Last Chance

I was half way up the driveway, grocery bags hanging off my arms when I saw I her come bursting out of the house. She was not happy. As she approached me her face was red and her eyes were nearly bulging out of her head. I put my arms out to stop her but she ran right passed me. "Kel! Hey, what's going on? Are you okay?" I put the bags down and chased after her. "No Sid! No! I am not alright!" She pulled on the car door handle. "And why the hell won't this open! Jesus fuck! Sid get me out of here!"
"Whoa whoa Gepetto." I put my hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" She turned and smirked at me. "Did you just call me Gepetto? You know I fucking hate when you call me that! And you want to know what happened? Ill tell you what just happened! I just walked in on my mom in the arms of a man! That's what just happened Sid! Now open the fucking door!"

"No." I said calmly.

"What the fuck do you mean 'no'. I mean it Sid. Open it now!"

"No Kel. You're jumping to conclusions. Have you even let your mom tell you what is going on? It could be nothing, but it could also be something and you owe it to your mom to hear whats going on. I know you miss your dad and no one can ever replace him, but I thought you told me earlier that you wanted your mom to be happy. Maybe this is what is making her happy, making her live again." I pulled her to me, and brought my mouth up to her ear. "Take a deep breathe babe. I'm going to take the food inside, and you're going to talk to your mom." I kissed her softly on the cheek and then turned. "Hey Mrs. Nelson. It's so good to see you again."

"Oh Sid! It's so wonderful to see you too. It has been way too long."

"I know. And we should catch up, but first I'm going to let you talk to your beautiful daughter." I winked at Kelly, before walking up to Mrs. Nelson and planting a kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you two inside." I picked up the grocery bags and made my way back up the driveway.

I let myself into the house and placed the bags on the kitchen counter. I had spent so much time in this kitchen that I knew it almost better than my mom's. Every item had a place and I knew exactly where they went.

-----Summer 2004-----

"Here you go honey." Mrs. Nelson had just placed my second grilled cheese in front of me.

"Thanks Mrs. Nelson." I said, shoving half the sandwich into my mouth a once.

"Oh Sidney, you know I could never let you leave the house hungry." She smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me and smiled as I saw Mr. Nelson coming in from the backyard.

"Hey Sid! Nice to see you. I see Joy has been making sure you are well fed. I swear, between you and Kelly you guys are going to eat us out of house and home. I'm going to have to get another job." He chucked as he grabbed a glass of milk and sat down with me at the kitchen table. "So, stats are still looking good, they're still ranking you to go number one next year."

I nodded and finished my last piece of the sandwich. "Yeah, but it's still a long way away. Anything can happen. I'll just be happy to be drafted."

Mr. Nelson furrowed his brow at me. "You don't give yourself enough credit Sid. You're going to change the game, and I know you are going to be drafted first overall."

I leaned back in my chair and smiled. "I just don't want to get my hopes up. The best I can do is to just continue playing the way and I'm playing and pray that I don't get injured and stay healthy."

"Well with the way my wife keeps feeding you I know you won't starve to death." Mrs. Nelson had just placed a piece of apple pie down in front of me. "Jesus Joy, you trying to fatten him up or something?"

"No My Dear, just making sure he doesn't leave here hungry. What would Trina think of me if I did such a thing?"

"You women, you worry too much." He grunted, but then quickly smiled as Mrs. Nelson placed a piece of pie in front of him as well. "Where is Kelly anyways?" He asked.

"Shower." Mrs. Nelson and I said in unison. Kelly was notorious for taking the world's longest showers.

"Do you guys have plans tonight?" He asked.

"I think we're just going to meet up with some friends and have a bonfire."

"Just remember curfew is at midnight." He winked at me then got up from the table. I laughed to myself. Curfew, yeah right. Not once had we ever been back before curfew, and not once had we ever been in trouble for it. I think it gave Mr. and Mrs. Nelson some sort of comfort to know that Kelly was in the company of guy and not running around chasing after them.

---------

I finished putting the last of the food away and closed the fridge door. I nearly jumped a foot when I saw him standing there. The same tall and burly man who had once been my high school gym teacher. "Oh Jesus, Mr. Adams, you scared the shit out of me." I put my hand on my chest and tried to compose myself.

"Sorry Son, I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's okay. Really. How are you Sir?"

"It's Jim, and I'm great thanks." He smiled and held his hand out to me. A smile crept over my face when I saw how nervous he was. His face was read and sweating and I his voice was shaking. I don't remember him being like that when he was my teacher. "So, Jim how long have you and Mrs. Nelson been, um, friends?"

"She's great isn't she? We met at the Legion a few months back." He was speaking so fast that I could barely understand. "Wow, you really seem to know your way around this kitchen. Can I help with anything?"

I looked behind me to see all the empty bags. "Um, no. That's okay. Everything is already put away, I used to spend a lot of time here when I was a kid."

"Is that so? Joy didn't mention that to me."

"Jim, can I get you a drink?" I pointed towards the liquor cabinet.

"Oh yes, um, yeah, that would be great. Wow, thanks so much."

I smiled at him and reached under the spice rack for the key to the liquor cabinet. Something that Kelly and I had frequented on more than one occasion. I winked at Jim and went to unlock the cabinet. I grabbed the best bottle of Rye that I could find and brought it back to the kitchen. "On the rocks?" I asked. Jim just smiled, but he was sweating like a dog. I placed some ice into the glasses and poured a generous amount into each one. "Are you alright Jim?" I asked, noticing that he had nearly downed the whole thing in one go.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I am just nervous. Like here I am standing in the kitchen having drinks with Sidney Freakin' Crosby! Who would have thought? Plus I get to meet Kelly, well I know her, but I get to be formally introduced to her. Let's just say I didn't expect my day to turn out like this."

"Well," I took a sip of my drink. "when we're here, I'm just Sid or Sidney. Just like I was when you used to be my grade nine Gym Teacher. I'm not 'Sidney Freakin' Crosby'" I made quotations with my fingers. "Not Sid the Kid or Mr. Crosby. Just Sid. Okay?"

"Okay" He finished his drink and placed it on the counter.

"Another?"

"Sure."

"Have you eaten? I know Kelly was hungry and we were planning on cooking for Mrs. Nelson tonight."

Jim rubbed his belly. "I can always eat."

"Great. You can be Sous Chef. Start by grabbing the peppers and mushrooms from the fridge. Oh, and you're gonna need to wear this." I tossed him one of Mrs. Nelson's aprons.

"Really? You want me to wear to wear this? It says Kiss The Chef."

"Yes Jim, I know what it says. You either wear that one or I can find Kelly's old one for you. It was pink with white ruffles. It will go well with your eyes." I teased.

He rolled his eyes as he tied it up behind his back. Taking another sip of his drink, I could see he was finally relaxing. I was used to people acting weird and nervous around me, but not in the home that I used to once think of as my own. I tied my own apron and got to work. Jim and I worked pretty damn well as a team and before we knew it we had a pot of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove.

Jim had lightened up and I was really enjoying myself. I was evening humming along to CCR when I felt a pair of hand wrap around my waist. "You look rather cute wearing my dad's old apron. Makes you large ass look even larger." She teased and reached up to kiss me on the cheek. I felt myself blush as she brushed her hand across my ass. I turned and looked at her.

"Are you okay?" I wanted to make sure that she had talked things out with her mom.

"Yeah, I'm good." I'll Tell you about it
Later okay? Can I help you at all?"

"I think Jim and I have it under control. Maybe you can set the table? It should be ready in a few minutes."

She smiled at me and grabbed a few plates from the cupboard.

*****

"What is that sound? It sounds like something is scratching at the window. Did you get a dog?" I asked. I leaned back in my chair to let my stomach expand. Spaghetti was comfort food at it's best and after the wine and abundance of food I wasn't going to be moving from my chair for quite some time.

"No, um, but we did get a cat. Well I got a cat for mom when I left for Calgary, to keep her company." Kelly got up and opened the patio door. The large ginger cat sauntered grandly into the dining room like it owned the place, jumping right onto my lap.

"Hey buddy. What's your name?" I asked. He purred as I ran my hand along his back and down his tail.

"His name is Claude." Mrs. Nelson answered. I stopped petting the cat and looked up at Kelly with my best "I'm mad but not really mad at you face."

"You named your cat Claude....as in Claude Giroux?" I eyed her and watched her squirm in her seat.

"Um, yeah. But that was before, when I hated you. So you can't be really that mad." She peeped.

"Who's Claude Giroux?" Mrs. Nelson asked.

"Yeah Kelly, who is Claude Giroux?" I asked

She eyed the table and after some hesitation she cleared her throat. "Ahem, Claude Giroux is a cute red head from Ontario. Red Heads, you know we're a dying breed right?" She looked at me and smiled. I scowled back at her. "He is also number Twenty Eight of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins state rival and he is also Sid's mortal enemy." She laughed and pushed back a bit in her chair. "And," She paused, swinging her legs around her chair. "I'm probably going to be in a lot of trouble for naming my cat after him!" She laughed and bolted from the table, running down the hall to her room. I was up and chasing after her before Jim and Mrs. Nelson had any idea what was going on.

"Well, that went rather well." I heard Jim say from down the hall.