Those Will Be The Best Memories

Madeline smiled at the few people in the United Centre as her black high-heeled boots clicked along the tiled floor. Matthew was in her arms, resting on her hip, with his arms thrown loosely around her neck. His head was resting lightly on Maddy’s shoulder, his blonde hair wispy and soft, as his fingers grabbed at the edge of her coat.

She had her large tote bag thrown over her other shoulder, filled with Pull-ups and other things to keep Matthew busy, as well as her smaller purse with her cell phone and wallet.

Ben had been away on a seven day road trip in the middle of March, and the schedule he was on hadn’t let him come home the night before as they were traveling. As soon as they got back to Chicago they had afternoon skate and then they had to get ready for their second game against Phoenix.

Madeline had woken up that morning, sick and tired of not being able to see her boyfriend, and had dressed her son quickly, and headed off to the United Centre to see their practice. Seven days was hard enough, but knowing that your boyfriend was ten minutes away was too difficult.

As she reached the gate to get to the locker room, the security guard quickly recognized her and let her through with a smile and a nod. Madeline smiled back and walked down a little farther until she got to the Hawks locker room door. She bit her lip as she knocked a few times, loudly so they could hear her, and waited. She waited, and waited, and waited. No one came to the door, even after she knocked a second and third time, and decided to take her chances anyways.

Madeline pushed open the door and was immediately met with the sounds and smells of the 25 hockey players in the room. There was music playing, loud laughing, and foul smells attacking her senses. She pushed Matthew’s head in farther to her shoulder, trying to block out the words from the Lil Wayne song playing in the room, and looked around for boyfriend.

“Maddy? What are you doing here?”

Maddy turned to voice the voice and smiled widely as she came face to face with Patrick Kane. He held his arms open, showing his bare chest, and Madeline stepped into them. She wrapped her one free arm around his sweaty back, pushing him away when he rubbed his sweaty face all over her hair.

“Ew, Pat,” she said, disgusted.

Pat just laughed and waved it off, crossing his arms and holding his hand up for a high five from Matt.

“High five, buddy!”

Matthew giggled and pressed his smaller hand against Kanes. Maddy rolled her eyes as she looked around the locker room.

“Where’s Ben? I came to see him,” Maddy replied, answering Pat’s previous question.

Patrick started to laugh, harder than she’d ever seen him laugh, doubling down and grabbing his sides. Madeline stared at him confused as the other guys slowly turned to look at them.

“Hey Maddy, what are you doing here?” Jonathan Toews asked, walking over with a white towel wrapped around his waist and another towel over his shoulders.

“I’m here to see Ben. I told Pat and he started to laugh,” Maddy said, looking back at the blonde 21 year old.

Jonathan cracked a smile as he turned around and told the rest of the guys. They all seemingly understood why Pat was laughing, but Maddy still had no clue.

“Oh gosh Mads,” John said, now giggling, “Ben left right after practice to come see you. He kinda just slipped his shoes on and left with his gear.”

Instead of laughing, Madeline internally awed at how sweet her boyfriend was and gave a small smile, “Are you serious? He left to come see us?”

Jonathan nodded, rubbing his hand just under his hair to wipe the water droplets off, “Yeah, like ten minutes ago. He slipped his shoes on with all of his gear still on and ran out with his car keys and bag.”

Maddy smiled again, this time wider, as her cell phone started to vibrate in her bag.

“Can you hold him for a minute?” Maddy asked Jonathan.

Jonathan nodded and reached out for Matthew, pulling him up against his chest, and walking over to a few of the other guys to keep him busy. Maddy fished around for her phone, grabbed it, and answered it quickly.

“Hello?” She asked, fighting a smile.

She could hear a car in the background, “Hey baby, where are you?”

“Ben?” Madeline asked.

“Yeah baby, it’s me. Uhm, are you at home?” Ben asked loudly.

Madeline held in her giggles, “No, why?”

“I was just wondering. Uhh, where are you?” Ben asked, trying to sound indifferent about the whole thing.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the UC for practice? It sounds like you’re in a car,” Maddy said, changing the subject.

She heard Ben sigh, “Well, I was going to come and surprise you, but you’re not home so I guess I’m heading back to the UC.”

Maddy thought for a second, “I’m sorry baby! I didn’t know, oh now I feel bad.”

A few of the guys looked at her, raising their eyebrows, but Madeline just placed one finger to her lips to keep them quiet.

“Don’t worry about it, I should have called. I’ll see you after the game though, okay?” Ben said, voice dropping.

“Of course, I love you and good luck!”

“Love you too,” Ben replied, hanging up his phone.

Madeline placed her cell phone back into her purse and walked over to Jony’s stall where he sat with Matthew, Colin Fraser, Cristobal Huet, and Troy Brouwer. They were all keeping Matthew busy; giving him high fives, making jokes, and just talking to him.

“So what’s the verdict?” Jonathan asked, closing his legs tighter and pulling Matthew right against his chest.

“He thinks we’re out somewhere else and now he’s heading back here. He sounded so disappointed! I was about to tell him that we were already here but I thought he’d like the surprise,” Madeline explained, smiling in thanks as Cristobal stood up for her to sit down.

She set down her bags, keeping them by her feet and took Matthew back into her arms so Jonathan could get dressed.

“I thought we was comin’ to see daddy?” Matt asked, looking up at his mother.

“We’re going to surprise him. He’s on his way here but he doesn’t know that we’re here,” Madeline explained, keeping her eyes on her son’s blue ones.

The guys took their time getting dressed, and after ten minutes of sitting in Ben’s stall, Maddy started to wonder what was taking her boyfriend so long. He sounded like he was in the car, and he said he was on his way back to UC.

Pushing bad thoughts from her mind, she bounced Matthew softly on her knee as he talked with some of the players. Finally, Maddy saw the door open and her boyfriend shuffle in, completely dressed in his hockey gear and helmet. He had his shockingly white running shoes on and he walked past all of his teammates and to his stall without looking up.

When he was standing right in front of Madeline’s shoes he looked up, gave a big smile and an even bigger laugh.

“You’re such a bum!” Ben laughed, opening his arms.

Maddy giggled and stood up, Matthew still in her arms, and walked into them. It had been a week since she had felt Ben’s arms wrapped her and boy had she missed it. He pressed a kiss to her head, pulled away a little and took off his helmet.

“Hey buddy,” Ben said, taking Matthew from his mother’s arms and pulling him into his chest.

“Daddy! Miss you!” Matthew yelled.

Ben gave a loud laugh and pressed a kiss to his wispy blonde hair. He sighed as he stared at his girlfriend, “You told me you were out. Liar.”

Madeline smiled and gave a small laugh, “We came to see you, to surprise you, and when I got here Pat said that you had left right after practice to come and surprise us. Seven days is long enough, I couldn’t wait a few more hours knowing you were ten minutes away.”

Ben leaned down and pressed a kiss to her plump lips, pushing her hair farther back from her face.

“And that’s why I love you.”