Some People Stay

Jonathan could have kicked himself at this moment. Why had he just announced to everyone at the table that Amelia’s husband had just died? Well, he knew why he had done it. Kane wouldn’t shut up, and he kept badgering Amelia about their relationship that was nonexistent. Jonathan wasn’t exactly sure why his teammates thought that he was dating Amelia. Sure, he talked about her once or twice, mentioning her in passing when the guys asked about what he had done in the offseason. But, maybe he had talked about her more than he thought he had.

Either way, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that Jonathan had just told everybody about Amelia’s husband. He glanced over at her, not being able to read the look on her face. To Jonathan, it looked like a mixture of being shocked, mortified, and saddened. “Uh...” he stuttered, not knowing what to say.

Kane was the first one of the group to speak up. “You just lost your husband?” he asked hesitantly, obviously not really sure how to approach the topic. Amelia simply nodded her head, and Jonathan could see the tears begin to well up in her eyes. “I’m sorry for your lost,” Kane told her, and Amelia nodded again, not wanting to talk.

“Guys, I think we’re going to leave,” Jonathan announced, and all of the guys voiced that they wanted them to stay. “No,” Jonathan shook his head, knowing he needed to get Amelia out of there. “We’re gonna leave. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Amelia and Bridget stood up, following Jonathan’s lead. “It was nice meeting you,” Bridget told them, smiling a little bit at the rest of the guys still sitting at the table, while Amelia followed closely behind Jonathan as he walked towards the door.

As soon as they got outside, Jonathan turned towards Amelia. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized. She didn’t even look at him, instead staring at the ground. “It just sort of slipped out. And, I know that’s no excuse, but, Amelia, you have to believe me when I tell you I’m sorry.”

He glanced at Bridget, who looked at him sympathetically, knowing Amelia wasn’t going to forgive him so easily. Not that he had done anything too terribly wrong. He had simply told his teammates that Amelia’s husband had died. It wasn’t like that wasn’t public knowledge. But, he still knew that the way it came out was wrong, and Amelia had every right to be angry at him right now.

“Jon, I think we’re just going to go,” Bridget spoke, pulling Jonathan out of his thoughts.

He nodded his head, knowing there was nothing he could say that would convince them to stay. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled one last time, and Amelia nodded her head ever so slightly, at least acknowledging his words. “Bye, Bridge,” he said, giving her a hug. “I’m glad you came.”

“Of course,” Bridget responded, hugging him a little tighter to let him know that everything would be alright in the end. “Call me the next time you’re in town or any time you need to talk,” she added with a smile before she and Amelia began walking down the sidewalk.

Jonathan watched them for a few seconds until they turned the corner, and he hung his head as he walked back into the restaurant where all of his teammates still were. As he walked up to the table, the group instantly quieted as all of their attention turned towards him. “So are we going to get the whole story or what?” Kane was the first one to speak up.

“What whole story?” Jonathan questioned.

“You and Amelia aren’t dating, so what are you? How do you know her?” Sharp asked him.

Jonathan sighed before launching into an abbreviated version of the story. “Bridget and I have been friends since we were kids. We grew up together, but I never really hung out with Amelia. Well, when her husband died, Bridget called me and asked me to come down to Nashville to try to help her get Amelia out of this depression she was in. So, obviously I came down for her,” he explained.

“So, are you into Amelia or Bridget?” Kane asked, and Jonathan stared at him. He couldn’t believe his teammate was asking him this. Did he seem to be into either one of them?

“Neither,” Jonathan shook his head. “Bridge and I have been friends forever and Amelia’s husband just died.”

“So?” Kane continued. “That doesn’t mean you can’t be into one. And, you came to Nashville for how long this summer? And, then you made sure to make time for them now on this trip. Something tells me you want to get into the pants of one of them. The question is which one.”

“Neither one,” Jonathan repeated, though as he looked around the table at all of his teammates’ expressions, he could tell that not a single one of them believed him. “Guys, seriously, neither one,” he said again, more emphatically this time. “Can’t I just be a good guy and a good friend?”

“Yeah, you could be,” Kane said. “But I don’t buy it.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes at him. “Whatever, you don’t need to believe me. I’m out of here, guys,” he said, standing up. “I’ll see you guys back at the hotel,” he added, walking out the door. On his way back to the hotel, he couldn’t help but think about what the guys had said. They really thought that he had something for one of the girls, but he didn’t think about either of them like that. Until now.

Now, he thought back on the two girls that had occupied so much of his time the past several months. On the one hand, there was Bridget. She was the reason he had come to Nashville in the first place. The two of them had been friends forever. He would do anything for her, which was exactly why there was no hesitation to get on a plane to a different country for her and stay there for a long period of time to help her. But, he had never really thought of her as anything more than a friend, and he wasn’t sure if he ever could. They were childhood friends, but he couldn’t really see ever being with her.

And, then there was Amelia. He had never really known her as anything more than Bridget’s little sister, and that had been fine for all those years. But, she had opened up to him when she wouldn’t be open with anybody else, even Bridget, and that had developed into a great friendship during such a short period of time. But, again, he wasn’t sure he could ever seeing romantically with her. Especially when he had seen her go through something so tough as her husband dying. She wasn’t anywhere near being over him, and Jonathan wasn’t sure that she ever would be over him. They had obviously had a love so deep that it would be difficult to ever overcome it.

As he walked into the hotel, whose lobby was filled with screaming girls wanting a view of the Blackhawks players, he chuckled to himself, unable to believe that his teammates really thought that he was dating Amelia. And the fact that they thought he was into one of the sisters. He shook his head at his teammates, even though they weren’t there to see him. They were crazy if they ever thought he would hook up with either one of them.