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agreed, though without Jez’s enthusiasm. She still hadn’t fully warmed to Ethan. When Angel started seeing him, Gemma had read up about him on the net and much of the press coverage had been about his many short-lived relationships. Before Angel he had been a real player, and Angel knew that her friend believed a leopard didn’t change his spots. It was a source of sadness to Angel, who really wanted her friend to accept Ethan. Plus Gemma, like so many of Angel’s friends and even her family, had seemed to think that she should be able to forgive Cal for his infidelity and take him back. It was what so many other footballers’ wives had done, wasn’t it? Forgive and forget, and accept that the odd bit of cheating waspart of the territory if you married a footballer. But Angel couldn’t do that and knew that she was right not to, whatever anyone else thought. She knew that if she did that, deep down she would always be waiting for Cal to be unfaithful again. Besides, looking at other footballers whose wives had taken them back, it seemed that only a very few never strayed again.
    ‘I saw Cal the other week. We all went out for an Indian meal in Hove. His football academies are going really well and he’s got presenting work on
Match
of
the
Day
and 5 Live.’ Gemma also seemed to think it was okay to bring up Angel’s ex in conversation, acting as if it was the most normal thing in the world, when the truth was just the mention of Cal’s name shook Angel up and put her on edge.
    ‘That’s good,’ she said cautiously. A serious knee injury had made it impossible for Cal ever to play football again. ‘I never really know how he is when I see him.’
    For the last six months Cal had flown over at regular intervals to see Honey, and Angel had been back to the UK as well. Seeing Cal was always an unsettling experience; there were just too many unresolved issues between them. For the first month after she’d left him, Cal had told her he still loved her and begged her to take him back; Angel refused even to consider it. Then, once he realised she was not going to change her mind, Cal shut down. He was polite to her but gave no hint as to what he was feeling. In some ways this was just as unsettling as his declarations of love – her relationship with Cal had always been so passionate and intense it was hard to imagine that they could ever be just friends.
    Angel didn’t want to ask the next question but couldn’t stop herself. ‘So is he seeing anyone?’ As far as she knew Cal hadn’t seen anyone since she’d left him.
    ‘Is who seeing anyone?’ Ethan was back from his meeting. Talk about bad timing! He couldn’t bear hearing Cal’s name mentioned. Whenever Cal picked up or dropped off Honey at the house, Ethan made sure he wasn’t around. It was as if he didn’t want Angel to have a past before him, which was pretty ironic given his own colourful love life.
    She winced inwardly and tried to say as casually as possible, ‘Oh, just Cal.’
    Ethan curled his lip and his blue eyes lost some of their warmth, but he didn’t react other than to say, ‘So is he?’
    Gemma clearly guessed that this was a sore point between the couple so said breezily, ‘I don’t think so . . . he’s focussing on work right now. So how’s it going with you, Ethan? Jez and I are dying to see a baseball game when we’re out here.’
    Angel shot a grateful look at her friend and also felt secretly relieved that Cal wasn’t seeing anyone. It shouldn’t matter to her what he was doing, but it did. She didn’t want to think about what that meant.
    Ethan duly filled Gemma and Jez in on how the season was going so far – not that either of them had a clue what he was talking about.
    ‘Do you know A-Rod?’ Jez suddenly asked excitedly. ‘I was wondering if you did, because then you might be able to introduce us . . . and then I might get to meet Madonna! I mean, I don’t know if they’re still friends, but maybe . . .’