12. Charlie
Being sick is the worst, but having to function while sick is probably my worst nightmare. The soup was the least I could do to help from afar. Emily wasn”t excited when I told her to take the bag to Ava, but she also couldn”t argue that I wasn”t trying to stay away from her coach by having her deliver it.
There are so many things that I”ve learned about Ava in the past week that it makes me want to know more. Sure, I thought I’d known a lot from the summers when we were kids, but there’s a lot that’s changed since then.
I even looked her up before the game the next morning. I didn’t know there was such a thing as professional women”s lacrosse, but Ava was good enough to play at that level.
I don”t know if it”s just my experience with hockey ending early, but I applaud her for being able to get that far.
It isn”t the best weekend for our team, and we end up getting eliminated sooner than we”d hoped. But to Ava”s credit, she teaches the girls what they need to fix calmly and is overall positive.
I didn”t think that was a thing, having been yelled at so many times in my sports days.
Monday morning I”m back down in Salt Lake for meetings. Emily and I visited my mom last night and she was happy, saying they might let her out soon. I”ll probably have to hire a nurse until she”s fully back to normal.
”Where”ve you been?” Paul asks when I walk into the arena.
”Tennessee, for my niece”s lacrosse tournament. Things are taking shape here. I like the extra touches you put into the building.”
Paul raises his eyebrow. ”What do you mean by me? You”re the one who picked all this out.”
Shaking my head, I say, ”I need to give you more to take on. I already talked to one contractor and said you”ll have full control.”
”Are you sure?”
I know it”s hard to believe that a control freak like me can give up certain things. But my blood pressure might never normalize if I don”t figure out how to release some tasks in my life.
”There”s something different about you,” Paul says, studying my face.
“Just the realization that my life can’t be all about work. You know how to do the job, and I need to let you do it.”
“Are you sure that”s all it is?” he asks. “No dates or anything lately?”
Dates have been few. But Ava is someone I think about almost as much as work, which is saying something.
Am I ready to say anything? No. I”m a grown man. I can”t admit I”ve got a crush on my niece”s coach, can I?
”Yeah, not much has changed. I”ll be going back east again starting Wednesday and I”ll be there for about eight days. Only call me if it”s something you absolutely can”t figure out on your own.”
There. That wasn”t so hard.
It might be later, but if I have something to do, I won”t feel like I”m not fulfilled by all the little things.
Paul heads off to talk to a few other people and I pull out my phone, pulling up a text to Ava.
Me: Are you feeling better?
There”s no answer for a bit, but she”s probably at work, wrangling Stu again. The woman is a wonder with children. Would she be able to help with some of the outreach stuff for the Utah Yetis? Would she even want to do something like that?
That”s another part I”ve had to delegate. I don”t know grown-up Ava well enough to go to bat for her in the organization I”m the owner of.
Why do I feel such a need to help her? Maybe because of all she”s done so far to help Emily. The girl was grinning from ear to ear when we got home last night. It”s not the easiest thing to have her mother gone, but this team is helping her ease into life again. And that’s all an uncle can hope for.
But it’s more than just taking my niece under her wing. Ava speaks her mind and stands up for what she thinks is right. I’ve met plenty of people in my line of work who’ve sold out over money or fame, losing themselves in the process.
I have a feeling Ava could withstand that, which makes me like her even more. And as much as I like challenges, she’s definitely keeping me on my toes.
She had several walls up when we first reconnected. How do I test out a relationship with her without getting cut off completely?