Chapter 17

The next couple of days flew by and it was Tuesday night and the Pens would be taking the ice in an hour. Karen was at her friend Sheril's house to watch the game. They were watching the pre-game show and they interviewed Sidney to get his perspective on tonight's game. When the interview was over, Karen had a smile plastered on her face.

"Damn girl, can you have it any more bad for the guy?"

"I think I possibly could, you never know" Karen said as she got up to get something to drink.

"Why do I think there's something more going on then what we saw over the weekend?"


"I don't know what is giving you that idea."

Just then, Karen's cell phone went off and she ran to grab it before Sheril had a chance to. She saw the caller ID and smiled when it was Sidney. She walked outside to get some privacy.

"Hey stud."

"Hey baby."

"Aren't you suppose to be concentrating on the game right now?"

"I am but everytime I had a free moment, you popped in my head so I thought to call you to see if you were watching the game."

"I was going to but there's naked male mud wrestling on in like 5 minutes. I was torn which to watch and chose the naked men, sorry."

"Is there any way to get you to change your mind and watch the game?"

"Do you or your teammates plan to strip during the game?"

"I don't see that happening, sorry. Anything else?"

"How good are you at begging? Maybe if you beg me good enough, I'll watch the game instead."

"I won't beg, but if you watch the game tonight I promise to make it up to you Friday night when I see you."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"You'll just have to wait and see, but baby, it will definitely be worth the wait."

"You don't play nice Crosby."

"Never said I did baby."

Karen heard them call for him in the background "well go kick some ass stud and I will be watching you."

"Ok baby. I'll call you tomorrow since you'll need to go to bed after the game for work."

"Alright, good luck Sid."

"Thanks, bye."

"Bye."

Karen hung up and walked back into the house, settling in to watch the game. Sheril just looked at her and Karen told her she would tell her everything during the intermissions.

The game went on and the Pens won 5-3, with Sidney netting two assists. After the game, they did some locker room interviews and Karen saw a look Sidney did into the camera and wondered if it was for her. She made a mental note to ask him about it later. Karen left Sheril's ten minutes later and headed home. When she got home, she went straight to her room and changed for bed. As soon as she was under the covers, her cell phone went off and Karen knew who the text was coming from. She reached for the phone and opened it up to read the message "did you see your wink? I hope so. Sleep tight baby, I love you. Sid" Karen smiled and replied back before closing her eyes.

Sidney and the team finally got back to the hotel after all the interviews and press conferences, which he had done most of them. Since Colby had been traded, Sidney didn't have a roommate, so his dad was in the room with him. He had heard his phone go off during an interview and couldn't get to it until he got back to the hotel. Sidney opened his phone to retrieve the message from Karen and read the simple note "I love you too!" He smiled and closed his phone knowing she was asleep and didn't want to wake her with another message.

"Who were you talking to?" Troy asked coming into the room.

"No one, Karen sent me a text after the game when I was stuck doing interviews and just now read it."

"Everything ok?"

"She's not going away dad, just accept it."

"I didn't mean it that way Sid. I told you I would not jump to any conclusions about her until I spent time with her. I know you like her and when you put your mind to something, you follow through with it. Just be careful."

"I will dad, trust me" Sidney sat on his bed and looked at his dad "you know, she's older than I am....a lot older."

Troy didn't really want to know her age and avoided it unless Sidney offered to tell him. "Does it matter that she older?"

"Not to me. But I guess I'm wondering what you think and eventually what mom will say about it."

"Sid, you fall in love with someone because they have the same interests or because of what type of person they are and how they carry themselves. If you only go for someone because they are the same age as you or 1-2 years different, what kind of relationship can you really build from that? I know I want you to be careful, but I'd rather see you happy than anything Sid. You need something to offset your hockey life."

"And she does that dad."

"I know. How about we go get a late dinner somewhere?"

Sidney nodded and they left the room to get something to eat.

Thursday night came and went with the Pens losing 3-0 to the Rangers. Karen was at the house and sat stunned that they couldn't put them away. She knew Sidney was going to go through every tiny particle of the game to find out what went wrong. Karen figured that it was a last ditch desperation move on New York's part and that the loss didn't mean anything but them staying alive for one more game. She knew the boys would bounce back and finish off the series at home.

Before Karen went to bed, she hoped that Sidney would have called or texted her, but she knew he was diappointed and probably didn't want to talk. Karen laughed knowing she had been the same way after some games and rather would have been left alone then talk about it. She grabbed her cell phone and did a text to Sidney. Karen didn't care if he replied or not, she just wanted him to know she was there.

The team left New York and headed home that night. Nobody wanted to stay over and not playing again until Sunday, they wanted the extra day at home. After Sidney got settled, his phone went off. He opened it up and saw he had a message from Karen and read what it said "I love you." Sidney's bad mood started to fade away when he read those three little words from her. He had wanted to call her after the game, but he didn't want to end up being mad at her when she would only try to make things better. Sidney put his phone away and sat back to close his eyes on the long trip home.

On Friday around 11am, Karen was sitting at lunch when her phone went off. She looked at it then answered it.

"Hey stud."

"Hey baby. It's good to hear your voice."

"Aww, did you miss me stud?"

"Yes. Why can't you just travel with me to all the road games?"

"Because I would lose my job eventually with too many absences."

"Yeah, you're going to have to remind me again why that's a bad idea. Don't you have any vacation days you could use?"

"But if I use all of them now, then I won't have any to go on an actual vacation in a couple months."

"Where were you planning on going?"

"I'm not sure. I've heard Eastern Canada is beautiful in summer or maybe somewhere exclusive where it could be just me and the man of my dreams. I haven't really decided yet. Do you have any ideas for me?"

"I like your first choice, you could be with the man of your dreams there."

"Nah, I'd be with you."

"That was harsh. Just step on my already bruised ego from last night a little more."

"I'm sorry baby, I was just having some fun."

"I know you were and I'm sorry too. Were you really planning your vacation to spend with me in Canada?"

"At least a week, that is if you would like the company."

"I always want your company baby. When were you planning to come?"

"Well, my vacation doesn't hit until July 5th and we have to put it in 3 weeks in advance, so I figure that would put me there around the first week of August."

"I like that plan. Besides it will give me a couple of months to work on mom so she's not so..."

"Shocked to see me when I meet her?"

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Whatever stud, you need time to prepare her, go ahead. My vacation revolves around being with you. Just make sure all the sharp objects are out of the house for my safety when I do meet her." Karen could hear Sidney laughing.

"Alright baby, I will. What time will you coming up tonight?"

"My bags are in the car, so I will leave when I'm done. Probably by 2:30pm depending on traffic."

"Well we have a meeting in an hour and then I might stay and work out for a bit. So I will just meet you at your house when I'm done?"

"What about your dad? Isn't he still here to stay with you?"

"Yeah, but he'll understand since we hadn't seen each other all week."

Ok. Sorry stud, but my lunch hour is over and I need to get back. I'll see you in a couple hours?"

"Definitely, I will be counting the minutes. Love you baby."

"Love you too stud."

They hung up and Karen went back to work for the last hour of her shift.