Page 17 of Playing for Keeps
To his astonishment, Shaun held out his hand.
“Quality goal, man.”
Udo shook Shaun’s hand.
“Thank you.”
Shaun let it drop and swaggered over to his section of thelocker room, seemingly oblivious to the shock on his teammates’ faces.
Udo caught Adam’s eye, who shrugged.
Something had shifted that day. And he had one person to thank for it. Udo allowed his shoulders to drop and he leant his head against the locker. Maybe life at Brockton wasn’t going to be all that bad.
This week he’d felt totally seen. He’d never truly had that during his playing career. Could he tell Steven everything? His kind eyes, flawless dark skin and demeanour all served to convince Udo to trust him.
All he knew was he couldn’t wait until the next week for another one-on-one session.
FIVE
STEVEN
It had been a week since Steven had hit the beach with his family. This Sunday was a very different affair. Once again, the weather remained glorious. Steven was out on the patio potting the huge number of plants he’d bought at the garden centre.
His vast outside space wrapped around the house. Of course, he had a gardener who kept on top of most of it. Yet, he loved to do the pots. It reminded him of being with his father as a child. They would spend ages choosing the right colours for their small garden.
The rule had always been that inside the house was his mother’s domain and outside was his father’s. After he had died, Steven had tried to manage it. Unfortunately, he’d been at the peak of his playing career and home visits were rare. Andrew had been living with him in Spain so the garden fell into disarray. He’d offered to pay someone but his mother didn’t want strangers around.
As soon as he bought his own place in Brockton, he’d vowed to recreate the vibrant bursts of colour that he’d done with hisdad. He’d been gone over ten years. It helped Steven to feel close to him.
Whenever anything weighed heavy on his mind, he would sit amongst the blooms with a coffee and think about how he would talk things through with his father.
He sat back on his heels and wiped the sweat from his brow. His mind was on other things today and the meditative effects of gardening weren’t helping.
Udo Holtmann filled his thoughts. Steven had known of him long before he came to Brockton. It was Steven’s job to know every player in the Premier League and how they might attack his team. Udo had battered his way through Brockton’s defence on more than one occasion over the years.
When he’d been studying Udo, he’d been fully aware of how gorgeous he was. Handsome footballers weren’t exactly a rare thing in Steven’s life. Most of them spent their days driving fast cars, golfing or chasing women. Three things that had never interested Steven.
He gazed up at the sky. A few clouds were forming. He would have to hurry if he had any chance of getting all the plants in before an April shower.
Steven resumed his work. His mind still fell to Udo. He had something different about him. The unique blend of fragility and strength was remarkable.
After Steven had finished, he jumped in the shower. It was only lunchtime. He loved an empty Sunday. He planned on watching a movie before cooking dinner.
His phone rang. Steven wandered into the lounge and picked it up from its charging station. Instantly he tensed. It was Udo.
“Udo?” he said, after pressing Answer. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. I…well…I wondered if you’d like to go for a walk.”
Steven heard Javier’s voice in his head telling him this was a bad idea.
“It’s about to rain here.”
“I checked the weather,” Udo replied. “It’s only a passing shower. It’ll be gone in an hour.”
“Then I’d love to,” he replied. “Where shall we go?”
“You’re the expert,” Udo said. “I’ll leave that to you. Text me the location.”
