Page 46 of Love on the Sidelines

The one bonus to today, the girls opted to ride in the van with Whitney, leaving our van with all the luggage. At least there are no listening ears to our conversation.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you not watch chick flicks? It’s where one person proves how much they love the other person by doing something that means a lot to them.”

I reach out a hand to stop her, ready to say that we are not in love territory. But a strong crush? Check.

We drive farther, and I think about all the insignificant moments we’ve shared throughout this trip. I’ve never missed someone as much as I’ve missed Charlie since he left.

“He lied to me,” I say, trying to come up with something that will help me get back to regular territory. My safe zone.

We leave the vans at the rental car place and walk toward the entrance to the airport.

“The guy has a lot of money. I can imagine he’s sick of people trying to take advantage of him.” Marsha gives me a knowing look and I turn my head to stare at the check-in line.

“Then why would he so freely give it to our team?” I ask. Then again, he already told me the answer. He’d been on a team that could’ve used some outside funds to get them to the next level.

Marsha stops walking, not joining the girls in line yet. “Having known him for many years, and now as an adult for a couple of weeks, do you really think he would leave you without a word if you were dating?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you’re the one who pushed him away. What do you want, Ava?” This makes me think of our conversation a couple of days ago.

My brain does a speedy power point presentation of all the interactions I’ve had with Charlie over the past couple of weeks. He’s changed a lot from when I was a teenager, but in a good way. And I’ve grown to see that he’s not as arrogant as he once was. He’s a good guy, one of the few people who hasn’t let his money change him.

I’ve been going about this all wrong. Instead of making a blanket assumption about all people who have over six figures in their bank account, I should’ve worked to see the character underneath.

Maybe he felt like he needed to leave some things out because of my attitude.

And for the first time, I realize that those strong crush feelings are bordering on the love spectrum.

How can I tell him I’m sorry? How will I make it up to him?

I wouldn’t mind if that starts with a kiss, but that might not be the best opening to an apology.

Marsha gives me a knowing look and then walks up to join the girls at the check-in desk.

Everyone is able to check-in, except for me.

“You don’t have a booking for Ava Hooper?” I ask. Why wouldn’t it be in there? Did Charlie’s refund cancel the return flight?

Whitney turns to me and says, “Maybe we can use some of the money we collected at the beginning of the season to buy a ticket.”

Marsha shakes her head. “I don’t think we can do that.”

I’m shocked by her response. “How am I going to get home?”

She reaches into her purse and pulls out a physical ticket. “This is for you.”

I take it from her and see it’s just like the one Charlie used for the private flight to Tennessee nearly a week ago.

“Where did you get this?” I ask, waving it in front of her.

“From Charlie.”

I frown. “When did you see him?”

“This morning. It’s time for that grand gesture,” she says, smiling.

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