While You Were Away

“So is everything set up?” I asked, watching Val as he walked in the room and gave me an odd look.

“Are you sure you’re 22 years old?” He asked, standing before me just watching me.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, laughing as I rubbed Harley’s ear.

“You’re sitting upside down on the couch,” He said, rolling his eyes before checking his watch. “But yeah, everything is set up. Now we’re just waiting on everyone to get here.”

“So basically we’re waiting on the whole Red Wings team, and then some other randoms?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” He said, taking a seat next to me as I flipped around so I that I was sitting like normal on the couch. Harley looked up at me, cocking her head before jumping on the couch to sit in both our laps, her tail making a dull thumping noise on the couch. “So…We have to talk about something.”

“I swear to God if this is a break up…” I said jokingly and Val laughed.

“Not even possible. But I’m serious.”

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

“You know how Emily keeps saying you want a baby?” He asked and I looked at him for a second before nodding.

“Yeah, she won’t shut up about it every time I’m around Junior..”

“Well…do you?”

“Of course I do! Just not now… I mean, that’s not to say I’d be upset and throw a fit if I found out I was pregnant now…I just kind of want to enjoy the first year or few years of our marriage with just us, you know?” Val smiled and nodded as he put his arm around me.

“I know, I was just making sure you hadn’t changed your mind after being around him so much.”

“Nope. Especially after seeing first hand the aftermath,” I mumbled as there was a knock on the door. Harley instantly leapt from the couch and started barking, running towards the door. I groaned and got up to see who it was as Val followed me to grab Harley in case it was someone she hadn’t met yet.

-

“So you guys actually got a dog that’s not very good with men, when most of your friends are guys?” Hank asked as he sat next to me on our patio, watching Harley run around with Kris’ kids. We had discovered that she was amazing with kids after carefully letting her see Junior and then other children we knew.

“She needed a home Hank,” I whined, giving him a look. “They couldn’t place her in the last like, maybe five or six homes.”

“ You just have a soft spot for animals. Don’t even deny it. It’s bigger than your soft spot for hockey players,” He said with a wink and I laughed.

“I have a soft spot for hockey players?”

“Well look at how you are with the team. You didn’t even question Todd when he first came to the team, or when he came back. Granted, I think you just have a soft spot for him in general. Like he’s a father figure or something.”

“You’re the second person in the past month or two to say something along those lines,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“So Amy, how is the dog with fireworks?” Drew asked, walking up to me.

“Harley,” Darren corrected, following behind Drew. He took an instant liking to Harley, however she was wary of him at first. It took about an hour for her to get used to him, and a little longer for her to somewhat trust him.

“Oh whatever. Anyway, answer?” Drew asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

“I don’t really know Drew, I haven’t had her around any fireworks. Ask Emily, they might have done some while Val and I were in Europe.” He nodded and turned to find Emily with Darren following closely.

“How was the honeymoon anyway, I haven’t had much time to talk with you about it,” Hank said, taking a sip from his beer.

“It was great,” I said, a smile forming on my lips.

“Please tell me you guys actually went places other than just the hotel…” He teased and I laughed.

“Yes Hank, we actually did stuff. Quite a bit actually.” I smiled as Emily walked over with Junior in her arms. He was wearing a ‘Future Hockey Player’ shirt and most of the guys got a kick out of it. She took a seat next to me and we both smiled as Hank messed around with Junior.

“God, he’s so little but so big,” Johan said from next to us and I let out a laugh.

“If someone didn’t know, they’d probably just assume you sound kind of dumb right now,” Emily said and he just shook his head.

“How’s Eddie?” I asked, seeing as I hadn’t seen him or his family most of the summer.

“He’s doing good. Getting big. You’ll see him soon enough though,” He said and I nodded, watching as Drew and Darren ushered all the kids away from the yard with fireworks in hand.

“Oh God,” I mumbled, watching them set up. Soon enough, they set one off.

“Emily, you might want to get out of the way…” She stood up, confused and Hank pulled her out of the way, just in time for Harley to come crashing into the chair and under the table to hide by me.