Always Something There to Remind Me
Chapter Twelve
I’m not getting married. I broke it off with Carissa.
His words kept replaying in the back of my head, keeping me from getting any quality sleep.
Well, things just weren’t working out. She’s been getting all pissy because I spend time with Aiden. Of course I’m going to spend time with him, he’s my son. And she’s starting to get really clingy. Clingy women do not fit in with my lifestyle. I…I guess I just finally realized that she’s not someone I could spend the rest of my life with.
I was a walking zombie the next day at work. Thankfully, we were pretty busy, so it kept me moving around. I practically ran out the door after I clocked out. No sooner had I gotten in my car than my phone rang. Groaning, I quickly answered it without checking the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Sid’s voice greeted me. “I was just calling you before you got home and freaked out to let you know that Melinda went out with Max, so I picked Aiden up and brought him to the Lemieuxs’ with me.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said. “Wait a second….like, on a date?”
“Yeah, that would be my guess,” he chuckled. “I’ll drop him off around eight, unless you want him home sooner?”
“No, eight is fine.”
“Okay, see you then.”
“Bye.”
The first thing I did when I got home was take a bath to help relax. Unfortunately, that also gave me time to think. From the few encounters I had had with Carissa, I knew it was probably for the best that the wedding was off, but I still felt guilty about it. I mean, Sid obviously had feelings for her if he was going to marry her. Things had obviously been going fine until I showed up in Pittsburgh. Sighing, I got out of the tub, getting dressed and then going downstairs to make myself some dinner. I ended up falling asleep on the couch afterwards, waking up to a knock on my door.
“Hey,” Sid whispered. “He fell asleep on the way here, I’ll just carry him up.”
I followed him upstairs, helping him get Aiden out of his clothes and into his pajamas. I kissed him on his forehead before going back downstairs.
“Want something to drink?” I asked Sid.
“No thanks, I have to get going,” he said, hesitating. “But, I do have sort of an….odd request for you.”
“Okay…”
“Are you busy tomorrow?”
“No, why?”
“Well, obviously I need to go house hunting now, and I was wondering if you would go with me,” he said, his cheeks starting to turn pink.
“You need me to go house hunting with you?”
“Yeah, um,” now he was rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “If you’re going to be in Pittsburgh for a while, then so is Aiden, so I figured I need to, you know, get more of a kid-friendly house. Maybe even a house closer to you guys, since the Lemieuxs live on the other side of town, but I don’t want you to think I’m hovering or anything, and…”
“What time?”
“I get done with practice at eleven, so how about I meet you here and then take you to lunch? After we eat we can go look.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow then.”
_______________________________♥♥♥♥♥
We stopped and had a quick lunch at Primanti Brothers the next day before we went off on our little adventure. The one requirement that Sid has was that the house had to come with a pool. Other than that, he said he wasn’t too picky. Yeah, right. After what felt like hours of searching, Sid finally found “the perfect house” for himself - gated community, four bedrooms, spacious grounds, a multi-purpose room, a family room, a huge kitchen, a fireplace in the living room, a fire pit, a jacuzzi, and an infinity pool were just some of the highlights. Since it was only a few blocks from my house, he decided he had to buy it almost as soon as he saw it. After he got done signing the papers at the realtor’s, we headed back to my house.
“Do you think I could ask you one more favor?” he said as we got out of my car.
“Depends what it is,” I grinned.
“Well, now that I have a house, I’m going to need some help decorating it.”
“And you want a woman’s touch, who’s not your mother, because that would be too embarrassing.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” he said laughing.
“I guess I could help you, but you owe me big time.”
“Great, thanks! I’m probably going to wait until after the playoffs though before I really do anything to it, except maybe paint.”
“Lazy ass,” I told him, smiling.
“You wouldn’t have me any other way,” he smirked, giving me a hug before getting into his vehicle. Pulling away, he kept his arms around my waist, staring into my eyes. He started to lean in towards me, like he was going to kiss me. Our lips were centimeters apart, when Aiden suddenly opened the front door, making us jump away.
“Mom, dad, guess what I did today?” he said with a huge grin on his face.
His words kept replaying in the back of my head, keeping me from getting any quality sleep.
Well, things just weren’t working out. She’s been getting all pissy because I spend time with Aiden. Of course I’m going to spend time with him, he’s my son. And she’s starting to get really clingy. Clingy women do not fit in with my lifestyle. I…I guess I just finally realized that she’s not someone I could spend the rest of my life with.
I was a walking zombie the next day at work. Thankfully, we were pretty busy, so it kept me moving around. I practically ran out the door after I clocked out. No sooner had I gotten in my car than my phone rang. Groaning, I quickly answered it without checking the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Sid’s voice greeted me. “I was just calling you before you got home and freaked out to let you know that Melinda went out with Max, so I picked Aiden up and brought him to the Lemieuxs’ with me.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said. “Wait a second….like, on a date?”
“Yeah, that would be my guess,” he chuckled. “I’ll drop him off around eight, unless you want him home sooner?”
“No, eight is fine.”
“Okay, see you then.”
“Bye.”
The first thing I did when I got home was take a bath to help relax. Unfortunately, that also gave me time to think. From the few encounters I had had with Carissa, I knew it was probably for the best that the wedding was off, but I still felt guilty about it. I mean, Sid obviously had feelings for her if he was going to marry her. Things had obviously been going fine until I showed up in Pittsburgh. Sighing, I got out of the tub, getting dressed and then going downstairs to make myself some dinner. I ended up falling asleep on the couch afterwards, waking up to a knock on my door.
“Hey,” Sid whispered. “He fell asleep on the way here, I’ll just carry him up.”
I followed him upstairs, helping him get Aiden out of his clothes and into his pajamas. I kissed him on his forehead before going back downstairs.
“Want something to drink?” I asked Sid.
“No thanks, I have to get going,” he said, hesitating. “But, I do have sort of an….odd request for you.”
“Okay…”
“Are you busy tomorrow?”
“No, why?”
“Well, obviously I need to go house hunting now, and I was wondering if you would go with me,” he said, his cheeks starting to turn pink.
“You need me to go house hunting with you?”
“Yeah, um,” now he was rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “If you’re going to be in Pittsburgh for a while, then so is Aiden, so I figured I need to, you know, get more of a kid-friendly house. Maybe even a house closer to you guys, since the Lemieuxs live on the other side of town, but I don’t want you to think I’m hovering or anything, and…”
“What time?”
“I get done with practice at eleven, so how about I meet you here and then take you to lunch? After we eat we can go look.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow then.”
_______________________________♥♥♥♥♥
We stopped and had a quick lunch at Primanti Brothers the next day before we went off on our little adventure. The one requirement that Sid has was that the house had to come with a pool. Other than that, he said he wasn’t too picky. Yeah, right. After what felt like hours of searching, Sid finally found “the perfect house” for himself - gated community, four bedrooms, spacious grounds, a multi-purpose room, a family room, a huge kitchen, a fireplace in the living room, a fire pit, a jacuzzi, and an infinity pool were just some of the highlights. Since it was only a few blocks from my house, he decided he had to buy it almost as soon as he saw it. After he got done signing the papers at the realtor’s, we headed back to my house.
“Do you think I could ask you one more favor?” he said as we got out of my car.
“Depends what it is,” I grinned.
“Well, now that I have a house, I’m going to need some help decorating it.”
“And you want a woman’s touch, who’s not your mother, because that would be too embarrassing.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” he said laughing.
“I guess I could help you, but you owe me big time.”
“Great, thanks! I’m probably going to wait until after the playoffs though before I really do anything to it, except maybe paint.”
“Lazy ass,” I told him, smiling.
“You wouldn’t have me any other way,” he smirked, giving me a hug before getting into his vehicle. Pulling away, he kept his arms around my waist, staring into my eyes. He started to lean in towards me, like he was going to kiss me. Our lips were centimeters apart, when Aiden suddenly opened the front door, making us jump away.
“Mom, dad, guess what I did today?” he said with a huge grin on his face.