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“Endlessly,” Lauren replied, earning herself a warning look from Paige.
“How about Sam?”
Paige lifted her head from her phone, having begun to tap her thank-you text. “I quite like that. Samuel. Sam. Sammy. A nice normal name with a few variants. Can you see what it means?”
Carly slipped her own phone from her pocket. Moments later, she read aloud, “God has heard, or name of God. It’s Hebrew. Samuel was a prophet in the Old Testament.” She scrolled further down. “According to this, anyway. It says Samuel’s mother struggled to conceive, so she prayed for a child and a priest overheard. Her prayer was answered, but her son was given into the service of God.”
“Well, I don’t know about him being given into the service of God, but I did do a lot of praying to somewhere when I was struggling to conceive. Maybe it’s a sign.”
“Maybe he’ll be a fireman,” Lauren added, spotting the Fireman Sam book resting in Carly’s lap.
She and Carly exchanged knowing looks, but Paige was still focused on the screen.
“Maybe he will. That’s a service.”
“Is that it then? You’re calling him Samuel?”
“I don’t know. I need Becky’s opinion, but it’s a strong contender. Thanks, Carly.”
Lauren shook her head, mild exasperation setting in. “Yeah, thanks, Carly.”
Of course she’d got it right. Of course Paige liked her suggestion. Of course she made it look easy. Much like everything else.
Lauren didn’t have long to sit with that thought before a hand landed heavy on her shoulder and she jumped.
“Hey. You going to introduce me?”
Before she even looked up, Lauren knew who it was. No one else spoke with that drawling Midwestern accent. Certainly not in these parts.
She thumbed over her shoulder. “Carly, this is Jax. Our manager.”
Jax pulled out a chair and sat, then cracked open one of the cans from the table. “Good to meet you. Mind if I steal one of these?”
“Looks like you already have.”
“Thanks, buddy. We’ve just had to turn down a manager for the under-eighteens. Rejection makes me thirsty.”
The appraising look usually trained on Lauren had swung onto Jax, who slurped her Diet Coke without noticing.
“Why did you turn them down?” Carly asked, expression neutral. If she’d already sized Jax up, she wasn’t letting her opinion show. “I thought you were desperate to find someone?”
“We are, but it still needs to be the right person with the right motivations. I don’t trust Greg or any of his lot not to use it against us. The guy’s an A-hole, and that’s me being polite.”
“It’s one of their players,” Paige added, as if everyone should know why that was bad.
Carly looked to Lauren.
“The joint committee was the compromise,” Lauren explained. “Greg wanted to merge the clubs. Jax wouldn’t have it, so we agreed to share the running of the grounds and the bar and keep our own committees. Jax only signed up because the alternative was worse. She reckons he’s never let go of the merger. He doesn’t care about women’s football. He just wants the grants that come with the girls.”
“Exactly,” Jax said, glancing over her shoulder. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I need to be careful what I say in here, but something isn’t right. Did Jenna mention they promised her a discount on hiring this place for her engagement party, then ended up trying to charge her a ton of damages? Cute, huh? She’s also been getting invoices to the club for all kinds of crap I’ve never seen.”
She straightened.
“So I’ll be damned if I’m letting one of them take over any of our teams. Whoever runs the under-eighteens gets a seat on our committee, and I’m not giving Greg a man on the inside. Lauren’s doing a good enough job temporarily. She can carry on until we find someone who fits our ethos.”
“Umm… thanks?” Lauren said, trying not to take it personally.
She wasn’t a qualified coach. She had no experience with teenagers. They’d lost every week since she took over. All true, and all things she’d have happily said about herself. But hearing it out loud, in front of Carly, was different. It landed like a save she’d waved through.
