Chapter 53

"If Jack told you, why would you need me to re-tell you what she said?"

"Because I would like to hear it from you."

Karen got up and started pacing. Sidney realized she did this when something was bothering her. He just sat back and watched her, waiting for her to get out what she needed.

"Your mom told me that it would be best if I broke up with you the day I leave so you could concentrate on your training here and when you get back to Pittsburgh. She said that she didn't realize how right your dad was about this relationship and that training camp will go better for you if I wasn't in the picture." Sidney saw her tears and got up to try and hold her, but Karen stepped back "there's something else. I told your mom that if you didn't want me around it had to come from you and only you. She said that after you returned to Pittsburgh it would come from you. Now do you see why I didn't tell you?"

Sidney took her arms and pulled her towards him, wrapping her up in a tight hug "I'm so sorry baby." He pulled back and looked into her eyes "are you thinking about doing what they want?"

"If I took their advice to do what they wanted I wouldn't have waited until the day I leave Sid, I would have left yesterday. I hope that now that you know you take it as a sign that what they want isn't what I want."

"I know that baby" he said pulling her back into his chest until she calmed down. After a few minutes of holding her, Sidney let her go and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"Sid don't, please. You confronting them is not going to change their minds, it's only going to make them hate me more because I told you instead of not saying anything. I have three days left, can't we just forgot about this and just be together until I leave?"

"I'll be back." Sidney kissed her before walking out.

Karen heard him leave and sat down on the couch with her head in her hands "what did I just do?" she told herself before getting up and going to find something to drink to calm her nerves.

Sidney was angry but he couldn't let Karen see exactly how angry he was. He knew it wasn't her fault but he didn't want to end up taking out on her. Sidney didn't want to confront his parents until after she left, but didn't know if that was going to be possible. He continued to drive around until he could let enough anger go.

Two hours had past and Karen was getting worried. Sidney wasn't back yet and she feared the worse. She stopped pacing around the house when she saw him pull up. Karen went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face, coming back to see Sidney walk through the door.

"You ok? You've been gone a while, I was getting worried about what you might have done."

"I had to go pick up something" Sidney pulled out a bouquet of a dozen roses from behind his back and handed them to Karen. She took them, smiling as she closed her eyes and smelled the sweet scent. "Hope you like them."

"I love them" she put them down to her side and walked up to him "and I love you."

"I love you too" Sidney leaned down and kissed her lips softly. "I didn't go see my parents. I just drove around to clear my head. I couldn't come back and be that angry at them and end up taking it out on you."

"I appreciate that but you need to talk to them after you've calmed down about this."

"I'm just going to wait until after you leave, ok? You're right, I don't want any more heat on you from them while you're here. These last few days are about us...well except for half of tomorrow."

"What are you talking about?"

"My dad set up a photo shoot with Reebok tomorrow for a couple hours."

"That's ok. Just don't bring me any clothes or skates or anything with their logo on it."

"You are too cruel for words. Just for that, I am bringing back a truckload of stuff for you to take back home" he said laughing.

"Do whatever you want, but at least I got a laugh out of you."

"That you did baby." Sidney brought his hand up and caressed her cheek "when we got together, I swear I never thought it would be like this with them. I pictured it completely different."

"Have they liked any girl you brought home while you were playing?"

"I thought they did. They hid it well but you are the first one they've been outspoken about."

"Or I've just been the first one that could truly be a threat to your career."

"What? You're agreeing with them now?"

"I'm not agreeing with them, but I do see their intentions. They see me as a threat to your career because you want to split your time between me and hockey when it's all been about hockey until now."

"Maybe, but they still don't need to treat you like they did. They could've just been nice and complained after you left."

Karen smiled and kissed his cheek "I think they'll do that anyway. Are we going to be ok these next few days and when you come back?"

"We'll be better than ok baby, we'll be perfect."

"Ok. Why don't you go relax while I put these in water and I will make you something special for dinner."

"Really? You naked laying on the table with only whipped cream covering certain areas?"

Karen shook her head not knowing what to say "maybe we'll play that game later, but I will be making actual food to eat first."

"I don't care when we play, because we will play...later."

"It's what I look forward to every night I spend with you. Now go relax and I will call you when dinner's ready."

Sidney kissed her before he let her go into the kitchen to start dinner. He walked into the living room and laid down on the couch, turning on the tv and settling in on a movie. About a half hour into the movie, Sidney's cell phone rang. He looked at it seeing it was his dad and answered it.

"Hey dad."

"Hey Sid. Just wanted to remind you about tomorrow."

"Yeah, I remembered."

"I was thinking that I would go with you. How about I come by and pick you up?"

"No, that's ok."

"Let me go with you, it'll be like old times."

Karen walked into the living room to get Sidney for dinner when she saw him talking on his cell phone. She stood in the doorway and listened.

"I really don't need or want you there. Besides, Karen's going with me."

"Sid I don't think..."

"I don't care what you think right now dad. She's going with me and if you want to know how it went, I'll call you when I get back tomorrow." Sidney looked and saw Karen standing there "dad I need to go, Karen made dinner and I would like to go enjoy it with her. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright son, talk to you soon."

"Bye dad" Sidney said as he hung up and put his phone on the table.

"Do I want to know?" Karen asked.

"He just called to remind me about tomorrow."

"And now I am going with you?"

"I told him that so he wouldn't go, but if you want to come with me I would love it if you did."

"Could be fun watching them primp you. Are you sure you want me there?"

Sidney got up and walked over to her "definitely. Besides, maybe we could take a couple pics together after I'm done."

"You would do anything to get me in a shirt that has the Reebok logo on it huh?"

"Anything and everything baby."

"Ok then, I'm going to go eat dinner. Care to join me?"

"Absolutely."

They walked into the kitchen and ate dinner. They were both laughing at the stories they were telling each other and it felt nice to have a relaxing dinner together.