The Next Year

Wednesday morning started like Tuesday did, with Sid in the gym and me running before hitting the gym myself. It was 7 am during our summer break and we were both up already. We had moved nearly everything out of the bedroom last night, except the bed. This morning we did that so that it would be out of the way when everything came. I got back to the house at 7:45 and heard the phone ringing. Panting I answered it. “Hello?”

“Hello this is Leon’s Furniture, we have a delivery scheduled for you this morning.” It was a very night young man.

“Yeah we’re all ready for you.” I was stretching so that as I cooled down while on the phone. “Any idea how long it’ll be until they get to us? We’ve got another delivery as well today.”

“Actually Ma’am I’m in the truck, we loaded up early so that we could get to your place first this morning. We should be there in 15-20 minutes.” He said as I heard someone in the background.

“Oh, ok then. We’re here and not planning on going anywhere until we’ve got everything. Don’t be surprised if we’re hot and sweaty, gotta get our summer workouts in gear.” That reminded me that I should check with Sid and see when he might want to get back on ice.

“It’s no problem ma’am, we were warned to call ahead of our arrival just to be safe.” We hung up soon after and I went out to warn Sid.

Opening the door to the gym, I called out over the music he had playing. “Babe?!” I moved into the space looking for him. I found him further into the gym working on his legs. “Hey you.”

He was in between sets and looked over and grinned. “Hey, what’s up?” He got up and turned the radio down. “Didn’t expect you to be back yet.”

I laughed. “I got home to a ringing phone. The Leon’s delivery truck should be here soon. I haven’t heard from the Simmons guys yet. I told tem not to be worried if we were sweaty.” He laughed at that. He grabbed a bottle and followed me back into the house.

Again the phone was ringing and this time Sid answered it while I got the doorbell. The Leon’s guys were at the door. I ushered them in and showed them where things were going to go. They were quietly awed by the house and as they saw Sid on the phone. “Guys, he’s a human being. Trust me he _does_ make mistakes.” They both blushed and followed me.

“This is where it’s all going.” I said as we got into the bedroom. “Against the wall here.” I pointed to the wall opposite the windows in our room. The bed was going against the windows.

“Any specific order you want them in or is just against this wall good enough?” The older of the two guys asked as the walked into the room and took a good look.

“Doesn’t really matter right now, we’re fit enough to move it if we want changes.” I spotted Sid and shot a smile at him.

“She’s right and the mattress guys should be here soon too, for some reason they also thought that getting us out of the way early would be a good idea.” He chuckled about it.

We got out of their way while they brought the pieces in and put them in place. Sid tried to send me to the gym to get my workout on but I knew him too well, he’d start talking to the guys and things would never get done. I hoped that this would all be done soon so that I could get my workout before we needed to leave to get to his folks’ place.

The guys from Simmons got there about 15 minutes after Sid came to tell us they were on their way. What I thought could have been a huge cluster fuck was actually perfectly smooth. Seems they had worked around each other many times before. They actually worked together to get both jobs done quickly and efficiently with minimal directions from us. Soon enough we were signing off on both jobs and were again alone in the house.

“_Now_ will you go get your workout on?” Sid said as he closed the double doors after the delivery trucks had left. “I’ll get the dresser and such set up again and working. I’ll even make the bed if you do.” I couldn’t argue with that offer or think of a better counter offer so I acquiesced.

After my 45-minute workout I came back in the house and grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge. I heard the radio on in the bedroom and padded my way over there and leaned against the door and watched as Sid was in fact making the bed. He’d obviously showered and was dressed for the rest of the day.

I chuckled as I entered the room. He was having some trouble with the duvet. “Want a hand?” I asked as I set my half full bottle down.

Sid looked over at me and shook his head at how I looked. “Sure, but then you should shower. You’re a hot mess.” As we put the duvet on, he continued. “Mom called while you were down there. She needs us to pick up a few things before we get there. Turns out this was only going to be the get together for my dad’s side of the family but Grandma Forbes found out and now it’s _the_ get together for the family. Mom wants us to pick up the list and get there as soon as we can so…” He smacked me on the ass. “Get moving girlie. Mom needs us.”

I jumped a little as he smacked me, he didn’t normally do that out of full gear. I glared a little bit as him before he leaned over and kissed me. “You’re lucky you’re hot.” I said flatly as I moved towards the bathroom and my shower.

As I came out I heard Sid on the phone with his mom, again. I chuckled and dried myself off. I went into my closet and picked out something kind of girly and cool for today’s festivities. I added my swimsuit on top of the pile on the bed. I chose a lavender top and a pair of shorts that _almost_ looked like I wasn’t wearing anything. I added some lavender amethyst jewelry and grabbed my flip-flops. I threw my swimsuit and towel into my gym bag and I was ready to get moving.

We stopped at the store to grab the items mom had called for us to grab for her. Amazingly while we were both recognized, only 1 little girl came up to us. I was checking out the carrots when she tugged on my shirt. “Are you the girl who won the cup?” She asked as I turned towards her.

I put the carrots down and knelt down, she was about 5. “Yes I am. Does your mommy know you’re talking to strangers?” She had enough shame to hang her head and blush. I heard a mother begin calling for an Emily, becoming a little more frantic as it went along. “Is that your mommy?” Emily nodded and I offered her my hand. “Come on, let’s go make her happy.” We wandered over to the freezer section where Emily’s mom was. “Excuse me, I believe I have someone who belongs to you.” I said carefully, making sure Emily wasn’t hiding behind me.

“OH THANK GOD!” Exclaimed her mom as she scooped Emily up and twirled her around. “How can I thank you? I just turned around for a second.” I smiled at the frantic mother.

“It’s no trouble, she found me looking at the carrots. She asked if I was the girl who won the cup.” The woman looked at me a little bit.

“You do look a little like Malakhov.” Emily giggled.

“I would hope so. Cause I am her.” Emily’s mom then looked almost embarrassed. “You have a really smart young lady there.”

“I am so sorry if she was bothering you Ms. Malakhov. She’s such a big hockey fan. God help me if she ever met Sidney or Brad.” Of course I knew who she meant so I just laughed a little bit.

I heard Sid calling for me a little. “I can arrange that if you’d like. He’s looking for me.” Emily’s eyes got wide as it sank in what I was saying. She began nodding and then I heard him come up behind me.

“There you are.” He said coming up and putting a hand on my waist. Then he saw the people beyond me. “Hello.”

“Sorry I got sidetracked by Emily who wandered away from her mom and found me. I had to bring her back.” He nodded in understanding. We took a couple pictures and signed autographs for Emily. She noticed I didn’t sign with what she expected, and showed it to her mom who then looked at my left hand and gasped. I looked at her and brought my left index finger to my lips. “It’s still _really_ new. The news hasn’t caught us yet.”

We got through the store without any more incidents and got to the house well before we originally thought we would. That didn’t mean we were the first people there though.

Coming into the house we found that one of Sid’s Aunts and her family was already there and we heard the argument from the front door. Before it could get anymore heated, Sid and I moved into the kitchen with our bounty. “Mom we’re here!” He called, as he got close.

“Oh thank goodness! Did you…” She began pawing through the bags we set down and grinning. “Thank you two so much. If I would have known this was going to turn into what it has…”

We chuckled. Tay side hugged me as she came up behind me. I hugged her back and looked for where I could help. “Mom where can we start helping? Looks like you need it.” She looked at me like I was sent from heaven.

“Sid, go help your dad in the back yard. Aleks, Taylor look at the board and take something.” She directed. I heard a heavy sigh from Tay but I elbowed her slightly and brought her with me as we hit the white board. There were two types of salad that were there, potato and macaroni.

“Why don’t we take those and work on them together?” I wrote her name by the potato salad and mine by the Mac Salad. She took me into the garage to collect our base ingredients. We got a couple of large bowls and began piling things into them. Already boiled Potatoes and Macaroni, hard-boiled eggs, celery, a small onion and I grabbed a carrot too.

When we came back into the house we found that the kitchen had cleared out a little bit, only mom and Aunt Trish were in there now. I put my bowl down and went to get the few things we’d need that were in here. Mom noticed what we’d checked off and smiled at me as I gathered stuff. “Thank you. I hate making those two.”

“Mind if I make ones that I know by heart?” I asked as I got the bacon we’d gotten out of the fridge.

“Not at all Aleks, you make what you know.” I set Taylor up to frying bacon while I chopped and grated other ingredients.

Aunt Trish was making deviled eggs near me. I knew those would disappear quickly. I could only hope that these would too, although they were favorites so they should. We all made small talk while we worked. I chopped the celery and the eggs, diced the potatoes and then grated the carrot and onion. When the bacon was done I broke that into very small crumbles.

“Tay, you get to stir the first and I’ll do the second.” She happily came over and stood behind the bowl.

“Which one are we doing first?” She asked as I pour the macaroni into the bowl in front of her. “Oh, I thought you’d give me the other one to stir.” I laughed as I began putting the carrot in and she began stirring. “I haven’t seen a Mac Salad like this before, what kind is it?”

“It’s Hawaiian Style and _so_ addicting. They have it on every lunch plate. I happen to know that Sid loves it too, he couldn’t get enough on the trip we took a few years ago so I learned the recipe.” I added the Mayonnaise and milk while she stirred more. I took a small spoon and tasted it, then added salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Once that was mixed I tasted it again. “Perfect.” I offered some to the other ladies in the room. They also all loved it, I had to fight them off to put it in the fridge.

Next came the Potato Salad. Tay had put the diced potatos into the bowl by the time I came back in. I picked up the spoon and began stirring as she put the celery in and then the eggs and the grated onion. I knew how thick this one would be which is why I chose to stir it. At my direction she then added the bacon and began adding the mayo. It was hard to stir but I knew it also would be worth it. Once it was together again I tasted it and added salt, pepper and granulated garlic. I loved garlic in things it just made everything better. I offered a taste to the other ladies and got proclaimed the official Mac and Potato Salad Maker for the family. Tay put this in the fridge in the garage next to the Mac Salad and we moved on to other things that were easier on all of us.

After several hours of cooking and chopping we were finally done _just_ before people were supposed to show up for the actual barbeque. I was helping mom clean the kitchen when she put her hands on mine and brought me into the dining room. “We need to talk Aleks.”

Those words were never ones people liked to hear. I followed her as we sat down in the dining room. She sat down and sighed. “There’s no easy way to say this Aleks.” She hung her head a little bit before looking me in the eyes. “I was a selfish bitch with my demands over your wedding. I’m not proud of how I acted, I never should have done it.”

I had a sinking feeling. “Mom, mom!” She looked at me like she just saw me again. “I wasn’t much better. I know that you just wanted everything to be perfect, that’s what I wanted too. I was also balancing trying to keep it under control _and_ playing in the playoffs. Then you just kept pushing to have things your way, I just snapped on that Skype call.”

Trina patted my arm. “Oh honey no. I was completely out of line on everything. I wasn’t think about everything you were dealing with, I was only thinking about how upset the family was going to be cause they weren’t being invited. I heard a lot about that until Troy finally stopped them all by telling them that we were happy that you two were together and that’s all that mattered.”

I saw Tay out of the corner of my eye. “You might as well come in and have your say too Tay.” She slunk in and sat down. “Go ahead.”

“I don’t have anything bad to say really, just a reminder for mom. About what _else_ you were both dealing with on top of planning the wedding.” I must have looked blankly cause she then added. “In Philly, the car accident?”

Oh! The accident and… oh, yeah. I heard Trina gasp at the reminder as it hit me. “Taylor Marie Crosby! Why would you think I needed a reminder of that horrible thing?”

She looked a bit ashamed but I stuck up for her. “Mom. She’s right we still were dealing with everything from that accident. Still dealing with the guilt he had and emotions behind them he wasn’t talking about. I wasn’t much better really but at least I found someone to talk to.”

Trina leaned over and squeezed my arm. “Honey, Sid got help too. He might have just left it too soon.” We spent the next half hour talking about everything that led up to the blow up we had. In the end Trina understood that I would accommodate her as much as I could but it was our life and we had to do what was best for us in the end.

An hour later both sides of the family were packing the house and yards, I tried finding Sid a couple times but saw that he was surrounded by some of his favorite cousins every time. Then I saw Katy hanging all over Sidney. Katy was his cousin all right, but she thought she was also his soul mate. The latter pissed me off big time. At the moment there wasn’t anything I could do about it as I was trapped between 2 Grandmothers. We had gotten emailed proofs of our wedding photos this morning, which _I_ didn’t discover until I snuck away to check my email on my phone. I was currently sharing them with Grandma Crosby and Noni Forbes.

Once I was able to get away from them Aunt Trish asked me to help her set the food out. She also asked me a few pointed questions. “So why _did_ two decide not to have your wedding where everyone could get to it?”

I sighed heavily. “How much did you hear?” She just looked at me. “I was born in Windsor and raised in Detroit. My folks worked for the Wings before they took the jobs with Mario. We had 3 weddings to attend this summer and didn’t want anyone else to have too far to travel. We also had a shit ton of things we were dealing, or trying to deal with. Between everything, having it in Windsor where we might be known as players but they wouldn’t really care, it made sense to both of us. We were able to get everything we wanted quickly.”

She was surprised. “You aren’t pregnant are you?” _Why_ did everyone go there?

I chuckled. “No Aunt Trish I’m not pregnant. We’ve taken _every_ precaution to make sure that won’t happen until _we_ are ready for it too, at least until after the next Cup. After that happens we’ll let nature decide when I step down from playing and into the Stay at home trainer spot that will be made for me.” Yeah I’d already told Ray and Mario what I wanted to do when I stopped playing. I figured it was a smart thing to do.

We got everything set out and the guys were _mostly_ done grilling their portion. I didn’t feel like eating just yet, probably because I knew the line would be horrible at first. Instead I went up to Sid’s room and lay on the bed. I didn’t have a childhood room really anymore. My folks had moved when I went to school so it got packed up and not really unpacked. I don’t know how long I lay there just reveling in the shrine-ness of the room. I heard a low chuckle come from the doorway and looked over. “You know, if you wanted to sleep in my bed you could have just stayed home.” He came in and I scooted over. There was _no_ room for anything but lying there but it felt nice to grab a few minutes of together time in the chaos that was this family get together. “You and mom good now?” I nodded as I was tucked up under his chin. “Good. Noni said you showed her some pictures.”

I pulled out my phone and showed Sid the proofs. “I like this one.” I said as we looked at a shot of the two of us, we hadn’t known the camera was taking shots so we were talking to someone and laughing. The camera had caught us frozen in time with big smiles on our faces.

We lay there cuddling in his childhood bedroom until his stomach growled. He poked at it and aloud said. “Hush you, can’t you tell that this moment is more important than food.” I giggled.

I sat up and sighed. “Come on Mr. NHL, let’s feed you before your backbone begins complaining it’s being eaten.” I pulled him groaning into a sitting position. We went out, his hands in my back pockets, and got into the now much shorter line. I leaned back into him a little bit and teased him. “Don’t pull my shorts off babe.”

He chuckled in my ear. “With your ass, not likely. Almost as bad as mine.” He squeezed my ass lightly, making me jump and squirm. We began gathering our food and I heard him gasp when he saw the salads I had made. “You didn’t.” I planted a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. “God I love you.” We both grabbed some of them as well as many other delectable things from the groaning tables and looked for a spot to sit. The tables were all taken up by everyone not that it mattered. “Edge of the pool?” He said pointing to a spot on the other side of the pool that had some waterproof cushions.

I grinned at him. “Sounds perfect.” We picked our way through the crowd to our chosen seats. Once we were there we noticed that neither of us had anything to drink. “I’ll go get them, and flatware.” I said as I noticed I didn’t have any. “If you guard the food from our darling 4 legged eating machine.” We would be taking Sam home with us tonight and the last thing I wanted was a dog with a tummy ache.

He leaned over and kissed me. “Deal. You wanna drive home or should I?” I didn’t care but if he was asking he didn’t really want to. I pulled away and went to find the coolers.

I easily found what we both we like for drinks; I stuck with pop while I got him something with a kick. I grabbed flatware as well. I passed a table that had several cousins at it as I picked my way back to Sid. That’s when I heard it. “I have no idea what he sees in her. I’m sure she’s not the long-term wife he’s going to keep. After all we all know _I’m_ a better match for him than _she_ is.” I was a bit confused overhearing only part of the conversation but I was clued in big time when Katy spoke again. “Oh Aleks, Sid shouldn’t have to sit so far away. Be a dear and tell him that I’ll make room for him here if he wants.”

I turned, my hands full with things for the two of us. “If you want us to sit here, there needs to be more room than for just Sid, or you guys could come over and sit by us and talk.” There were a couple of sniggers at the table as her slight backfired in her face. Yeah I was clued in. Katy was in need of a check up from the neck up if she thought she could ever hold Sid’s attention anymore than just during polite conversation. She was gawking at me so I continued. “Not right now? Well the offer is open to anyone. Just come on over.” I then moved on back to Sid who had been watching the encounter.

“She’s at it again isn’t she?” He said as I sat back down. I handed him his beer with a smile. “What did she say this time?”

“That she’d make room for you over there if you wanted; you, not us; just you. I opened the offer to come over here to everyone, she didn’t like that I think.” I dug into my food, now that my stomach had caught up with me and the fact that I _was_ truly hungry. Sid snorted a little bit and kept on eating himself.

“She’s always been trying to say she and I were meant for each other. I truly hope one of these days she gets that there _no_ way it’ll happen.” We ate in relative silence just enjoying the fact that we were together for a while. Then something caught his eye. “What are they doing?”

I looked over in time to see the younger generation begin running around the yard being chased by Sam. “I have no clue but that’s a bad idea, she’s a tricky one.” We laughed as we watched.

It must have caught the attention of mom and dad cause Tay was soon after trying to “catch” Sam who was trying to catch the kids. This annoyed Katy who stood up and moved towards the pool to put a stop to the obvious game. We were almost done with our food by now and I saw Sid grab a towel from the stack just in case. “You guys have _got_ to stop this right now. Someone is going to get hurt!” Katy said loudly trying to stop the runners.

The kids ignored her, but she had grabbed Sam’s attention. Sam came over and then looked over her shoulder to see Taylor sneaking up on her. So she did what any dog in that situation would do, she jumped into the arms of the nearest person, Katy. Now normally this wouldn’t have been a bad thing, it was one of the ways I’d heard that Sid and Taylor played with Sam, however Katy didn’t know about the game and went toppling over backwards into the pool.

The adults all gasped at once and stood. Sid handed me his nearly empty plate and went to the edge of the pool. Instead of doing what Katy, and most of the family by the sounds of it, expected him to do; he began calling to Sam. “Come here Sammie. That’s a good girl. Come on.” He helped her out of the pool while I unfolded the towel for him. When she was out and wrapped up, after a good shake of course, Sid picked her up and brought her over to his lap. “There’s my Sammie. Who’s my good girl? You gonna lick mama’s face? Yes, lick mama’s face. Tell her you love her, yes that’s a girl.” Yes, that’s right Sidney Crosby; the Golden Boy, was baby talking to his dog; who was licking my face with joy and a wagging tail.

I heard Katy let out a frustrated growl and climb out of the pool. She then stomped around to us and stared until we acknowledged her. I was scratching Sam to get her to stop licking me and Sid finally said something. “Do you need something Katy?”

“You got your _dog_ out of the pool before me? What kind of man are you?” Her attitude had sunk and she was now being outright catty.

Sid looked at her with those hazel eyes of his. “Well chlorine you can handle, it’s really bad for Sam’s skin. She had to get out right away or else she’d be itching something fierce and maybe break out in a rash.”

Katy scoffed at the notion until Dad came over to check on us. “She isn’t turning red is she? Check her belly.” We flipped Sam onto her back and publicly checked her belly, which we had been scratching under the towel. “Oh no, look at that. We need to get her washed up and put that ointment on her. Trina do you remember where the cone is?”

Sid gathered Sam in his arms and forestalled his dad. “I’ll go clean her up. Is it in the same spot as last time?” Dad nodded and Sid left with Sam in his arms.

Troy then turned on Katy. “Maybe you should go change at least. I know she didn’t mean to nearly drown you, she was reacting the game that’s all. Katy nearly averted a temper tantrum and stalked off.

Her brother Josh came over and sat down next to me. “That was priceless. First you shut her insult down by being nice and now you guys make sure we can all enjoy the time we have together. Cous, I think I love you.” He threw an arm over me and hugged me tightly.

I just laughed. “I get chirped by bigger, stronger, faster and _smarter_ men than she all the time. If I’m not fast and _creative_ with my comebacks, I get pretty much run over. Sammie’s going to be ok right dad?” I asked Troy who was watching Katy leave.

“Sammie will be fine. Sid will give her a quick bath to wash out the chlorine from her coat and put some cream on her belly to fight dryness. I hope _now_ Katy realizes that neither of you will take her antics sitting down.”

Hours later and the pool was open to those who wanted it. I was ready for some pool time but I saw that they were beginning clean up. I started over to mom and Sid grabbed me. “_I’ll_ go help mom, you relax and enjoy yourself.” He went over to help his mom and Taylor pulled me upstairs to change into my swimsuit.

“We _have_ to find some time to do a girls day, Aleks!” Tay said as she changed into her suit. “Maybe go up and see Brette so we can give her more of an idea on what to expect.” Oh I was smart to hook the two of them up.

“We’ll see what we can do Tay, I don’t know what we’re going to do besides hang out and get ready for the season. We haven’t really made any plans besides the ones for this week.” I pulled my tankini top on and smoothed it out. “I mean we’re having a get together for friends on Friday, which I’m not really looking forward to but I’ll deal. After that I don’t know of any plans.”

We chatted about other things as we played in the pool. Then both Sid and the folks joined us. We had a pleasant end to the evening, the 5 of us having fun in the pool. Sid and I went home late enough that he was able to drive home. We collapsed into our new bed and groaned at how comfortable it truly was now that it was on our bed frame. “Getting one for the Sewickley house too, yep yep.” Sid said as he pulled me close and we drifted off to sleep. There was a lot to do before Friday but I was confident we would get it all done.