‘Oh no you don’t.’ Douglas frowns. ‘We’re going to be a player down. We’ll need you more than ever. This is going to be tough, but it’s winnable.’

‘Bloody Brett, where is he? I’m sure it’s my turn to look after Alfie.’ She walks back with the others muttering under her breath.

The rest of the group give me little arm pats and smiles before they head off to their positions. Miles hovers in front of me. I try and blow a bit of hair that’s stuck in front of my face and Miles reaches his hand out like he’s going to brush it away but he stops short and stands back up.

‘You’re OK then?’

‘Just a little sore.’

He nods and doesn’t offer his hand to pull me up before he walks off.

Verity holds her hand out and pulls me up and we walk to a bench that’s far enough away not to get hit by a passing frisbee.

‘Is Miles OK? He seemed a little cold with you just then.’

I watch him running on the pitch, getting frustrated that he can’t get clear of Layla marking him.

‘Yeah, things with us haven’t been great lately.’

Miles and I haven’t really recovered from that night in the pub and neither of us wants to admit it. He’s stopped staying over and I’ve barely seen him in the last two weeks.

‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘These things happen.’ I shrug. I don’t feel I know Verity well enough to go into details so I change the subject. ‘How was your trip to the US?’

‘It was so good.’ She emphasises the ‘so’ in a way that Alexis from Schitt’s Creek would be proud of. ‘I didn’t realise quite how much I missed the place until I went back. Have you ever had that?’

I thought of how it felt when I first went back to Westerly and I nod.

‘It’s like you get there and you go, oh, I’m home. Everything’s familiar and easy and you understand all the subtext of what everyone’s saying.’ She stares across the pitch and I follow her eyeline to Joel. ‘I can’t wait to go back and start the job.’

‘So you got it?’

She raises her eyebrows. ‘The interview was only ever a formality.’

My hands tighten around the bench. I want to ask her if Joel’s going too but my throat is growing tight and I can’t get out the words.

The thought of him leaving my life when he’s only just come back into it is too much.

Verity points down the field. ‘Ooh, it looks like it’s getting rough out there. Douglas seems to be taking this game very seriously. Glad we could sit this out.’