PENALTY by Annika Sturm (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

home with Tommy. I really don't. So no, I won't come for dinner.' She laughed again in disbelief. Alex was kicking himself for having even made the suggestion. 'Of course not, no,' he said quickly, 'I understand, sure. I could come and see you though? Tonight or tomorrow perhaps?,' he gulped and was close to tears, 'please Em, please we agreed I could see him. I miss him so much.' He was whispering into the phone in despair. Emma was hesitant. 'I'll call you tomorrow and we can arrange something.' Alex nodded as the tears started rolling down his cheeks. 'Sure.' He said bravely. 'Bye Alex.' She hung up.

By the time Alex had arrived back at his house it had almost got dark. He felt disheartened after his conversation with Emma and took a minute to gather his thoughts before he got out of the car and slowly walked towards his house. Once he had entered he could hear Anna and Tom chatting and laughing in the lounge. His heart lifted immediately and he dropped his bag of clothes on the floor and made his way upstairs. 'Ah you're back!', Anna stood up and hugged him, 'good first day in the office?' She winked at him. 'Hmm, so so.' Alex smiled at her. 'Tommy and I had a great day. I'll go and make us some dinner.' She said cheerfully as she made her way into the kitchen.

Tom was wrapped in a blanket on the sofa. He looked happy with some fruit juice in the one and the television remote control in the other hand. 'Hey,' he beamed at his friend and Alex stormed towards him. He threw himself on the sofa next to him and hugged and kissed him lovingly, 'hey, hey, it's only been a few hours, you know.' Tom giggled surprised. 'Yeah well it feels like days to me.' Alex smiled at him cheekily and kissed him again. 'Good day?', Tom asked looking into his eyes. Alex nodded and smiled, 'liar,' Tom nudged his thigh, 'what happened?', Alex shook his head, 'I saw the press conference. I thought you did well.' Tom smiled gently stroking his hair. He kept looking at him. Alex tried to change the subject. 'How are you? How is your wound?' He quickly checked Tom's side under the blanket. 'I'm fine. Feeling a bit weak still. But your sister is the perfect nurse, I was better looked after than by you.' He grinned at him. 'Ah,' Alex stared at him with wide eyes, 'is that so?' He gently stroked his legs and laughed.

Tom switched the television off and took his hand. He looked at him again. 'Come on tell me.' 'There is nothing to say!' Alex laughed. 'Alex, I know you better than you know yourself. I can tell there is something on your mind. Tell me what happened.' Alex sighed and got himself a glass of fruit juice as well. He took a sip. 'I spoke to Em. I tried to get her to come over with Max.' 'And?' Tom looked at him anxiously. 'She doesn't want to come here.' He took another sip. 'That's understandable,' Tom nodded sadly, 'can you not go and see her?' 'Well that's the thing. Then she started being vague about that. She said she'd call me tomorrow to arrange something. I don't know,' he rubbed his forehead in frustration. Tom carefully sat up and hugged his friend tightly. He kissed his cheek and held him. Alex was breathing hard as he started feeling emotional, 'I miss him so much Tommy.' He squeezed his friend and started crying. 'I know,' Tom whispered and was gently stroking his back, 'I know.'

Alex took a deep breath and wiped the tears off his cheeks. 'Look at me,' he laughed, 'I'm turning into a soppy old man.' Tom smiled at him. 'You always have been a bit soppy,' he winked at him and they both laughed. Tom kissed him gently, 'it will be okay. Give her a bit more time. Em knows how you feel. She won't do this to you or Max for that matter. I'm convinced of it.' Alex looked into his eyes and nodded. He also told him about the heckling of some fans at the football ground and Tom listened with concern. He encouraged him to keep focussing on his work and playing brilliantly. 'That will make them shut up ultimately,' Tom said and kissed him again, 'they won't bring us down. Remember?' He winked at him and Alex laughed. By the time Anna was serving dinner he had managed to cheer his friend up again and Alex felt grateful to have both Tom and his sister with him.

Anna had enjoyed herself so much that day she offered to help the boys out for the whole week as well as supervise the doctor's visits monitoring Tom's recovery progress. The boys happily accepted the offer. Tom was pleased about having some company and Alex was relieved Tom was looked after by someone he could fully trust. 'And once your stitches are out next week you should already feel much better,' Alex said gently and took his hand, 'we'll hire a coach and if the doctor agrees you can slowly start training again in the gym downstairs,' he smiled, 'we'll have you fit again in no time,' Tom smiled unsure but Alex kissed him tenderly, 'don't you dare let me down. If you think I'm playing at the World Cup without you then you better think again.' He muttered and they all laughed.

Over the next few days Alex tried to make contact with Emma again but every time he did, he only got through to her voicemail. Despite him leaving messages to call him back, almost a week had gone by without him hearing anything from her and he became increasingly worried and frustrated about it. The only thing that made Alex feel better was the fact that Tom's recovery was making good progress and he was getting more and more mobile around the house.

Alex’s club were playing at home on the Sunday, which meant the boys had the Saturday to relax together. Tom made every effort to help his friend put his mind off his son and the upcoming match. He also decided to cook for them that night and was finding his way round Alex’s kitchen.

Alex kept an eye on him and smiled to himself watching Tom busy preparing dinner. 'About time you put some work into this relationship again.' He said as he put his arms around him from behind and kissed his cheek. Tom giggled and hit him playfully. 'Idiot.' He laughed. Alex inhaled his scent and kissed his hair. 'It's not so bad being back in Hamburg, hey?' Tom turned towards him and hugged him. 'I'll survive.' He sighed jokingly and winked at him. As they continued chatting to each other, the door bell rang. Alex moaned. 'Oh who the hell is that? Anna didn't say she was coming tonight, did she?' He kissed Tom's cheek and went to answer the door.

'Em?' Alex couldn't believe his eyes when he saw her outside his house with Max on her arm. He was so surprised he didn't know what to say. 'Daddy!' Max beamed at him and stretched his arms out towards him. 'Baby.' Alex whispered and laughed in disbelief. He looked at Emma unsure, who smiled at him nervously. She slowly passed Max to him and Alex grabbed and hugged him tightly. The child was giggling and smiling excitedly. Alex kissed him over and over again. 'Can I come in?' She asked quietly. Alex smiled at her. 'Yes, sure. Of course!', he waved her in and closed the door, 'I tried to call you all week. Are you okay?' He asked gently. 'Yeah, I'm fine. I went away to see my parents after we spoke,' she took a deep breath, 'I just needed to think. You know,' Alex nodded. Max was laughing and kept touching his father's face and Alex kissed his little hands and couldn't stop smiling, 'nice house.' Emma said sadly. Alex felt awkward and didn't know how to respond. Still, he was glad to see her and hugged her tightly. 'Thank you for coming. You have no idea how much this means to me.' He whispered and they both smiled at each other nervously. Alex invited her to come upstairs and went into the kitchen carrying his son on his arm.

'Look who is here with daddy Max?' 'Uncle Tommy!' Max exclaimed. Tom turned around and gasped at them. 'Max!' He laughed in disbelief and kissed his cheek as he tickled his stomach. Alex beamed at him proudly. Emma was visibly uncomfortable standing behind Alex. 'Hey Em,' Tom smiled at her gently. He slowly opened his arms and hesitantly hugged her, 'I know you won't believe me but it is so good to see you.' He looked at her and she smiled at him unsure. 'How are you? I'm sorry about what happened to you Tommy.' She shook her head. 'I'm much better, thank you,' he smiled, 'I'm.., I'm just cooking some dinner. First time I'm on my feet for more than two minutes in three weeks,' he laughed and scratched his head, 'do you want to join us? You.., you are very welcome to,' Emma felt awkward and looked at the boys nervously, 'I mean only if you want to of course,' she still didn't say anything, 'or perhaps a glass of wine would be a better start?' Tom grinned. He had broken the ice. 'Sounds good.' She smiled.

'Can I show him his room?' Alex asked her nervously and Emma nodded as she accepted a glass of wine from Tom. Alex had been waiting for this moment for so long, but hadn't brought himself to enter his son's bedroom for days. He felt excited when he finally opened the door and switched the light on. Max's eyes opened wide in awe when he saw all the new toys and games. 'This is your room,' Alex whispered into Max's ear, 'for whenever you come and stay with daddy,' Max laughed and wiggled on his father's arm so Alex sat him down on the floor and introduced him to some of his new toys. He had bought him electric race cars, Lego, puzzles and other things he knew his son would get excited about, 'and this is teddy,' Alex said and sat down next to him, 'he'll look after you when you have nightmares, just like your teddy does at home.' He hugged and kissed Max and the child was chuckling with excitement.

Emma was watching them in the doorway and tried to swallow down tears. She hectically drank a couple of sips of wine and decided to join Tom in the kitchen. He smiled at her when she appeared. 'Are you okay? This can't be easy for you,' he said quietly and Emma wiped the tears off her cheeks and took another sip of wine, 'you're an amazing woman, do you know that?', Emma laughed in despair and was clutching her wine glass, 'I never had the chance to tell you how sorry I am. Really. I hope you can forgive me one day,' Tom shook his head, 'I'm not expecting any of this to be easy. You must hate my guts!', he laughed nervously. Emma still didn't say anything, 'thank you for coming here tonight. It means the world to him.' Emma was watching him silently. 'I really want to hate you,' she said eventually, 'believe me I've tried,' Tom stared at her, 'but I can't.' She shook her head and smiled sadly as she started crying. Tom looked at her and gulped. Then he nodded at her glass. 'Top up?' He asked and Emma almost laughed.

As Tom was serving dinner, Alex set up the high chair between him and Emma and gently helped Max sit down. Emma had composed