Chapter 105

A while later, it was time for Sidney to go to the arena. All morning he would pick up his cell phone to leave Karen a message, but he would just look at it and put it back down. Sidney wasn't sure if Karen wanted to talk to him and he didn't know what to say to her. He grabbed his things and headed out.

Couple hours later, the guys were finishing getting ready to head home before the game that night. Max was about to leave but saw Sidney still sitting in his stall.

"What's going on Sid? Upset about not playing tonight?"

"Not really, I mean if my groin's tight I can't risk playing on it. Karen and I had a fight early this morning."

"Come on, tell daddy Max what happened" he said smiling his goofy smile to make Sidney smile.

"I kind of said that I thought we could maybe get a bigger house that was us and she got upset."

"Why would she get upset over that? You obviously want to marry her, a new house just goes with that."

"Karen's house is actually her parent's house. After they died, it's the only thing she has left to remember them by. Here I was thinking of us and our future and didn't think about her past. She loves that house and I knew what it meant to her. How stupid was I?"

"You're not stupid, you're in love. You guys just need to sit down and talk about it. Go home to her and work it out before the game tonight."

"That's not possible. She had to go away for work and won't be back until we get back from our road trip. I don't know how I am going to get through this without talking to her."

"Why don't you call her?"

"This isn't something we can figure out on the phone Max."

"Don't worry Sid, she loves you and she'll still love you no matter what happens. It'll be ok." Max patted him on the back before he left. Sidney sat there for a few minutes more before heading out himself. When Sidney got home, he looked around the house and took his time. He studied the colors on the walls, all the pictures Karen had around the house. Sidney even found some photo albums and flipped through close to 10 of them before sitting back on the couch and wondering if he regretted what he had done. Sidney got up and went to make himself some dinner before needing to be at the arena in a couple hours.

The next few days past quickly and it saw a trade and Sidney sitting out two games because of his groin. The trade took Whit away to the Ducks and brought a player from them.

Karen ended up at the Cabela's store in Fort Worth, TX on Friday. She knew the team would be playing the Stars on Sunday and tried to figure out a way to get there. She hadn't talked to Sidney since that morning and hated the way she left things with him. Here was a perfect opportunity to see him and hopefully he would want to see her.

Karen and Diane made friends with a couple people at the store Friday and with not jumping into work until Monday they had the weekend to see Dallas/Fort Worth. They took them to a few places and when the subject turned to hockey Karen was impressed to know that one of the guys had tickets to Saturday's Stars game against the Ducks and was thrilled when he invited Diane and her to go.

Saturday came and they met their new friends at the store before heading to the AAC in Dallas. Karen knew she wouldn't see Sidney but she saw another familiar face. They got to their seats and it happened to be at the end where the Ducks were warming up before the game. Karen watched the players and when one skated passed, both her and Diane looked at each other with disbelief. They didn't know Whit had been traded and here he was in front of them. Karen kept her eyes on him hoping he would look towards the crowd and when he did, even Ryan was confused to see them there. Ryan motioned for them to go to the runway and they did with ease. He came over to talk to them and got an usher to escort them to the locker room where he met up with them a few minutes later.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Ryan said hugging them both.

"That could be a question to ask you. What are you doing with Anaheim?"

"Got traded on Thursday while I was at home and instead of flying to Chicago, I flew to meet up with the Ducks."

"I bet that was a shock" Diane said.

"It was."

"How's your mom doing?"

"She's doing great. Surgery went through without any problems so she gave me her blessing to go play."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"So how are you guys here?"

"Our travels brought us to the store in Fort Worth and we made a new friend that had extra tickets for today's game."

Ryan looked around and saw the guys coming off the ice, taking Karen to the side "you know they play the Pens tomorrow right? Well if you're able to, the team is staying at the Ritz-Carlton."

"Thanks Whit I appreciate it" she said hugging him.

"I better go. It was good seeing you guys and Karen, keep in touch huh?"

"I will. Bye Whitter." They parted ways and the girls headed back to their seats. During the game, Diane could see the wheels spinning in Karen's head.

"You want to go to the hotel don't you?" Diane asked smiling.

"With the way we left things, I need to talk to him."

"I'm sure they'll drop you over there after the game."

"What about you? I don't want to abandon you like this."

"Please girl. I am not about to stand in the way of true love. I can always get someone to drive me over to get you tomorrow before the game."

"I don't see how you guys put up with me ditching you all the time."

"We see what Sidney does to you and we all want that for you. We understand, believe me."

"Thanks Diane, I appreciate it."

After the game, Karen asked if they could drop her off at the hotel. The guys wanted to know why and Karen made some excuse about seeing an old friend who was in town. They didn't see a problem and made their way to the hotel. Karen got out and went in hoping Sidney was indeed there and wanted to see her. She pulled out her cell phone and sent a text to Sidney, waiting for a reply.

Sidney was in his room when his phone went off. He saw it was from Karen and opened it.

If you want to talk, come down to the lobby ~ Karen

Sidney couldn't believe what he read and had to reread it 15 times before he believed it. He ran out of his room and went downstairs. He got to the lobby and looked around until his eyes landed on the one person he needed to see. Karen stood there as he saw her. She took a couple steps towards him as Sidney walked to her, embacing each other with a hug that neither wanted to let go.

"I'm so sorry for blowing up at you before I left" Karen said almost crying.

"I'm sorry too baby. I shouldn't have brought it up."

Karen pulled away from him "No, you had every right to bring it up if that's what you want us to have. I just don't know why I can't let go of them."

"Baby you shouldn't have to. Maybe we can get a house that belongs to us and keep your house for your friends to use on game nights or we can rent it out to one of the new guys. It'll be your choice what you want to do with it."

"Thank you" she said wiping her eyes "maybe we should finish his conversation somewhere else."

"Yeah considering we have more talking to do, like how you are here and knew where I was?"

"An old friend stud" she said kissing him. Sidney broke the kiss and led them to the elevator to go to his room.