Page 8 of Love on the Sidelines

And that Charlie is just throwing money around to get in everyone's good graces makes him the enemy in my mind. I just wish my brain wouldn’t glitch when he’s around, thinking that maybe there could be a future. I wanted a date, but not with this guy. Maybe I need to be more specific next time when I’m putting my goals out to the universe.

“It seems I’ve been ambushed into this,” I say, my gaze bouncing from Marsha (the traitor), to Charlie, to the young woman standing behind him watching with intense interest.

“We’d appreciate a tryout. Emily has been playing for?—”

"Okay, Emily," I say, cutting Charlie off. I don’t want to hear his praise for her. Usually that means the player is terrible, and I just want to get back to my practice right now. "Scoop the ball and throw it into the net over there."

It's not a far distance, but it will be enough to show me how much work we'll have to put into her by this weekend.

Emily, with almost perfect technique, bends over to scoop the ball and launches it toward the goal, hitting the top right corner as it lands against the net.

I almost have to use my hand to close my mouth. I've been working with my team for several months and most of them still aren't able to do that with as much ease as Emily did.

"Again," I say, wondering if it's a fluke.

This time, Emily scoops it and cradles the ball until she's about twenty yards in front of the net. She takes a step to one side and then spins to the other, letting the ball fly into the other corner.

Okay, so what are the chances that we actually landed a phenom?

I can't show how amazed I am without hurting my pride so I say, "Where did you play before this?”

“Michigan,” Emily says, looking proud.

With a quick nod, I say, “That’s awesome. We'll have you work with Sarah throughout practice.”

Emily gives me a smile and I can see how nervous she is behind it. Being the new girl on a team is always a struggle. I'll have to talk to the team and make sure they include her. She'll definitely be an asset.

"I've got a check here," Charlie says, trying to hand it to me.

Instead of taking it, I take a giant step back. A check made out with more zeros than I've ever had in my bank account would definitely be lost if I took care of it.

"Marsha is in charge of all team fees. You can give it to her. I'm going to get practice started." I’ll have to avoid him at all costs to make sure I don’t do anything stupid.

Not the smoothest conversation I've ever had, but I'm not always the best at keeping my cool around awkward situations. I wish Marsha had given me a heads up about the whole thing, but I can see why she had to get everything in place before I could say no.

No matter what happens, as long as the girls get the chance to play with little financial burden to their families, that's a win.

I just don't want Charlie Danielson inserting himself because of it.

4

CHARLIE

I’m not sure what I expected when I showed up to take my niece to a "tryout" for her new lacrosse team.

I also didn’t expect Ava to be the coach.

There aren't too many single twenty-something women who will put in the time to coach a travel team. Was I picturing an overweight woman with a bad haircut? Maybe. Probably because that's what Emily's coach in Michigan looked like the few times I could make it to her tournaments.

Ava didn't seem too excited to talk to me, but from everything Marsha told me through email and our one phone call last night to check in after she'd spoken with the parents, Ava might be a hard sell. Maybe she’s being awkward because I’m still sporting the bandage where she hit me yesterday?

The fact she took a step back from a check instead of her eyes turning into cartoon dollar signs is commendable. But it's hard to turn down a donation when it helps the whole team.

I sit on the sidelines, watching as the group warms up and how Ava joins them for the jogging and stretching. She even picks up a stick and passes with one girl who doesn't have a partner.

My sport has always been hockey, but I'm learning a lot about lacrosse. I had to call just about everyone I know in the sports world to get connections to a few teams within driving distance. On our call last night, I had thought Marsha was the coach.

This seems like the best fit from everything I’d researched, but I hope Ava doesn’t hold anything over Emily just because I’m her uncle. We’ve teased each other in the past, but something about our interaction on the pickleball courts and then again at the hospital yesterday signaled something deeper in Ava. What did I do that wrong this time?

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