The Only Moment We Were Alone

He was still young and had a lot to learn. Jon knew three different routes to get from his apartment in Chicago to the United Center, but still had to learn to know when traffic was backed up to take a different route. Jon knew how to make dinner using his mom's recipes, but still needed to learn how to get them to taste like his mom had made it. He also knew how to get to and from the Winnipeg airport from his parent's house, but he still had to find a way to get his dad to stop picking him up every time he came home.

It was strange for Jonathan to be in Winnipeg this time of the year. Usually, he'd be back in Chicago getting ready for the season to start in the comfort of his condo, but their first game was against Winnipeg. The team would fly in tomorrow morning and they would play the following night. As captain, he knew he should be with his team, but as Jonathan, he just wanted to spend some quality time with his parents before the hectic schedule started back up.

His dad pulled the truck into the driveway. Jon grabbed his bags from the back and just savored the feeling of being home. Sure, he had only been gone a month, but it would be a while before he was back again. As he walked up the driveway, he could sense that it was going to rain soon. His parents had mentioned how dry it was this year and the sky was finally dark enough that it almost had to let the rain pour before the clouds could disappear.

"Mom!" He set his bag down by the front door and looked for his mother. Jon found her in the kitchen making some sort of dessert. "Hi mom."

Andree Toews smiled at her son. "Jon!" She leaned over and kissed his cheek not letting her hands stray from her baking. "I didn't know you were coming up today."

"Yeah, team's coming up tomorrow. What are you baking?" Jon grabbed a small piece of the dough and popped it in his mouth. Chocolate chip cookies, but there was something else about them...

"There, um, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies." Jon froze. Gluten free. That only meant one thing. He didn't want think about it. It could possibly be one of the worst things that happened to him.

"She's here?" Andree kept her focus on the cookies, but nodded her head. "Why?"

Andree sighed and put the last cookie on the baking sheet. "Her dad is still here." Jon just looked as his mother for more information. She huffed and put a hand on her hip. "She comes back once a year. Always the week before the season starts." The week before the season? She really was trying to avoid him.

"Do you know where she is?" Andree shook her head, but a clap of thunder answered his question. "I'm taking the truck for a little bit." Jon ran off to the entryway and grabbed his dad’s keys of the small table. He opened up the closet and grabbed his rain boots. He knew exactly the last time he had used them and whom he used them with.

"Drive safe!" Jon smiled at his mom's small request. He had a feeling she knew exactly where he was going.

The normal fifteen minute drive only took him eight. It was wrong of him to speed, but he knew as soon as the rain fell it would become difficult to have a serious conversation with her.

He pulled the truck up the make shift road and parked next to the only other thing near by - the familiar rusty red Ford pickup. He smiled softly seeing her almost knee deep in the water.

Jon opened his door and yelled out, "Hey!" She looked up and noticed him for the first time. She smiled back at him. Jon quickly slipped on his own rain boots and joined her out in the water. "I see you still come out here when ever it's going to storm." She just kept her gaze down as she continued to move around the water. "It's good to see you, Erinn. What's it been? Three years?"

"Four." For the first time, Jon finally got a good look at her. Her naturally golden blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun. She had finally gotten her cartilage pierced like she had always talked about and had a small earing in. Her sweatshirt was one she had owned for years and he smiled at all of the memories. Her rain boots were the same polka dot ones she used every time they came out here. "What are you doing home?"

"We play Winnipeg the day after tomorrow." Jon heard Erinn swear under her breath. "How's Providence treating you?"

"Graduated last year. I've got a job there now as an academic advisor. Life's been good so far." Erinn walked around a little more and picked a few weeds. "Do you remember coming out here almost every night that last summer?"

"Of course. Rain or shine, we were always out here. But I remember the spring before you would drag me out of bed, even on school nights, anytime it even looked like it was going to rain." Erinn splashed her boots around in the water. Jon took the moment before it was gone. "So, you only come home the week before my season starts? Are you just bad at planning or are you trying to avoid me?"

Erinn stopped splashing around. "What did you expect?"

"I expected to see you more. You were supposed to come home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and hopefully spring break!" He couldn’t help but raise his voice from his pent up frustration.

She finally looked up at him. "I didn't want to come home, Jon. I wanted to stay out there!" Her hand went to her chest and latched onto her necklace. "You stopped calling and I had to move on."

"Phones work both ways. It hurt me never hearing from you. I knew with us both being in college things would start to be a little strange, but I thought we could get through it."

"It’s just..." she trailed off. Erinn's eyes looked around the swamp they were in before looking at Jon. "That’s how life works out sometimes."

"And you just came home when you knew I wouldn't be here?" Jon's heart broke when he saw her nod. He moved around the water a little more and tugged on his hair in frustration. "Why?" His voice was getting louder now. Erinn stayed quiet. Everything she had been trying to avoid was standing right in front of her. "Why, Erinn?"

"I couldn't see you after everything. It broke my heart to finally have to leave you." Jon could hear the uneasiness in her voice. "I tried to keep moving, but my friends noticed. It took me years to finally get over you. I knew if I saw you again all of that would just go to waste."

Erinn's mood changed in an instant. The water around the started to have several drops of water appearing to fall on the surface. Jon stuck his arms out and felt a few sprinkles of rain before it turned into a steady fall. "Jon?" He looked up to smiling Erinn. She stuck her hands out, "For old time's sake?" Jon smiled back and grabbed her arms.

They held onto each other and moved to a shallower part of the water. Jon gripped her arms and Erinn held onto his forearms just as tight. "Ready?" She nodded and they both began to move.

As they started to spin in a circle, Jon couldn't help but look at how much Erinn had grown since he had last seen her. Granted, he had put on a few more pounds of muscle and grew two or three inches, but she looked just as beautiful has he had remembered.

He slowed down and Erinn tilted her head back with a smile. The rain would occasionally stick to her face and her hair was starting to get soaked. Jon finally stopped, but held onto her arms. Erinn looked back at him, "How did you even know I was in town? I have everyone sworn to secrecy."

"My mom was baking cookies and I tasted it. As soon as she said they were gluten free, I knew you were in town. She always made those cookies for you before you left on a trip." Jon paused and looked at her face for any emotion. "When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning." Erinn fiddled with her necklace before her hands moved down to her side. They were both completely soaked from head to toe, but Jon didn't want to leave just yet.

Jon looked closer at her necklace. It wasn't the same one she had worn every day since their freshman year in high school. Jon pointed at her neck, "What happened to your necklace? The circle one that your mom gave you?"

"Oh," Erinn looked down at her boots and kicked around in the water. "I got this one as a gift." Jon knew something was different about her. Was it the necklace? She had traded the necklace her mom gave to her right before passing, a beautiful circle pendant with an engraved design on it, for a simple heart outline made of diamonds? He almost couldn't believe it.

"What happened to the one your mom gave you? Did the chain break? 'Cause I don't mind paying for it to be fixed. I know how much it meant to you-" Erinn stuck her head up, signaling for Jon to stop talking.

"Nothing's wrong with it. I've just been wearing this one a lot more lately." Jon just stood there confused. The rain around them creating a soft rhythm as it hit the water. She had never taken that necklace off since her mom died. She would swim ever summer during high school with that necklace on.

Erinn sensed that Jon didn't understand, so she did the only thing that would help explain. She stuck up her left hand. "I'm engaged."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Engaged?" he asked quizzically. "So he gave you that necklace?" Erinn nodded. The rain was starting to let up into a lite drizzle. "I haven't seen or heard from you in four years and all of a sudden you're engaged?" Jon's question lingered between them. "When did this happen?"

"About a week before I came out here. You'd love him, Jon. He works for the city helping organize all the big events. He's held some pretty big fundraisers." She moved closer to him and grabbed his hand. "He's thinking about organizing a hockey tournament for the city." Jon ripped his hand from her grasp.

"Do you love him?"

"Of course. And I know he loves me. I still have my mom's necklace Jon; I just don't wear it as much." They stood there in silence just looking at each other. "What about you? You've got to have a girl. Chicago seems to love having you there."

Jon just shrugged his shoulders, "Are you happy?"

"Jon..." He ignored her pleas and asked again.

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah," Erinn looked back down at the water. "He's everything I could ever ask for."

Jon nodded his head. The rain started to pick back up. Erinn lifted her head and put her arms straight out from her sides. She spun in a few circles, but Jon was still motionless. He watched as her hair bounced from her movements. The smile on her face was so bright that nothing could bring her down.

A flash of lightning made the jewelry on Erinn sparkle, just reminding Jon of everything he had learned. He started to move out of the water and back to his car. He was at the car door before he heard her shout, "Jon!" he turned back to see her smiling face. "Where are you going?" There was almost a laugh behind her voice as if she couldn’t believe what he was going do.

Jon let a forced smile grace his face, "Don't stay out here too long. You don't want to get sick." Jon jumped into the driver's seat and closed the car door. He started up the car, and with one last look, drove back to his parent's house.

As he drove away, Jon realized every question about Erinn he had, had been answered. He knew exactly where she was in life and she apparently knew the same about him. He drove home slower than when he left. The rain was steady, but nothing that would interfere with his driving.

Fifteen minutes later, Jon's dad's truck was parked in the driveway. He shut off the car and opened the car door. When he looked down at the ground, he noticed his rain boots were still on. Jon quickly ripped them off and put his other shoes back on.

Jon was still young. He knew he still had a lot to learn. He knew exactly what shot to use to beat Roberto Luongo on a breakaway, but still had to learn how to beat Martin Brodeur. He knew that no matter how his season ended, he would be back in Winnipeg, but he still had to figure out how to get his parents to visit him Chicago. Jon knew what had happened to Erinn and finally understood what had happened, but he still needed to learn how to get over her.

He walked up to the house with the rain boots in one hand and his heart slightly broken. Jon knew the first step to getting over her was to avoid her. So, he did something his mother had taught him to do as a child.

When you aren't happy with an art project, when you get a bunch of little scraps of paper that are useless, when you have an empty candy wrapper, or when you have a worn out shirt with so many holes in it that it should never be worn again, you throw it away.

Jon did just that. Just to the left of the front door was the garbage can that his dad put at the edge of the curb every Wednesday for pickup. He threw away his rain boots. He threw away everything he had ever felt about Erinn.

He threw away everything that reminded him of Erinn. Everything except the memories.