Page 69 of One More Chance
“Hi,” he said and stood beside her. “Are you checking to see if I’m on my scheduled trip to Hell?” His eyes glinted and she swore she glimpsed a hint of a wry smile.
“Freddie told me what you did.” She pushed away from the wall so that her chest was inches away from the bottom of Logan’s tie as she looked up at him.
“And...” his voice quivered slightly.
“I’m sorry,” she as she cast her eyes back to the ground. “I was wrong. I let the past come back to haunt me which I swear I will never do again.”
Logan placed his hand against the wall and reached for her pinky finger with his other hand. Charlotte gasped as a surge of electricity shot into her body.
“We both know the truth about the past. And now we know the truth about right now. The only thing that’s getting in our way, Charlotte, is not talking.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I get scared and I run. Can you forgive me, Logan?” She grasped his hand and looked up into his eyes, waiting for a response, any sign that he would be hers again.
“Charlotte, I have to go. The team is waiting for me.” He let go of her hand and she felt her heart fall heavily into the pit of her stomach.
“Um, guys?” The security guard in the yellow coat elbowed Logan.
Logan and Charlotte turned and followed the guard’s gaze to see their faces, larger than life, plastered on the screen above the scoreboard at center ice. The song Kiss Me was blaring through the arena sound system as heart-shaped graphics pulsed around their faces. The kiss cam had found them.
Her eyes searched Logan’s, looking for permission to appease the audience with a peck. As the seconds ticked away, the audience started to grow rowdier and louder.
“Oh, fuck it,” Logan said and grabbed Charlotte around the waist. He pulled her in tightly and planted his lips on hers. His body started out tense, but as his lips lingered on hers, she felt his muscles relax. Her hands hung lifelessly, paralyzed by the sudden kiss but when she felt his body surrender to hers, she reached her hands up to his face. The perfunctory kiss turned into so much more. The stadium roared as Logan and Charlotte drew back and kissed again, this time slower.
The kiss cam moved on to its next victim and Logan hugged Charlotte tightly. She rested her cheek on his expensive suit, trying not to get any of her eye makeup on the crisp white dress shirt. He pulled back and looked down at her. “I love you too, Charlotte.”
She couldn’t stop the tears. She grabbed him by the waist and held him tightly. He rested his head on hers and stroked her hair with his hands. Charlotte heard another cheer but this time it was a smaller, much more male, audience. She turned to see Logan’s entire team peering out the door of the dressing room. Some of them were banging their sticks on the bench, and others were clapping.
Charlotte giggled and leaned into Logan. “You’ve got a game to win mister,” she said.
Logan laughed, “I need to go kick their asses.” He kissed her again and then walked to the door where he paused then turned to Charlotte and mouthed, “I forgive you.”
Charlotte’s heart soared. As she stood and watched the dressing room door close, an unfamiliar feeling washed over her; a combination of contentment and exhilaration. She walked back into the main stadium, making her way through the crowd to the VIP box, this time a lot less frantically and with a smile on her face.
That smile stayed on her face for the remainder of the game and only grew bigger when Logan’s star player scored the game-winning goal in overtime. Tears of happiness sprang to her eyes as she watched Logan’s team celebrating, gloves and sticks littering the ice as the players hugged each other.
Charlotte’s felt her phone vibrate in her bag and pulled it out. The text was from Logan. All it said was, “Wait for me.”
He was asking her to do the one thing she swore she would never do again, wait for a man. It was time for her to trust and let go. She typed back, “I will wait for you.”
Freddie offered to drive Lauren and Tabitha back to Chance Rapids. Charlotte had objected, but all three of them were insistent. As Lauren hugged her goodbye, her proper and prude sister whispered in her ear, ‘have fun’ and pulled back with a wry grin on her face.
***
SHE SHIVERED IN THEcold, stamping her feet to keep warm as she waited by the Chance Rapids bus. Her stomach was fluttering, and she felt like a groupie, especially as the players walked by her to board their bus, each of them shooting her a goofy grin. Logan emerged from the arena behind his players and his eyes met hers instantly. He strode to her, wrapped her in the warmth of his arms and kissed her.
Charlotte leaned her head on Logan’s chest, avoiding the eyes of the entire team as they cheered and hooted.
“Ready to go?” Logan whispered to her.
“Ready,” she whispered into his chest.
Charlotte and Logan held hands the entire drive back to her house and when she pulled into her driveway both seemed reluctant to let go. Logan looked to her house and smiled.
“What?” she smiled back.
“The house,” he said. “It’s not what I expected.”
Charlotte looked up to her big Victorian house with the manicured lawn and cedar hedges. True, it was her house but it had never felt like her home.
