats dutifully.
Ben gets back to his feet and ruffles Nathan’s hair. ‘All right, then we should probably get back to training. Turns out even I need to work on my passes. I’ll buy you a new ball,’ he promises Cassie as they turn back to where the rest of the team are waiting.
‘I should hope so,’ she says. But there’s a lightness in her voice that wasn’t there previously.
‘Maybe he’s not such a bad fella after all,’ Barbour says to me, looking down at Nathan, who’s now chewing a gummy bear and clutching the ball in his lap.
‘Maybe not,’ I agree, back to wondering if there’s more to him than people give him credit for. And when the session wraps up, Barbour even shakes Ben’s hand.
‘So, same time and place next week?’ Ben asks Cassie as he helps stack up the cones. I watch her body freeze. This was, of course, sold to her as a one-off.
‘Give us two minutes for a quick confab, would you?’ Dad says, beckoning me over to join them.
