Love on the Sidelines: A Small Town Sports Romcom

10. Charlie

”Hey Paul. Sorry I missed that meeting today,” I say, sitting in my car in my garage.

I missed a lot while at the city offices. It took almost fifteen minutes to get Stu into his mother’s car without picking him up and throwing him in. At least Ava escaped to get her classes started. I watched her for a few minutes interacting with the kids, and she does a fantastic job of keeping them excited about the stations they’re at.

Paul is one of my right-hand guys and he’s usually in on all the meetings I am.

Ava is a distraction, a big one, but I can”t seem to help myself with her. But for the first time, I’m not really sorry I missed the meeting.

”Yeah, that was a surprise. We were all in shock that you didn”t show up ten minutes early or even a few minutes late.”

I press my thumb and forefinger to the bridge of my nose. I”m losing my drive to be working every minute of the day. So many years I”ve done that and it was fine. Now, after moving my mom and Emily here and then my mom”s surgery, it’s not as high on the priority list as it was before. So while I”d like to say it”s all because of Ava, there”s been a lot of life upheaval lately.

”I”m only human, man,” I say, giving a light chuckle.

”It”s good to see that, Charlie. I mean, I”ve been thinking you were on the superhero side of life since you seemed to never need to sleep or to slow down.”

While he means it to be flattering, it only highlights the fact that I”ve been taking on way too much for way too long. Maybe it”s time I slow down and actually delegate everything that I don”t need to do. But where do I start?

”What did I miss in the meeting?” I say, hoping to get back on track.

”The arena is almost done. We”ll have some final colors to look at this week.”

”Perfect. That will be great. I think I”ll loop Steve in and then have him attend the rest of the meetings for this.”

Paul chuckles and says, ”Trouble in paradise?”

I raise an eyebrow, trying to figure out if I should take that as a slight or a compliment. I”ve made a lot of money through my investments and several businesses. The people who know a general background about that income think my life is perfect and that I shouldn”t ever have problems because money solves everything. But money doesn”t bring back a beloved father for just one more day. And it doesn”t save a sister from cancer, despite the request for the best doctors and surgeons in the country.

”Something like that,” I finally say, wanting to end this call. ”I”ll add you to an email where we detail all this. It”s best if you contact the general manager directly.”

I”m way too close to this project and maybe that”s why I”ve been micromanaging it. My dad and I dreamed of creating a sports empire, where we controlled several professional teams in one area. We never had that kind of money growing up, but it’s been fun to take what we thought was only a dream and make it into a reality.

I type out a quick email to the general manager so he”s up to speed on my first delegation of this process.

I need to focus on my mom and Emily right now. And let the people working for me finally do their jobs.

The drive from the city offices to the new house is short, which makes me grateful to be here. Everything in Salt Lake took time, even if it wasn’t far away, just because of the traffic.

”How was your day?” I ask Emily when I walk into the house.

”Fine,” she says, not turning to look at me. She”s watching one of those teen reality shows, something about birthday parties and ridiculously lavish gifts for spoiled kids. I should be nicer, but after that phone call, I”m feeling a little irritated.

So instead of leaving the room, I sit down and watch it with her.

”That girl is sixteen?” I ask, pointing to the main girl.

Emily nods, giving me a look like she”s surprised I”m even sitting here.

I tell myself I”ll leave after five minutes, which turns into twenty, and then four more episodes.

”That”s a lot of minutes of my life I”ll never get back,” I say after the last episode. I stand and stretch, knowing I need to check on some things, but I”m not feeling like it right now. Maybe the binge took it all out of me.

”Sometimes it”s nice to escape for a bit.”

I turn to look down at Emily. She”s got a faraway look in her eyes and I sit back down, pulling her into a hug. I”ve never really been an uncle to her. Not like a traditional uncle, anyway. Since I was a surprise several years after my? sister was born, I”m more like an older brother to her.

”I know, Em. It was a lot to bring you down here and upend your entire world. I”m sorry about that. It”s just what I felt needed to happen, with work and everything.”

She sniffles and nods, trying to put on a brave face.

”How about we take a trip back and visit a bunch of your friends before school starts?”

Emily looks up at me with so much hope I know this means a lot. ”What about Mimi?”

”She should be out of the hospital in the next couple of weeks. We”ll take her with us.”

”But what about the hockey season? Isn”t that when you”ll need to be here to check on how everything is going?”

I chuckle and then ruffle her hair a bit. ”You definitely got the questions from your mother.”

Emily finally smiles, as though that”s exactly what she wants to be.

”Let”s plan on it. I”m learning to delegate more.”

She raises an eyebrow. ”Is that why you could sit and watch the show with me?”

I sigh. ”It might take a while, but I need to work more normal hours. Hopefully there’s a lot more time soon. I”ll be going with you to Tennessee for your next tournament.”

”You won’t make things weird, will you?”

Frowning, I turn to look at her. ”What do you mean?”

”I mean that I think you have a crush on Coach Ava. You know how much lacrosse means to me and if I”m going to be stuck here, I don”t want you to ruin it and make things weird with her.”

I didn”t think I”d done anything for her to worry about. I”d just tried to be helpful on the field and tournaments.

“Bringing sports drinks to your team means I have a crush on your coach?” I ask, trying to play this off.

She rolls her eyes. “Uncle Charlie, you might think you’re being coy, but you’re not.”

“You know she’s the one who made me get stitches, right?”

“You asked her out and she said no, didn’t she?” Emily asks with a soft laugh.

Shaking my head, I say, ”I haven’t asked her out.”

“But you want to.” She doesn’t even make it a question.

“No,” I say, almost as a reflex response. “I like my life the way it is. Besides, I’ve got enough drama from you to fill my life for decades.”

“Haha, funny,” she says, glaring at me.

When she gives me a look that says she doesn”t believe me, I raise my right hand as if taking an oath. ”I promise. I”ll be on my worst behavior.” Am I allowed to cross my fingers and think of the quote by Jim Halpert from The Office?

Emily stands and walks to the fridge while I stare out the window and replay all my interactions with Ava. I”m not sure I know how Emily picked up on my interest in her. Maybe she just knows me too well.

Then again, Ava isn’t the kind of woman I usually go for. My past girlfriends and dates have had certain qualities and Ava doesn’t have those. Maybe that’s why I’m so intrigued. Too bad it won’t last long before I move on and find something else to obsess about. That’s how most of my businesses started.

But if it”s easier for Emily, I”ve got to cool my jets with the lacrosse coach.