Page 36 of Begin Again Again

“Hey, Josh.”

“Ready to go on?”

Nerves spiderwebbed through Beth’s body. “Someone else should probably go first…”

Josh gestured at her new teammates, all of whom were staring up at the sky or down at their phones. Beth smiled. “Okay, I’ll go.”

“Great. It’s good to jump right in, anyway. You okay on the wing?”

“Totally.”

She followed Josh onto the pitch, feeling a not unenjoyable panic. He was right. It was better to jump in, give herself less time to overthink things. She took her place on the time, standing across from a tiny chick in glasses. Unlike No Woman, No Try, their opposition, Scrum on My Face, didn’t have jerseys. They wore matching Hawaiian shirts with numbers spray-painted on the back. Beth had a feeling this game might be piss easy. The umpire raised an arm and blew the starting whistle. Beth ran forward and watched Josh toss the ball to a huge Maori dude—Clive? He strode ahead, scoring a try in under ten seconds. Daisy and the other girls on the sideline cheered.

Beth ran around for a bit, acquainting herself with the field and her new teammates. She tagged glasses girl as soon as she got the ball, then subbed off. It was early days; she didn’t want to hog game time.

“Nice work,” Daisy said as she ran over to join the rest of the team. “Take a seat.”

But Beth could never sit during games. She paced the boundary line watching the play. The guys on the team ran in most of the tries, but the girls were great too. Beth nodded toward a speedy brunette. “She’s amazing,” she said to Daisy.

“Shelley? Yeah, she plays WAFL. Like, women’s football.” Daisy petted Oliver the poodle’s curly head. “Josh’s good too, but he’s such a show-off.”

Beth thought if anyone was in danger of being a show-off it was her fiancé, but that came with the territory. Touch leagues were always littered with wannabe rugby pros, trying to run in every try and dispute every call.

A tall redhead ran off the pitch panting. “Girl! Girl sub!”

“Do you want a turn?” Beth asked Daisy.

“God no,” she said picking up Oliver. “You go.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a turn?”

The redhead laughed. “Dais never goes on if she can avoid it. Nice to have another ginger on side, by the way.”

Grinning, Beth headed for her spot on the wing, but Josh waved her over to the middle of the pitch.

“You’re up, new girl,” he said, placing the ball on the halfway line. “Ready to run?”

“Sure thing.”

Beth tapped the ball with her foot and picked it up. She jogged forward and a guy with a ponytail sprinted toward her, lazily preparing to touch. She considered letting him, then ducked to the side, sprinting forward. Cheers exploded from the NWNT side of the pitch.

“Run, girl!” yelled Daisy.

So, Beth ran. She made it halfway to the try line before a bald guy closed in on her. She turned and saw Luke running behind her. She tossed the ball to him. It arced through the air like a torpedo and bounced right off his chest and onto the ground.

“Nooo!” Daisy called. “Bad luck, babe!”

Scrum on My Face cheered and moved to take possession. Luke’s face was as dark as thunder.

“Bad luck,” Beth said, panting as they ran to form the defence line. Luke studied her flatly then turned away.

Her chest pulled tight, and she thought of Derek Hardiman glaring at her in the dark. She hated when men sulked, making their problem everyone’s problem. Being mean for no goddamn reason.

You can’t read minds, she reminded herself.Don’t look for reasons to be upset.

“Not bad, new girl,” Josh called.

Relieved, Beth smiled at him. “Sorry I didn’t get a try.”

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