Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

When we went to the restaurant my parents had picked – some small little home-style diner hidden away from the tourist attractions, Parker immediately began bombarding us with the question of ‘are they here yet?’; standing on his seat and keeping a watchful eye on the building for any sign of his newfound friend. It was beyond adorable, and I wished I could just blurt it out that Cam was a girl and that the amazing woman who my nephew loved so much was the one that had turned my life around.

But instead I sat there quietly, holding Levi and impatiently waiting for my girlfriend and her best friend to show up. A few minutes later they arrived, both looking slightly frazzled as Eric spotted them and waved them over.

“Sorry, we got lost,” Cam mumbled, to which Becka let out a gasp.

“We? I told you we had to turn! You and your so-called sense of direction,” she huffed, and while Cam rolled her eyes she had a sheepish look on her face that told me it had been her doing.

“Sure, sure, blame it all on me,” she sighed, making Becka laugh and all of my brothers chuckle.

“Hi Cam!” Lindsay blurted, standing up and excitedly hugging her.

“Hey Linds! How are you?” she asked, her eyes going down to Lindsay’s stomach momentarily, eyeing the quite visible baby-bump.

“Fantastic! How about you? We watched your amazing come-back game,” Lindsay said. Marc rolled his eyes, and raised an eyebrow playfully at her.

“Well fine, I watched it and Marc complained, but whatever,”

“She never gets that excited about watching my games,” he pouted, making us chuckle.

“Oh, Lindsay, this is my best friend Becka. Becka, this is Lindsay Staal, Marc’s wife,” she introduced them, and as I’d thought the two seemed to hit it off.

“Mom, Dad, Tanya this is Cam Bates and Becka Falls. Cam, Becka, these are my parents, and this is Eric’s wife Tanya. Oh, and this little guy is Levi,” I added, nearly forgetting about my nephew who was asleep in my arms.

“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Staal; it’s nice to meet you,” Cam said as she shook their hands, which seemed to gain immediate approval from my parents.

“You too; we’ve heard a lot about you,” they both grinned, and then Cam turned to Tanya.

“Nice to meet you t—” Cam was cut off by Tanya pulling her in for a hug rather than taking Cam’s extended hand.

“I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you! Jordy talks about you all the time, and Lindsay gave me that cake recipe you gave her and it’s amazing!” she gushed, and my mom perked up.

“Cake recipe?” she asked, and I saw Cam blush as she sat down next to me, Becka on her other side.

“Yeah, it’s one my mom makes, and Sullivan’s really liked it so I figured I’d send it to Linds to try out,” she explained, running a hand nervously through her short hair.

“That was that one I made when you guys came down to see Eric and Marc play,” Tanya proudly told them, and my mom’s jaw dropped.

“Wow, and you actually bake?” she asked.

“Yeah, he likes to cook too; I’m spoiled rotten!” Becka piped up, making Eric, Marc and Jared chuckle.

“Are you dead serious?” Jared asked, looking as if he were unsure about trusting his sister-in-law’s words.

“Yeah; my mom worked all the time and it was just me and… me and my dad at home for the most part, so I learned,” she shrugged, and I put a hand on her shoulder momentarily as the waitress came over with a huge pitcher of water and glasses as well as our menus.

“Where are your parents? Are they coming to the game?” My dad asked, and I mentally kicked myself for not mentioning that this should be an off-limits topic. Cam took a shaky breath before shaking her head.

“No, mom has some work-related stuff going on in Vancouver this weekend, and my dad passed away last year,” she whispered, and I saw everybody’s faces pale at her words.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry sweetheart; what happened?” Mom asked gently.

“He had cancer,” Cam managed to choke out, and Becka pulled her into a hug.

“I’m so sorry to bring it up Cam,” Dad apologized, but Cam shook her head, attempting to shake it off.

“No, don’t be; you didn’t know. It’s fine, I’m okay,” she assured us, although I knew it was a lie.

“Hi Unca Cam!” Parker eagerly shouted, immediately making Cam smile.

“Hey there Park!” she said, and Parker held his arms out so Cam would pick him up. Eric raised an eyebrow to Tanya, as if to say ‘I told you so’.

“Go skate?” he asked, making Cam laugh.

“We’re gonna eat some supper, we’ll have to go skate before we go home though eh?” she asked, and Parker eagerly nodded.

“Unca J, me have toy pwease?” he asked, and Jared passed the little toy cars over to our side of the table, where Parker began playing again, pushing a black and gold car into Cam’s hand.

“Car daddy’s cowors. Unca Cam car Pengins cowors!” he crowed, much to the amusement of everyone at the table.

“And Cam, this is Levi; the newest addition to the family. For now,” I said, giving Marc and Lindsay a pointed look.

“Hi there Levi,” Cam said, and Levi blinked at her before letting out a little giggle.

“Wow, even Levi loves Cam,” Marc chuckled, and I shrugged. What wasn’t there to love?

“So, Cam, any chance you can get yourself traded to Carolina?” Tanya asked, shocking me.

“What?”

“Huh?” Cam asked, and then Tanya cracked a grin.

“So you can babysit my little monsters for me?” she asked, and Cam was soon laughing.

“Oh I don’t know; Jordan and I are pretty lethal on the same team,” she pointed out, to which Tanya huffed.

“Come on, Jordy’s not that special! You could play with Eric! Oh my God what about with Skinner? You two would be incredible!” she said, and Eric laughed while I tried not to pout.

“I don’t know; we’re both pretty small… putting us on the same line might not be that great,”

“Well I wouldn’t mind having the third best scorer in the league on my team,” Eric shrugged, and dad laughed.

“Of course you wouldn’t,”

“Or you could be cool and come play for the Rangers,” Marc piped up, and Lindsay swatted at his arm.

“Oh shush!”

“Think of it; we’d have another kick-a… kick-butt scorer,” he corrected himself as he eyed our nephews. “And then you’d have somebody to talk cooking and baking with.”

“On second thought, Marc’s right. Come to New York!” Lindsay said, and our parents were killing themselves laughing as Becka and Cam just seemed to melt right into my family without any effort.

When we finally ordered and got our food I handed Levi back over to Tanya, and as Eric went to reach for Parker it was similar to the scene in Tim Horton’s.

“No! Daddy!” Parker whined.

“Parker it’s time for supper,” he sighed.

“He’s fine here Eric, honest,” Cam assured my brother, who looked unsure.

“Well you don’t need him bothering you,” Tanya insisted, but again Cam shook her head.

“He’s not a bother. Right bud?” she asked my nephew who positively beamed up at her and made himself comfortable in her lap before making a grab for a french-fry off of her plate.

“Easy there Park, that’s hot,” I said, careful taking it from his fingers. He pouted a little, before Cam started cutting some of the fries in half with her fork, helping them to cool down faster. She kept him entertained while his little plate of fries cooled down enough for him to eat them, and the two of us kept from eating until he could too. Watching her help Parker eat his supper was making my stomach do summersaults at how adorable she was with him. And all of a sudden I wanted this to be her with our little guy at a huge family dinner.

That nearly made my heart stop beating as I choked on a mouthful of water.

Jared thumped me hard on the back, reminding me to breath and I began coughing.

“Jordy you all right?” Cam asked, her eyes wide with concern as I nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, just went down the wrong tube,” I managed to cough out, taking a tentative sip of my water. While everybody went back to eating Cam kept watching me out of the corner of her eye until my breathing was completely normal and I was digging back into my burger and fries. Soon I saw Parker’s little hand hesitantly reach for the fries on Cam’s plate; his own child-sized plate empty, except for some ketchup.

“Parker,” Eric warned him, and Parker sat quietly on Cam’s knee, looking down at the toy car sitting on his lap.

“It’s all right Parker; if you’re still hungry you can have some of my fries,” Cam allowed, and Parker wrapped his little arms around her for a hug, then took one and dipped it in his ketchup before happily munching away on it.

“Sorry Cam; usually he doesn’t eat this much,” Tanya apologized.

“It’s fine! Don’t worry about it; the little guy’s probably going to have a growth spurt,” Cam told her, and Parker grinned like she’d just told him Mickey Mouse was coming.

“Reawwy? Then me be big?” he asked, and Cam laughed.

“Bigger honey,” my mom stepped in, not wanting Parker to get too carried away.

“Yay!” he crowed, taking another fry, dipping it in his ketchup and eating it. Soon he had nearly half of Cam’s fries demolished, surprising all of us.

“Here, take some of mine,” I said, pushing my plate towards the two of them, but Cam shook her head.

“Nah, I’m good; that was a huge burger. And some pretty yummy fries right Park?” she asked, and he nodded although she’d only had a small handful of the large pile that had been on her plate.

“Well if you want more have some, Parker ate all of yours,” I pushed, but she shook her head.

“I was actually thinking about ordering dessert,” she sheepishly admitted. Lindsay, Tanya and my Mom looked ecstatic while the four of us groaned.

“Dude, it’s during the season!” Marc complained.

“Won’t that upset your stomach?” Jared inquired.

“Careful about taking in too many calories,” Eric warned her, to which the girls laughed.

“Obviously Cam isn’t as obsessive as you four,” Tanya rolled her eyes, deciding dessert sounded good.

“Ooh, chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream and smarties,” Cam’s voice was drawn out as she read the menu and came across her favorite treat – cheesecake.