𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 ⤷ JAMIE TARTT

4 - A New Normal

"It won't be weird if that's what you're worried about," she said, pushing around the chocolate chips in her ice cream and looking anywhere but at him. "I know we used to go together, but we can just go as friends. It won't be . . ."

"Awkward?" He finished for her.

Kate glanced at him at last and saw he seemed just as bashful as she was. She hummed at the minty flavor despite the burning that flitted across chest. "Things change," she said simply. "Doesn't mean it's bad they do."

Jamie nodded. "Alright, I'll go."

"You will?"

"Yeah, if you come see me at Nelson Road tomorrow. Maybe come to one of my games." He'd stopped walking, turning to her with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"I'll think about it."

Kate walked over to Richmond the next morning. Evan had offered to drive, but she didn't want to witness what might happen when he saw Jamie.

Filthy rich was one way to describe Evan for sure, but just like Darcy was the older sister she'd never had, Evan was practically her brother. Cold facade aside, Evan was particularly protective of his friends. And with his former boxing status, Kate was just a tiny bit worried about the exchange that might occur between him and the first guy to ever break her heart.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Shaken from her thoughts, Kate looked up and found a scraggly looking man staring at her while she stood mindlessly in the stadium's parking lot. He seemed sort of familiar, and she tried to remember where she recognized him from.

"Are you Roy Kent?" She asked at last, beginning to piece together the poster she'd seen of him so many times before to the man standing before her. "You've got a lot less hair now."

"Fucking Americans," Roy muttered under his breath. "You're that girl Jamie never shuts up about."

Kate began to smile. "You listen to what he says?"

Before Roy could fire off what she assumed would be a slew of curses, the door to the building burst open and Jamie's eyes immediately zeroed in on Kate. A gentle look he rarely gets clear on his face, one of unperturbed joy.

"You're supposed to be training," Roy shouted, although it was obvious he'd been startled.

"Piss off, granddad. Ted said I could come grab Kate." He jogged over to where she stood. "Hey," he said.

"Hi." Kate glanced over at Roy who had started making a low growling sound before looking back to Jamie. "He's the one on your wall, right?"

Immediately, the older man stopped his grumbling as Jamie blinked, at a loss of words. He didn't expect her to remember that, but a soft laugh from Kate broke his embarrassment, and he looked elsewhere.

"Alright, everyone's excited to meet you, so why don't we head over to the pitch, yeah?"

She agreed and as she followed Jamie towards the green grass, she called out to Roy who hadn't moved an inch. "To be fair, you looked good if that's what you're worried about."

Roy seemed halfway between pleased and confused before he shook his head and decided, "I don't want to fucking know."

By the time they'd reached the rest of the team, a wild feeling spread across her chest as her nerves flooded her mind. It suddenly dawned on her that she'd agreed to meet a fleet of people today, all of whom Jamie regarded highly.