Wine After Whiskey

“You look very pretty, my little Princess,” James commented after Aubree traipsed into the living room area after spending time with her mother getting ready. He picked up his little girl and kissed her nose as she tried to pull away from his five o’ clock shadow. When Tessa walked in the room, he was stunned. “Wow.” Was all he could manage out, as another cold shower might need to take if he couldn’t control his blood flow.

“Wow is good right?” She asked from the doorway. James nodded quickly. She blushed and thought about how it probably wasn’t the right time to wear her extravagant outfit. The red dress Izabel London pinafore dress, cut in angular shapes in the back and hit right at her knee while the Steve Madden Vickmen heeled boots drew the outfit together as classy.

“Wow is really good.” He mumbled barely understandable. Tessa walked over to him and fixed his matching red tie.

“Calm down, Jimmy boy, you might be able to find out what’s underneath it tonight if you play your cards right.” She whispered the last part at a hushed tone. He grinned stupidly.

If he played his cards right.

“We are in Vegas, baby.” He reminded her as they made their way out of their hotel room and towards the room where the awards were being held.

“We are in Vegas.” She enunciated with a sly grin.

And what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

~~~~~

“We’re hear with brand-new Pittsburgh Penguin forward, James Neal live from the Wynn Hotel,” Kathryn Tappen spoke into the camera as James began to feel slightly uneasy. Behind him stood Tessa and Aubree. “How was the switch between Dallas and Pittsburgh a difference?” She asked as James let go out Tessa’s hand and ran his hands through his hair, he wasn’t exactly in the mood for the media.

“Well obviously the season didn’t play out the way we had hoped, but I love it in Pittsburgh. The people are great and they’re passionate about their team, which is awesome. Hopefully next year we can get the ball rolling with Sid and Geno coming back.” Her next question threw him for a loop.

“I see you brought yourself a date, two dates excuse me, to the event this year. Who are these beautiful ladies?” She asked and James drew a blank. What was he supposed to say? When he had invited them along for the weekend, somehow this question didn’t register in James’ mind that might happen.

Would the truth set him free?

His mind was still fuzzy and Tessa realized that Kathryn was awaiting the man of the hour, or at least in her mind the man of the hour, to answer the simple question.

“Hi, Tessa. This is Aubree, his daughter.” At the first mention of her own name, Aubree perked her ears and looked up at the microphone.

“That’s me!” She giggled as James head finally began to spin a little less and he was able to figure out what he was going to say.

“Sorry about that, brain fart.” He explained as Kathryn nodded in understanding and Aubree about stole the show.

“Daughter you say? And Tessa, are you the lucky lady who stole his heart and is the mother of this precocious little one?” Kathryn asked as James wrapped his arm around Tessa’s waist and picked Aubree up onto his hip.

“Yes, these are my two leading ladies. Will you excuse us please? I think this one is about doing the potty dance.” James murmured as he kissed Aubree’s cheek and pulled them both down the red carpet.

They had avoided something awkward right there.

“Thanks for saving me, there.” James replied as they had made it into the awards room and got their seats towards the back. Since they had left the red carpet, Tessa had yet to speak to James.

“Hmm…” She replied back curtly as they took their seats and Bree climbed up onto her mothers lap to get a better view of all the surroundings. James looked over at Tessa who was staring straight ahead and not paying any attention to what was going on around next to her.

“Are you seriously mad at me, Tess?” He asked as she looked over at him and shot him a death glare.

“This isn’t the time to talk about this.” She gritted through her teeth as the host of the show popped up on stage right as the awards were beginning to start. James sat back in his seat, for all he knew he was in a massive amount of trouble.

~~~~~

The awards had been over since ten and straight afterwards James, Aubree and Tessa had bee lined it upstairs to get Bree into bed after a late night of fun. Nearing midnight they finally had her asleep and Tessa was finally able to start getting undressed and letting down her hair.

As she stood in the mirror of the bathroom and pulled out the over thirty bobby pins she had in her hair, James rested against the frame of the door. She knew he was there, she saw him standing in the mirror, but she hadn’t made eye contact just yet.

“So, do I get to see what’s underneath that dress?” He asked with a cheeky smile. Tess ignored his comment and continued on with what she was doing. He asked again, walking up behind her and slowly pulled up the dress with his cold hands. Tessa bit down on her lip. “I want to see what’s underneath this dress, Tess…” He huskily whispered into her ear with a chuckle at the rhyme. She shook her head and grabbed his hands, pulling them away from her and pushing past him so she could shut the door to the bathroom.

“Don’t.” She spoke with a low and annoyed tone.

At that moment she wanted nothing more but to rip into him for what had happened on the red carpet. How she was made a fool in front of probably the entire god damn world and he just stood by and watched it all happen. It was one thing to look stupid in front of his teammates it was another for her to look stupid in front of media and press, especially at such an important event. He gave her an off put and confused glance before resting up against the counter with his arms across his chest.

“You’re mad at me.” He deadpanned, beginning the staring contest that he was having with her. She glanced up from where she was standing on the other side of the bathroom and met his gaze. “You’re upset about the whole red carpet deal.” She frowned.

He had hit a nerve.

Bingo.

“Don’t take it so personally, okay? I just froze up there and didn’t know what to say.”

“You didn’t know what to say?” She asked incredulously as he realized he was about to step from the frying pan into the fire. He gulped and then nodded. “Did you not expect for them to fucking ask you who the fuck the baby was you were carting around on the red carpet? Or did you just expect us to be ignored, like you ignored us for the past four years?” That hurt him deep down and once again Tessa was rehashing old memories. James was infuriated by the comment.

“Yeah, I didn’t think about it, okay? I expected just to get by and not have any questions asked. Sorry that I’m not a goddamn media mind reader, next time I’ll know. And stop bringing up the fucking past, will ya? It’s the past. I’m here now aren’t I?” He asked as Tess felt like she had been slapped across the face. If he thought she had been mad before she was about to go crazy on him.

“I don’t even understand how I put up with you for all those years. Now I realize it.” She shook her head laughing incredulously. James pieced a confused look on his face as she began once again taking the bobby pins out of her hair.

“What do you mean by that?” She turned around and faced him, carefully choosing her ammo before she fired the rounds.

“You are a self-absorbed prick, you think of nobody but yourself.” Round one. “You proved that four years ago when you left your nine week old daughter and fiancée with a massive pile of debt and no way to pay the bills that were stacking up. You deserted us when we needed you the most, when I needed you the most. You think I can just forget somebody walking out of mine and my daughters life just like that?” Round two. “I pushed all of those feelings aside for her. Not for me. I wasn’t even going to come near you with a ten-foot pole, but everyone around me told me to give you another chance. ‘He’s changed,’ and ‘He’s matured’ or ‘It’ll be fine, don’t worry about him crushing your heart into a thousand fucking pieces again, at least he’s back’.” Three. “So I listened, and they were completely wrong.” Four. “It wasn’t fine. You pushed your way back into my life in such a god damn whirlwind that I can’t even tell you what even happened. I let a lot of stuff slide, like the Melanie ordeal, because I was falling so hard for you once again. So I pushed my feelings out of the way and gave you a chance, but you hadn’t changed like I expected. You hadn’t matured or grown up. You’re still the same self-absorbed prick who left his fiancée and nine-week old daughter four years ago. You’ll never change.” Five. Point blank to the heart.

He was gone.

“You don’t mean that.” She rolled her eyes. He had no idea what was going on in her mind.

“Oh, but I do James. I do. I’m tired of feeling like I have to push away my feelings for Aubree. I don’t think this is going to work out. We’re not going to work out. I’m happy that you’re here now for her but us? We’re completely different now. We want completely different things, and the only common bond we have between each other is Aubree.” He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. She was no longer mad anymore. The anger from everything had subsided. She hurt.

“We want what’s best for Aubree and we want each other. We love each other, Tess.” She shook her head and pulled herself up on the countertop of the sink.

“We do want what’s best for Aubree, James. But we don’t love each other. You may, but I don’t. I’ve barely been here. I’m going through motions. I thought I loved you, but I’ve seen the past couple of weeks that it isn’t working out and the final straw was this evening. It hurt that I had to explain who we were and you couldn’t. It was embarrassing. I don’t want to be a NHL housewife. I want to go back to school. I’ve wanted to tell you for weeks that—“

“I never told you to be a housewife.” She frowned. They had spoken already about getting married (albeit a little premature) and every time it had been brought up, James went immediately to the fact that she wouldn’t work anymore.

“I want to go back to school, James. It’s not going to work out. It was fun while it lasted. But we’re complete opposites now. I want school and Aubree and you want work… and occasionally Aubree. I think it’s best if we head out separate ways in terms of relationship. When we get back home I’ll file a motion in the courthouse for custody or whatever you want, we can figure out days and times, but I have a life to live and recently I haven’t seen it with you as much.”

His heart broke. Piece by piece by piece with every word she spoke and all he could think about was the first day in sixth grade when they met. She unzipped the back of the dress and began stepping out of it (James finally able to see the now unattainable underneath her dress and while she looked more like she should be modeling for Frederick’s of Hollywood, he didn’t feel it anymore. She had dropped it all for him) and putting on her pajamas.

“I’m going to go sleep on the couch.” She mumbled as she walked into the bedroom and James followed. It now felt like all of the air in the room had been taken out and what was left was unbreathable. “I’ll see you in the morning.” He went to catch her and let her know not to sleep on the couch but instead he would, but she shut the door behind her as she left and he assumed there was no bother.

Why should he care anyways?