Page 10 of Love on the Sidelines

"Good. Just got done with practice and wanted to check on you before I head home. How was therapy today?"

Gran rolls her eyes and groans. "Awful. I still can't stand on my leg for too long and the therapist keeps making me go longer and longer. Now it's aching."

"I'm sure they're just trying to get you better, Gran. You've been in here for a few weeks and you've got to make some progress."

"From all the pain I go through, I'm thinking a wheelchair would be better."

I laugh and say, "Yeah, but then you'll have to have someone come and put in a wheelchair ramp. In fact, you'd have to move because of all the steps in your house."

She thinks about that a bit and nods. "Why do you have to be right? I love my home and don't want to leave it. How’s your team doing?"

“Good. We got a new girl today. She seems like she’ll really help the team out. I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning and then won’t be back until late Sunday. Will you be okay without me?”

She shakes her head. “I’d be a lot better in my home.”

I pat her hand and say, “I know, Gran. But healing is the key thing now. You don’t want to be right back in here, do you?”

Glancing around the room, she sighs dramatically and says, “I guess not.”

"Is there anything I can bring you?" I ask, feeling the weight of life settle into my back. I need some sleep, but that’ll be hard with my brain trying to come up with scenarios for this weekend's tournament. And that could go on for infinity, meaning I might not get to sleep until this summer is over.

"My diet soda. If you can smuggle it past the guards at the front desk, I'd appreciate it. I feel like I'm going through withdrawals."

I chuckle and nod. "Okay, but if you get caught with it, I'm not responsible."

She chuckles. "Deal."

“Do you want me to stay and watch your show with you?” I ask, pointing to the TV across the room.

She gives me a tired smile. “I don’t know how much of it I’ll actually watch, Ava, dear. That therapy got me plum tuckered out. Maybe next week when you come back you can stay?”

“For sure,” I say, leaning over to kiss her forehead. It’s still hard seeing the woman I thought was invincible be stuck in a hospital bed, but she can’t stay young forever.

I walk out and down the hallway, so distracted by lacrosse and Gran’s recovery, that I don’t see Charlie until I nearly collide with him. He holds my shoulders, which keeps me upright.

"Ava," Charlie says, his grin wide as he waits for me to gain my footing before letting me go. "Checking on Gran?"

"Are you stalking me?" I say, trying to put myself back together. Not that I should be even worrying about bumping into this guy here. Then again, why is he here? Is he trying to buy me off and make it so I'm indebted to him?

I'm good. Got the T-shirt and all that.

Except for whatever cologne he’s wearing has me leaning in slightly for another sniff. And his hands on my arms are warm, sending all sorts of strange signals to my brain.

“No stalking. Just trying to get to my mom.” He’s a little distracted, searching for something.

“What happened to her?” I ask.

Charlie’s smile fades, and he looks more serious than I’ve ever seen him. With his hands tucked into his pants pockets, he looks up at me with blue-gray eyes and says, “She fell last night while unpacking and broke her ankle.”

“Oh no! Does she have to have a cast?”

He shrugs. “They put some pins in. I’m not sure what the plan is now.”

“Tell her I’m sorry and I hope she heals quickly.” It’s hard to be ornery about something like that. Tina is one of the nicest people and I’m sad she got hurt. “Also, tell Emily she did a great job at practice yesterday. I'm excited to see her in action this weekend.”

That puts the smile back onto Charlie's face and I'm surprised at how much I like it. There should be no liking him at all, since his niece is on my team.

My biggest question is where is the man who usually argues with me? It’s like ever since he came to practice yesterday, he’s been trying to butter me up.

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