She shook her head and kept her voice low. ‘This is a tricky one, and you’re the only person I can talk to about it.’
‘OK,’ he said. ‘I assume you mean somewhere quiet, away from the club.’
‘Definitely away from the club,’ she said. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Are you free straight after training?’
She nodded.
‘We’ll talk then.’
‘Thank you.’ And just knowing that she could share this with him and he’d help her work out what to do made some of the sick feeling go away.
After the session, Jared took Bailey to a café not far from the football club. ‘Sit down, and I’ll get us some coffee.’ He remembered what she’d drunk at the gym. ‘I take it you’d like a latte?’
She smiled. ‘I’m half-Italian. You only drink lattes at breakfast. Espresso for me, please.’
He smiled back. ‘Sure.’
‘And can I be greedy and ask for some cake, too?’ she asked. ‘I don’t care what sort, as long as it’s cake.’
‘It’s not going to be up to your brother’s standards,’ he warned.
‘Right now, I don’t care—I need the sugar rush.’
Worry flickered down Jared’s spine. Whatever she wanted to discuss with him was clearly something serious if she needed a sugar rush. And he’d noticed that she’d been much quieter than normal during the training session.
He came back with two coffees, a blueberry muffin and a double chocolate muffin. ‘You can have first pick.’
‘Thank you.’ She took the blueberry one.
He sat down opposite her. ‘Spit it out. What’s worrying you?’
‘You know how my system picks up if someone’s underperforming?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m worried about one of the players. I’ve heard the rumours that he’s in danger of losing his place on the team because he hasn’t been playing well for a while.’
‘Darren,’ Jared said immediately.
She nodded. ‘And I heard the boys talking. He’s not coping with the pressure.’ She sighed. ‘It’s hearsay and I don’t want to accuse him of something when he might be perfectly innocent, but …’ Her eyes were huge with concern. ‘I think he’s drinking. Apart from it making his performance worse, he’s not even eighteen yet—he’s underage.’
Jared blew out a breath. ‘I’ve known a few players over the years who started drinking to handle the pressure, and it finished their careers.’
She looked miserable. ‘I don’t know what to do. If I tell Archie, then Darren will definitely lose his place. He’ll be kicked out.’
‘For breaking his contract,’ Jared agreed.
‘But if he is drinking, then it needs to stop right now, Jared. He’s going to damage himself.’
‘Agreed.’
‘Maybe I’m being a bit paranoid and overthinking it. Have a look and see what you reckon.’ She opened her laptop and drew up the graphs. Darren’s performance had been very near his average in every session apart from the last two, where there was a marked difference.
‘So you suspected it last time as well?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘I wanted to monitor a second performance, just in case the first one was a one-off—a glitch in the programme or something.’
‘No, I think your analysis is spot on. We need to tell Archie and Lyle Fincham.’
‘But they’ll kick him out.’
‘Not necessarily. We can both put in a good word for him. He’s not a bad kid—he’s just made a mistake and he needs some help.’ Jared shrugged. ‘Extra coaching might make things easier for him, and I can design a workout programme tailored to his needs.’
‘You’d do that for him?’ She sounded surprised.
‘Everyone makes mistakes. And everyone deserves a second chance,’ he said. ‘A chance to put it right.’
He hoped she’d think about it. And that she’d give them a second chance, too.
Mr Fincham wasn’t available, so Jared and Bailey tackled Archie.
‘So there’s a problem with one of the players?’ Archie asked.
Bailey nodded and talked the team coach through the computer evidence.
Archie frowned. ‘So you think he’s drinking?’
‘You know as well as I do, some players do when they can’t cope with the pressure,’ Jared said.
‘And it only makes things worse. Plus he’s underage. If he can’t cope, then he’ll have to leave the team,’ Archie said with a sigh. ‘I can’t have him being a bad influence on the rest of the lads.’
‘Or,’ Bailey said, ‘you could give him another chance. We could talk to him and tell him what damage he’s doing to himself—in graphic enough terms to make him stop.’
‘And I can give him an extra training programme to help him brush up his skills and make him feel that some of the pressure’s off,’ Jared said.
‘If the papers get hold of this, the muck will really hit the fan,’ Archie said, and shook his head. ‘No. He’ll have to go.’
‘Archie. It’s happened twice. That’s not so bad—he’ll be able to stop. Give the boy a chance to come good,’ Bailey urged.
‘And what message does that give the others? That I’m soft on the kind of behaviour that destroys a team?’
‘No. It tells them that you understand they’re still very young and some of them need a bit more guidance than others,’ Jared said.
‘Lyle won’t be happy about it,’ Archie warned.
‘But you can talk him round. You’re the team coach. He’ll listen to you,’ Bailey said.
Archie didn’t look totally convinced. ‘And what if Darren does it again?’
‘Then there are all kinds of disciplinary options,’ Jared said.
‘But if we all give him the right support,’ Bailey added, ‘he won’t do it again.’
Archie went silent, clearly thinking about it. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll square it with Lyle. But I’m going to read young Darren the Riot Act and make sure he knows that if he puts a single toe out of line from now on, he’ll be out.’
‘Thank you,’ Bailey said.
‘Everyone deserves a second chance,’ Jared added. ‘I think he’ll make the most of it.’
Everyone deserves a second chance.
Could that be true for them, too? Bailey wondered.
Jared had clearly been thinking about it, too, because later that evening he called her. ‘Are you busy?’
‘I’m studying,’ she said.
‘Have you eaten yet?’
‘Yes.’ A sandwich at her desk. But it counted.
‘Oh.’ He paused. ‘I wondered if you’d like to have dinner with me.’
Was he asking her on a date? Adrenalin fizzed through her veins. Strange how Jared made her feel like a teenager.