Two is Better Than One

The following morning, Jordan woke me up before the sun was up. I just simply put on Jordan’s sweatpants from the night of the fire and a t-shirt and my hoodie. I put very little make-up on and put my hair in a messy bun. I was going to be sitting on a plane for hours, I didn’t care what I looked like. Jordan took my bags to the car while I said goodbye to his family.

Eric gave me a huge bear hug, squeezing the breath out of me. “Allie, take care of my brother. Keep him in check and I will see you when we play in the ‘burgh.”

“I will don’t worry.” I smiled and then got pulled into a hug by Tanya.

“You have my number, call me anytime and we will talk. I can’t wait to see you when we come to Pittsburgh.” She said.

“I will Tanya. Tell Parker I said bye and I will see him when you guys come to visit.”

Jordan came back in and walked over to his mom and said goodbye to her while I said bye to the other two Staal brothers.

“If you need to talk, call me.” Jared whispered in my ear before we pulled apart. I nodded and moved to Linda who wrapped me up in a huge hug.

“Allie dear, it was so nice to meet you and I am so happy that you and Jordan are official. I hope everything gets better with your mom.”

“Thank you so much Linda for letting me stay with your family during the holidays. I really appreciate it.” I said, blinking back tears.

“Oh nonsense, you were in trouble and I wanted to meet the girl who stole my son’s heart.” She winked.

I hugged her again and moved over to Henry who was smiling at me. “Take care of my son.”

“I will Henry. Thanks for letting me stay with you guys.”

“Like Linda said, nonsense. We were glad you came even if it was under not so nice circumstances.”

“Allie, we need to go so we don’t miss our flight.” Jordan said wrapping his arm around my waist. He looked over my head. “Eric, are you driving us?”

“Yeah, let me just go grab my jacket.” Eric kissed Tanya and ran up the steps.

Jordan and I made our way out to the car that was already running and warmed up. Jordan pinned me against the car before I could get in. He kissed me lightly on the lips.

“Not so bad, right?” He whispered, hugging me.

“No, not so bad. Your family is amazing and so welcoming.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. “Thank you for saving me the other day.”

Jordan went to kiss me again, but Eric somehow managed to set the alarm off on the car causing Jordan and I to jump. Eric just laughed and climbed into the driver seat. Jordan and I separated and climbed into the car as well.

During the ride Jordan and Eric talked about upcoming games their teams had and who was looking good this year and who wasn’t. While the boys talked about hockey I thought about my mom and how things would change with her. I also thought about how much fun I had at the Staal farm and how welcoming his family had been. I really didn’t understand why I was so freaked out about meeting his family, if anything it would have been a little more awkward after he asked me out. I sighed and couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I leaned my head against the cold window and watched the light snow fall and fell asleep. What felt like five minutes later, Jordan was standing at my side with the door wide open shaking me awake.

“Come on babe, you can sleep more on the plane.” He said when I groaned and pushed his hands away.

“Fine.” I growled and got out of the car. I gave Eric another hug before Jordan and I headed to check our bags in. “You owe me coffee.” I hissed as I leaned into his side while we stood in line. Jordan chuckled and wrapped an arm around my waist and placed a kiss on my temple. Once we were done in line Jordan took me to the Starbucks in the terminal so I could get some coffee. After I was fully caffeinated, we sat at the gate and waited for the flight to load.

“Have you talked to your mom since Christmas?” Jordan asked once we got settled into out seats on the plane.

I sighed. “No, I don’t know what to say to her. I mean on one hand I’m thrilled she’s pregnant, but on the other…” I trailed off with a shrug.

“On the other hand, you know that this pregnancy won’t be a good one.” Jordan finished and I just simply nodded. “You need to talk to her, Allie. Because this is going to be hard for her, we know how Steven is.”

“I know, once we get back to Pittsburgh and our schedules are normal again I’ll call her.”

Jordan kissed my forehead and then laid his head back to rest. I just sat there staring off into space and thinking. I reached for my Ipod and put on Two is Better Than One and smiled, reaching for Jordan’s hand. Even though my mom was going to go through a tough pregnancy I knew that I would be able to help her when things got hard, and I knew they were going to. I closed my eyes and tried to push all thoughts of my mom and Steven out of my head for now. I just wanted to get back to Pittsburgh and see my friends and watch some hockey. I eventually fell asleep and didn’t wake up until we landed in Pittsburgh.