Rose Garden

With the late summer air blowing around her, Andrea followed the familiar footpath up to a hill. With flowers in hand, she was ready to say her final goodbye before boarding her flight to New York.

“Hey, sis,” her voice was quiet. “How are you?”

It was a weekly occurrence when Andrea was home in Toronto. Once every seven days, Andrea would purchase a bouquet of flowers and spend an afternoon sitting next to the headstone, talking. For a while, her parents had been concerned that she was in denial, but after a length conversation with a therapist, they saw that it was just her way of coping.

“Things have gotten crazy,” she said. “Remember how I said Tyler was back around? Well, wait until you hear this…” she launched in to the story of Tyler leaving again and how she’d been up for the past three nights trying to figure out just what she should do. “And the hardest part is that I know I want him, but I don’t know if I want what comes with him, you know? I know that I want the sweet guy that I used to teach how to cook and play the guitar with. But I don’t want the drama that comes with guys. Part of me thinks that he’s worth it, but another part of me thinks that it’s not worth the heartache.” Andrea twirled the stem of a rose. “God, this is so twisted. You should be here, with me, in our room, talking about this with Tay. I shouldn’t have to have this conversation as a one-way sort of thing.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I miss you, Ash, a lot. I wonder what it would be like to have had boyfriends together and have gone to prom together. And Biel! Would you have gone with us? I think that you would have.”

The wind picked up and Andrea rolled onto her stomach, trying to get comfortable. She didn’t have much time left if she wanted to have plenty of time at the airport.

“And I don’t know if I want to keep making music for a label,” she continued. “Or at least, not a big name. I feel like the focus isn’t on my music anymore, that it’s on me and my personal life. That’s not what it should be about.”

And that was certainly the truth. To Andrea, music was always music. It didn’t matter who was singing or what their story was. The only important thing was that they were doing what they loved.

“Life is so screwed up right now, Ash,” Andrea sighed. “I just…wish you were here to be my other voice of reason. Taylor has her hands full with me sometimes and I feel like I’m keeping her from doing what she really wants, especially now. Do you think I’m being a diva about this whole thing? I was never very dramatic, but I feel like I might be going over the top.”

To a lot of people, having such a normal conversation with a rock might have been very off putting. But not for her. Talking to the engraved stone was a way of keeping in touch with her other half. Ashley had always been the one to keep Andrea’s head on straight when no one else could. As hard as she tried, Taylor never quite had the effect on Andrea as her sister had.

“They say that I’m famous now, that I’ve made it. But I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ll ever quite get there.”

“It’s time for me to go, baby sister,” Andrea smiled slightly, using a much hated nickname. “I’ll be back for Christmas, maybe before. I love you.” Kissing her fingertips, she rested them on the headstone before getting up and dusting her butt off.

With one last look over her shoulder, Andrea stumbled down the grassy hill and to her car. It wouldn’t be a long flight to New York; so hopefully, she wouldn’t have much time to dwell on all the thoughts that were swirling about her head.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tyler wasn’t focused. He’d screwed up three plays on the first day of training camp and before that, he’d tied his skates into a knot. Doing these sorts of things right should be second nature to him, but today, something was off and his teammates were noticing.

Looch guessed that it was because he hadn’t gotten laid in a while. Thomas thought he was feeling homesick already. But only Marchy and Chara were close to the truth.

Marchy guessed it had something to do with the way he avoided all talk of Andrea like the black plague, assuming that things had gone sour, just as he’d thought they would. Zdeno thought that his younger teammate was a little heartbroken. Through the few times he’d spoken to Tyler over the phone that past summer, Andrea had always come up. The older man could tell Tyler was still head over heels in love with the pretty singer and practically turning her away must have killed him.

Zdeno was dead on.

“You feeling okay, Segs?” he clapped Tyler on the back after that day’s practice had ended. Only the two of them were left on the ice.

“Yeah, sure,” Tyler mumbled, shrugging him off.

“Andrea?”

Tyler glanced up at the giant man and then looked away quickly. He did not want to talk about her.

“What happened?” Zdeno pressed on.

“A few days ago, before I left, she was telling me about how she was so confused about her life. She doesn’t know if she wants to keep making music,” Tyler took a deep breath. “And I basically told her that if she was confused about the one thing she’s always been sure of, then maybe she should take some time to think about everything.”

Zdeno rocked back on his skates. Well, that wasn’t quite the response he had expected to get.

“I think you did the right thing,” he finally decided. “It’s not healthy to rush into things. And maybe, just maybe, you need some time to think to.”