JAMIE WAS IN SOME KIND OF REALLY WEIRD SLUMP. He kept talking about teamwork, and he had just been really down. A couple asked him to take a picture with them, and he just took a picture of them. Someone tried to give him a high five, and he just walked through it so that he got hit in the face.

They needed him to be at the top of his game when they played Manchester City, and all of this happened while he was getting on the bus. He and the brunette girl were planning to go see his mother that night, so Willie was praying that doing that would help him. There were some problems that only your mom could fix.

For recent news, Jamie had done amazing when representing his country internationally, and Nate had officially quit his coaching job at West Ham United. No one knew why, but the brunette could guess that it had something to do with the fact that it was run by a bunch of corporate dickheads.

So, that night, she put on some jeans and sneakers with a nice sweatshirt before meeting Jamie in the lobby. He had told her to dress comfortably because it was a bit of a walk to his mom's house. They set off, and as they turned into the neighborhood that his mother lived in, they were confronted by a group of boys kicking a ball at a wall. "Are you Jamie Tartt?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, which then prompted them to start yelling curses and insults at him, saying that Manchester City was going to kick his ass tomorrow. He and Willie laughed before turning around and walking away as the kids continued to shout at them.

They approached a house, and Willie had to wipe her hands off on her jeans because they were getting clammy. She had been excited before, but she was starting to get more and more nervous the closer that they got to the house. Her heart was pounding by the time that he knocked on the door. It swung open, and a man smiled when he saw them. "Hey! Jamie!"

"How you doing, Simon? Uh, this is Willie," Jamie introduced, and reached forward to shake his hand. She hoped that he did not notice all of the sweat on it because that would be embarrassing. Her foot was tapping nervously against the paved porch as she pulled away, and Jamie put his hand over hers and squeezed it, letting her know that she did not need to be nervous. It calmed her down slightly, but she was still panicking.

"Come on in, come on in," the man told them, opening the door even further so that they could step inside. He called up the stairs, "Georgie, we've got visitors."

"What was that, love? Someone at the door?" came a voice, and as soon as they heard it, the brunette girl noticed a smile spread across her boyfriend's face as he headed over to the bottom of the stairs to wait for his mother to see him.

She appeared at the top, and her eyes widened as soon as she saw him. She screamed and ran down the stairs, diving toward him to give him a hug. Willie laughed at how sweet it was as he exclaimed, "Hello, Mummy!"

"Jamie! Oh, my God." Jamie picked her up and spun her around in the hug, and once he put her back down, she noticed the woman behind him. She immediately pushed her son away and made her way over to the woman. She examined her for a moment before embracing her excitedly. "Is this Willie? You are so gorgeous, dear!"

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Tartt," she responded, hugging the woman back. All of her nerves washed away at how nice the woman was, and she seemed genuinely happy that she was there. She was treating her like family instead of his son's girlfriend that tagged along and ruined family time.

Georgie waved her off as she pulled away, keeping one hand on the woman's shoulder. Simon came out of the kitchen where he had disappeared with a platter of muffins that looked and smelled delicious. The older woman insisted, "Oh, please. Call me Georgie. Jamie has told me so much about you!"

While Jamie and his mother spoke alone, Simon gave Willie a tour of the house, offering her about five muffins. She got to see Jamie's childhood room, and she snapped a picture of the poster that he had of Roy on his wall. It was really interesting to see where he grew up, and she understood him more having seen everything. When they went back downstairs, Jamie and his mother were hugging goodbye.

"Jamie, be a dear and give me a moment alone with Willie, please," Georgie told him. Willie shot him a panicked look because there was no way that that was good, but he just gave her a thumbs up before heading outside. The Tartt woman sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to her. "Don't be nervous, love. Have a seat. I have a good feeling about you."

"Thank you, Georgie," the Carlisle woman responded, and the woman smiled at her for using her first name, which was a good sign.

She leaned toward her son's girlfriend and leaned in slightly as they looked through the window where Jamie was waiting and making small talk with Simon. "Now, if Jamie ever breaks your heart, just let me know, and I'll kill him."

"Thanks, Georgie, but I don't think that's going to be a problem," Willie assured her, and she was flattered that his mom liked her enough already. However, she was pretty positive that Jamie was going to be around for a while because there was no way that she was letting him go just yet. She had never felt like that about anyone.

"I don't think so either," the eldest woman agreed, and a small smile made its way onto her face as she watched the girl who was staring at her son like he was the only man in the world that mattered. She knew that Willie was going to be around for a while, and she was completely okay with that. "You should see the way he talks about you. He's never talked about anyone like that."

Jamie noticed his girlfriend watching him, and he waved at her through the window with a grin. She laughed and did not take her eyes off of him as she breathed out, "He's pretty great isn't he?"

《❂》

IT WAS TIME FOR THE GAME, AND EVERYONE WAS ON EDGE. If Manchester City won that game, then they were guaranteed first place in the Premier League. However, if Richmond could beat them, that lowered their chances. "City can clinch the title with a win today. A loss makes things very interesting next week. We find out in 90 minutes."

Not even five minutes into the game, and they had already scored. Jamie had gotten the ball to Colin, who buried it in the net. The Hughes man had been playing incredible lately, really filling the hole that Zava left in their team, and Willie could not be more proud.

The next eighty minutes went by, and almost nothing happened. Van Damme had a few beautiful saves, and there were a couple of good plays on both sides. But no one else had scored. Then, City kicked the ball, and it went soaring past Van Damme. Jamie, however, was right there and did some cool flip kind of thing that stopped it from entering the goal.

"Jamie Tartt soars to clear the danger!" Willie jumped up and cheered but her claps died down when she noticed that he was not getting up. Isaac and Colin jogged over to check on him. "It looks like Tartt is in quite a bit of pain. IIt's his ankle. He landed on it wrong." Jamie climbed to his feet and began jumping around and walking, and the brunette woman breathed out a sigh of relief. About ten seconds later, as he was walking, he collapsed onto the field. "We may have spoken too soon, Chris. Tartt tried to soldier on, but now he's in some distress and may require attention."

Willie's leg was shaking like crazy as she watched Jamie be practically carried off the field. Keeley noticed how nervous she was and tried to comfort her, but all that she could focus on was him. He was sitting on the ground off the field, and Roberts was warming up to go in.

Ted waved him off, though, and it seemed that he decided to soldier on through and hope that Jamie got better within the next ten minutes. The Carlisle woman wished that she could go down there and talk to him, but she just had to trust that Roy and Ted got it.

About five minutes later, he was back on the pitch, and he seemed to be doing fine. In fact, within thirty seconds, he got the ball. "Jamie Tartt with a dramatic return to play. And he makes sure he lets the City fans know all about it." He maneuvered expertly through all of the opposing player and made it close enough that he could take a shot.

Then, he fucking buried it.

"Fuck yeah, Jamie!" Willie shouted, jumping out of her seat. She had never cheered so loud before, and if she did not know any better, she would have thought that he heard her because he looked up right at the box and blew a kiss at her.

"And Tartt gives his lady a 'thank you'. Isn't that sweet Arlo?" Chris announced, and Willie laughed as she blew kisses back to him. He made his way off the pitch, having used all of his energy on that goal, and every single person was applauding him, even the Manchester City fans. "And listen to this response from the City supporters, an ovation for a visiting player who was also one of their own."

The final whistle blew, meaning that they had won, but Willie did not stay to celebrate. She just snagged a bottle of champagne from the private box and made her way all the way downstairs to where the training room was. She looked through the window to see Jamie sitting on his own and icing his ankle in a tub full of ice water.

She opened the door, and he looked up at her. A grin spread across his face once he saw her. "What are you doing down here?"

"I've come to celebrate, of course. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't come and congratulate you?" she questioned, and she grabbed one of the wheeling chairs and brought it over so that she could sit in front of him. "You did really great out there."

"Did I look sexy?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

She nodded, confirming his theory because he honestly did look really hot out there. She held up the bottle that she had stolen with a cheeky grin on her face. She assured him, "Really sexy. I brought you some champagne."

"Hand it over. We can put it on ice," he joked, and he grabbed it and stuck it in the ice bin that his foot was in. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, and as she pulled away, Willie thought that she had never been more happy in her entire life than in that moment — just her and Jamie.