All the Things You Are

Jelena sat outside at a table checking her phone, her coffee sitting in front of her. She broke into a smile when she saw Ausra walking towards her, waving to her friend.

"Privyet, Jelena. So what did you find about your dad?", she said eagerly, plopping down into the opposite seat.

"Privyet, Dawn Girl. It's a crazy story and maybe we ought to have a few drinks first", she said with a laugh.

"Great idea", she agreed. She was a tall, striking woman that would stand out anywhere and she already had people turning heads. Ausra had waist-length fiery red hair in two long braids the color of fine amber, wearing a white peasant blouse over a long gauzy skirt in a bold bronze, orange, purple and red Paisley design with her feet in purple suede ankle boots.

"I love your outfit", said Jelena as she picked up her coffee.

"Spasibo, I got the skirt and blouse at H&M, sometimes they have good stuff. I can't wear black, I don't have the personality for that", laughed Ausra.

"That's right, you have such a sunny personality", said Jelena.

Both women just laughed as Ausra led them down the street to their favorite bar, Tom McAnn's. It was a cozy Irish pub with a green awning located just below street level, dimly yet warm and homey. A TV in the corner was tuned to Root Sports and a dartboard sat vacant on the wall, assorted beer advertisements and Irish travel posters adorning the walls and a silent jukebox sitting in regal isolation near the bathroom.

The bartender and namesake Tom glanced up from his newspaper and smiled at them in welcome. "How'ra doing, ladies", he said in his thick Irish brogue.

"Howdy, Tom. Two Harps and two shots of Bushmills", said Jelena.

"So what did you find out about your dad?", asked Ausra.

Jelena nodded in thanks when Tom set down the drinks, knocking back the whiskey and chasing it with the beer. "I found out about my dad, all right", she replied telling her friend everything.

Ausra chased the whiskey with the beer and her eyes went wide as saucers as Jelena told her everything. "Unbelievable, Jagr is your dad? And the old man sounds like a piece of work", she said.

"That's putting it mildly. We've actually established a pretty good relationship, he's a great guy. It's that Vera has her hooks into him and he's too blind to see it, she lives off of him and spends his money", said Jelena in disgust.

"How old is she?", asked Asura.

"She's barely older than me, she's young enough to be his daughter. And lucky my room is away from theirs, I don't need to hear them going at it", said Jelena with a shudder.

Ausra made a face and took a large swallow of beer. "I'll have the Chicken Caesar salad", she said.

"Me too", said Jelena as Tom nodded and went into the kitchen.

"So what are you going to do when your Dad goes on road trips?", Ausra asked.

"I don't know, Dawn Girl. Vera and I can't stand each other and I don't want to go to jail for homicide, maybe I can crash with someone or you. I met Mario Lemiuex and Sid and Evgeni Malkin yesterday", said Jelena.

"What was that like?", she asked.

"Mr. Lemiuex is a real French gentleman, him and his wife are gracious people. Evgeni was there with his wife and he's very sweet-natured, he called Dad Mr. Jagr and was close to doing a Wayne's World, he's like a big teddy bear and his wife is Scottish and a real lady. Sid's a good guy, he showed me around the house and he practiced his French on me. He speaks it right but his accent is terrible", she chuckled.

"Wow. And do yo have just the smallest crush on Mr. Crosby?", teased Ausra.

Jelena gave her friend a look as Tom arrived with their food. "No, we actually resemble each other too much to make it work. And he was a gentleman, we're just friendly. There's a team party next week to kick off training camp and the families are invited, I got an extra ticket. You want to come along?", she asked.

"Da, of course. But don't ask me to wear black", laughed Ausra.

"But just wear something nice, the pictures are going on the team's website. It's going to be held at Southpointe", said Jelena.

The two women ate their lunch in a comfortable silence. An idea came to Jelena as she took a sip of beer and tried not to grin. I think those two are going to be great for each other, she mused.