WILLIE STEPPED INTO HER WORK BUILDING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS. She had taken the entire off season off and went to California to visit her family and friends back home. She did not tell anyone that she was coming back yet because she wanted to see their reactions. She kind of half expected them to just say hi and walk away.

She greeted Ted, Rebecca, and Higgins in the Welton woman's office before heading back downstairs. She walked casually into the locker room, looking at her phone. She glanced up, and no one had noticed her presence yet. They were all talking and throwing towels and water bottles. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Willie," they all chorused in response, not even looking over at her. She was slightly hurt until every single one of them did a double take at the same time. They whipped their heads around toward her with huge grins spread across their faces.

Colin was the first to reach her, and he dove to hug her as the others piled on top of him and formed one giant group hug. She laughed as they squeezed her, all shouting over one another to greet her. Over Colin's shoulder, she noticed Jamie standing in the corner of the room. He seemed to be frozen in place, and she froze at the sight of him.

Once their eyes met, he nodded at her slowly, acknowledging her presence and welcoming her back in his own way. The corners of her lips turned up in a smile, and she mimicked his gesture before looking back at the guys who were patting her on the back and offering to buy her a drink that night.

Every once in a while, she would look over at the Tartt man, and every time she turned, he was still staring at her. She could practically feel his eyes burning holes in the side of her head. No matter how hard she tried to ignore it and focus on her friends, she could feel her heart beating faster at the feeling of his intense stare.

After she was done talking to the guys, she headed to her office to start working. Every single person in the freaking world had picked Richmond to finish last that season, which was really not good for their reputation and publicity. No one wanted to sponsor a losing team. What did not help was when she received a notification that someone had posted a picture of Ted and the entire team climbing out of a manhole.

What the hell were they doing there? They were supposed to be at practice. She pulled out her phone and texted Ted for an answer before getting back to work. About half an hour later, there was a knock on her door. She looked up, and her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Jamie!" she exclaimed as he entered the room. Her surprise was immediately overcome with the most horrid smell that she had ever experienced She immediately started coughing and wincing as she informed him, "Oh, my Lord. You smell really awful."

"I know. We were in a sewer," he told her.

She was already aware of the fact, and she had been trying to come up with a way to calm or at least filter all of the jokes that people were making on every single social media platform ever created. "I saw the picture. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry, but I actually cannot stand you."

"Yeah, this was not how I imagined our reunion." he responded, and she had to look down at her lap so that he could not see her blush. He had imagined their reunion?

She finally got her crap together and looked up at him with a huge smile spread across her face. It was the one reaction that she could not make go away. She fiddled with her pen because of how nervous he made her. She raised her eyebrows. "How did you imagine it?"

"Oh, you know, flowers, candy, a little bit of sex," he answered, which made her laugh. He seemed pleased at the sound, for he leaned back and put his hands in his pocket with a proud smirk on his face.

Once she stopped laughing, the grin was still on her face. Her face was really red, and she tilted her head as she stared up at him. "Those first two, I'm on board with, but the last one's a bit presumptuous."

"I'm an optimistic guy.," he replied with a shrug.

"Okay, Jamie," she chuckled out, and their conversation had momentarily distracted her from the smell. However, it was really getting bad, and she was scared that if he stayed there any longer, her whole office would permanently smell like that. "Now, you really have to go take a shower."

He nodded, heading toward the door. Before he left, he turned back at her with a small smile, and he nodded at her. "I'll see you later."

"See you later, Jamie Tartt."

《❂》

TED WAS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TO ADDRESS EVERYTHING. After that picture of the team got out, Nate had then commented on the fact that the reason that the team was in a manhole was that they were a load of shit. He pointed to Sarah for the first question. "Hey, I like the new hair color. You do it just for fun or are you going through a breakup?"

"Both," she answered with a small smile.

He nodded with a chuckle, leaning forward in his seat. He raised his eyebrows at her, awaiting her question that she had stood up to ask. "Yep, no, I get it. What you got?"

"Coach, how are you feeling about the unanimous opinion that Richmond will be relegated again at the end of the season?" she questioned. Willie winced from the side of the room, even though she had anticipated the question for a while. She was honestly surprised that it took so long for someone to ask it. The Carlisle woman nodded to herself, and she had faith that Ted would handle it.

"Mmm, yeah, that's true, isn't it? Expectations for us are as low as a rattlesnake's belly button, huh? But, hey, we got chances to prove all them folks wrong though, right? Yeah. And my hopes are as high as a giraffe's top hat. Uh, next question. And if it is, 'Why is a giraffe wearing a top hat?', don't ask me, man. Go ask a giraffe." He then pointed to a man that was sitting in a different spot that usual. In fact, it was a spot normally filled by Trent Crimm. However, Willie had heard that the man left his position. "Yeah, Marcus."

"Marcus Adebayo, The Independent," the man introduced himself, standing up. The whole crowd oohed and aahed at him and congratulated him on his new job. "Do you have any response to comments made earlier today by your former assistant coach, Nathan Shelley?"

"Uh, yes, I do. Yeah. I thought it was hilarious. I mean, he came and got us, didn't he? No doubt about that. Hey, but that's Nate the Great for you, you know? He's the same way on the pitch. He'll find the tiniest little weakness in a team and just want to attack that, you know? I mean, uh, he's a junkyard dog, man. And smart. They're real lucky to have him over there at West Ham. I wish him the best of luck."

Everyone in the room seemed shocked at the response, but then again, did they really expect Ted freaking Lasso to say anything negative? Even though the man had screwed them over and betrayed them and become a really cocky and annoying asshole, Ted would never say anything that was not nice.

"I guess I am a little surprised that's all he could come up with. Especially against me. You know, not one joke about me being a dumb American? Come on, man. It's sitting there. I mean, I'm so dumb..." he trailed off, and the Americans in the room waited for the room to respond, which they did not. "Y'all are supposed to say, 'How dumb are you?' I mean, it's just classic joke structure. Give it a shot. I mean, I'm so dumb..."

"How dumb are you?" Gary asked, but he said it wrong. Willie shook it off. They would get it sooner or later.

It was the most unenthusiastic question ever, so Ted just kind of nodded. "Okay. I'm so dumb that the first time I heard y'all talking about Yorkshire pudding, I thought it was a fancy word y'all had for dog poop. Yeah. I mean, I'm so dumb..."

"How dumb are you?" the reporters chorused. There was a lot more people, but it was still kind of monotone.

"Well, whenever I text someone over here about money, I still spell 'pounds' L-B-S. Look, man, I'm not a great coach. Probably ain't. I've been doing this sport now for three years, and I still get a chuckle every time someone talks about a handball violation. Yeah, and not one crack about my appearance? About this mustache? I look like Ned Flanders is doing cosplay as Ned Flanders."

They laughed.

"When I talk, it sounds like Dr. Phil hasn't gone through puberty yet."

More laughs.

"Yeah. I'm more corny than Kevin Costner's outfield."

Silence.

"Ooh, I lost you on that one. Yeah. Uh, Field of Dreams? No? I... I guess y'all don't really like baseball here, so why would you like movies about it? The, uh... Well, hey, how about this one? Regarding my panic attacks, I've had more psychotic episodes than Twin Peaks. I mean, I'm so crazy..."

This time, the crowd was a lot more enthusiastic, and Willie grinned when she saw Rebecca join in from where she was standing in the back of the room. She had been mad at Ted for not responding to Nate's comment, but now, she could not help but smile at the way he handled things. "How crazy are you?"

"There we go."