I Could Rest Beneath Your Smile

Max grabbed his card key out of his pocket, making his way to his hotel room. He had just gotten off the phone with Brooklyn, who was angry that her mother was still around. He still couldn’t believe that she had yelled at Eve, but he was proud of his wife for standing up for herself. He sighed as he mentally counted down the days until he got back home. He missed Brooklyn, along with the twins, and he couldn’t wait for the following day to get over with so he could go home.

He opened the door, walking inside. “Ahhh!” he screamed, seeing a woman lying on the bed closest to him. The girl immediately jumped up, screaming herself. “Tia?” Max questioned as he realized who the person was.

“Oh my God, Max, you scared the living daylights out of me!” Tia exclaimed, walking over and hitting him in the chest.

“Me?” he asked. “You’re the one that’s in my hotel room, lying on my bed, and I’m the one that scared you?” he questioned. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to surprise Kris,” she explained quietly.

“Well, he’ll be surprised alright,” Max said with a smile. “My wife wouldn’t happen to be here, would she?” he asked hopefully, even though he knew that she was still at home in Pittsburgh.

“Sorry, Max,” Tia apologized. “She’s still at home, hating the fact that her mom’s still there. By the way, her mom’s a complete bitch,” she added.

“You’re telling me,” Max replied. They both heard Kris outside the door, and Max motioned for her to hide. Tia ran into the bathroom, wondering what Max was up to.

“Hey, who were you talking to?” Kris asked Max as he walked through the door.

“Brooklyn,” Max lied easily. “She’s still angry at her mom.”

“Did she go off on her again?” he asked with a laugh, remembering Max telling him how Brooklyn had yelled at her mother.

“Not that I know of,” Max told him. “Hey, I’m going to go get something to eat,” Max said, walking towards the door.

“Wait, didn’t you just come from dinner?” Kris asked, confused.

“You know me,” Max said. “I’m always hungry,” he added, patting his stomach, as he walked out the door.

“Okay,” Kris sang as he turned around and walked towards the bed, sprawling out on it. He heard a door open, and he lifted his head to see what Max wanted. But, instead of Max, he saw a woman walk out of the bathroom.

“Hey stranger,” Tia smiled, walking towards him.

“Tia!” Kris exclaimed, quickly jumping up out of bed and making his way over to her, grabbing her waist and pulling her close to him as his lips attached to hers. “I’ve… missed…you…so…much,” he said in between kisses.

“I’ve missed you, too,” she smiled.

“What are you doing here?” Kris asked. “Not that I don’t want you here,” he quickly added.

“Well, I had a few days off of work, and I hadn’t seen you in a while, so I thought that I would come visit you. I’m sorry I got here so late. I know there’s not much we can do right now,” she added.

“I can think of something we can do,” Kris smirked, capturing her lips with his once again as he guided her towards the bed.

***

Max knocked on Sid’s hotel room door, and moments later, the door swung open. “What’s up?” Sid asked him, moving aside so Max could walk inside.

“My room’s been invaded. Do you think I can crash here tonight?” he asked.

“Sure,” Sid said with a laugh. “But, your room’s been invaded?” he asked. “By what?”

“By Tia,” Max stated. Sid gave him a confused look, and he clarified. “Tia came here to surprise Tanger, and she’s in our room right now. I kind of don’t want to go back in there tonight,” he added with a laugh.

“Oh, I gotcha,” Sid said with a nod of his head. “So, how’s Brooklyn handling having Eve there? Jocelyn said that she wasn’t too happy about it,” he said, changing subjects.

“She’s still pissed off,” Max told him. “She says she keeps having to defend me. And, I feel bad for her. I mean, she shouldn’t have to do that. I should be there for her right now, and instead, I’m here in Atlanta.”

“You’ll be home tomorrow, though,” Sid reminded him.

“Yeah, but I still don’t think it’s fair to Brooklyn. Apparently Eve keeps getting on her case because I’m not around. She thinks I’m a bad father because I play hockey for a living,” Max explained.

“And, what do you think?” Sid asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He had never seen Max like this before. Usually, he was the most confident guy in the world, but somehow, Eve had taken away his confidence without even speaking one word to him.

“I sometimes think she’s right. Maybe I should be there all the time,” Max admitted.

“You know Brooklyn would never let you quit, though, right?” Sid asked him. “She knows how much you love playing, and she’d never ask you to quit, nor would she ever want you to,” he pointed out.

“And this is why we wanted to wait to have kids until I was retired,” Max sighed.

“Things don’t always work out as planned,” Sid told him with a shrug of his shoulders. “And, just think, if you would have waited, you might not have had Noah and Elise.” A smile formed on Max’s face, thinking about his kids, and Sid knew he had proven his point. “Don’t worry about Eve. I’m sure you and Brook can handle her just fine.”

“Have you met Eve?” Max questioned.

“I met her briefly at your wedding. Why?” Sid asked curiously.

“You’re in for the surprise of your life when you see her again,” Max stated.

“What do you mean?”

“Think about this for a minute,” Max told him. “Eve hates me because I’m a hockey player and I’m dating her daughter. She’s crazy, and instead of being like a normal mother who loves all of her children equally, she loves Jocelyn more than Brooklyn. Meaning, she’s going to hate you way worse than she hates me,” Max explained.

“You really think she’s going to hate me?” Sid asked, and Max knew he shouldn’t have said anything by the look on Sid’s face.

“Dude, don’t worry about it,” Max said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Yes, she’s going to hate you,” he began, and Sid’s eyes went wide with worry. “But, Jocelyn loves you, and nothing Eve says is going to change that.”

“But, I don’t want her mother to hate me,” Sid cried.

“Have you met their dad yet?”

“I saw him at the wedding, but we didn’t talk. He was more concerned about Brooklyn that day for obvious reasons,” he answered with a laugh.

“Well, you’re lucky with Deacon. He’ll like you.”

“How do you know?” Sid asked skeptically.

“Deacon’s the exact opposite of Eve. How those two were ever married, I’ll never know. But, as long as his daughters are happy, he’s happy. And, if you’re a hockey player, that’s a plus. And, seeing as you’re you, he’s going to be ecstatic when you finally ask Jocelyn to marry you,” Max said with a laugh. Sid glared at him, and Max asked, “What? We all know you’re going to ask her eventually. Why won’t you just do it already?”

“You sound like Tia,” Sid told him.

“Well, Tia’s a smart girl,” Max said with a smile. “Seriously, though, when are you going to ask Jocelyn to marry you? You know she’s waiting on you to pop the question.”

“Jocelyn and I have already discussed marriage, and we agreed that we would wait until we were further along in our careers,” Sid stated.

“You two discussed it? Or did you say something, and Jocelyn simply agreed without arguing about it?” Max questioned.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sid said, shrugging Max’s question off.

Max went to open his mouth to say something else when his cell phone began ringing. “You were saved by the bell,” Max told Sid, glancing down at the phone to see it was Brooklyn calling. “Hey, babe,” he answered. He could hear what sounded like crying, and he suddenly got worried. “Brooklyn, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

“My mother is the biggest bitch I know,” Brooklyn stated through her tears.