“Morning.” Beth said. “You look like shit.”

“Well, you look radiant.” Willow forked up a bit of hash brown and ate it. It tasted like oil.

Beth tipped her coffee cup at him. “I heard your night was a total balls up.”

Willow wanted to be angry people were talking, but found he was too tired to care. “Pretty much.”

“What happened? Where did Eden go?”

He was spared the need to answer. Applause had everyone turning to the front of the hangar; Derek and Mara had arrived. She looked beautiful in a light pink dress, he looked like a knob in shorts and a baggy Thrills t-shirt. Willow shook his head. If he had a girlfriend like Mara, he’d dress up for her.

You had the most perfect woman in the world. And you fucked it all up.

He dropped his gaze to his plate.

“What are they doing?” Beth whispered.

But if Psycho hadn’t told him about the announcement, Willow would have known. Derek was pale green, which could only mean he was about to speak in front of people. Sure enough, his mate cleared his throat. “Ah, morning everyone.”

There was a general murmur. Willow wanted to yell something, maybe ‘show me where you piss from’ but his heart wasn’t in it. Someone else could play court jester today.

Mara laid a hand on Derek’s shoulder, whispering something in his ear. Derek swallow. “Okay everyone, I’ve got something to say.”

The hangar went deathly quiet. Even the chef guys stopped making omelettes. Willow hoped his wasn’t half-done.

Derek cleared his throat. “I, uh, won’t keep you long and I don’t mean to make this too dramatic but, I’m, ah, retiring at the end of this season.”

Willow’s heart bottomed out. He looked around, sure he hadn’t heard properly. Byron’s mouth was wide open, John Yarding had dropped his fork. Only Psycho looked unsurprised, though completely miserable.

“Sorry I couldn’t tell you all sooner.” Derek’s voice wavered. “But as most of you know, I’ve had a few injuries this year and when it came to resigning my contract…”

He stopped and looked at Mara. She gave him a gentle ‘go on’ nod.

Derek nodded, tears in his eyes. “… I realised I wanted to go out on a high. I’ve loved playing footy but it’s time for me to do something different. So yeah. This’ll be my last year with the Hammers.”

“Fucking hell,” Byron muttered. All around the hangar people made similar noises of shock and surprise. Willow couldn’t believe it. Derek retiring. It didn’t make sense. He was barely thirty, a legend of the game. The Sharks wouldn’t work without him. Football might not work without him.

Derek swiped under his eyes. “Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to say. Thanks for everything, boys. I hope breakfast is good.”