Insert Cheesy Love Title About Mr. Johnny Toews

Chapter Ten

It was June ninth and I was stuck in my store while the boys were out in Philadelphia, playing for the biggest award in hockey. Lord Stanley himself.

Of course because they had made it so far, I was getting fantastic business. Like a packed store from the time I opened till the minute I closed my doors. I absolutely loved it.

“So you ready for tonight?” I asked, during a rare hour when I closed my store to restock some key items.

“Uh yeah,” Johnny sounded nervous. “What if we blow this thing Tess?”

I laughed. “Johnny you’re not going to blow it. Just go out there and play some good old fashioned hockey.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he sighed.

“Guess?”

“I know you’re right but this is the Final!” Jonathan Toews was not an easy one to convince that they would be okay no matter what happened. Three days ago he was convinced I would leave him if they didn’t win. Yeah, cause that would definitely happen. My dumb ass boyfriend.

“Go shoot a few pucks into the net. I have to open up again.”

“Maybe consider hiring some help?” he asked, joining the bandwagon for the campaign “Tessa needs a helper to help run her dream!”

“Really? You want to start this now? So not doing this. I’ll be watching tonight Johnny Toews.”

“Love you babe,” he said.

“I love you too,” I said and hung up, a smile still on my lips, a blush still on my cheeks. That damn hockey player did that to me all the time, even four months later. It was ridiculous.

It was overtime of that game and I had stopped ringing stuff up, and customers were mesmerized by the television.

“Turn it up?” one person asked.

I didn’t even answer, just grabbed the remote and pressed the necessary button. “OH MY GOD!” I yelped as Nemo made a brilliant save.

“Don’t scare me!” one woman shouted, holding her heart.

“Sorry! It’s just that-” I stopped midsentence as I watched Kane go around the Flyer’s defense and make a shot from the left. “Did that go in?” I asked as we watched Kane skate down the ice to Niemi, Ladd and Sharp hot on his heels. “OH MY GOD THAT WENT IN! OH MY SWEET BABY JESUS PATRICK KANE YOU LITTLE BITCH SCORED THE WINNING GOAL NO WAY!” I looked for my boyfriend but saw he was still on the bench, eyes wide, looking at the screen, probably trying to determine if it went in or not.

We all waited, holding our breaths until the ref indeed confirmed it. The Blackhawks had just won the Stanley Cup after a forty nine year drought.

There was crying, there was screaming, there was sure a lot of people buying shit. There was certainly a lot of hugging.

I didn’t close my doors until eleven that night because people just kept piling in, buying whatever Blackhawks stuff they could.

After I turned off the OPEN sign, I saw that I had barely any stuff left on the shelves.

“And this is why I bought a shit ton of Blackhawk stuff last week,” I laughed to myself, straightening up the untouched Flyer shelf.

My phone rang and I dove to get it. “OH MY GOD, KANE THAT LITTLE BITCH!” was my caller greeting.

My brother laughed. “I know! See Kaner! I’m not the only one who calls you that!” he told Kane in the background.

“Excuse me,” Kane had the phone then. “This bitch just made Chicago a very happy city thank you very much.”

“And any Blackhawk item a rare thing,” I added. “Where’s Johnny?”

“Um well we’re trying to get on the plane, so I’m assuming he’s staring at the Cup pinching himself to make sure this is not a dream.”

I shook my head laughing. “Great. That’s just what I need.”

“He’ll come pick you up once we land, okay Tess?”

“Thanks. Oh and by the way, that was a truly sick goal Mr. Patrick Kane,” I told him and hung up.

A few hours later, I had just gotten my displays set up when I heard furious knocking at my window.

I opened it and in tumbled Jonathan, looking as if he was on speed. “Babe!” he said, spinning me around in his arms. “We won it! We won!”

“I know!” I said, taking his face in my hands and kissing him. “I told you so,” I whispered.

“You were right,” he admitted. “Come on. I left the cup with Steeger and Kopy and Sharp. Not a good idea. Let’s go!” he took my hand and pulled me along to some of the best days ahead.