Chapter 66

After Sidney got home from the game, he couldn't stop thinking about Karen. He needed to know what happened and how she got hurt. Sidney went to the kitchen to get something to drink and found Mario sitting at the table.

"You look like someone just stole your best friend. What's going on Sid?"

"I saw Karen at the game tonight."

"And that was a bad thing?"

"From the way she looked it is. She had a cast on her wrist, her knee was bandaged and her face looked bruised on one side. I don't know what happened and it's killing me not to know."

"Didn't you get a chance to talk to her after the game?"

"No. Her friends had to get back to Wheeling right after, but she did say I could come over tomorrow and we can talk."

"Well that's good. Must mean she's not mad at you anymore."

"That's what I am hoping. I don't want to go over there with the intentions of wanting her back and have her tell me she wants nothing to do with me."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about Sid. I've seen that look in Karen's eyes before and it's the same look she had when she was with Rick. She still loves you and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon. Yes, she may be hurting from the break up, but she's not going to give up on you or a chance to be with you again."

"Can I get that in writing?"

"Sure. It'll also come with a lifetime supply of 'I told you so' too."

"I can't wait. I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head before I can get some sleep tonight."

"Alright."

Sidney left the house and went down the street. He felt Karen's house key in his pocket and decided he couldn't wait to go see her. He walked across the street and looked in the house. He saw it was dark and used the key to unlock the door. Sidney quietly walked inside and upstairs to her bedroom. He was glad that there was some light coming in from the window and he saw her lying in bed, facing his way. Sidney knelt down on the floor and pushed a stray hair behind her ear.

“Baby, I’m sorry this happened to you. I still can’t help but think some of this happened because of me. I was an ass for not standing up to my parents and breaking it off with you. I should have followed my heart and stayed with you. I also shouldn’t have gotten involved with Sophia when I knew what it did to you to see us together. But you were right, she’s exactly what she is, not that I let her add me to her list. I couldn’t see myself with her or let myself be with her. Needless to say it’s over with her. It was over before we left for our road trip and during that time, I went through every possible scenario of what I could do to make it up to you and get you back. I miss you and I do love you baby.” Sidney got up and lightly kissed her on part of her cheek that wasn’t hurt before he left her alone to sleep. He left her room, looking back to her before going downstairs and leaving the house.

When the front door shut, Karen opened her eyes and a single tear fell as she whispered ‘I still love you too’ and closed her eyes again to go back to sleep.

The next morning, Karen woke up and tried to move. She groaned as she got up and went to the bathroom. When she was done, she didn’t feel like getting back into bed and hobbled out of the room going downstairs. She went into the kitchen to fix some coffee and noticed it was only 9:19am. Karen wondered what time Sidney would be over and before she could answer herself, there was a knock at the door. She smiled to herself knowing how anxious he was to talk to her. She limped to the door and opened it to reveal Sidney.

"Morning" he said almost shyly.

"Morning Sid."

Karen backed away and made room for him to come in. As she did, she lost her balance and Sidney was there to catch her. Karen couldn't stop herself and looked into his eyes, seeing them soften.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I just backed up to fast. Thanks for catching me."

Sidney started to lean in but Karen didn't want to start this off like that. It killed her because she had dreamed of Sidney's lips on hers again and here she was the one backing away to not rush it. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. It's an instinct being this close to you."

"I know I just don't want us to rush into anything when our feelings are so confused right now."

"My feelings for you aren't confused. I know what I want and I want you."

Karen smelled the coffee was done and got out of Sidney's grip "do you want some coffee?"

"Tim Horton's?"

"I wouldn't have anything else in the house."

"How about if you go sit down and I will go get it for us" Sidney kissed her forehead and left her to go sit in the living room while he went to the kitchen.

Karen went to go sit down and Sidney came in a few minutes later with the coffee. Karen took a sip and smiled as she looked at him. He made it perfect for her with the right amount of cream and lots of sugar. Sidney sat to the right of Karen and when he put his cup down, he picked up her right hand, holding it with his right hand as he put his left arm around her shoulders and brought her body closer to him.

"So what happened to you?" he asked with concen in his voice.

"I wasn't paying attention and lost a battle with a forklift at work."

"How the hell does that happen?"

"I was walking into the warehouse and I had other thoughts on my mind. I came around the corner and the guy was driving the forklift too fast and he bumped me. I fell towards the metal post of the bay and when he went to stop, he turned the forklift into me and pinned me against the post. I hit my head when he bumped me and my wrist and knee was just smashed against the metal post."

"What other thoughts were you thinking about that got you to not watch where you were going?" Karen just looked down and took a deep breath "it was about me?"

"Ever since that night in Sweden when you kissed me, I've been playing it in my head all day and night. But you have no reason to believe this was your fault Sid" Karen said looking at him when she said the last part "I've had thoughts of you since April and I've managed to stay on my feet. This was a freak accident from the guy going to fast, it had nothing to do with us breaking up."

"How did you..."

"I heard you last night."

"I thought you were asleep."

"I was but when you touched my cheek moving my hair, I knew it was you. So I just kept my eyes closed and heard what you had to say."

"I wish you would have woken up" he said with a smile.

"Where was the fun in that? Besides, I wasn't sure what you were going to tell me so I figured it was best to pretend I was still asleep."

Sidney got up and sat on the coffee table in front of her so he could look into her eyes "what did you think I would have told you?"

Karen kept her eyes down before she looked up at him "that you didn't want to be with me again."

"If I wanted that to happen, I wouldn't have come over late at night and whispered it to you."

"I guess. Tell me what happened after I left you in August?"

Sidney got up and paced around "they kept reiterating what you heard them say while you were there. For the last few weeks all I heard was how you weren't good for me. That my game would suffer because I would spend all my extra time with you. They couldn't understand when I tried to tell them how much I love you. I guess since my dad controls the professional side, I never had the personal side to interfere with that. They're scared that my personal side will screw up my professional side."

"So they expect you to not have a personal life until you're done playing?"

Sidney stopped and looked at her "that's what they want."

"What do you want Sid?"

He walked back over to the couch, sitting beside her and turned her head to make her look at him "I want you. I want to be with you. I want to do what we talked about when you came to see me. I want you to stay here with me on weeks when I have home games and commute to work, I want to stay here with you. I want us to be together." Sidney searched her eyes for an answer but when he saw the tears forming, he wasn't sure what to expect "please tell me that is what you still want."

Karen brought her hand up and caressed his cheek "I'm sorry but I changed my mind." She got up and stumbled but Sidney caught her and their faces were mere inches away from each other "I want you here when you get home from road games too."

Sidney smiled before bringing his lips down onto hers for a passionate kiss "I think I like that change, but does that mean you would be here when I get back?"

"Depends on the time of day. If its before 2pm, I'll still be at work and you will have to wait for me to come home."

"I'll wait forever baby" he said kissing her again. "Are we going to be ok?"

"We will, but there are some other things I need to know about before anything can happen between us. Things you need to know. After we talk some more and you still feel the same about me that you do right now, then we'll be ok."

"What do I need to know? But more importantly, what else do you want to know about?"

"Sophia."

Sidney knew what she wanted to know before she said her name. He had nothing to hide since nothing happened with her but it scared him to know what she could tell him.