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something about her that felt like the Amber he’d once known – well, she wasn’t quite there anymore.
    ‘What are you trying to say, then?’ Amber asked, taking another sip of cava, her eyes not leaving his.
    Ronnie watched as she sipped her drink, her nude-coloured lips leaving a small mark on the side of her glass. She really was an exceptionally beautiful woman, and maybe that’s what he was trying to say. Maybe that’s what had changed about her – she’d always been beautiful, yes, but somehow, after all the events of the last few months, despite all the crap that had happened, throughout all of that she’d only grown even more stunning. So much so that he had to look away for a second. Was this what marriage had done to her? Had Jim Allen managed to finally bring something out in her that made her realise just how beautiful she really was? Because Ronnie had never been altogether sure that Amber had ever known that.
    ‘Ronnie?’ Amber asked, touching his arm gently. ‘You all right?’
    He slowly turned back round to face her, pushing a hand though his hair again. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I think I just sat out in the sun a bit too long this afternoon.’
    She reached out and stroked his cheek with her fingertips, smiling at him. ‘You feel a bit hot, actually. You need to pace yourself, mister. Don’t want you flaking out on me, you’re supposed to be helping me through my first proper work assignment. Not sure how it’s going so far and I’m bricking it here, wondering if I’m doing okay.’
    Ronnie laughed as a glimmer of the old Amber reappeared. He gently placed his hand over hers, bringing it to his lips and kissing it quickly. ‘You’re doing great, kiddo. You’re gonna be one hell of a hit, I know you are. We’ll have men tuning in just to watch you, and fuck the football.’
    She laughed, too, pulling her hand away from his and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, looking down into her drink. ‘Yeah, well, I’d quite like to be taken seriously, Ronnie. I don’t just want to be seen as some sort of bimbo-style presenter, only there to get the viewers in. I want to be good at what I do.’
    ‘You are good at what you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have got this job, I promise you that. I know the way they work over there at Cloud Sports. They don’t just employ anyone.’
    ‘They employed you, didn’t they?’ She smirked, taking another sip of cava.
    ‘Yeah. You’re funny. You adding comedian to your list of talents now, are you?’
    She stuck her tongue out at him and he pulled a face, making her laugh out loud.
    ‘Anyway,’ Ronnie continued, ‘… the fact you’re beautiful is a bonus, of course it is…’
    She looked at him, right at him, her eyes boring deep into his, and Ronnie had to swallow hard before he spoke again.
    ‘It’s a bonus, Amber. That’s all. But you’ve got to start realising just how beautiful you really are, kiddo. You have to start realising that, because you are. You really are beautiful.’
    ‘If you say so.’
    ‘I say so.’
    Amber smiled, planting a light kiss on his cheek. ‘Get the drinks in, okay? I’ll be back in a minute.’
    Jim stood at the back of the restaurant and watched, his hands in his pockets, his expression stoic. He watched as Ronnie White smiled at his wife; his wife. He watched as he said something then turned away from her, watched as he looked at her again, watched as she reached out and stroked his cheek before Ronnie took her hand and kissed it, and all the while Jim felt a pull in the pit of his stomach that he knew he’d have to get under control. She was with him now. She was finally his; she’d married him, for God’s sake! How much more connected to him could she be? And Ronnie White was no threat. Those two had been friends for over a decade now, they were bound to be close. Okay, so they’d once been a couple, but that had been years ago. They were friends. That was all.
    Looking down at the ground