Keep Your Girl Out of My Shoe Cabinet, Your Wife

So to sum it up, my honeymoon weren’t at all the way you wanted them to be when you dreamed about it as a little girl. My husband was spending most of the time with his girlfriend but after 3 days they decided to use the so called honeymoon suite as their love nest, so I settled on spending my days at the beach or the spa of the resort, whilst I spent the night on the bed by the pool with my ears plugged to block out noises. The sun had treated us well in the past weeks and I had gotten a nice tan. My belly slowly started to show and the morning sickness luckily finally had passed.
Save for the happenings and little incidents between Sidney, Becky and me, my time had been awesome but I was happy to be back home.
Becky had left 3 days prior to Sidney and me to avoid any suspicions and we had arrived in Halifax a mere week ago. Now I was back at my parents house enjoying life like nothing happened and it felt like I had never know any different. My so called husband and I hadn’t seen each others since the day we had returned from the Maldives and he had dropped me of at my childhoods home before driving off to his own house to make up for lost times with Becky. I was alone with my parents again and Taylor came over every other day while I spent my time with packing up my stuff for moving to Pittsburgh soon. My mother kept bringing me books about the burgh and my dad tested me on Penguins facts on a daily base. Trina had stopped by only once and Taylor again was the one to keep me sane. Right now I was folding winter clothes, put them into boxes and was rocking out to Sum 41’s ‘In Too Deep’ when suddenly my door burst open and my holy husband walked in.

“Hey” He greeted.

“Hey Sid. Anything I can do for you?” I ask politely while placing the Cardigan I was folding into a box to then walk over to my iHome to shut down Deryck Whibley’s voice.

“Uhm yeah… can I invite you over for dinner tonight…let’s say 7pm? There is a bunch of stuff we have to discuss before we leave so I would really appreciate it. I hope you like steak. Just me and you okay?” He stood in my personal chaos of cloths hangers, boxes, books and other unnecessary stuff glancing around quite helplessly.

“Sure I love steak when it’s well done. Of course I’ll be there. Yeah I also do have some questions so we should get it done.”
He smiled at me. “Sounds great so I’ll see you then?”
“Yeah. Let me walk you to the door. I have to go down anyways so no harm done.”

As I reached for the knob my hand came in contact with his warm hand as our rings met with a soft ‘ting’ noise. I jumped back and felt his other hand sneak around my waist whilst opening the door for us. We smiled at each others when we reached the stairs, his hand still attached to my hip bone. In silence we walked back down and found my mom in the kitchen.

“Hello Mrs. Laraque. How are you today?” He greeted my mother.
“Well hello Sidney, I did not know you were here. I’m great how about yourself? Mind to stay for a little? I made apple pie and a Crème Catalana, it’s off season so you shouldn’t mind it right? Ellen Hamilton-from your primary school class- her fiancé and her mother are coming over for tea around 3. I don’t know if you remember her. Viviane and she were always such good friends but sadly lost contact over the last few years so maybe you should stay.” She beamed at him. He turned around and faced me to see me rolling my eyes.

“This sound really great but would you mind if I talked to Viv before it? I don’t wanna intrude that special moment” The irony lay thick in his voice.

“Of course. Just let me know when you have decided. I’m here in the kitchen or in the backyard, so you know where to find me.”

Sid thanked her, grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house towards his car.
“Sidney where are you headed? I have no shoes on and no keys.” I complained when he opened the door in the back of the car for me.

“Neither have I but I do have a key for both your and my house so relax.” He said while dancing over to the other side of the back of the car to avoid too much contact with the hot stones on the drive way. “I just want to talk to you in peace without any invading parents, ringing phones or eavesdropping little sisters, so why not the car ”

“Says the one who flew his girlfriend in to his honey moon. A time we would have had enough time to talk everything out and plan it all.”
He shot me an angry glance before continuing.
“Don’t put all the blame on me now. It’s not like you were around a whole lot. Most of the time you spent wandering around or getting massages so when should I have had the time to talk to you when I did not actually see you in almost 3 weeks we were supposed to share a bed? Anyways. Really? You are friends with that Ellen girl? I always thought you hated her. At least that is the impression I always had growing up.”
I laughed out loud. “You don’t really think that I ever liked Ellen? My mother and hers are friends and they always tried to set us up for play dates, just like your mother and mine but I could never stand her and still can’t today. Having to face her and her oh so perfect fiancé who works in a bank and is all future-stable for an entire afternoon while I sit there all alone, knocked up with me ‘husband’” I signaled the irony with my fingers. “nowhere in sight, so yeah I really love that girl and I am more than excited to finally get to see her.”
Sidney chuckled. “I can imagine your pain. I have a great idea. I’ll be with you this afternoon okay? We will get through it together and I already have an escape plan all planed out, so just trust me and it won’t be as horrible as it might occur now okay?”
We both agreed on the plan and I piggyback rode him back to the house so I wouldn’t burn my feet. Nice huh?
After he put on his shoes he drove back home to prepare dinner a little further and to change but not before promising to be back just in time. With a smile on my face I closed the front door behind him and went back to my room to continue packing. After surviving the tea with the Hamilton’s somehow, a nice steak dinner sounded just about perfect. Save for the fact that I could not have a nice glass of wine along with it.
At 2pm I took a shower, put on some underwear and let my hair dry in large natural curls. While they dried I put one some light brown eye-shadow and black mascara, before putting on my favorite nude heels and dancing along to Paolo Nutini’s ‘New shoes.’
Suddenly my door flew open and once again it was Sidney who interrupted my secret singing session.
“Hey again… you really should get used to knocking before bursting into people’s rooms” I said giggling about his blushed cheeks.

“Uhm sorry, I mean wow… uhm… I’ll be back in a second. I did not mean to interrupt. Do you want me to wait outside… It’s not like…” he stumbled over his words causing me to laugh even more.

“Relax Sid. It’s not like it’s anything you haven’t seen before right? Technically you are my husband so people would expect you to stay. You mind zipping me up?” I asked picking my dress from my closet, stepping into it and pulling it into the right position turning around for him to zip it up. His warm fingers ran over my back fixing the little hook before pulling the zipper close.

“You look great” he whispered before turning me around and glancing me up and down.
I smiled at him and took in his appearance. The middle blue washed jeans and his button down shirts with rolled up sleeves looked just amazing. “You clean up quite well yourself hubby.” I commented while poking his abs and escaping my room with him following close behind. My mother was finishing some last touches at the table she had put up in the backyard.

“Hey you two. You look awesome. I still can’t believe you have grown up so much. Who would have thought, that it would be you who made my daughter happy and gave me a grandchild. Thank you so much Sidney.” My mom blurted out and ran over to Sid to hug him. He hugged her back and shot me an awkward smile. Interesting how fast my mom saw away over how it had all happened and how I actually got married to him. After she let go of him the door bell rang and she vanished in the house to get it. Still keeping up our eye contact he closed the distance between us and pulled me into him whispering: “Regard this afternoon as a rehearsal for all the press stuff we have to get through once we are back in Pittsburgh. If horrible Ellen doesn’t see though this façade neither will the press. Do you remember how she was in school? No one could ever tell her a lie. Remember the times when Lilly tried to convince her of all different things and everyone believed it but Ellen could tell when it was untrue?” I smiled about that memory: “Yeah. Or all the times when someone didn’t do the homework and made up some stories but Ellen would walk up to the teacher afterwards telling it was a lie. So bad. She totally ruined my math grade one year.”
We both chuckled about the awkward memories we had about that girl we had who’s voice echoed from the living room approaching the back yard. Sidney let go of me a little so we could stand next to each others with his hand firmly placed around on my hip.
“Oh my god. ANE, SID it has been forever.” She had her hair up in a high pony tail and was dressed in a rose ruffled pencil skirt and a white top . Her fiancé and her mother followed close behind. Ellen ran over to us and pulled us both an a 3-person-hug. “this is so awesome. I never knew for sure that you were a couple, but I ALWAYS knew one day it would be you two. This is so great. I read it on Max twitter. I totally understand that you did not invite me. I mean you guys knew that it was my monthly day with the foster kids. But from what I’ve heard it must have been soooo romantic. You have to tell me everything Ane.”
Oh yeah I forgot to add another trait of her… completely self-centered but at the same time trying to be mother Theresa. I cringed at the old nickname she had given me the first day we met. Ellen hooked her arm with mine and pulled me away from Sidney towards the bench by the lake.
“Really Ane it had been forever. I followed your career since the day you left. I knew you would be a big model and when I heard you would return home due to personal issues I thought you might need a shoulder to rely on. I mean we always were friends and when Sidney is back in Pittsburgh and you are here you can always come over you know? I mean that is what friends are for. Just so you know. Not tell me everything about the wedding. I mean I really crave for inspiration. Chris and I are getting married next summer and I’m really running out of time. How long have you been planning that wedding? 18 months? 2 years?”
I innerly laughed about her.
“Well thanks a lot for your offer but of course I’m moving to Pittsburgh with Sidney pretty soon.” I replied politely: “We really wanted a small wedding, just our closest friends and family so we were done pretty quickly with the guest list. Sidney’s backyard is really amazing so we both loved it as a location and the rest… our mothers pretty much planed this since the day we met so it was no big deal and luckily money never was an issue in this thing so we had no limits in planning.”

She asked several more questions and I tried to answer them for her satisfaction but not giving away too many information. One thing I learned during my career was that false friends always tried to get information from you to then sell them to some newspaper or online blog. When my mom called us over I was more than relieved, almost jumped up and walked back to the patio pretty quickly. Back by the house I found Sidney chatting with Ellen’s fiancé and realized it was THE Chris I had been with the very night before Sidney left. I walked over to them, wrapping my arm around his biceps and placing a peck onto his cheek.
“Hey I’m back. Missed me already? Hi Chris. Nice to see you again. It had been how long?” I acted my role.
Sid smiled at me pulling me into his side while Chris spoke up: “Hello Vivane. Nice to see you again. Wow it had been a really long time. Dare I say too long. You really look great. Cole Harbour, no Canada has been really proud of you… both of you. My mother joked about it being a scripted wedding to promote Nova Scotia but everyone who meets you sees how crazy you two are about each others. I mean you always were. I was really devastated when I dropped you off after prom and you went straight into his arm. It is no secret that you were one of the finest girls in school but all the guys knew no one would ever have a shot as long as Crosby is around. I’m almost surprised that it took you so long to tie the knot.”
Sidney’s grip around my waist fastened when Chris told us all those things. No one in school ever found out about the way Sid left and that we hadn’t talked for years. Ellen quickly found Chris side and the four of us walked over to the table where our mothers already were seated. Sidney pulled out my chair while Chris just sat down and left Ellen standing dumbfold. “Thanks hun” I thanked Sid as he sat down next to me and placed his hand over mine on the table showing off the wedding band. We fake beamed at each others while my mother put apple pie on everyone’s plates. After everyone had finished the pie and the Crème catalana Chris leaned back letting out a sigh and placing his hands onto his belly and commented: “Mrs. Laraque your cooking skills are really great. It was so awesome but now I’m really full.”
My mother thanked him and Mrs. Hamilton started to bombard us with all kinds of questions like which florist we hired or where we had gotten the candles and most importantly which wedding planer had taken care of the ceremony. Luckily my mother handled it pretty well by showing her the leaflets she still had and explained a little how she and Trina had planned every thing. After a while Sid spoke up: “It was really nice to see you all again, Mrs. Hamilton, Ellen and Chris and I really wish you all the best for the planning of your wedding. I know how stressful that can be, for now I hate to break this up but Viviane and I really have to get home because we still have a bunch of things to do with all the press stuff coming up so if you would please excuse us.”
He smiled while standing up and offering every one a hand shake before taking my hand and lead me towards his car.
Once again he opened the passenger door for me and went over to take the driver seat himself. When he pulled onto the road he let me chose music so I stopped at the station that played (+44) When your heart stops beating and sang along wondering a little when he started singing along either:

“I’ll be there when your heart stops beating
I’ll be there when your last breath is taken away
In the dark when there is no one listening
In the times when we both get carried away”

We smiled at each others and concentrated back on the road. A song or two later we arrived at his house and I beat him with opening the passenger door. We went into his house straight to the kitchen where I sat down on a bar chair while he started preparing dinner.

“Would you like some water or anything else to drink? I have Mountain Dew, Canada Dry and OJ.” Sid asked before getting the steaks from the fridge and placing a dish with potatoes into the oven.
“Just a water thanks. I try to avoid additional sugar and chemicals like the artificial colours in food. It’s not like I don’t wanna gain any gram or insist on having my old body back like 6 week after birth. It’s just all about the kid. Just in case you might wonder.” I answered while glancing around in the kitchen. I had only been here once before so there were still some details to explore.
“You can wander around through the house and give yourself the grand tour if you want. I’ll be done in about 30 minutes so you don’t have to sit around here for the next half an hour. Just if you want to but feel free to take a look.” He said with a grin on his face after seeing my curiosity.
I nodded eagerly and jumped up.
The house offered multiple rooms to look at. So far I hadn’t seen all of them so I took my time wandering through it and looking into different rooms. I liked his office the most. It was a mid-sized room with a large modern wooden desk in the middle facing a huge window front leading onto a balcony. An iMac was placed on top of the desk along with some papers, a phone and other things you’d expect on such a desk. In wooden frames jerseys of him were hung up on the wall with a picture of him playing in it and a short description underneath each. On the wall next to the door were many framed pictures of his family, friends and teammates. On the wall across of the jersey wall he had put up a vitrine with all his trophies and medals from his pro career as well as a bunch of sticks of players like Brodeur, Lemieux or Yzerman.
I sat in his big comfy leather chair when be called me. Quickly I jumped up and went back downstairs. The smell of the food was overwhelming so even if I hadn’t known the way to the kitchen I simply would have had to follow my nose and I would have ran into it right away.
He had set up a table for two on his patio with a table for two. The steak was just perfectly well done. For me there was nothing less appealing than a steak prepared English style or something like that. We watched the sun set and talked like the old friends we were. After it started to get cold be cleaned up and went inside.

“Do you wanna leave of stay a little longer? I made some mousse au chocolate so if you want some we could watch some TV or movie and have it.” He stated after he started the dishwasher and I sat on the counter across of him.

“You are offering a pregnant woman chocolate. Are you sane to seriously ask me whether I want to stay and have it or leave? Of course I’m staying. That sounds more than amazing… what do you wanna watch? Friends like back in the day?” I tilted my head and beamed at him. Sidney laughed. “You offered Friends so I’m totally taking you up on in. Let’s see who’s the king at knowing the words now.”
I picked a cherry from a fruit tray and threw it at him: “That’s so unfair. You have so much free time so you had years of learning the words. So not nice and eh… if I’m something, I’m the queen of it… comprendre princess?”
He caught the cherry midair laughed and ate it.
“It’s on babe.” Sidney walked over, picked me up from the counter before throwing me over his left shoulder and walking into the living room.