CHAPTER 4
Cate didn’t hear from Kian again until New Year’s Day. The team he played for – Manchester Rovers – it was their 1st season in the Premier League and their fixture list over Christmas and New Year was tough. They were away at Liverpool on Boxing Day, had a home game against Arsenal and were then away again at Tottenham Hotspur on New Year’s Day.
Cate tried to keep herself busy so she didn’t have to think about THAT KISS. It should have been easy because there was a house full of people but apart from Irene, who was busy with work and Rocco and Luca, Cate was surrounded by loved-up couples.
On Boxing Day, Remy guilt-tripped Irene into looking after Rocco and Luca for the afternoon by complaining that she didn’t spend enough time with her only grandchildren. She lasted 15 minutes. Cate was in the kitchen, finishing the washing up when Irene came in to get some paracetamol. “I’ll give you £10 to take them outside,” she pleaded, rubbing her forehead.
Cate laughed and shook her head. She still had the bruises they’d given her on Christmas Day.
“£25?” Irene offered.
Cate could see the desperation in her eyes. “£50?” She ventured.
Irene couldn’t say yes fast enough. “Deal.”
Cate decided to take them down to the bottom of the garden again to play football. But before they set off, she laid down the ground rules. “Remember, I’m the referee today. I’m going to sit at the side and watch as the two of you take shots at each other. I’m not, I repeat not going to be the goalkeeper.”
They looked at her with those big, brown eyes and pouty lips but Cate wasn’t falling for it again. She pressed her side and felt the dull ache. “Who am I?”
“Goalkeeper,” Rocco giggled and hid behind Luca.
Cate frowned. “Nope, try again.” She played a bit of keepy-uppy as she waited for them to give her the right answer. She’d watched Ben and his mates do it so many times that she was quite good at keeping the ball in the air. The two boys stopped to watch her. “Can you teach us how to do that?”
“That depends,” Cate bit the inside of her cheek to keep her from smiling. She knew she had them. “Who am I?”
“You’re the referee,” Rocco said and he nudged Luca who nodded. “Referee, definitely not goalkeeper.”
“Good,” Cate clapped her hands together. Who knew a bit of keepy-uppy was the magic weapon?
They were halfway down the garden when suddenly they noticed a black patent, kitten heel lying on its side in the middle of the grass. Before Cate could stop him, Rocco ran towards it, “Mama.” Cate heard a scuffle behind the evergreen trees and then Remy and Vincenzo emerged, looking flushed and dishevelled. “What?” Remy smiled when she saw Cate’s scandalised expression. She had little pine needles sticking out of her hair. “Don’t be such a prude, Cate.”
It was the same everywhere she went; she was surrounded by people kissing.
After their huge blow-out on Christmas Eve, even Liv and Ryan were all loved-up again. It was awful. Cate went to sleep at night wearing earplugs to block out the giggles coming from Liv’s bedroom, which was right below hers and then in the morning she walked in on them sucking each other’s faces off in front of the fridge.
All she wanted was to make her breakfast, she had the bowl, the spoon and the cereal but she couldn’t get to the milk. Cate slammed the bowl down on the kitchen table; nothing. They didn’t even flinch. She dropped the spoon into the bowl and it made a loud clang; nothing. She even slammed the cupboard door at the side of their heads twice and still nothing. In the end, she had to use the blunt end of the mop to prod them inch-by-inch further along the counter just so that she could get the fridge door open.
As she left the kitchen, red-faced and in a bad mood, she bumped into Irene.
“What have they done now?” Irene asked. She switched off her Bluetooth for a minute.
“They’re always kissing,” Cate complained. “Doesn’t it bug you?”
Irene smiled. “Why don’t you come to the office with me? My assistant quit on Christmas Eve and the new one doesn’t start until January 2nd so I could really use the help?”
Cate thought about it for a second. She could go to the office with Irene or she could spend the day trying to avoid all the kissing? It was a no-brainer. “I’ll get my bag,” Cate said quickly.
She’d spent the rest of the week helping out Irene. Her Mum might have been a hard taskmaster but at least it kept her busy. When she got home at night, she was so tired that she fell asleep almost straight away.
On New Year’s Day, Cate was in the basement catching up on an essay for her Psychology class when Vincenzo came bounding down the stairs.
“Oh hey Cate,” he said when he saw her sat in the corner of the room. “You don’t mind if I watch the football, do you?”
Cate shrugged, “who’s playing?”
“Rovers against Spurs,” Vincenzo said. “I’d watch it upstairs but the boys are watching Toy Story 3 again and my lovely wife will stab me in my sleep if I disturb them.”
Cate smiled, that sounded like Remy. “Yeah, fine.” She went back to her essay.
As the teams were announced, Cate heard Kian’s name and her whole body flared up.
“Kian’s playing then?” Cate asked Vincenzo, trying to keep her voice light and casual.
“Course he is,” Vincenzo said, “he’s their best player.”
“Huh,” Cate went back to her essay even though she knew it was futile. She couldn’t concentrate. Her eyes kept drifting from her computer screen to the TV.
Suddenly, there was a burst of excitement from the TV commentators and Vincenzo shouted something in Italian which she didn’t understand. “What happened?” Cate asked.
“Spurs nearly scored,” Vincenzo said.
“Oh,” Cate stretched, “I think I need a break from studying. I’m going to get a drink, do you want anything?”
“Beer,” Vincenzo said, never taking his eyes off the screen.
Cate got halfway up the steps when suddenly Vincenzo jumped up from the sofa and shouted, “handball!”
Cate turned around just in time to see the referee blow his whistle and point to the penalty spot. Kian was Rovers’ penalty taker. He picked up the ball, put it down on the penalty spot and then walked back a few paces. Cate couldn’t breathe. “Pressure’s on Warner here,” the TV commentator said while on screen Kian took a deep breath and focused on the ball. “Don’t forget he’s missed the last two spot-kicks, including the crucial one in the League Cup tie at Elland Road.”
Cate gripped the banister so hard her knuckles turned white. “Come on Kian, you can do this.”
Vincenzo put his hands together as if in prayer.
Kian started his run-up and his boot made clean contact with the ball, sending it to the right hand side. The goalkeeper guessed correctly, diving to the right, fingertips outstretched. Everything seemed to slow down. The goalkeeper’s glove seemed to be getting nearer and nearer. He’s going to save it, Cate thought. She reached a hand up to cover her eyes; she couldn’t bear to see Kian’s disappointment. Then suddenly, the ball seemed to speed up, it passed by the goalkeeper’s fingertips with just millimetres to spare. The net bulged; it had gone in.
“He’s scored it, what a superb penalty from Kian Warner.” Cate blinked but there was no mistake, the goalkeeper was punching the ground in disgust and Kian was swamped by his team-mates, a mass of navy blue and white.
“Yes,” Vincenzo jumped and down, “yes, yes, yes.”
Remy came to the top of the stairs. “What’s going on down here?”
Vincenzo ran up the stairs, picked up his wife and spun her around. “Kian’s just scored.”
“Put me down, you big oaf,” Remy said, although she was smiling.
Rovers won the match 1-0 and Cate watched the penalty over and over again on YouTube. There was a moment when Kian realised the ball had gone in, he was stood there all alone, before being swamped by his team-mates. Cate stopped the video and studied his face. She could see so many things, his smooth forehead showed the relief that he’d scored after missing his last two penalties and his eyes sparkled with joy that he’d scored a goal and his team were winning the match but the part she liked best was his lips, there was a little curl to them, an almost smirk. There was a hint of cockiness as if he’d known he’d score all along. She pressed her finger to the face on screen and closed her eyes. She couldn’t ignore it anymore. She had to think about THAT KISS.
Cate had just got to the part where he held the back of her head and moved closer, any second and his lips would brush against hers. Her lips tingled as if he was really there, as if he was really going to kiss her again. She could almost taste him. And then the door to the basement opened and Irene called down, “Cate, dinner’s ready.”
That night, she was just getting ready for bed when her mobile phone rang. It was Kian.
Almost straight away, the conversation felt easy. They chatted about the documentary they’d both watched the night before about Barbosa, the Brazilian goalkeeper from the 1950 World Cup when Brazil had lost the final match to Uruguay, losing the World Cup on home soil. Then Cate told him that she’d been working for her Mum.
“And you’re still in one piece?” Kian laughed. “Wow, you’re like a real-life superhero.”
“She’s not that bad,” Cate giggled. “She’s just very…” She struggled to find the right word.
“I get it,” Kian stepped in. “She wouldn’t be so successful if she wasn’t. Didn’t Remy work for her once?”
Cate liked that they already had this shorthand. “She did, I’d completely forgotten about that. She lasted a day. I think that’s the only time I’ve ever seen Remy cry.”
After they’d chatted a bit more, Kian asked, “so… did you um, watch the match?”
“Yeah,” Cate tried to play it cool.
“What about my winning goal?” From anybody else, it would sound like they were boasting but Cate knew him well enough to know that he was joking.
“The goalkeeper almost got to it though,” Cate teased a little.
Kian laughed, “I’m never going to get a big head with you around, am I?”
They chatted a bit more about the match and then Kian said, “what are you doing right now?”
“I’m in bed,” Cate said without thinking. As soon as she’d said it, she blushed bright red.
“Really,” Kian said, “it’s like that, is it?”
“If you ask me what I’m wearing,” Cate said, “I’m hanging up the phone.”
Kian laughed, “Spoilsport. Truthfully, I was just phoning to see if you wanted to come over.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Cate said. “What would I tell Mum?”
“Make something up. Come on, Cate,” Kian urged.
Cate was so, so tempted. “I can’t,” she said glumly, “I’m a terrible liar.”
“I need to see you,” Kian said. “What days are you free next week?”
Cate looked at her schedule. “I’ve got Tuesday morning, Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon free.”
“I’ve got training in the mornings. I’ll pick you up on Thursday afternoon then?”
“You can’t,” Cate said quickly, “I mean, I want to but you can’t pick me up from college. Your sister goes there, what if she sees us?”
They arranged to meet in the car park behind the public library on Thursday afternoon. The library was closed on Thursdays so it would be quiet. “Ugh, I don’t know if I can wait that long,” Kian said, “are you sure you don’t want to tell me what you’re wearing?”
“I’m hanging up now, Kian,” Cate said, laughing, “I’ll see you on Thursday.”