"You Can't Stay a Saint in This City"

Kiley twirls around in a frilly seafoam green number that only an eleven year old could pull off “I really like your style,”

“Aw thanks,” I say as I snap a picture of her with my BlackBerry “The dress looks really great, I think we might have ‘the one’”

“Me too” Kiley says from inside the dressing room. “I don’t want to go home yet. Is there anything you wanted to do?”

In fact there is something “I want to go sightseeing can we see the ducks first?”

Kiley looks confused “Like in a pond?”

“No the duck statues in the Public Garden. You know… Make Way For the Ducklings” I remember during the promos of the Stanley Cup Finals they showed the bronze duck statues all wearing little Bruins jerseys which was disgustingly cute.

“You’re kind of a geek”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” Honestly if more women were okay with being smart, people like Snooki wouldn’t be around.
______

“What else do you want to see?” Kiley asks as I shake the Polaroid I took of the ducks.

“Chinatown.” I reply, I already have a list: Chinatown, Franklin Park Zoo, New England Aquarium, Massachusetts State House…

“Are you kidding?”

“I have a thing where I visit the Chinatown of every city I visit and take a picture.” I’ve been to the Chinatowns in San Francisco, Seattle, Sacrento, Stockton, and the three in New York City. Oh yeah and Vancouver and Los Angeles, obviously.

“Oh my god, look at that tweed jacket.” I say as we pass the Chanel store just outside the gardens.

“Do you want to go in?” It seems Kiley would much rather us stay here instead of traveling to Chinatown.

“Sure” I say as the pull the heavy glass door and the scent of Chanel No. 5 enters my nasal cavity.

“I’ve never been in here before.” Kiley whispers as we enter the empty store.

“It’s fine, it’s just a store.” Fancy places like these used to intimidate me as well, so I know exactly how she feels. But it’s kind of like a rite of passage.

“Can I help you girls?” asks the well-groomed saleslady.

“I’d like to try on the jacket in the window please.” The lady appraises me—almost to check if I would steal it—before heading to the back.
______

“Milan!” Amber calls as she walks into the door.

“I’m in my room,” I say as I turn off my TV. I’d just have to TiVo Boardwalk Empire later.

“Hi,” Amber says throwing herself on my bed.

“Hey” I say picking her up and dragging her closer towards me, she smells like fancy perfume. “So what do you think of my room?”

“Um…” Amber bites down on her lip and looks around “It’s very-OH MY GOD!” Amber yells “Why is there a cat on your bed?”

“This is Mittens.” I say holding up the tiny grey cat with the white paws.

Amber’s eyes widen “Oh… I could’ve like sat on him.”

“Actually Mittens is a girl.”

“Great,”

“You like animals Amber, right?”
______

“Of course” just not cats, they just…stare at you. I have enough people gawking at during the day thank you very much. Plus they leave hairballs all over the place. “How’d you go about adopting Mittens?” Mittens. So cutesy and so…not Milan’s style.

“Brittany got him at the SPCA. She volunteers there.” Of course she does, I’m surprised she doesn’t spend her free time sewing pyjamas for orphans in Bosnia.

I’m a bad person. “Great,” I swallow nervously and wonder if the answer to my next question will just be another thing I was better off not knowing. “So how did the two of you meet?”

Milan looks about as uncomfortable as I feel “I met her at my gym…”

“Really?” Milan and I would’ve never run into each other at the gym because well…I don’t do gyms. I go to Pilates at my Pilates studio and run wherever I can. I’ve never been one for ellipticals and weight lifting.

“Yeah,” The way Milan is shifting tells me I should stop there but I can extrapolate the evidence by myself. Love at first sight.
______

“Congrats Milan, you made the team.” Says Claude Julien as he shakes my hand.

“Thanks.” I say as I shake Peter Chiarelli’s hand. Honestly I wasn’t sure if I was going to make the roster off my first training camp but these people don’t like to see humility, I’m supposed to be confident in my abilities.

“We’ll see you in Willington for practice tomorrow.” Claude says as I prepare to leave.

“Of course.” There was no way I was going to fuck up this chance by not showing up. I walk out of TD Garden with a spring in my step. I’d better get a head start, I think, as I walk into a random gym on Friend Street.

“Hello,” says the girl who decided to take the machine next to me. She’s wearing some baggy shorts and a tight purple tank top. She looks good. There hasn’t been anyone for me since Amber left almost exactly a year ago. I mean there have been girls, I did win the Memorial Cup which is a total chick magnet, but nothing too serious. No one was…Amber enough.

“Hey.” I say trying to sound as cool as I could in one word.

“Are you new here? I don’t remember seeing you around.” she asks as she raises the incline of the treadmill. One thing I can appreciate is someone who tests their physical limits. Like when Amber did the Grouse Grind. I just can’t get her off my mind.

“Yeah, I just moved here for… work. What do you do?”

“I’m a student” She replies simply.

“You’re a really good runner.”

“Thanks I got into university on a soccer scholarship. You’re not bad yourself.”

“I mean it’s not my favorite thing in the world but—you know what never mind”

“When the weather gets better and you need someone to run with, here’s my number” she says hopping off the treadmill and handing me a piece of paper.

“I will.” Maybe this is just what I need, a distraction. I go into the change room and feel around inside my gym bag for some new clothes. I find a clean pair of jeans along with a t-shirt. I also find my preseason jersey flipped inside out. I know exactly why. During a particularly depressing night that I happened to have a Sharpie I stained the yellow fabric with a messily scribbled ‘Dear Amber…’