Tom Martin zipped up his son’s football bag and dropped it at his feet while waiting for kick off. Leah had woken up this morning with a headache and Tom had insisted she stay in bed and that he would do the training duty today.
The whistle sounded for the start of the game and Tom kept his eyes on Samuel. The football coach at the side-line shouted words of encouragement at the team and Tom clapped along with the other parents when the favoured team had possession of the ball.
‘They’re a good team, eh?’ a voice said to Tom’s left. Turning, he saw a man around the same age as him.
‘Aye, they’re definitely better than last season,’ Tom replied and the man laughed. ‘Your son out there?’
‘Aye, he’s on the away squad though.’
‘Oh, should we be discussing this?’ Tom raised a brow as a sarcastic smile spread across his face.
‘You’re Tom Martin, aren’t you?’
Tom felt his brow furrow a little. ‘That’s me. And you are?’
‘Oh god, sorry,’ he held out his hand. ‘I bought some jewellery for my missus from your wife’s online store last month. She loved it and started following her on Instagram.’
Tom’s frown turned to a grin. ‘Ah, Leah will be delighted to hear that. I’ll pass it on.’
The referee’s whistle sounded again and the man pulled out his phone, took a picture of his son. ‘For the missus, you know. Loves to see the wee man play.’
A commotion was taking place on the pitch and Tom shook his head. Even as kids, the competitive streak was still there. That whole ‘it’s not about winning it’s about taking part’ crap never worked on him as a child and kids these days didn’t fall for it either.
‘Tom,’ Charlotte’s voice came from behind. ‘No Leah today?’
‘Nah, she’s got a banging headache. She’s at home in bed.’
‘Did she talk to you yet?’ Charlotte asked and Tom pursed his lips.
‘Talk to me about what?’
The man beside Tom excused himself and made his way along the side of the pitch and into the crowd of parents from the opposing team.
‘Erm,’ Charlotte hovered. ‘She said she wanted to talk to you about something that was bothering her. It’s not really my place to tell you.’
Tom had no clue what she was talking about and shrugged his shoulders, waiting for Charlotte to tell him what she meant.
‘She hasn’t said anything yet?’
Shaking his head, he kept one eye on the game. Samuel was in possession of the ball and Tom cheered for him.
‘Okay, well I think you should talk to her. It’s important and kind of urgent.’
‘What do you mean, urgent?’ he asked, his stomach lurching at Charlotte’s revelation. ‘Is she in some kind of trouble?’
‘Awe, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry. It’s really not my place. But please talk to her. I’m worried for her.’
Tom caught the look on Charlotte’s face and realised just how worried she seemed. What was it that Leah had told her that she had failed to mention to him, her husband?
‘Can’t you just tell me now, Charlotte? I mean if it’s that important?’ Tom pressed. But he knew what Charlotte and Leah were like. She would never betray Leah’s trust like that. Giving him enough so that he would have to tell Leah that he knew there was a problem would be as far as she’d go.
‘Look, Tom, I have to go. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any upset. But Leah is my friend, she’s an important person in my life and I’m worried that in not telling you what’s going on, she could end up in serious shit.’
Charlotte hesitated before she headed down the pitch and out of the school grounds. An unease settled inside Tom and he pulled out his phone to send Leah a message. But did he really want to ask her about this over a text or WhatsApp message? He couldn’t say that he’d noticed any change in Leah recently. She’d been her usual, busy self. Running a small business, heading up school events, being a mum and a wife took up so much time he found it difficult to comprehend anything else in her life that would get her into trouble like Charlotte said.
Glancing down at his phone, he pulled up Leah’s number but instead of calling, he typed out a text.
The crowd around him erupted then and he realised that Samuel had scored the first goal of the game and he’d missed it. Shit.
‘Nice one wee man, get in there,’ Tom roared across the pitch, attempting to hide the sickening thought that his wife was hiding something from him. Was she having an affair? Was she in debt? Neither of those things made sense to him.
Looking down at the screen as the game played on, Tom watched as two blue ticks appeared on the screen. Leah had seen the message.
But she never replied.
At the end of the match, Samuel stood in with his team, celebrating their win. The man who’d said he’d bought jewellery from Leah’s website was heading in Tom’s direction with a smile on his face.
‘Well done. Your boy did good,’ he said. ‘I guessed by your reaction he was the one who scored?’
‘Aye. He’s a cracking wee player. Here, what’s your missus name? So I can pass onto Leah about what you said.’
There were a few seconds’ silence before the man smiled. ‘It’s Annie. Her name’s Annie.’
Tom nodded. ‘Great. Thanks. I’ll let her know. Nice to meet you mate.’
‘Aye, you too.’
The man turned as Samuel came running towards them, but before Tom could get a chance to ask him what his name was, he’d already gone.