The Secret - Alexia Putellas

26.

Thank you Eliza!!!

It took about half an hour before Erin regained her energy enough to get up and meet Martha.

After stopping by at the sink to wash her face and fix her hair - not wanting anyone to immediately notice that she had been crying - Erin made her way to the parking lot.

Arriving there and spotting Martha and Patri talking to each other, Erin proceeds directly towards her car. She wasn't in the mood to talk to either Patri or Martha anyway. All Erin wanted was to get home and figure out a solution. Although it wasn't very realistic that there would be a solution at all, she should consider all possibilities.

After climbing in, she tosses her bag into the back seat, quickly starts the engine, and fastens her seat belt.

"Hey, don't you leave without me!", Martha calls out from outside, hastily opening the passenger door and slipping inside as well.

"See you tomorrow, Patri", the black-haired grins and waves towards her friend, while Erin quickly pulls out of the parking lot. She couldn't wait to finally get home.

"You know... I'm starting to think that I might have a crush on her", Martha mumbles, glancing through the mirror towards the Spanish midfielder, who is looking after them as Erin maneuvers them down the street.

The blonde was so deep in her thoughts, that she didn't even realize that her friend said something.

"Erin? Are you all right?", Martha wonders. Her smile quickly vanished as she looks at her friend.

No.

"Erin?", the therapist repeated, now sitting up straight as she reaches for her friend's cold wrist on the middle console, trying to get the woman's attention. Erin's hand was shaking.

Something was clearly wrong.

"I'm not", Erin mumbles, trying to hold back more tears, which was impossible. It wasn't easy to focus on the road with watery eyes either. Her throat felt as if it was getting choked.

"What's going on? What did Jonathan want?", Martha frowns, squeezes the blonde's hand, trying to comfort her.

Which was impossible.

Erin's was a mess.

"I... have to go back... to England", was all the blonde managed to say after a brief moment of silence, before another sob escapes her tight throat once these words were spoken.

"What?! Ay dios mio... they can't do that?! What about- what about Alexia?!", Martha exclaims speechless.

That couldn't be true.

"I can't... tell her yet, Martha. Not this close to her comeback. She has to focus on that, first. It's going to... fuck... it's going to destroy her", Erin says in concern, her voice once again on the verge of cracking.

"When do you have to leave? Will you return? What will you tell Alexia?", Martha asks.

There was no way she could burden Alexia with this at the moment. All the captain had to focus on right now was her comeback, which would take place in two days.

The conversation had to wait until then.

"Within two weeks. I'm going to attend the trip to Paris and after that I'll work things out with Alexia... I just have to keep it to myself until then. And I need to pray that border control will even let me pass through again when we return", Erin sighs sorrowfully, her lips trembling.

The thought of returning to England and leaving Alexia behind for who knows how long broke her heart. She also feared that border control would not allow her to re-enter Spain once she left the country. But there was no way she would miss Alexia's comeback.