Retrouvailles

“There are ass marks on my dresser,” were the first words out of Sidney’s mouth the following morning.

Loren shrugged, a what am I supposed to do about it? look on her face, before she continued rummaging through a different dresser for an acceptable shirt to wear during the flight. They had to be at the airport in three hours, and with them both having to shower, get dressed, look presentable, and eat breakfast, there wasn’t time to worry about what body part marks were smeared all over what surface.

“Don’t you have any normal T-shirts?” Loren groaned, tossing the umpteenth Penguins shirt over her shoulder. An exasperated Sidney stood behind her, grabbing each one and folding it as soon as it landed on the bed.

“There’s plain white ones in the top right drawer,” he told her. Another Penguins Hockey shirt landed in front of him and he shrieked. “Would you quit it?”

“We have three hours until our flight, which, by my calculations, gives us roughly one hour to get to Pittsburgh International, and you’re whining about there being ass marks on your dresser.”

Sidney pulled a face, clearly not deterred by their 60-minute time limit. He’d been late before, chances are he’d be late again at some point, so he didn’t see a point in stressing over time.

“Martin never talks to me like this,” he replied with an air of superiority, simply as payback for what Loren had said to him the night before. Part of him was still in disbelief he’d treated her that way, but she didn’t seem fazed. Maybe a little light on her toes — Sidney had done a number on her, to her credit — but other than that she didn’t seem angry.

“Unless you’ve also fucked Martin on that dresser, I don’t give two margins of a shit how he talks to you.”

Sidney couldn’t help but laugh, noting the way Loren’s aquamarine eyes dilated at the first indication of an argument. A vacation would do her good, he concluded, though that wasn’t a particularly new or groundbreaking conclusion to make.

“He’s not my type.”

Loren was too perturbed to bother with a response. Besides, Sidney had about a two-comeback quota before trying to mentally place himself in Flower’s shoes in order to think up something to say. He’d mastered sassing the media — tactfully, of course — but they didn’t dare risk their jobs to exchange blows.

“Where are my pants?”

“In the laundry. I told you last night I was doing a load. You don’t remember?”

“All I remember is you blowing a load,” Loren answered, ignoring the perplexed look her boyfriend was sporting. Somehow he’d fallen asleep and woke up to find Sarah in Loren’s body. “Are they dry at least?”

“Should be,” was all he managed to say.

The rest of the morning went off without a hitch. Loren had settled on a black v-neck of Sidney’s and he tried to forget what rare form she was in. At least she knew how to keep the relationship interesting, with her constantly finding new ways to surprise him. She didn’t even put up a fight when he put the country station on during the drive to the airport. Well, that’d be because she was asleep against the window, drooling.

On the verge of turning 25, Sidney figured he should act his age and not take a photo of her to use as future blackmail. The couple hadn’t forgotten that she was still a hot topic in the Pittsburgh gossip circle and he was sure he could sell the photo for a couple bucks. Confirmed: Sidney Crosby’s girlfriend drools in her sleep! He laughed loudly at the thought, jerking his other half awake.

She glared the entire way to the airport.

One of the many perks of being Sidney Crosby was that he didn’t have to do things normal people did, like pay to leave his car at the airport for a week or go through security. Martin had called ahead and informed them he was on his way; all he had to do was drive to the tarmac and everything would be taken care of. It all felt a bit flashy, even by his standards, and part of him was embarrassed to be doing such things in front of Loren. She insisted it was part of the package and that she didn’t care so long as they served coffee in first-class.

There was a cup waiting for her by the time they reached their seats.

“Not bad,” she said dryly, stowing her carry-on in the overhead compartment. Sidney moved to hand his to her to do the same but she ducked into her seat, leaving him to do it himself. “They make you stow your own bags?” she cracked, taking a sip of coffee. “Tragic.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Well, you did last night, but otherwise—”

A stewardess arrived just as Loren began speaking and Sidney’s face turned crimson, much to his girlfriend’s pleasure. The stewardess, whose golden name tag sported Caroline in black letters, looked between the two, probably reminiscing about a boyfriend she had at their age.

“Is there anything I can get for you?”

“They’re much nicer in first-class,” Loren mumbled, peeking into her cup of to decide if she needed a refill. “More coffee would be fantastic. Thank you.”

Sidney politely declined, and once Caroline was out of earshot, he really laid into his girlfriend.

“Seriously, what’s with you? You’re acting weird.”

“I am not.”

“Look, if you’re upset about last night—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Loren cut in, treating Sidney’s words like he’d just uttered the worst combination of words she’d ever heard in her life. “Why would I be upset about last night?”

Sidney shrugged. “I was, uh, kind of an asshole.” A smirk made its way onto Loren’s face and she turned to stare out the window so Sidney wouldn’t catch it. “Why are you making that face?”

Loren didn’t miss a beat.

“Claude never apologizes when he acts rough with me.”



Sidney refused to speak to Loren at any point during the two-hour flight. Much to his dismay, she didn’t mind, and kept her nose buried in a copy of Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection. It was her favorite book, which she’d told Sidney during one of their nightly rounds of 20 Questions, and the worn spine and yellowing pages were clear indications she hadn’t been exaggerating.

The intercom announced the plane’s descent into Halifax Stanfield, prompting Sidney to check his watch: 10:35 AM, right on time. He’d booked the earliest possible flight on purpose, thinking there couldn’t possibly be hoards of people in the airport that early on a Saturday.

To say he was nervous was an understatement. He expected his family to like Loren — there was no logical reason why they wouldn’t — but once again he was wandering into unchartered territory without a map. How did regular, not-socially-inept people do this? How did normal parents react to their child’s first serious relationship? He just didn’t know, and he didn’t like not knowing. There were too many variables that could stray from the path and go horribly wrong.

Or he was overreacting, much like Loren had done. But he was telling the truth when he told her his parents’ opinion ultimately wouldn’t matter. Whether they liked her or not, she would still be his girlfriend by the time they left for Thunder Bay.

“Are you going to talk to me?” Loren asked as she closed her book and stowed it in her bag. “Don’t be a sourpuss in front of your parents.”

“I’m not being a sourpuss,” he grumbled. “And it’s you I have to worry about in front of my parents. You can’t be talking to them about Giroux or any of that other nonsense you’ve been going on about all morning.”

Loren laughed. “Did you forget what I do for a living?”

“No. But you can’t be fake, either. Trust me, my parents know when someone’s being fake.”

The plane began to shake from the turbulence and Loren paled. The flight hadn’t been too bad — definitely better than the one to Ottawa back in January — but she’d seen Final Destination. She’d also seen Snakes on a Plane.

“Relax, babe,” Loren said. “What could possibly go wrong?”



Apparently, everything.

Sidney had given his parents the wrong flight information, meaning they weren’t at the airport to pick them up once the flight landed. He called them right away to fix his mistake and they told him they’d be there as soon as they could.

It didn’t help that they’d been dumped into general population. Hiding in plain sight in Philadelphia was easy, but Sidney had no chance in Nova Scotia. Before they hit baggage claim, Loren insisted on exchanging her money to Canadian dollars, cracking a joke about being shocked Sidney wasn’t on the $20 bill. As awful as something like that would’ve been, he honestly wouldn’t have been surprised.

They’d only been in the airport ten minutes when the first fan approached. It’d gone as well as it could’ve, with Loren standing awkwardly in the background while Sidney signed the guy’s boarding pass and took pictures with his young son. Everything went to shit just a few minutes later when everyone seemed to realize he was there. Flash mob. By the time his parents finally arrived, he had a cramp in his hand and his vision was blurry.

Throwing caution to the wind, he grabbed Loren’s hand as they made their way out of the airport. He knew there’d be pictures and Martin would probably be calling him within the next half hour to ask him just what in the world he was thinking, but he didn’t care. She looked so lost just standing around while he was busy being famous and he felt awful about it. And he wanted to put on a good show for his parents.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

Loren gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Let’s just worry about your parents, ok?”

All the rehearsals in the world couldn’t have prepared Loren for meeting the rest of the Crosbys. From 50 feet away they were already more intimidating than Ray Shero and Mario Lemieux combined, and she’d been fired by the latter.

But Sidney kept her close, refusing to drop her hand or let her get too far away.

Trina was on them immediately, pulling her son in for a hug and telling him how great it was to see him. Him, Loren noted, not them. But she brushed it off and offered up her best smile, mentally telling herself to keep it together. Taylor and Troy stood in the background and Loren took the opportunity to introduce herself to them rather than waiting on her boyfriend to do it for her.

“Hi, I’m Loren,” she said to them both, extending her hand for Troy to shake. He didn’t get a chance to, as Taylor beat him to the punch by pulling her into a hug.

“I know. My brother’s told me all about you.”

At least one of them likes me, Loren thought to herself.

Troy Crosby was a different story. When his son had first approached him and his wife about bringing his girlfriend home with him, they were both shocked. After all, they hadn’t had to worry about him dating for 24 years. They were cautious, too. True to Taylor’s word, Sidney had told them all about his girlfriend, and Troy was guilty of doing an extensive Google search on her. (Nothing alarming popped up, as Sidney had been up front about why she’d gotten fired, so she passed that test.)

There was a part of him that knew it was time this happened. No one could expect Sidney to stay single forever — except maybe Trina — and he’d already accomplished everything he set out to do in his career. It was time, and if Loren made him happy, then he should respect that. Still, there was always the fear that she’d be a distraction, and with him just recovering from his concussion only to be embarrassed in the playoffs by Philadelphia, he was fragile, whether or not he was eager to admit it.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Loren,” Troy said, shaking her hand.

“Likewise, sir.”

He chuckled. “Please, call me Troy. No need for formalities.”

Sidney was discussing the flight with his mother when he realized all eyes were on him. He coughed, interrupting the conversation, and grabbed for Loren’s hand again.

“Mom, this is Loren. Loren, this is my mother, Trina.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Crosby.”

In return, Loren received a tight-lipped smile that succeeded only in making her feel two-feet tall. Sidney was shocked. He would’ve bet his life on his mother being the most excited of the group; clearly he thought wrong. But he’d seen this before. When Max had come with him to shoot those Reebok commercials, Trina’s reception of him was similar. There wasn’t a soul in Canada that wasn’t aware of Max Talbot’s exploits and it made sense for Sidney Crosby’s parents to be wary of him around their son. He nudged her in the side and made wide-eyes at her and she relented.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “This is kind of…”

“Terrifying?” Loren offered. Trina nodded, giving her a genuine smile this time.

Sidney sighed in relief. He felt like he was back in Pittsburgh his rookie year, having just gotten his first point in the NHL, waiting for Mario to say, “You did good, Kid.” As skilled and confident as he was, there was always a lapse, and sometimes Sidney needed reminding that he was on the right track. His mother’s smile was that reassurance.

He couldn’t help but laugh as they all piled into his parents’ SUV — Sidney sandwiched between his sister and girlfriend even though his thighs took up the most room. Loren had impressed them all in yoga pants and one of his old T-shirts, which he would bet money they weren’t expecting. Not only that, she handled his mother’s initial indifference with grace and immediately started talking with Taylor about playing hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary’s like she’d done her research. Troy jumped in then, almost shocked to death that the conversation centered around his daughter rather than Sidney.

You did good, Kid.