could have happened. With her around he’d have less chance to think about Amber. Less chance to think about what he’d lost. Instead he could focus on what he had now, and that didn’t just include his career being back on track. It also included a beautiful young woman he should be happy to have by his side.
Maybe it really was time for Ryan Fisher to start thinking about settling down. With Ellen? That wasn’t something he wanted to think about just yet. He just knew that over the past couple of months he’d finally started to become the man he really wanted to be, and he also knew that if he tried really hard he could deal with his feelings for Amber. He just had to be stronger, and he could do it. He could. He could do it. He had no other choice.
‘You look different,’ Ronnie said, leaning back against the bar. ‘I meant to tell you that earlier, over lunch. But you do. You look different.’
‘Different, how?’ Amber laughed, taking a small sip of cava.
‘Well – and don’t smack me for saying this, because I know what you’re like – but, for starters, you look like you’ve lost a bit of weight, which I’m assuming is down to all the sex you’re having.’ He grinned at her, sticking his hands in his pockets and throwing her a wink.
Amber couldn’t help smiling, looking at her best friend out the corner of her eye. ‘Yeah,’ she said dryly. ‘That’ll be it. Is that all?’
Ronnie watched as the large group of footballers that had taken over the greater part of the restaurant for the night laughed and joked with each other in a less than subtle manner, shouting loudly before being told to keep it down by Colin, whose booming Glaswegian voice was far louder on its own than the whole squad’s put together. ‘You just seem, different.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know… more confident… no, that’s not true, because you’ve always been confident. It just seems as though you marrying Jim – it seems as though marrying him has changed you, somehow.’
She looked straight at him, narrowing her eyes. ‘In a good way? Or are you about to accuse my new husband of changing my entire personality?’
‘No, Amber, that’s not what I’m saying…’ Ronnie pushed a hand through his hair, wishing he hadn’t started this conversation now. She did seem different to the last time he’d seen her, which had been at his wedding only a matter of weeks ago, but he just couldn’t seem to explain what he meant by that. Yes, she had lost weight, or maybe she’d just toned up a bit more. Not that she’d been big in the first place, but the change in that respect was quite noticeable. Her hair was the same – she’d decided to keep that dark red colour which suited her so well – long and layered, falling in loose waves down her back. But there was something about her that felt like the Amber he’d once known – well, she wasn’t quite there anymore.
‘What are you trying to say, then?’ Amber asked, taking another sip of cava, her eyes not leaving his.
Ronnie watched as she sipped her drink, her nude-coloured lips leaving a small mark on the side of her glass. She really was an exceptionally beautiful woman, and maybe that’s what he was trying to say. Maybe that’s what had changed about her – she’d always been beautiful, yes, but somehow, after all the events of the last few months, despite all the crap that had happened, throughout all of that she’d only grown even more stunning. So much so that he had to look away for a second. Was this what marriage had done to her? Had Jim Allen managed to finally bring something out in her that made her realise just how beautiful she really was? Because Ronnie had never been altogether sure that Amber had ever known that.
‘Ronnie?’ Amber asked, touching his arm gently. ‘You all right?’
He slowly turned back round to face her, pushing a hand though his hair again. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I think I just sat out in the sun a bit too long this afternoon.’
She reached out and stroked his cheek with her fingertips, smiling at him. ‘You feel a bit hot, actually. You need to pace yourself, mister. Don’t want you flaking out on me, you’re supposed to be helping me through my first proper work assignment. Not sure how it’s going so far and I’m bricking it here, wondering if I’m doing okay.’
Ronnie laughed as a glimmer of the old Amber reappeared. He gently placed his hand over hers, bringing it to his lips and kissing it quickly. ‘You’re doing great, kiddo. You’re gonna be one hell of a hit, I know you are. We’ll have men tuning in just to watch you, and fuck the football.’
She laughed, too, pulling her hand away from his and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, looking down into her drink. ‘Yeah, well, I’d quite like to be taken seriously, Ronnie. I don’t just want to be seen as some sort of bimbo-style presenter, only there to get the viewers in. I want to be good at what I do.’
‘You are good at what you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have got this job, I promise you that. I know the way they work over there at Cloud Sports. They don’t just employ anyone.’
‘They employed you, didn’t they?’ She smirked, taking another sip of cava.
‘Yeah. You’re funny. You adding comedian to your list of talents now, are you?’
She stuck her tongue out at him and he pulled a face, making her laugh out loud.
‘Anyway,’ Ronnie continued, ‘… the fact you’re beautiful is a bonus, of course it is…’
She looked at him, right at him, her eyes boring deep into his, and Ronnie had to swallow hard before he spoke again.
‘It’s a bonus, Amber. That’s all. But you’ve got to start realising just how beautiful you really are, kiddo. You have to start realising that, because you are. You really are beautiful.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I say so.’
Amber smiled, planting a light kiss on his cheek. ‘Get the drinks in, okay? I’ll be back in a minute.’
Jim stood at the back of the restaurant and watched, his hands in his pockets, his expression stoic. He watched as Ronnie White smiled at his wife; his wife. He watched as he said something then turned away from her, watched as he looked at her again, watched as she reached out and stroked his cheek before Ronnie took her hand and kissed it, and all the while Jim felt a pull in the pit of his stomach that he knew he’d have to get under control. She was with him now. She was finally his; she’d married him, for God’s sake! How much more connected to him could she be? And Ronnie White was no threat. Those two had been friends for over a decade now, they were bound to be close. Okay, so they’d once been a couple, but that had been years ago. They were friends. That was all.
Looking down at the ground for a second, he quickly composed himself before taking another look across at the bar, but Amber had gone, and Ronnie was now talking to one of the Red Star players. Jim looked around the restaurant, trying to find Amber, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. He made a mental note not to let her out of his sight again for the rest of the evening. Looking the way she did right now, with that crazy red hair and those long, tanned legs of hers in that short yellow dress she was wearing, she was bound to attract attention, and he wasn’t altogether sure how he felt about that.
He turned around as Ryan walked past, his head down, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans.
‘You all right?’ Jim asked, fixing his young striker with a look that told him he expected an answer, and not just the usual grunt or shrug that was sometimes thrown his way whenever he spoke to Ryan Fisher. Yes, he understood that things were complicated, given the kid’s past relationship with Amber, but he was still his boss, and that demanded a certain level of respect, no matter what.
Ryan stopped walking and turned to face Jim, although the manner in which he did so came across as slightly begrudging. ‘I’m fine. Why?’
‘You don’t look fine. You look distracted.’
‘Listen, boss, no disrespect or anything, but we’re not at work now, are we? We’re on a night out…’