Don't Let These Boots Fool You

The smell of Bacon wafted into my nose, waking me up from a deep slumber. There were voices hushed somewhere, I wasn’t on a bed. I was going to panic soon, I had been kidnapped I just knew it.

I sat up slowly and opened my eyes and looked toward the smell of Bacon and saw six large figures sitting or standing in the kitchen area. I really wondered why I had fallen asleep in this house last night. I stood slowly letting my arthritic knees gain their ground before moving into the kitchen. The guys turned around with smiles on their faces. “What?”

The silence made me wipe my hands across my face, look at the shirt I was wearing and then down to the sweat pants that were hanging low on my hip bones. I walked the rest of the way to the counter and snatched a piece of bacon from the plate and heard groans. The bacon was like water after a drought, bacon was my ice cream when I was depressed, it could fix everything.

“So Ms. I’m-engaged-to-a-pro-athlete when did you plan on telling us” Sidney’s voice carried over the popping and hissing of the bacon in the pan that he was frying up.

I was going to answer when I realized this was not my house, “Wait first of all, whose house? Why didn’t I get taken home? Lastly, what are all six of you doing here at,” I glanced at the clock on the stove and saw it was 10:00 on a Saturday, “10:00 on your optional day off.”

The guys all shrugged as they just made that indecisive head shrug with a shoulder shrug. “Well this is my house.” It was Jordan who looked up from his seat next to the wall. “You fell asleep within the first ten minutes of the movie. No one knows where exactly you live and even if I did take you home your what ever you call him would have been there.” He stood and moved around the kitchen looking for something before returning to his seat empty handed.

“We’re all here because we get up early and go skate,” Marc answered for me. I recalled he had a girlfriend I was curious as to why he wasn’t with her.

“We eat together every off day we have” Geno said with a toothy grin coming through.

I watched them all in silence. I had only been a part of their team for a week and they were treating me like I was a part of their crazy family. Making me a part of their breakfast rituals. I got lost in thought, tuning out their conversation and looking around the kitchen.

“Kelly, hey there,” someone was saying as I brought myself back to reality. “When did you plan on telling us you were engaged,” Sid was really adamant about finding out why I hadn’t told them.

I looked up to meet his eyes and looked away they all made me feel guilty for a decision I had made prior to the acceptance of the job with the Penguins. “Honestly, I wasn’t going to tell you all until I was married. Who would believe a girl like me would be with Mike?” I was trying to justify his behavior yesterday but every time I came up with an excuse it just made me feel worse. We were different when we were in high school and college. He actually cared about keeping a private life, about keeping his roots in Kentucky. “He acts like a northern city boy now.” I gasped as I realized that he had been here so long he had possibly forgotten how to be who he was when he was home.

“Whoa, what do you mean by that?” Kris asked confused by my southern words.

“Down where I’m from if you go anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line you are considered a Yankee. It’s all because of the Civil War, but it’s like a different type of race. Northerners marry northerners, and vice versa you don’t cross marry.” I looked down at my hands, sadness coming over my heart, “He’s spent so much time up here he’s become a Yankee.” I looked back down at my hands.

“Kelly, that’s got nothing to do with what he should—” the ringing of my phone cut Marc’s explanation short.

I zeroed in on my purse sitting at the edge of a doorway and snatched my phone seeing Mike’s number. The bottom of my heart just fell out and I knew I was going to cry if I answered the phone. I also knew that Mike would call back countless times. I let it ring until it was sent to voice mail, excusing myself to Jordan’s garage.

There was one new voice mail on my phone. He actually left a voice mail. This meant one of two things to me. The first meant he was trying to fix things for real this time and the second meant that he was done with me. He just needed me to walk away. I pressed the 1 button on my phone and placed the phone to my ear.

“First unheard message: Hey Kelly it’s me. I’m sorry about last night. It’s just weird having you here. Back home I’m not a superstar, those people remember me busting my ass to get where I am. How about we just take a breather, we’re still engaged but you just don’t wear your rings,” That was the funny part I hadn’t been wearing my rings. I guess now I would just to spite him, “We can go on dates with other people. Kelly” he sighed, I knew that he was trying to find the right words to keep us together but at the same time give us a break, “call me so we can talk please.”

He had been defeated he wanted the break, it was his idea but he couldn’t possibly find the right words to make me stay. I felt the salty tears well in my eyes and begin to blur my vision.

“You know you deserve better?”

I snapped my head around to the door to see Sidney standing there. How could he sneak out here unnoticed? “You heard that” I questioned with fear in my eyes.

He nodded his head as he sat down on the step leading into the house. I sighed. My life was becoming one big mess and I was so over it. I sat beside Sidney and enjoyed the silence for a moment before he started judging me. I noticed the ends of his hair had curled up as it was longer, his stubble was patchy and his eyes looked sincere.

“Why do I deserve someone better?”

He shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the ring I had yet to take off of my left hand. I decided they would stay there for the time being. “You’re special. You don’t get star struck by players in the pro league. You don’t even get all money hungry. You see people for who they are and judge based on their actions not the name on the credit card.” He was being too honest and I was worried. The guys had seen me at my worst and now would assume they could swoop in.

I stood and walked around Jordan’s garage and smiled to myself. I was someone who could stand on their own two feet. I looked out of the garage and saw the land Jordan lived on; it was so expansive and pretty. Honestly, it reminded me of home. I stepped out into the crisp overly chilly November air. I forgot what it felt like to experience a true winter, a winter alone at that. I turned to look at Sidney and decided I should explain my story a little to him.

“Join me for a walk. I don’t want to get lost.” I was hoping he said yes.

He stretched his tall frame up to his full height and stood beside me as we started walking through Jordan’s property. The silence was comforting at first and then I felt obligated to spill my secrets to Sidney. Did he just have that effect? “Do most people spill their secrets to you when you give them the silent treatment?”

He giggled, a grown man like him actually giggled in front of me. I was a little shocked that he had let down the captain guard that he had when we met. “No I think you need a friend. I’m not acting like a captain, just a friend. I have a sister you know. She tells me everything, so don’t think I don’t know when someone needs to blab. They just need a friend.” He nudged me in my arms and made me smile.

I felt more at ease. This whole situation with Mike had me confused. I needed it to rush out, that way I can’t chicken out. “He told me I don’t have to wear my ring, that we’re going to go on a break. I think he was implying date around but not sex.” It felt weird to tell one of my co-workers, if you could call him that, the problems in my love life.

“He what?” I stopped to turn and see Sid behind me with a confused look on his face. I felt the exact same way, that feeling you get when you find out Santa isn’t real. “Why would he do that?” I lost it at that and fell to the ground laughing so hard that Sidney must of thought I was insane.

He looked down at me and offered a hand to help me get up. I started laughing again and fell on my ass again, only this time Sidney fell with me. We were side by side and I realized I had behaved like I was single since he proposed to me. I was a trophy wife to him. I didn’t matter. I decided then that I was going to live my life and enjoy being a free woman for the time being.

“It took him saying that I could take my rings off that I realized we were convenient for each other at the time. I didn’t judge him for choosing baseball nor did I nag him about being a star.” I sighed as I leaned back in the grass trying to figure out where my life would go. The cold metal on my ring finger was starting to weigh me down. “I didn’t wear my rings because I want people to respect me before the respect a engaged woman. I guess I don’t have to worry too much since the entire teams saw it last night.”

Sidney stood up and pulled me up after instead of offering a hand, “You can wear them or not around us we don’t care. Just be careful now that you’re living ‘single’ because the guys will come after you.” I swore I saw a blush at his words but I wasn’t sure. Did Sidney Crosby just blush after telling me all of the guys would come after me?

“Thanks” I muttered as I reached up to place a kiss on his cheek. He blushed even more and led me back to Jordan’s house where I smelled more bacon and heard a lot more noise from inside. I stopped short of the door afraid that more people had shown up and this would look bad. Unfortunately Sidney pushed the door open from behind me and forced me through the doorframe.

“Wh the ell o go?” I got a mouth full of eggs question from Fleury.

“I had to answer a call, then needed some time to figure stuff out. El Capitan was helping me out.” I smiled up at Sid and saw him look away from me. I had a feeling he was hiding something and I was not a fan of lies or hiding things from me.

These guys had seen me at my worst, there was no way I could hate them as much as people thought. Sid was always so serious, but he couldn’t even look me in my eyes. I was furious. I wanted to go home and figure out where I was going in life. I had no way home and had no clue where I was.

“Take me home.” I said looking into twelve sets of eyes. All of them looked at me dumbfounded because I demanded to go home after laughing and spending almost an hour with Sid out on Jordan’s property. I was done hanging around the house with them, I wanted to see my dog Joe, be alone with my thoughts and call Mike one last time.

Jordan nodded his head and looked away from me, “Come on Kelly, I’ll take you home.” He started walking towards the garage leaving me surrounded by the other five guys, “Guys feel free to stay or go home, you know the deal.” The noncommittal answers began to come from their mouths as I quickly followed Jordan.

My world had just experienced an atomic bomb. My whole life had just gone up in flames and been utterly destroyed. “You love him don’t you?”

I looked over at Jordan as he pulled down his driveway trying to get back to my house. “Yeah, we started dating our sophomore year of high school. I stuck with him all the way through college. Look what it got me, a huge ring with no meaning and a broken heart.” I sighed as I leaned my head back against the cool leather of the car seat.

He turned the radio down and looked over at me, “You know he’ll come around. Maybe he’s just scared.” His words of wisdom made me feel even worse about my actions.

Jordan stopped the car, we had gotten to my house quicker than I thought we should but I sat there in silence. “I hate this feeling. I failed before I even got a chance to prove we could make this work.” I wanted nothing more than to cry myself to sleep with Joe curled up at the foot of my bed.

“You’ll make it through I know you will.” He said as he leaned over the middle of the car. I thought he was going to keep it simple with a hug and a back pat, boy I was wrong his lips brushed mine quickly as he blushed a tiny bit. I quickly flung the door open and rushed up to my house unsure of what had just happened.