REBECCA HAD BEEN STARING AT HER PHONE FOR THE LAST 48 HOURS. The Bantr guy had asked her to meet up, and she kept typing out answers but then never sending them. The poor guy must be dying. Willie and Keeley were sitting on the couch in her office and watching as she deleted yet another response. "Oh, my God. Just answer him. It's been two days."

"I don't know what to say," the Welton woman responded.

"How about the truth?" Higgins offered, and they all looked up at him to see what he wanted her to say. "'I'd love to meet up, but I'm worried that you can't live up to the fantasy I've created in my head. So I'm going to let my insecurities keep me from possibly finding my one true love.'"

They stared at him for a second because of his deep answer, but then Rebecca just turned back to the women. "His favorite film is Ratatouille. That's worrying, right?"

"Who fucking cares what his favorite movie is? Also, Ratatouille is a damn masterpiece," Willie told her. Ratatouille was definitely one of the best Disney movies. "It's about a rat that cooks really good food. What more could you want?"

"Ironically, it's also about snobbery and how good art can come from anywhere. Stop your dithering and go fuck your cartoon rat," Keeley added, causing the Carlisle woman to giggle, the image looking really silly in her head. Then, she realized that she should not be thinking about people having intercourse with a cartoon rat because that was disturbing.

The white-haired woman sighed, leaning back in the chair, which was a strange sight to see because she was usually sitting straight up. "All right. Well, what if we meet up and it all goes wrong? Hmm? I mean, everything always goes wrong. All relationships are a nightmare."

"My relationship is the oxygen that gives me life," Higgins informed them, and Willie smiled because that was really sweet. Then, it made her think about whether Alex would say that about her. He probably wouldn't, but that was just because he didn't like cheesy things like that.

"Apart from Leslie's marriage, which is a bloody greeting card of some kind," Rebecca groaned. She gestured at the two women that were also in relationships. "And you and Alex seemed to be happy. And you and Roy are just aggravatingly perfect in every way."

"Oh, thank you," Keeley responded with a grin, but it sounded really fake. They both shot her a look. "I don't know. It was definitely easier when we didn't work together. Hmm. I just feel like we're around each other all the time. Wherever I go, he's my shadow. My adorably hairy shadow, but..." she trailed off when Higgins started jazz scatting, and Rebecca and Willie tried to cover up what she was saying because said shadow had just walked in.

Roy stared at all of them for a moment each with a slightly confused expression, wondering what the hell was going on. "What's going on? Why are you jazz scatting? Were you talking about me?" The silence was the only answer he needed. "Oh, big whoop. You ready to go?"

"Yeah," the blonde answered, and she stood up. The two of them headed out the door.

Willie was plotting how she could steal Rebecca's phone and answer the Bantr man without her beating her up because the Welton woman could definitely bea her to a pulp. However, her scheming was interrupted by a knock on the door. She looked up to see Colin poking his head out nervously. "Hey, sorry to bother you guys, but, Willie, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah," she responded. "Answer him," she told Rebecca before following the Hughes man out the door.

They made it down the hall and into her office before he actually said something. He seemed really nervous about whatever he was going to say, and he was picking at his fingernails. "Did I do something to Nate?"

"Not that I know of, why?" she questioned, confused. She did not really talk to Nate all that much, but she had not witnessed or heard anything that the man could be mad about. Well, there were the times that Colin and Isaac bullied him because of Jamie, but that was forever ago. All of the guys adored Nate now.

He shrugged, and she wanted to hug him because he looked like he was about to cry. "He just gets so mad at me during training, and then I went to talk to him today, and he told me I do the job."

"What?" she replied, wondering what the hell that meant.

"He said that I was a painting at an inn, that I don't inspire people," Colin explained, and her jaw dropped. Nate was so sweet, at least he used to be. Why the hell would he say that? "I just hang there and do the job."

Who the hell did Nate think he was? Just because he was a Coach, that did not mean that that gave him the right to put people down like that. He was supposed to be encouraging the players, not breaking their spirits. Willie used to play volleyball, and she did her worst when she was playing for the coach that made her hate the game. "He did not say that. Colin, you inspire me every day. Remember the mantra, okay? You are a strong and capable man."

"I am a strong and capable man," he repeated back to her, and that made him smile a little bit, giving him some confidence.

"Yeah, you are," she confirmed with a laugh, and she was really ready to go down to Nate's office and tell him off for talking to her best friend like that. However, she was not going to do that unless Colin wanted it. "Do you want me to talk to Nate?"

He shook his head. "No, getting other people to fight the bully for you only ever makes it worse."

"Okay, well, I love you," she told him, and she pulled him in and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He embraced her back, and she whispered in his ear, "You got this."

《❂》

"DID WE TRY THE BOOT ROOM?" WILLIE QUESTIONED. She, Rebecca, and Higgins were looking for Keeley, and that was the room that the women always hung out and smoked. Willie never smoked, but she hung out and gossiped with them.

"Oh, good idea!" They headed down and pushed open the door to see Keeley sitting and smoking and Ted standing with her. Rebecca smiled and made her way to sit next to the Jones woman while Willie leaned against the wall by Ted. "We knew you'd be in here. This is the room where Keeley, Willie, and I decided that smoking doesn't count."

Keeley nodded, and she sighed because smoking was not the only reason she went down there. "I did also need some space."

"Space from what?" Willie questioned, but she had a pretty good idea that it had something to do with her 'adorable, hairy shadow' from that morning. She had noticed that Roy followed Keeley around like a lost puppy, and she thought it was cute. It must be different when you're experiencing it.

"Roy," Keeley groaned, taking her cigarette back from Rebecca. "He's sitting in my office reading Da Vinci Code. He keeps muttering on about the Knights Templar."

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and some whistling. Will walked in with two shoe boxes in his hands, but he froze when he saw the crowd of people. "Sorry, I just came to the boot room to get some... boots."

"Knock yourself out," Ted responded.

"Look, I think Roy is the cat's pajamas. I do. You all know that," Keeley told them as Will squeezed past them to get to the boots. Willie tried to make it easy for him, but the others did not really seem to care. "It's just sometimes I need a moment to myself, you know?"

Rebecca sighed, shaking her head at her friend because her complaints were completely reasonable. "Keeley, stop auditioning your complaints. Just tell the person who can actually do something about it."

"Well, I don't know, boss. Sometimes it's good to bottle things up. That's how we get, you know, pickles," Ted reminded them. Willie did love her some pickles. She did not understand non-pickle people. They were so delicious.

"And vodka."

"Extra virgin olive oil."

"And messages. In bottles."

"Oi, Will, do you think you could take me name off me shirt and then put it back on but bigger?" a Macnhester accent asked, and Jamie walked into the room with his jersey in his hand. He tilted his head in confusion when he saw the congregation. "The fuck?"

Will, who seemed extremely intimidated by every single person in the room, informed him, "They're talking about Roy."

"Grumpy old twat," Jamie muttered almost immediately, causing Willie to smile slightly. When he noticed the grin on his face, his lips turned upward slightly as well.

Ted raised his hands, and he shook his head at Jamie. If the guy wanted Roy to like him more, talking bad about him was just not the way to do it. "I agree with the grumpy part, but the other two words I take umbrage with."

"Roy is none of those things. He's perfect," the former model groaned, leaning her head back against the wall. "And I should know because I spend every minute of every second of every hour of every day with him, all right?"

"Just tell him—" Willie started, but she cut herself off immediately when the door opened once again.

Roy walked in, and they all stared at him with guilty looks that told him that they were talking about him again. He addressed his girlfriend, "Hi, babe. You talking about me?"

"Yes," they all chorused.

Jamie nodded because even though he had not been there for very long, he knew enough about what they were talking about. He confirmed, "Definitely."

"Ready to go?" Roy questioned, and Keeley nodded. The others decided that they should get back to their job, so they all left as well.
Willie did not know why, but she lingered for a moment. Jamie did as well, and there was a moment of silence before the Tartt man broke it. He raised his eyebrows at her, and asked awkwardly, "You come around here often?"

"No, I actually try to avoid that room as much as humanly possible," she answered. It smelled horrid in there, and she had only entered the room a dozen times. All of them had been with Rebecca and Keeley, and she honestly preferred the smell of the smoke to the smell of the boots.

"Right," he paused before asking the question that he had wanted to ask for a while. He just never knew how or when to bring it up. "You still dating that prick? Amy, or whatever his name is?"

She chuckled slightly before realizing that she should not be laughing at someone making fun of her boyfriend, but it was Jamie. "Alex, and he's not a prick. And yes, I'm still dating him."

"Such a shame," he sighed, shaking his head, and he leaned back against the shelves right across from her.

For some weird reason, her heartbeat began to speed up, and she wondered why it was such a shame. Did he not want her to have a boyfriend? Did he hate her, or was there some other reason? "And why is that?"

"You deserve better than a Man City fan," he sighed, shaking his head and remembering how much of an idiot Alex looked like when he showed up to a game that City was not even playing at with a Manchester jersey on.

She tilted her head at him, happening to remember the moment of time that he played for the team that he was speaking of and caused Richmond to get relegated. "Didn't you play for City?"

"Yeah, well, you deserve a lot better than me too," he responded, and Willie had not clue what to say to that. He had an unreadable expression on his face, and she had to take a deep breath to stop herself from saying anything that she'd regret.

"Thanks, Jamie, but I think you're taking yourself for granted," she informed him, and he watched closely as she headed toward the door. She opened it, and before she stepped out, she added, "Don't sell yourself short."