Goodnight, Beautiful.

Tuesday after work, Bristol tossed her adidas bag in the truck of her car and walked across the street to grab a cheese steak sandwich. Since arriving in Philly, the sandwich that defined the city had grown on her; replacing the void she felt in her stomach for a plump and juicy Chicago style dog. She figured it was the next best thing and with it only being her at home, Bristol wasn’t in the mood to cook.

The sizzling scents teased her nostrils and stomach and took every once of self control she had to wait until she got to eat it. As usual, she unlocked the door to Daniel’s apartment and found Chief lounging on the sofa with his droopy eyes looking up at her. The dog didn’t bother to get up and greet her. But once he got a whiff of the sandwich she had brought home, he rested his head on her lap after she plopped herself on the sofa next to him.

Bristol unwrapped it on the coffee table and turned on the TV to catch the beginning of the second period of the game. She had missed the first and was looking forward to the last forty minutes. “I see how it is,” Bristol sank her teeth into her dinner and wiped juice off her chin. “Once I have food you become my friend.”

It had only been a day since Daniel left and Bristol was whole-heartedly missing him. She had tossed and turned all night in bed without him, which eventually lead her to snuggle with his pillow around two AM.

With her stomach starving, she inhaled her food. Her belly was full and she rested her back on the couch to let it settle. Less than four minutes in to the period, Bristol had relocated herself from the sofa to the edge of the coffee table. She had spotted Daniel on the ice and once the puck had been dropped, two sets of mitts went flying.

She didn’t have to guess who the fighting Flyer was; she wondered who had been the brave Florida Panther to dance with him at center ice. Bristol cringed when Daniel’s right fist collided with the helmet of Mike Duco. Her own knuckles tingled when it happened again. She had always found hockey fights to be rather entertaining and fun, but Bristol didn’t expect the sudden arousal she felt while watching her man dominate the present ass kicking. When Duco went down and the refs pulled them apart, Bristol headed back to the couch as both men skated to the box to take their five minutes.

Scratching Chief’s head with her lilac polished nails, Bristol sank into the couch let out a deep breath. Jokingly, she said to nobody, “What have I gotten myself in to?”

---

The high of the nights win had worn off long before they landed in Atlanta. It was a short trip, but fatigue was beginning to set into the bodies of the overworked hockey players and they were surely looking forward to tomorrow’s day off. They could sleep in, rest their sore muscles and refuel with terrible hotel room service.

It was nearly one in the morning when the team bus rolled up to the hotel. Half asleep, the guys stood up and slung bags over their shoulders as they walked off. The southern heat was refreshing compared to the cool winds that still lingered around in Philly. They were all ready for summer and shorts.

When room keys had been handed out and they crammed in to the elevators, Daniel retrieved his cell phone for the first time that night since the game had ended. His knuckles were bloodied and busted from hitting Duco’s helmet a few times and he they’d be sorer than hell in the morning.

He had several unread text-messages, which he thumbed through quickly. Most had been from his buddies back home in Ontario and Philly, but the only one he took the time to read was from Bristol. A small smile spread across his lips as he locked his blackberry and slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

“Night, sweetheart.” Jeff Carter leaned in close to Daniel just as they stepped off the elevator to kiss his cheek, but thanks to his fast reflexes, Dan was able to duck away from the puckered lips.

Playfully pushing him out of the way, the tired men couldn’t help but crack a smile as they all parted in their own directions. Mike had reached the door first and turned on the lights after he tossed his bag on the bed. The sudden bright lights caused them to squint for a second.

Daniel stripped from his jacket and draped it over a chair before removing his tie and shirt. Already lounging with his pillows stacked behind his back, Mike took control of the television. He settled upon South Park before getting up to change as well. Lying back in his bed—he always took the once closet to the door—Daniel turned off the lamp by him and placed his phone on his chest as he sat there contemplating. He wanted to call Bristol, he did feel bad for not responding to the text-message she had sent several hours ago. There was no doubt she was already sleeping soundly and he’d only feel worse if he woke her up.

He just had to hear her voice, her sweet laugh and tell her goodnight. Having Bristol in bed with him, falling asleep to the sweet scent of her body lotion was becoming a habit he knew would be extremely hard to break.

“Are you calling Bristol?” Mike asked. He came out of the bathroom with fresh, minty breath after brushing his teeth.

Dan nodded as he held his phone to his ear. It rang once, twice and by the third ring he hoped she didn’t answer because it was obvious she was asleep.

“Hello?” Her voice was groggy, lethargic.

“Did I wake you?” He knew it was stupid question. The words left his mouth without brain thinking first.

It took Bristol a minute to answer. She had crashed a few minutes after ten. The time had come for her body to finally shut down; it had been working on overdrive for the past few days. “No,” she lied, “I’ve been dozing in and out watching reruns of Friends.”

Bristol knew Dan didn’t believe her. “Did you watch the game?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel could see Mike begin to make inappropriate and sexually explicate hand gestures from his bed. He shook it off and focused his attention back to the conversation.

“I saw your fight, if that’s what you’re asking.” From bed back in Philly, Bristol rolled over and pulled the blankets tighter around her body. “I talked to Kris and he told me your hand is pretty busted up.”

Balling his hand into a fist then stretching it out, Dan examined the open sores. “Yeah, it’s defiantly going to need some ice in the morning.”

“I can kiss it better when you get home.”

He could only imagine the sly smile on Bristol’s lips. It was times like these where Dan wished he had his own room. Deciding to keep it short, Daniel rolled his eyes and tried to ignore Mike without laughing. “I know you’re full of shit saying I didn’t wake you up, so, I’m gonna let you get some sleep.”

“Goodnight, Danny. I miss you.” She was tired and wasn’t about to give up a chance to get more sleep.

“Night.” Daniel wanted to tell her how much he missed her too, but he hesitated. Part of him didn’t want to seem like a pussy in front of his teammate but what use was it to care about what Mike thought? He told his girlfriend he missed her all the time while on the road. “I miss you too.”

At breakfast the following morning Daniel enjoyed the few minutes of peace and quiet as he sat alone. His plate of food was hot and his coffee was hotter. The way every morning should start.

“You look tired.” A rather chipper Kris Versteeg occupied the empty chair across Daniel and Mike too sat next to Kris.

Daniel shoveled a forkful of egg into his mouth while gesturing towards Mike. “Maybe if he can learn how to breathe out of his nose when he sleeps, I’d be able to get catch some z’s.”

It took Mike a few seconds to respond. He chugged his chocolate milk. “I breathe out of my nose. Only when I’m congested do I breathe out my mouth.”

The team’s enforcer rolled his eyes as he continued to eat. There was no use in arguing with the captain. At least now he would be able to catch up on his missed sleep when some of the guys headed out to explore the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Personally, Daniel would much rather be home in Philly.

---

A brisk, yet refreshing breeze blew through Bristol’s hair as she walked down the street. She held two brown paper grocery bags in her arms as she somehow managed to open the heavy front door leading to the lobby of her downtown Philly apartment. A woman with her young daughter politely held the elevator for Bristol and even pressed the button designated for the seventh floor. When it stopped on the third Bristol thanked the woman again as she and her daughter got off.

When she approached her and Kris’s door, Bristol placed the bags on the floor so she could fish her keys out of the abyss she called her purse. She was in need of a lanyard so she could pull them out of her bag with more ease.

Stepping inside, she was pleased to find it quiet. Allison had left that morning to head back to Chicago, but Bristol wasn’t sure how long it would be before she was on her way out to Philadelphia again but this time with boxes, not bags.

Bristol tossed her keys onto the small beside the door and closed it with her foot as she walked completely in. Before opening the windows to indulge herself in the wonderful weather, Bristol placed the bags on the counter and shed her zip-up sweatshirt.

It wasn’t often that Bristol wondered where her life was going. More often that not she focused on where it wasn’t heading. She figured it was the clear blue sky and crisp breeze which helped clear her head and bring out details. For Bristol, everything seemed paused for change. Change was about loss and gain, about giving something up as you reached for something new or different.

The world was opening up, no longer closing in. For so long it had seemed that way and Bristol soon began to wonder if things would ever brighten up. Although she had never been a coward, for the first time Bristol felt an annoying pang of fear. It was a nuisance really. Life was changing all the time, for the good and the bad.

With her brother slowly recovering from his latest devastating relapses to heroin and the ten year prison sentence her ex-husband had received for stock fraud, she imagined finally starting her life over and making the right decisions. Decisions that suited her; no one else.

Then there was Daniel—who she had to admit was the reason for all these unsettling feelings. Everything about him screamed change. Bristol had yet to decide whether that was a good or bad thing. Mainly because she wasn’t exactly sure if he had just slid in craftily, nonchalantly into her life or kicked in doors she that she had tightly bolted shut.

Bristol really couldn’t care a less about how exactly he had gotten in, but one thing was for sure; she didn’t know just to expect from him. Daniel was an attractive lover; wild and demanding at times, he was a fun companion, always showering her with questions that forced her to think out of the box. He was a risk-taker, devoted son and brother, the bad boy and the protective boyfriend.

Most of what she knew about his history came from different sources. Daniel always had a way of changing the subject when she asked questions about his life back in Phoenix and Pittsburgh. He was more than open about his childhood, and the tight relationships he had with his mother, father and brothers. If their relationship was to say at the surface and not get any deeper, his past life wouldn’t bother her. It only mattered because she was well past interest, had already jumped past the line of attraction, ran through lust, tripped over affection and was now headed out of control into love.

And yet, she wasn’t all too thrilled about it.

---

Daniel took a swallow of his beer and placed his phone on the bar. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Excuse me?”

“Bristol, tell me something I don’t already know about Bristol.”

“Oh, um,”

“Jesus, Kris, I’m not asking for her dirty little secrets.” Dan peered over to his teammate with a slight look of frustration.

All Kris could do was shrug his shoulders. Even after living together for nearly a year, Bristol was still a mystery to him. “She likes to shop.”

“Well that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh,” feeling a thought being processed, Daniel swore he spotted a light bulb come over Kris’s head. “She’s a big reader, and loves classic black and white movies. She loves to go to charity events and fund raisers. I usually bring her with me when I have to make an appearance at a team event.”

Daniel’s sudden question had shocked Kris. He wasn’t expecting it and he needed a minute to think of the right things to say. A sly smile appeared on Kris’s lips as he held up two fingers, signaling the bartender they were ready for another round.

“Believe me when I say Bristol, is the kind of girl you bring home to mom.”

Checking his phone for any new messages from Bristol, Daniel held his phone tight in his hand. He hadn’t been with many girls that he had considered having the team meet let alone his mother. Daniel licked his lips and his face lit up when his phone vibrated. He turned toward Kris and asked, “Do you think she’d have fun in Ontario?”