In the Company

I leaned back in my chaise, letting the hot sun hit my bare legs. In the hours before lunch, Tyler’s mother, sisters, and I had made our way outside to sit by their pool, just to talk.

Our arrival the day before had been…awkward, to say the least. His mother and grandmother had beamed at me, saying what a pretty girl I was until Cassidy, Tyler’s youngest sister, pointed out we weren’t very couple-like. I launched into a speech I had rehearsed in my head for practically the entire flight to the Great North. I had yet to meet his father, which would happen the next day when Tyler started to spend his day with the Cup, so that was just another awkward introduction waiting to happen.

“You’ve got to be getting hot,” the older of the two sisters, Candace, nodded towards my cover up. I had rolled it up only so that it exposed my legs. I didn’t care if I would tan strangely, I just didn’t want to show off my shoulders. Ryleigh was always telling me I was too self-conscious, but I always argued that the scars were unsightly.

“I’m good, thanks,” I straightened my aviators.

We heard a splash and Tyler surfaced in the cool, blue waters of the pool, a sloppy grin plastered on his face.

“I’d give that an 8,” his mom piped up.

“7,” Cassidy laughed.

“6.3,” Candace lowered the overall average.

“What do you say, Rose?” Tyler shouted to me.

“Eh,” I shook my hand side-to-side. “4? Maybe a 5, the splash wasn’t very big.”

We ignored his fake frown and went back to talking and soon enough, the conversation turned to my still covered body.

“It’s not like you’ve got anything to hide,” Candace argued. “I mean, it’s obvious you’ve got yourself a rockin’ bod.”

I felt myself blush. “Thanks. And I guess it’s the product of hard work.” I’d always been proud of what running had done for me. “I’m definitely not just like this. That would be my best friend Ryleigh.”

“If you’re staying all covered because of that ass of a boyfriend, then honey, that’s useless,” Jackie patted my knee. “You’re obviously better off without him.”

The Seguin ladies had cornered me the previous night in the kitchen when they noticed me discreetly picking at my food and shifting when talk turned to the assumed relationship between Ty and I.

“It’s not that,” I sighed. “I guess I’m…,”

“You’re what?” Cassidy, the endless ball of energy, I had found, urged me on.

Before I could answer, a bigger, much wetter, splash surged, soaking us all.

“Damn it, Tyler!” Candace jumped up. “That’s freezing!”

“Big enough splash for you?” he teased.

Cassidy turned to me. “Are you gonna take it off now?”

I didn’t want to, but I slowly lifted the now sopping fabric over my head, careful to make sure my hair fell flat against my shoulders and back. I wouldn’t have caved, had it not been for the uncomfortable feeling the wet dress gave my hot skin.

“So you’ve obviously got nothing to be shy about,” Cassidy smirked as she, her sister, and I lowered out bodies into the pool. “What’s the big deal?”

“And don’t try any of that professional bull shit,” Candace frowned. I had tried that card earlier, only to be told I was a guest in their home.

I let my feet hit the bottom of the shallow end of the pool and watched Tyler float around the deep end on his back, eyes shut. Might as well get it out in the open now…

I didn’t bother saying anything I simply turned around and lifted my wet hair into a messy bun.

“You were upset about those?” Cassidy huffed. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” I sighed. “I’ve always been a little embarrassed by them.”

“Sweetie,” Candace smiled. “You’re so much more than those little scars.”

I shook my head a little in disbelief. “That’s exactly what Ryleigh will say, but I’ve just never really…listened.”

Maybe it was because these girls didn’t know much about me, but I wanted to believe them.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Later that afternoon, I sat on the back porch of the house, chatting on the phone with Ry.

“How’s the Great North?”

I laughed. “Hotter than I thought it would be. I like it.”

“What about you?”

She chose her words carefully, trying not to trigger any unwanted waterworks. I appreciated her thoughtfulness as always, but I just didn’t want to talk about it at all.

“I guess I’m okay,” I leaned my head against the house, relaxing into the glider. “Give me a few days and I’ll get back to you.”

“You’ll be back in just over 48 hours. We can start the healing process then. And by that, I mean eating more ice cream, shopping, and trashing him.”

I laughed, hearing the angry bitterness in her voice. “Whatever you say, Ry. What about you and a certain shy guy?”

She groaned and I heard a small thud, as though she had dropped her head to the countertop of our kitchen. “Don’t even start.”

“What? It’s an innocent question,” I teased. “Is he not so shy after all?”

“Apparently, most of the guys went out last night and something happened to make him and Max stay out until almost 5 am, tossing back way too many drinks.”

“That’s rough,” I grimaced, sorry that she had to deal with this on her own. “What happened?”

“Beats me. I went over today after lunch and they were still camped out in their hotel room. Brayden hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet.”

“That sounds unlike him, the crazy drinking, I mean,” I said. “I’m not the one to know his sleeping habits.”

“Screw you,” her voice was a grumble.

“Wait, you said most of the guys went out? Who didn’t?” I asked.

“Uh, well…,”

“Out with it,” I sighed.

“PatcameoverbecausehewantedtotalkandI’malmostpositivehehasathingforyou,” her words came out in one big breath.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I shook my head. “Back track, restart, go again.”

She took a deep breath and started talking, slower. “Pat came over because he wanted to talk and I’m almost positive he has a thing for you.”

“What exactly did he want to talk about?” I was honestly curious.

“You…”

I was at a loss for words. Patrick? Patrick Kane? Were we talking about the same blonde haired hockey player?

But then, as my fingers found the now almost familiar silver Indianhead charm around my neck, I realized that maybe I had judged all of the guys a little too soon. Maybe Max wasn’t a total womanizer and Claude wasn’t just a party boy. Could it be that Taylor and Tyler (T-squared?) weren’t really all that foolish, just young kids? Was Brayden more than just ‘the shy guy’? If they could be all of those things and evidently more, why couldn’t Patrick be?

It was so silly of me to assume things about the clients that I now called my friends so early on. I was sure I had to be blushing, embarrassed by my own immature behavior.

“And you know what I think?”

No, I really didn’t and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to know either.

“I think you might just like him a little bit too. Give me a call tomorrow, love you, babe.”

The line went dead, Ryleigh strategically forcing me to think about what she had just said.

Did I like Patrick Kane? Sure. I mean, over the last few weeks, I’d come to see he was an okay guy, prone to making mistakes. At first, yes, I had snap-judged them all. But now, having spent time with each of them, I saw that Patrick was just as much a normal guy as anyone.

But that still wasn’t answering the question Ryleigh wanted me to. Did I like him?

“You okay there, Rose?” Tyler’s voice startled me out of my thoughtful daze. “You’re kind of just staring.”

I turned to face him, making room for him on the glider. “I’m fine, just thinking, I guess.”

“About David?” his question was careful, afraid to offend me.

“I guess you could say that,” I shrugged, skirting the topic.

“When’d you get that necklace?” he asked, gesturing to the place where my fingers still toyed with the small charm. “Didn’t know you were a Blackhawks fan.”

“Pat, uh, gave it to me. For my birthday,” I explained, unsure of his reaction.

Tyler smiled knowingly. “Should have known. Kaner’s got a thing for you, or at least, that’s what we all think.” He shrugged.

“You too?” I groaned a little bit. “That’s exactly what Ryleigh thinks.”

“And you don’t?” Tyler countered. “Come on, the minute you walk into a room, he tries to hide the shit eating grin on his face. And that night at the party when you wore that red dress? Jesus, if I thought it was killing everyone else, Pat was already dead.”

I blushed. “Thanks? But seriously, you can’t be…serious?” I was at a loss for words.

Ryleigh was simply betting on woman’s intuition and an apparent conversation that had taken place the previous night. Tyler and the rest of the guys knew Pat on a more personal, deeper level. Surely they really knew the truth.

“Dead on,” he reaffirmed. “And listen, I get that you’re still hurting over the whole David fiasco, but Kaner’s not a bad guy. Usually, anyway. You see that too, right?” Tyler looked me straight in the eye. His gaze was earnest and determined. I nodded, not sure what to say. “Good, because he’s been labeled for as long as he’s been playing. Don’t do it too soon, ‘kay? Give him a chance to show you his true colors.”

Could he read minds? I was shocked; he had basically just summed up a lot of what had been on my mind.

Tyler leaned back on the glider before looking back over at me. His gaze landed on my bare shoulders and I felt myself shift uncomfortably. Candace and Cassidy had convinced me into a tank top and shorts for the dinner we had all gone out to. I had kept my hair down in the restaurant but the slight humidity was making it too frizzy for my tastes, so I had put it up before coming outside.

“They’re really not that bad,” his voice got quieter as he slowly began to trace a finger over a few of the scars. “You can hardly see them when your skin is tan. Tanner than usual, I mean.”

I appreciated his comforting words, but they were no different than anything I had heard from Ryleigh or Candace or Cassidy or even my mother. I just had to be comfortable in my own skin.

“I’m gonna turn in,” I said getting up. “Early day tomorrow right?”

Tyler’s grin reappeared, spreading even wider across his face this time. “Yup! And I’ll have a surprise waiting for you in the morning.”

I laughed. “Should I be scared?” I poked his shoulder. “’Night, Ty.”

“G’night Rose.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

I stepped out of the shower and pulled on a pair of stretchy yoga pants and an old t-shirt from a marathon I had run in high school. It was even later than I had thought it was when I had stepped back into the house, leaving Tyler on the porch, and I could hear soft snores coming from his room next to mine.

I settled on letting my hair air-dry, as I was too tired to take out the blow dryer and clambered into bed with my phone and laptop with me. I was sure I had multiple emails from work waiting on me.

Deena had emailed me once, just checking in. I shot off a quick reply that everything had gone smoothly so far, but that the real celebrations began tomorrow. Ryleigh had sent me a link to an article I just had to read, which I decided to save for later.

On my phone, I found several texts waiting in my inbox. There was one apiece from Max and Claude, both containing pictures. Although hesitant to open them at first, I found myself laughing when I did. Apparently, the group had made a trip to the NHL store in New York (all incognito) and made a few purchases. I now had a pair of Flyers’ yoga pants and a t-shirt that had such deep V in the front, I was sure I would need a tank top, waiting for me in New York. Brayden had bought me a hoodie, telling me that all the guys had made purchases for Ry and I. Taylor had bought me another t-shirt, this one a bit more modest. And Patrick had… well he’d gone almost a little overboard.

Attached to his message of Every girl needs a jersey : ) was a photo of a red Blackhawks jersey with 88’s on the sleeves and back. Of course, his name adorned the back as well.

I dropped my phone to my lap. How was it that this guy managed to continuously make me so unsure of myself?

I plugged my phone and laptop into the wall then, deciding that thank you’s could wait until the morning when I was-hopefully-able to think more clearly.