Always Something There to Remind Me

True to his word Sidney called me the next morning.

“Hey,” he greeted me as I answered the phone. “I talked to my family.”

“And?” I asked, grimacing.

“And they’re excited to meet him and see you again.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Really? How much did you pay them?” I asked in disbelief, earning a chuckle from Sid.

“I didn’t have to pay them. Aiden’s family, so you’re family in a way. And my mom always liked you since ‘you distracted me from all the girls throwing themselves at me so I couldn’t do anything stupid,’ her words, not mine.”

“And I’m sure that as soon as she said that your dad said something to the effect of ‘yeah, she distracted him from the other girls so she could have him all to herself,’” I told him. Sid didn’t say anything, making me laugh. “This lunch is going to be fantastic.”

“Anyways,” Sid said, trying to change the subject. “I’ll stop by after the morning skate and pick you guys up.”

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“So, I thought we could go to Eat’n Park, ‘cause I don’t know what he likes,” Sid said, helping Aiden into his Range Rover.

“That’s fine, he’ll eat just about anything.”

The whole way to the restaurant I kept stealing glances at Sid, who was listening intently to Aiden talking about pretty much anything and everything in the backseat. When he caught me looking at him, I just turned away and smiled.

“What?” he asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” I smiled, listening to Aiden singing along with the radio the rest of the way.

When Sid pulled into the parking lot we immediately got looks from the people around. Everyone knew his Range Rover. Almost as soon as he got out of the vehicle people came over asked for autographs and pictures. I got Aiden out of the backseat and told him that I would just meet him inside. People asked him who I was, but I didn’t stick around to hear his answer, I just wanted to get away from the craziness before Aiden freaked out. As I walked into the restaurant, I heard a familiar voice yelling my name.

“Nicole, over here!” Trina called.

Glancing out the window, it was clear that Sidney was going to be awhile, so I had no choice but to go over to them without him. Here we go, I thought as I made my way over to the Crosby family.

“Hi Trina, nice to see you again,” I said as she came stood up and hugged me, Taylor following suit. Troy just gave me a polite nod and continued staring at me, analyzing me, like he was trying to figure out what my motives were.

“You must be Aiden,” Taylor said, turning their attention to him. “I’m Taylor, Sid’s sister.”

“Hi Taylor,” he said shyly. “Do you play hockey too?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “I’m the goalie on the Cole Harbour Red Wings.”

“Really?” he asked. “You should show my mom how to play then, because she’s not very good at it” he continued, causing all of them to laugh.

“Hey guys, sorry you had to wait,” Sidney said, finally walking over. “Sounds like you guys are getting along though,” he said smiling.

“Oh yeah, Aiden was just telling them about how I bad of a goalie I am. He’s already trying to schedule me some lessons with Taylor,” I grinned.

“I’d rather give her slap shot lessons so she can break Carissa’s jaw,” Taylor mumbled under her breath just loud enough for me to hear. I coughed to try and cover up my laugh as Taylor shot me a grin.

Surprisingly, lunch was about the opposite of what I had expected. I prepared myself for long, awkward silences, death glares, the works. Instead, the conversation flowed, and the silences were anything but awkward, only happening when we were all eating. After we were done eating, Sid convinced me to go back to the Lemieux’s to hang out with them and his family while he got in a pre-game nap. Taylor had taken Aiden to the play room to hang out with the Lemieux children, so Troy asked me if he could talk to me for a minute, alone.

“So,” he began. “Aiden and Sid seem to get along well.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I didn’t even think Sid was going to come see him again after he found out.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” Troy began after a minute of silence. “But are you sure Sid is Aiden’s dad?”

“Positive,” I answered, trying to remain calm. "Why wouldn't I be? It's not like I slept around."

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make you angry,” he said. “But I had to ask. I mean, Sid was pretty crushed when you two stopped talking, and now you show up in his life four years later, kid in tow. You have to understand how this looks from the outside. I’m just trying to look out for him and make sure you didn’t show up looking for his money.”

“No, no, no…I’m not here to take his money. In fact, I’m not even supposed to be in Pittsburgh. The restaurant was supposed to open in Philadelphia, but things fell through and they chose here instead. I never even intended to tell Sid about Aiden, they just met by chance. I was perfectly fine the way things were. If I was after his money, I wouldn’t have wasted four years in college.”

“I figured, but again, I had to ask. You know Carissa’s going to bring it up as soon as she finds out, and it’s not going to be pretty. She’s going to think you told Sid just so you could steal him from her, not that that would be a bad thing though.”

“Yeah, she’s perfect step-mother material,” I shuddered, choosing to ignore the last part of his statement, because THAT was never going to happen, regardless if he wanted it to or not.

“Mom!” Aiden called. “Come here! We’re watching a movie!”

“I guess we better get going,” Troy chuckled. “Again, please don’t take what I said the wrong way. I’m just trying to look out for him. You know how he can be sometimes.”

“Don’t worry about it, I understand,” I said as we headed up stairs to join everyone else.