DANI HAD KILLED THE MASCOT OF RICHMOND. The game that morning had not exactly gone well after Dan kicked a ball straight into the runaway greyhound, killing him in the spot. From what Willie had heard, he was not doing so well. Willie, Rebecca, and Keeley were hanging out in the eldest woman's office when Higgins walked in holding a plastic grocery bag. "That's odd. We just received a giant food delivery from our rivals over at Brentford F.C."

"That's nice. What kind of food?" the Carlisle woman questioned excitedly. She adored free food, and if a football club sent it, it must be some pretty good food. However, she had not thought about the fact that another football club was sending them food, and that was kind of suspicious.

"Thai," Higgins answered, causing all of them to wince loudly. Richmond had been on a streak of ties, and Willie was shocked that it was not some sort of record. They had yet to win or lose a game the entire season. "Oh, now I get it."

There was a knock on the door, and they all looked to see Ted walking in. They all exclaimed, "Ted!"

"How you feeling?" Keeley asked him as Rebecca went over to the drink cart that she kept in her office and worked on making him a cocktail. He had to give this whole speech in front of all of the reporters so that they knew that they did not kill the dog on purpose.

Ted sighed, and he gratefully accepted the drink from the Welton woman, taking a huge sip from the drink and making a face at the taste. "Well, Keeley, I feel like a bigger loser than the biggest loser from The Biggest Loser."

"Look on the bright side, Ted. We're still undefeated," Willie pointed out because they did not technically have any losses that season. She was more worried about how to Rojas boy was feeling. Dani was such a ray of sunshine, and it must have killed him to have hurt that poor animal. "How's Dani doing?"

"Oh, he's a little shell-shocked, but Dani's a lot like an expensive tape measure. He snaps back real quick. - Yeah. What about Earl's owner? He doing all right?" he questioned, and Willie was glad to know that Dani was not going to quit football for this after coining the phrase, Football is life.

She responded, "Yeah, fortunately he is."

"Yes, and you're now looking at the very new, very generous, very guilt-riddled benefactor of Richmond's largest dog shelter," Rebecca added, taking a sip from her cocktail. She had donated over a hundred thousand dollars to the dog shelter.

Higgins informed them of the name that Willie loved so dearly. "Barkingham Palace."

"To Earl," Rebecca toasted, raising her glass. The rest of them echoed her words and mimicked her actions as they honored the dog that gave his life for a pigeon flying toward the goal.

"Mmm. Okay, I should go," Higgins told them, rubbing his hands on his pants and standing up before heading toward the door. "I promised the boys we'd watch Empire Strikes Back tonight, and I have to get my thoughts together for when they ask about Luke and Leia making out. Wish me luck."

They all said their farewells as he left, and all of the women sat next to each other on the couch. Rebecca's phone pinged, and when she picked it up, she basically jumped. Both of her friends knew what that meant, and they leaned in to see her screen. Willie raised her eyebrows. "Oh, is that him?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Rebecca confirmed with a small smile.

Ted seemed severely intrigued, but he tried to play it cool by leaning forward in his chair and trying to get a slight peak of the phone while he questioned, "Hey, him who?"

"Sh!" all three females responded sharply, and they continued their secretive girl talk that involved unfinished sentences and vague words. It had been a while since Willie had girlfriends that understood her without her having to say everything. With Colin and her brother and their best friend, Asher, you had to say exactly what you meant or else they did not get what you were trying to say.

After a moment, Ted spoke up again. "Am I allowed to speak yet?"

"Oh, sorry, Ted," Rebecca told him, waving him off. She handed the phone to Willie so that she and Keeley could scroll through the messages that they had missed. "It's just a little bit of girl talk about a gentleman suitor I've gone out with a few times." She turned to her friends. "Are you guys up for a triple date next week? Let him prove his mettle."

"Abso-fucking-lutely," Keeley answered, and Willie nodded enthusiastically, giving her boss her device back. She and Alex had been going out a lot lately, and he asked her to be his girlfriend about a month ago. Things were moving kind of fast, but she was keeping up pretty well.

The eldest woman questioned, making sure that their boyfriends were okay with that plan, "Can you ask Roy and Alex if they're free?"

"He's free. Don't worry." Wille chuckled at Keeley's words, and she was honestly really excited for the date because she had never gone on a double date before.

As Ted and Keeley discussed Roy not showing up to games, Willie grinned at her phone while speaking to her own suitor as he said that he was free for dinner. What made her even happier was when she got a text from her favorite yet least person in the world.

Matthew Carlisle.

《❂》

THERE WAS AMBIENT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING AT THE RESTAURANT. However, none of them good hear it over the sound of Rebecca's date talking. He had been ranting for what felt like an hour about something that Willie was not paying attention to. Maybe because it was just some old man that was nowhere near as hot as Rebecca.

"And now, we're nose-to-nose with one another, and half of me is thinking, 'Just kick this jerk in the balls,' and when he bends over, give him a knee to the nose and be done with it, 'cause screw this guy.' And the other half of me is thinking, 'But it's Martin Short. You love Martin Short.' Well, the next thing you know, this tiny American woman says, 'Is that it?' And sure enough, there it was, wedged between the couch cushions, Martin Short's wallet. Martin Short's wallet. I mean, he didn't steal it."

"Wow, that's insane," Willie said, trying to sound interested, but Keeley and Alex shot her a look while Roy snorted out a laugh. She felt bad because she was doing this for Rebecca, but she honestly felt like falling asleep. Lois had been blowing up her texts that whole night, asking how it was going because she was stuck in the waiting room at an interview.

"Could I get another one, please?" the man, whose name Willie had forgotten already, asked the waiter, who nodded. "God, I never knew that meet and greets at Broadway shows could be such hotbeds for, like, almost violence."

Roy nodded, and it was clear that he was uninterested as well. "Oh, big-time."

"But who cares about Martin Short when you're sitting next to 'He's here, he's there, he's every-fucking-where, Roy Kent,'" the old man cheered, raising his fist in the air and causing Willie and her date to lean back a little bit in shock. "Roy Kent!"

"John's football-mad," Rebecca informed them.

That piqued Alex's interest because he was football-crazy. Willie could not count how many times he brought up how Jamie snagged that last goal at their last game the season before. He leaned forward with raised eyebrows. "Oh, terrific. Who do you support?"

"Well, I bounce back and forward between United and City," he answered, and Willie fought the urge to roll her eyes. She hated people that could not stay loyal to one team. It said something about their personal life as well. "Whichever club's winning, typically."

"I'm a City man myself," Alex responded.

They conversed about that for a second before Rebecca's date turned his attention to Roy. "So, how's retirement, Roy? I mean, I can't imagine how different your life must be now. You must miss it all like mad. So what are you doing now then?"

"Oh, you know, busy, busy," Roy replied, and Willie grinned. She had gone to one of his team's games, and he was kind of crazy how mean he was to little girls. However, it was also hilarious. "Ah. I'm actually doing a bit of coaching at the moment. We got a cup final next week."

"In October... W-What cup's that?" the man questioned.

Roy was loud and proud with his answer, and Willie was glad that he was at least able to say what he was doing out loud. "West London under-nine girls."

After the date, Alex wanted her to come back to his place, but she had to get up early the next morning for a call with her brother. She also wanted to get an early start on some work. So, she headed home, poured herself a glass of wine and plopped down on the couch. Lois went out for drinks with some friends after her interview.

As soon as she turned on the TV, her eyes landed on the very familiar face of Jamie Tartt. He had recently left Man City and joined a reality show. She had caught some of the episodes in passing, and they never failed to crack her up. Jamie flirting with people was honestly hilarious.

So, she decided not to change the channel and fell asleep right there on the couch.