Page 33 of Love on the Sidelines

He walks out of the room and I mistakenly watch him go.

“Will you help me cut up some vegetables?” Whitney asks, rinsing off a bundle of carrots. I’m curious why she didn’t just buy the baby carrots that are already the perfect size, but we find a peeler and I get to work.

“What’s on the menu for tonight?” I ask, trying to get the hang of this peeler. It won’t peel easily and I’m trying different pressure points to fix that.

I catch Whitney giving Marsha a quick glance and then she goes back to slicing up some celery.

“We were thinking about ordering in for tonight. I haven’t gotten a grocery order just yet.” Whitney walks over to a notepad she has and tears out a grocery list. “Is there anything you want to add to it?”

“I’ll look at it when I’m done peeling. How did we get all this stuff if you haven't been to the grocery store?”

Marsha says, “The owner of the house had a few things delivered before we got here.”

Last night. Usually Whitney has an order put in for the grocery stores by the time we’ve landed and we just pick it up on the way to the hotel. Maybe she’s just not used to preparing us for life in a house for a week.

“So, what do you think?” Marsha asks, giving me a bump with her hip.

“About what? I’m thinking we need to play Carly on defense tomorrow?—”

“That isn’t what I was asking about,” Marsha says, taking out the lettuce from the fridge. “I’m talking about the only guy in this house.”

With a quick glance around the room, I don’t see Emily, which is a good thing. “He’s a nice guy.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Whitney asks. “The guy has paid at least twenty thousand dollars this summer for our team.”

My eyes go wide as I think about that. With all the flights, hotels, car rentals, and food, that seems on the low end.

“He said he’s doing it for Emily’s happiness, but as long as she’s on the team, that would be enough, right? Why donate that much?” I ask. One of the orange peels hits the floor on the other side of the garbage can.

Marsha and Whitney chuckle and give themselves a knowing look. “Probably to write it off on taxes,” Whitney says.

To be honest, I haven’t had to do in-depth taxes in my life. Most of my low earnings have been easy to input into a computer or just have my grandmother’s accountant neighbor help me with that. Best thirty dollars I’ve ever spent.

“You should show some interest. You’d be set for life.”

That only brings up the memories from my past. My parents said that several times before they left me at Gran’s.

“The guy works a lot. If I ever start dating someone who could turn into more, I’d hope that hanging out with me would be valuable and not a burden.” Just like my parents.

Marsha’s expression sobers. “I get that. But you have to start somewhere, Ava. It’s easy to run away from the things that scare us, but sometimes we have to take the chance.”

I finish with the carrot and move onto the next. “Were you nervous when you started dating your husbands?”

Marsha chuckles. “I pursued him. He was terrified of me at first, but I eventually won him over.” Sounds about right for Marsha.

“My husband asked me out every day for a year until I finally said yes. We got into a fender bender on the way to the restaurant. He handled it like a champ, and I realized I couldn’t imagine my life without him.”

Why am I even giving a thought to Charlie liking me? He’s just a nice guy with a lot of money who probably just needs some time away from the gossiping gals in the kitchen.

The problem is that I’m actually weighing the possibilities. There shouldn’t even be a sliver of hope that something would work out between us, especially given our history.

And yet, I can’t stop thinking about him. How sweet he was on the flight here. How he’s done little things to help the girls. He’s tried to support me, usually through food.

I laugh, thinking about the several times he’s brought lunch or the soup to help me feel better. Maybe the way to this girl’s heart is through her stomach.

18

CHARLIE

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