Over Spring Break

We waited for the stars of the game to be announced before retreating into the locker room. David was third star, Crawford got second, and Captain Toews got first star. I ran to David like I did the other night and planted a kiss on his lips.

“Great goal,” I smiled. He turned me around to let out a chuckle at my sweatshirt.

“Love the hoodie. Who do the girls’ have on theirs?”

“Model your sweatshirts, girls,” I told them as they were talking to Andrew Brunette, the boys’ father and Joanna’s husband. They turned slowly in circles and the Toews boys grinned widely. “They picked them out all by themselves!” I shouted which brought on a round of chuckles from around the room. David kissed my cheek and ran to shower, but Jon came to talk to me.

“The Brunette’s are quite taken with your sisters and you.”

“I guess so. They are nice enough.”

“You could start making friends with the wives, you know. It’ll be good for you to have someone besides Jenny and I to keep you company besides David.”

“And I will, Jon. But tonight, I have two ten year olds to take home.”

“And wait to be five months pregnant?” he pointedly replied.

“Fine, I’ll just come down as often as possible around school. Is that what you want me to say? I’ve never been the girl with a lot of friends. I say I have lots but I really don’t. I only have a select few that I even hang out with or talk to on a regular basis as it is.”

“Okay, but for your sake, try to make friends you can at least talk to while you’re here, alright?” I just nodded, anxious for the conversation to be over and David came back.

“Sissy, can we go home with Andy and Zane? Their parents said it was okay!”

“Let me talk to their parents,” I replied.

“Oh, Harper, they are more than welcome to come over. Andrew and I can even drop them off later tonight.”

“Are you sure?” she nodded. I agreed and we swapped phone numbers. The six of them left and I headed out with the Toews boys to join the others for drinks in celebration of the win.

We ended up at a bar close to Jon’s and while the boys ordered beer, David and I had water. We split some appetizers, the team gathering them up for the most part. David decided to take me back to the apartment early so we could have some alone time and I didn’t fight it. We said our goodbyes and walked back to the penthouse apartment.

“These last few months, I’ve really missed you,” he confessed as he opened the apartment for me.

“I’ve missed you too, David. You really don’t know how many times I wanted to pick up the phone to call. Hell, I picked it up plenty of times; I just couldn’t bring myself to dial.”

“What made you come the other night?”

“Other than the fact that I had to tell you about the baby?” he nodded. “Mom told me you moved out and than I got the update that you were with the Hawks. I guess it just felt right.”

“What would you have done if I hadn’t moved out?”

“Something different, but I don’t have a clue what it would be.”

“Did you think it would lead to this?”

“I was always dreaming that it would. I always dreamt of telling you and that you would pick me up, spin me around, and we’d be back on good terms, if not great.”

“You were close,” he smirked.

“I guess I was,” I flopped down on the sofa. My cell started to ring and I saw it was the number Joanna gave me. “Hello?”

“Hello, dear. It’s just Joanna, the girls want to stay a little longer than we planned, is that alright?”

“How much longer?” was my response.

“How about we drop them off at quarter to eight?”

“Okay, but tell them we are leaving by eight.”

“They say thank you and they’ll see you later. Goodbye now,” and she was gone.

“I guess we have another hour before the girls get dropped off.”

“A whole hour?” he smiled before leaning in to kiss me. “Let’s have some fun,” he suggested. I just followed him from the sofa to the bedroom where talking was not an option.

We emerged just as there was a knock on the front door. David answered it as I headed to the bathroom to fix my hair. Once cleaned up, I joined the girls and David in the family room.

“Did you have fun?” I asked. They nodded and started to tell me every little detail. I stopped to tell them to get their coats so we could go. “The next Hawks game is in St. Louis, so a no go for me. But if you’re back in Rockford, I’ll be there. I love you,” I told my boyfriend.

“I love you too. I’ll see you Monday or Tuesday after the game. Q wants me here as long as possible. So, I’ll be here, in Chicago. But I’ll come to you on my next off day.”

“You better,” I kissed him and had the girls say goodbye before we headed to my car downstairs. They thanked me as we got to our house. I instructed them to brush their teeth and get ready for bed seeing as it was nine thirty.

“Hey, Harper,” Jordan said quickly as her twin headed in and she hung back for a second.

“Yeah?”

“You’re going to be a great Mom. I can tell you really love David.”

“Thank you Jordan, are you sure you are only ten?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Mom always says I’m like you. I grew up too fast.”

“Well, stay young while you can, kiddo. I’ll only be twenty and a Mom, so take your time. You’ll be grown up one day too soon.”

“Okay, thanks, Harper. See you tomorrow.” And she was gone. I entered behind her and found Mom and her husband watching TV on the couch.

“Sounds like they had fun,” Mom said.

“They did, they made some friends with the Brunette family too.”

“That’s great, what about you?”

“I made friends with Mrs. Brunette. Jon’s convinced I need more friends down there though.”

“It wouldn’t hurt, dear.” Mom replied. I nodded and headed up to shower and go to bed. I got dressed in just enough time to see David calling.

“Hey,” I answered.

“My bed is so empty without you.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I sighed and rolled from where I flopped on my side to my back, stretching out on the Queen mattress. “Especially since this entire room smells like you.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “My pillow smells like bananas.”

“My shampoo,” I chuckled. “This is harder now than not talking to you.”

“I don’t know, Har that was pretty hard.”

“Constantly leaving you is hard.”

“Hey,” he paused. “I love you.”

“Love you too. You better sleep so you aren’t tired for Monday’s game.”

“Alright, thanks, love you.” He hung up after hearing me reciprocate it once more. I let the phone go on my night stand and slowly fell into a dreamless sleep.