He grinned over at me. “Noted. Ready to go?”
“I’m in the car, aren’t I?”
“Further than I thought I’d get you.” With a laugh, he started the engine and backed up.
“I’m not sure how I feel about being in a car with someone who’s used to driving on the wrong side of the road,” I mused as he pulled out onto the road. “What if you get in the wrong lane?”
“Scream and hope for the best.” He indicated off the street onto the main road and pulled away. “And you’re the ones who drive on the wrong side.”
“Wrong. We drive on the right. Because it’s the right side.”
“No.”
“Yes. It’s in the name.”
Ollie shook his head. “Is this my punishment for training those boys so well we get the sponsorship? Being dictated to about driving?”
“So you definitely got it?”
He couldn’t fight his smile. “We did. Mr. Chester came at the end of the day as one of his family member’s kids was playing in a team that made the final and spoke to us. He said four clean sheets, Leo got five.” He glanced over at me. “Seb just needs to begin the process of getting the teams set up and I have to split out the coaching sessions.”
“That’s going to be rough for the kids who don’t make the team.”
“True, but they have something to fight for now. Plus if the kids on the team aren’t playing well enough, they can be dropped. They all have an incentive.”
“Seems harsh for kids who are all seven and under.”
“The harsh thing will be moving up.” He flashed me another look. “When they have to go up to the under tens and the teams mix up. They’ll need to work harder to keep their places.”
I shuddered at the thought. I don’t know why I’d assumed that the team Leo played in now would always be his team if he kept his place. “That’s true. So what happens if they want to play in school teams? Can they do both? I know White Peak High has a soccer team.”
“Not a very good one,” Ollie muttered, making me laugh. “They can do both or they can choose one. It’s tough because the college scouts are big on high school games, but Seb has already said that if it goes well, he has the contacts to bring the games outside high school into some prominence. Not to mention the high school team could potentially play his team.”
“He’s turning into quite the sports magnate, isn’t he?”
“He’s got a lot of energy. I think he needs to channel it somewhere, and Holley’s vote of yoga was wholeheartedly chucked out the window.”
“Can’t imagine him doing yoga.”
“Dylan did try. It didn’t go well. But that was at the senior center, so that could be why.”
I winced. “Nobody needs to see them doing yoga. Trust me. I will never get over that.”
“I can’t imagine, and I don’t want to.” He pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and looked over at me. “You’re not going to show me pictures, are you?”
“If I had photos of that, I’d have burned my phone by now.” I unclipped my belt and went to get out, but Ollie beat me to it. Our hands grasped the door handles on the respective sides at the same time, and I let mine fall away so he could open it. “You know, I can open a door by myself.”
“I know, but why should you if you don’t have to?” His eyes sparkled. “My mum raised a gentleman.”
“She did a pretty good job.” I half-smiled and held my clutch purse against my stomach. “Shall we go in?”
“Yes, I’m starving. There are only so many orange slices you can eat before you need real sustenance.”
I linked my arm through his and laughed. We went into the restaurant where he gave his name, and we were taken to our table tucked in the corner. Ollie got my chair for me before he sat opposite and handed me the drinks menu.
We decided on a bottle of wine to share, then turned to the food. By the time our drinks were brought over we’d both decided—the seafood linguine for him, the chicken parmesan for me.
“So the team is a go, then,” I said, lifting my glass.
“The team is a go,” he confirmed. “We’re going to try the under tens first and see how those kids get on with it. If we do well, we’ll expand into the preteens and teens.” He paused and looked over at me. “Do you really want to talk about this?”
“I don’t know what else to talk about,” I admitted. “It’s the only subject I can think of.”
“Okay, well you already know about me thanks to the interview. Tell me about you.”
I blinked at him. “Uh, okay. Well, I was born here. My mom is the black sheep in my grandma’s eyes because she didn’t follow the whole flower-naming thing she’d started and instead went for a place.”