Chapter 10

The next morning Karen got up with her alarm blaring. She wasn't happy about how things ended with Sidney last night and hated what Maggie did. She looked at her cell phone remembering she turned it off. Karen turned it on and left it on the bed as she went to the bathroom to get a shower and get ready for work. As she was in the shower, she didn't hear her phone beep with a new voicemail.

Karen got her things ready and walked out of the room, but stopped when she forgot her cell phone. She picked it up off the bed and left the room. Karen walked into the kitchen and saw Maggie standing there getting her coffee ready.

"I'm heading up now, so I'll see you later."

"Karen, wait. I'm sorry ok."

"No its not ok Mags. Things have been going so great between Sid and I and you had to pull this shit. Why?"

"I don't know. I thought about just coming out and asking him but I figured if I could come on to him and he fell for it, then you'd know not to fall for him."

"Well it's too late, I already have." Karen said as she left the house and got in her car to head to work.

Karen got to work 20 minutes early an went inside to wait to clock in. She went into the break room and pulled out her cell phone. When she flipped it open, she saw she had a new voicemail. At first she wanted to ignore it, but she called her mailbox and listened to the message.

Hey baby, it's me. I'm sorry for not believing you and just leaving like I did. I feel like an ass for doing that. We need to talk to straighten this out. I was more mad at what Maggie did and I should have known you had nothing to do with it. You've been nothing but honest with me since day one. Anyway, I'm sorry too Karen. Please call me when you go to lunch. Bye.

Karen exited her mailbox and put her phone on vibrate before putting it in her pocket. She got up and went to the bathroom to let a few tears fall and freshen up before clocking in.

All morning both Sidney and Karen couldn't stop thinking about each other. Sidney had practice at 10am and he was on his way to the arena. He knew when or if Karen called him during her lunch hour, he'd be on the ice. He hoped that she'd leave a message and that would be something he'd look forward to after practice.

When Karen had gone to lunch, she stared at her phone constantly wondering if she should call him. Better yet, what she should tell him. Karen hoped that what happened last night isn't throwing him off his practice. She decided to pick up her phone and dial Sidney's number. When she heard it ring and ring, she knew he was in the middle of practice. Her hand was shaking and as soon as she heard his voicemail pick up she couldn't decide to leave a message or not. When she heard the beep she knew there was no turning back. Karen left a message and then put her phone on the table. Maggie saw her sitting by herself and went over hoping to talk to her.

"Can I sit with you?"

"Do whatever you want" Karen hissed.

"Ok I deserve that. How many times do I need to apologize to make this right?"

"I'm not the only one you need to apologize to."

"I know. Next time I see him I will profoundly apologize to Sidney."

"Fine, whatever" Karen said to get the subject changed.

"Have you talked to him?" Maggie asked somewhat cautiously.

"He left me a voicemail I guess last night that I got this morning. I just called and left a message back to him since he's at practice now."

"What did he tell you?"

"That he was sorry for not believing me and that he's more pissed at you for doing that to him. Honestly Mags, I don't know where your head is most days. The one thing that hasn't been in my life for 12 years and you go and screw it up for me when I get a chance again."

"I know I did and...."

"Your sorry, I know."

"Just tell me what I need to do to help you fix this?"

"Just stay away from him and for today stay away from me." Karen said getting up and heading out of the breakroom. She went for a walk outside until she had to go back to work.

At 1pm, the players were taking a break from practice and Sidney practically ran to the locker room to see if Karen had called. He opened his phone and saw he had a missed call. Going through the list, he saw it was from Karen and smiled calling his mailbox. His smile soon faded when he actually heard the message.

Hey Sid. I wasn't really sure about leaving you a message but figured I needed to. I told you I didn't want to be a distraction for you during the playoffs and I think I just became that. I'm happy that you don't blame me for last night. I was serious when I meant I had nothing to do with what Maggie did but it hurt that you didn't believe me right away. Maybe the best thing right now would for us to take a three day break from talking. I don't want to be the reason for any lack of concentration you might have because of this. I will just see you at the game on Friday and maybe we can talk afterwards if you want. I'm sorry this happened now.

Sidney shut his phone and sat down. He could hear the sadness in her voice and it sounded like she was starting to cry by the end of the message. He hated that he jumped to conclusions to make her sad. He was falling for her and falling fast. Sidney needed to try and reassure her because he didn't want to lose her. Their break was over and Sidney put his phone away and went back onto the ice.

Later that night, Karen had been in her room since she had gotten home from work. She didn't want to deal with Maggie but also because she had a guy over and didn't want to have to play nice and be socialable. She had the tv on to try and drown out the sounds of them but it wasn't working. A few minutes later her cell phone rang and she looked at the caller ID. Karen's heart jumped into her throat when she saw Sidney's name appear. She wanted to ignore it, but chose to answer it instead.

"Hey" Karen said softly.

"Hey baby. I'm glad you decided to answer."

"I thought I would be able to avoid you until Friday, but you make it hard for that to happen."

"I've been told I have that affect on people" he thought he heard a smile in her voice but wasn't sure. "I really am sorry for how I overreacted."

"I know. I think in some sick way Mags thought she was helping by finding out your true intentions. All my friends have been very overprotective since I moved back home in 1999. Its sweet, but it irritates me."

"I can imagine. You wouldn't have been a distraction baby. All we needed to do was talk."

"I don't think its that simple anymore Sid" Karen said as tears started falling down her cheeks.

"Baby, please don't cry and tell me what you mean."

"I can't, not right now. Just do what I suggest and let's wait to talk on Friday. Please?"

Sidney hated to hear her cry and didn't want to press the issue anymore. "Ok, but I will only do this if you promise me that we will talk on Friday."

"I promise, Friday."

"Alright. Night Karen."

"Night Sid."

Karen hung up first and curled into a ball. She let the remaining tears fall and eventually fell asleep.

Sidney laid in bed and couldn't help but hate himself for doing this to her, to them. He thought of what he needed to do before going to sleep himself.

On Wednesday, Karen was finishing up a few things before getting ready to take her lunch. As she was turned looking for a certain size, she didn't realize she had a visitor by her cart. Karen turned back around and was startled at the person staring at her.

"It's not Friday." Karen told Sidney as he stared at her.

"I couldn't let this continue until Friday. I had to see you and get this cleared up. Go to lunch with me?"

Karen knew she shouldn't but decided to go. "Ok. Let me go clock out and I will meet you outside the employee entrance on the side. Five minutes?"

"I'll meet you there."

Karen walked to the bathroom and then clocked out for lunch. She grabbed her purse from her locker and went outside to find Sidney. When she got out there, she saw him parked and standing by the passenger side. Karen walked up to the car and the first thing Sidney did was grab her and kissed her. As much as Karen wanted to pull away, she instantly melted into the kiss.

After pulling away "you know I only have an hour for lunch?" Karen told him.

"I know. I just had to do that." Sidney said as he opened the car door for her then getting in and heading out.

Sidney drove to the Chinese restaurant Karen took him to on Monday and she just laughed since they were there two days ago. When she questioned his choice, Sidney told her it was where they could be alone to talk. But it had different meaning to Karen. Once they were seated, they went ahead and ordered so she wouldn't be back over to bother them.

Sidney took ahold of Karen's hand and held it. "Talk to me. Tell me how to make this better between us. Do I need to go kick Maggie's ass for what she did?" He saw a small smile form on Karen's face and smiled himself.

"You could but her new boyfriend towers over you and weighs about another 60 pounds." Looking away from his eyes, "we'll be fine I just want you to be ready for the game without worrying about me or us."

"I can't do that because all I seem to want to worry about is you AND us. There's is something more building between us and I know you know what I mean."

"I do know what you mean" Karen said soft enough that she hoped Sidney didn't hear, but he did.

Their food came and they ate in silence. Not how Sidney pictured this, but at least they were together. After they were done, Sidney paid the bill and he took her back to work. Karen still had about 15 minutes until she needed to go back.

"Tell me why you're so afraid for this to go farther?"

"I'm not afraid of this going farther, I'm afraid of getting hurt again" she said while looking out the window.

"And I hurt you Monday night by not believing you and then just leaving angry. I never meant for that to happen."

"But it did happen" turning to look at him, "I just don't want it to happen again."

"I can't promise it won't happen, but I will do whatever it takes to not be the one to do it."

Sidney caressed her cheek and leaned in to kiss her. He was happy that she kissed him back and loved how the feelings that always poured into their kisses never left. When they broke away, Sidney felt the words that wanted to escape, but he knew it wasn't the right time. He looked at his watch and Karen knew she needed to get back.

"Now I don't feel so bad waiting to see you on Friday." he said.

"It did help seeing you today and it will make Friday night come quicker. Please tell me that you will be able to concentrate for your game now?"

"I know I will. You better go before you're late clocking in."

"Yeah I better." Karen kissed him again and got out of the car. She walked towards the building and turned back to see Sidney drive away. Karen couldn't help but smile the rest of the day.