Read Online Extra Time by Michelle Betham - Free Book Online

anymore. In fact, he’d promised her there’d be no more secrets. He’d promised her that, even though she’d asked him never to promise her anything ever again, after what he’d done to her all those years ago. So maybe it would have been better if he’d let her see the papers. It would have brought forward a situation he was dreading having to face; but it had to happen. And soon. He couldn’t avoid it. He had to tell her, she had to know. He had no choice now anyway. Events and circumstances had seen to that. Circumstances he’d known had been coming, but he’d chosen to bury his head in the sand and delay the inevitable.
    But here, in Tenerife, it just wasn’t the time or the place to tell Amber everything. He’d wait until they were back home. He’d waited this long, another few days wasn’t going to make any difference. It wasn’t going to change the situation.
    It was almost time to get everything out in the open once and for all; to prove to her that he had nothing left to hide. But he had been hiding something. And how she reacted to that was something Jim didn’t even want to think about.
    ‘Have I been doing okay?’ Amber asked, her heart beating ten to the dozen as she called Debbie back home in Newcastle after the game, which Newcastle Red Star had won 4-0, despite the humid evening and still relatively high temperatures. But even though they were on foreign soil, Tenerife was a holiday destination, and they were playing in the south of the island, which was a Mecca for British tourists. So the crowd had largely been made up of British supporters – holiday-makers and ex-pats, mainly – which had helped with the atmosphere. At times it had almost felt like a home game. ‘I’ve been so nervous, Debbie. I swear I was almost sick just before I went live to the studio for the first time last week, it’s ridiculous! I mean, like Ronnie said, it’s not as though I haven’t done this before. I’ve been working in TV for years now…’
    ‘Amber, chick, slow down, will you? Take a deep breath and slow down. You’ve been more than okay, do you hear me? I’ve watched all the games, and you’ve been doing great. Me and the girls, we’re all over at Tanya’s place tonight because she’s just had a brand new Smart TV fitted on the living room wall, you should see the size of it… anyway, everybody said the same – you’re a natural!’
    Amber breathed out a long, loud sigh of relief, closing her eyes as she leaned back against the wall. ‘Really? You’re not just saying that because you’re my friend?’
    ‘No. I’m not just saying it. You’re so good at what you do, hon. You put the rest of us to shame, I mean, you’re the only one of us with a proper job, for starters.’
    Amber couldn’t help but smile. ‘ You’v e got a “proper” job, as you put it, Debbie.’
    ‘What? Writing a small column for a celebrity gossip magazine?’
    ‘Not just any celebrity gossip magazine though, Debs. The most popular celebrity gossip magazine there is. And you’ve got your modelling. You work just as hard as me, in different ways, that’s all.’
    Debbie laughed, and Amber wished she could just pop over to her place right now, open a bottle of something white and sparkling and settle down for a good, long chat. Because Amber really needed to talk to her about something. Something that had been preying on her mind for a few weeks now, and she couldn’t shake it, couldn’t stop thinking about it. And it wasn’t something she wanted to bring up with Jim. Not yet, anyway.
    ‘You know what I mean,’ Debbie said. ‘And, at the risk of sounding shallow – but this is a very valid point, I think – you looked fabulous! Whoever did your hair and make-up is a true artist. Those eyes… And did you pick your own outfit?’
    ‘Debbie, I work for a sports channel, not E! Entertainment. Of course I picked my own outfit. You don’t think Ronnie and the guys have stylists, do you?’
    ‘I