Page 32 of Love on the Sidelines

“Yeah, she loves them, doesn’t she?” I say, turning to put the juice box back into the fridge.

“What’s your story, Charlie?” Marsha asks before sipping at the juice again.

I chuckle and shrug. “I grew up playing hockey. When I realized I wouldn’t make it to the higher leagues, I started investing. It started out small but then grew a ton.”

“Any marriages? Crazy ex-girlfriends?”

Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated about a serious crime right now?

“I’ve never been married. My most recent ex-girlfriend left me because I work too much.”

Marsha nods her head and her gaze washes over me, like she’s trying to figure something out. “Good to know. Would you have married her if she’d stayed?”

I shift, feeling uncomfortable with this level of probing. “Probably. I stick around for things I’ve committed to.”

She looks satisfied with that answer. But now I’m wondering if I passed her test or failed it completely. And what would passing get me?

17

AVA

“Run!” I yell. “Look for the open pass!”

I’m back to having all the tension in my chest as we start the first game of the tournament.

We made it through the elite camp and the six girls who attended it said it was worth going. Which means I’ll need to remember to get the younger girls on the list for next year.

We’re playing one of the better teams in this first tournament and our girls are holding their own. I just hope Lena doesn’t break down in the net. She’s had at least thirty shots rocketed her way and has saved all but two.

The game continues, and my stomach is all tied up in knots with the score being this close. And then the final whistle blows and we’ve lost by one goal.

“What a game, ladies,” I say, feeling sad as well as trying to keep the girls from hanging their heads at such a hard-fought game.

We do our usual post-game wrap up and head back to the house. We won’t have to play again until tomorrow, which gives us time to regroup and get ready for the next day of games.

Once I’ve taken a shower after the sweaty day on the sidelines, I walk to the kitchen for a snack. The nice thing about having Whitney and Marsha as the team moms is they always know what snacks everyone likes, except it looks like they haven’t been able to make the full grocery run yet.

Marsha is cutting an apple. I wash one off and dry it, waiting for her to be done with the apple cutter.

“This place is so nice,” I say, glancing around the large room. Of course, my typical budget doesn’t have a lot of extra cash, so I’ve usually only been to the houses that are not as clean as this. “Where did you find it?”

“Charlie mentioned he had a close friend who lived here. The guy is out of town, but he offered to let us stay here.”

I freeze, making sure I fully process all her words. Didn’t Charlie tell me he didn’t pay for this place? Then again, he’s technically not telling a lie if we didn’t have to pay anything.

Charlie walks by and I say, “You have a friend who lives here?”

“Yeah,” he says, nonchalantly. With his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants, he’s upping the hotness factor another degree.

“Well, we need to pay him something. Even if it’s for the cleaning after,” I say. There’s got to be money in our team account since we’ve paid for next to nothing in the last two weeks.

“That’s unnecessary,” Charlie says, looking up at Emily with a strange expression. “Good work today, ladies. It was so close.”

I can’t decide if he’s trying to get me to change the subject or not.

“That was a good team. We stayed right there with them. I can’t complain.”

Charlie slaps the counter and smiles. “I need to catch up on a few phone calls. Let me know if I can help with food.”

---