Decision made.

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The situation with Ale's contract had clearly been affecting me more than I'd realised. Ona and I had talked about it for pretty much all of Jordi's one hour nap. She was full of questions... What do I want to do? How am I going to cope in a different country with out our friends and family? How are our parents going to feel? Do I want to have another baby in a different country with no one there for support? They were all questions that I'd asked myself, but talking it through with my best friend made me realise how much this was going to affect not just Ale and I, but the people who loved us too.

Ale was stood at the kitchen island making dinner when Jordi and I arrived home, the smell of her famous Paella filling the air.

"How was it? Are you two ok now?" She asked with a smile on her face, stopping what she was doing and making her way across the room towards us.

"It was ok" I tried to smile, but my mind was racing, I couldn't focus on anything except what Ona and I had spoken about.

"Just ok? Is she still mad at you?"

"No we're fine, she understood why I didn't tell her"

"What going on in that head of yours then? I can tell something's wrong"

"Can we talk about it when Jordi's in bed? I'm tired and I can't have this conversation with him causing chaos"

"Yeah, ok" she agreed, pausing for a moment before starting again.
"Are we ok? Have I done something wrong?"

"No, we're good" I smiled, setting Jordi down on the floor before wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my head on her chest.
"It's just your contract. I know that you said you didn't want to make a decision until the season was over, but we can't keep ignoring the situation. It's stressing me out that we don't know where we are going to be in a couple of months"

"I'm sorry" she apologised, wrapping her arms around my back and holding me tightly.

"No I'm not blaming you, I totally understand that you don't want to rush the decision, but-

"Mama- mama" Jordi babbled away at our feet, pulling himself up to standing using Ale's leg.

"Let's talk about this later, yeah?" I smiled as I watched Ale sweep Jordi up into her arms and balance him on her hip.

"You two are the most important things in my life. As long as you're happy, then I'm happy" she reassured me, before turning her focus back to our son.

I knew that this was going to be a difficult conversation for us both to have. I was seeing it from the side of what it would mean for our family and I knew that Ale was too, but there was another dimension for her to consider. This was her career.

We settled onto the sofa later that evening once bath, book and bed had been done and Jordi was fast asleep. We were both nervous, it was obvious as we sat awkwardly next to each other on the sofa neither of us knowing what to say.

"I need you to tell me what you're thinking about... every single thing that has come into your mind I need to know it... I need to know what your worried about... I just- I need to know what you want to do, because I will do it" Ale started, turning to face me as the words came spilling out of her mouth.

"I can't tell you what to do Ale, at the end of the day it's your career. It's your decision"

"It's not my decision... it's our decision. I have a contract on the table from Barca, I can call Joan and tell him that I accept right now if that's what we decide is best for our family"

"I just really need you to be honest with me cariño. I know that you keep telling me it's my decision, but I don't want it to to be... I want to talk this through with my wife"

I didn't say anything for a few moments, contemplating whether I should tell her how I was really feeling or tell her what I thought that she needed to hear. Deciding that it was best to be honest, she was my wife and lying would only push us apart.

"I don't think that we can have another baby if we move, the newborn stage was hard enough with Jordi and we were surrounded by our friends and family... doing that in another country with a toddler will be so-"

Ale got to her feet before I'd even finished speaking, quickly making her way to the other side of the room before pausing with her back to me.

"Ale... I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make you change your mind, I'm just being honest"

"Ale..." I tried again after getting no response.

"Alexia!" A man's voice filled the room, Ale finally turning around to face me with her phone in her hands.
"Do you have an answer for me yet?" The question echoed through the room for the speaker phone.

"I'd like to accept your offer Joan, I want to stay" Ale smiled, her hazel eyes staring into mine as she spoke.

"That's what I was hoping to hear!" he said cheerfully over the phone.
"Can you come to my office tomorrow? I want to get these papers signed and the announcement sorted as soon as we can"

"I'll be there"

"Brilliant, I'll get my assistant to send you the details and we'll talk more then"

"Thank you Joan"

"We're all so glad that you're staying. Barca wouldn't be Barca without you Alexia"

"See you tomorrow Joan" Ale said before ending the call, her eyes still focused on mine.

"Ale, I wasn't saying that to force you into making a decision"

"I know you weren't. I also know that we both want another baby so much... it's literally all we have talked about for the last few weeks and if me deciding to play football somewhere else is going to get in the way of growing our family then I why would I do that? Why would I ruin everything for a little bit more money?" She explained, walking back across the room towards me and immediately bringing me into her arms.

"To be honest, I didn't want to move anywhere else anyway. Our family is here, I want our kids to grow up here, this is home"

"I've never been so relieved to hear you say anything else" I smiled into her embrace, placing a peck onto her lips before resting my head in the crook of her neck.

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