Keep It Kasual

The week after we signed the paperwork, it was official we had a new home in Westmount. I was now looking for a moving company so we could get into the house and start making it our own. Unfortunately this was easier said than done. Alex did not want to do anything that would help me for starters.

I finally got him to play in his room for a little bit while I spoke to Westmount Moving. They were the perfect fit for us, I also found out they were the official movers for the Canadiens and the Senators which made me happier. I was able to get an appointment for today to have someone come over and look at the condo to give us an estimate on what we would need for our move and how long it was likely to take. They were thrilled that it was a local move.

I got off the phone with them just as Kris came home for lunch, fortunately I multi-task well. When I told him who I found and who _else_ they move routinely his grin said it all. “I was thinking of calling Danny and letting him know too. If the team hasn’t already.”

“Sounds good. You do t’at while I finish lunch.” He swatted me out of the kitchen to my phone.

Danny’s house phone rang a few times before it was picked up. “Briere residence how can I help you?” It was nice to hear Carson again.

“Well now that depends Carson, is it possible to speak to your dad? I found a moving company that you guys should use when you move here.” I heard him stifle a happy squeal and had to chuckle. I missed spending time with the boys this summer, but what I’ve gotten in return was immeasurable.

“Kallie? Oh man dad’s outside with the other two buttheads right now. Hold on I’ll yell at him for you.” I heard him run to the door open it and literally yell. “Hey Dad! Kallie’s on the phone for you!” He didn’t get a chance to close the door before I heard him wrestling for the phone, I was guessing with one of his brothers.

Hearing Danny take control and get the phone, he answered brightly. “Hello Kallie, what do we owe this pleasure to?” I knew by the tone that he was torturing his children.

“Well I was calling to let you know that I know who the official Movers of the Sens and Habs are. They’ll be moving us into the new house probably next week.” Two could play this game. His boys would hate this but we wouldn’t.

Danny laughed. “You know I have a meeting with the management later today, I was out playing ball hockey with the boys to see who gets to come with me and who has to stay home with your folks. Do you think your boss would mind all of us coming down instead?”

That had me laughing as I headed back to the kitchen. “I don’t know Danny, I’m not sure the boys could handle being here. I mean they’d have to put up with Alex. How are they with little ones?” I wrote out what was going on so Kris would understand. He wrote back that they were more than welcome. I blew him a kiss.

“They are good with little ones, do you think he would mind?”

I scoffed. “Please we have room, the boys would have to share a bathroom though and more than likely one of them would have to sleep on one of the couches. You’re all welcome though; even Kris says so. Besides we can show them around Montreal while you’re in your meeting.” It was then time for me to wrestle for my phone; I lost.

“Danny? Yeah, bring t’e boys wit’ you. Spend t’e night if you want. Kallie is right we ‘ave t’e room. I know she ‘as missed spending time with you, t’is would give her that chance and give you all a chance to see Montreal and maybe find a place.” He listened for a little while. “Non, Kallie won’t mind you sleeping in her room. She isn’t using it anymore.” That’s of course when he handed me back my phone.

I growled softly at him; which only gained me a wink. Danny, however, wouldn’t quite let it go. “Boys go pack for an overnight trip to Montreal.” He said briskly before turning his attention back to me. “Did I hear him right?”

Oh god, that was his dad voice. Fortunately I was mostly immune to it. “Daniel, think about what you are asking. Is this really your business or do you just want something to be angry about?” He let out a breath quickly. “Danny, his family loves me. Mine loves him and damn it so do I.”

Danny sighed again heavily. “He has a reputation mon amie, you know that right?” Kris moved me a little bit so he could go get Alex for lunch. Just that light contact made my chest ache.

“Not as big as some on the Flyers and you know that. I’ve met Max’s girlfriend though and she’s wonderful. I still reserve judgment on the ginger fucker though.” Danny chuckled. “Seriously Danny we fit so well together. Everyone one of his friends who I’ve met has said so to him.”

Danny lowered his voice so the boys wouldn’t hear him. “You _do_ make sure he spends time with his son right?” I chuckled a bit before he continued. “I don’t want him taking advantage of you Kallie, you’re too special for that.” He was obviously walking through the house as our conversation continued.

“Danny, you’ll see when you guys get here. If he wants to go out with his friends, he asks if that’s ok with me. If he’d rather have his friends come over so that they can have a chill night at the condo, he makes sure that’s ok with me too. I’ve made some friends here too which is great and not just ladies from other players either. Anyway you have to pack now and I have to have lunch and figure out dinner. Who knows we might see who else is in town… Text me when you get close and I’ll shoot you the address.” I hung up and smirked at Kris as he and Alex came into the main room.

Over lunch we made plans for a welcome informal dinner for Danny and the boys. With some phone calls we found that a couple of the guys were already in town and would love to get a chance to meet Danny before camp. So Kris and I decided to invite friends and teammates of all flavours over for a potluck dinner. We made sure that they all knew that kids were welcome. Within moments of calling Brian Gionta, Kris’ phone rang and he answered it. “Hey Armdog. No man, you can bring t’em. It’s potluck so whatever you want is good. No Creature won’t be here; Talbo will though with his girlfriend. Ok t’at sounds good, see you t’en.”

The next few hours were spent between the grocery store and me in the kitchen. An hour after I got home from the store the first of our guests arrived. Marc-Andre, Vero and Estelle came in all with multi-watt smiles on their faces. “So, why are we ‘aving a party wit’ t’e Brieres again?” Flower said as soon as they all got unwound from the gear they had. Vero and I were busy in the kitchen cooking our additions for the potluck.

“Because Danny has been a very good friend of mine for years, I used to baby sit every one of his kids when they were little. I have to know that he’s got someone to help him through the season. I was able to check on him when I was in Toronto but I’ll be busier this year and might not get a chance.” Saying my worry aloud seemed silly until I found Marc-Andre in front of me.

He looked at me, then his wife. Kris joined him at the bar and then Flower spoke. “I t’ink t’at you are a very good friend and ‘e is lucky to ‘ave you as one. For you to t’ink of welcoming him to a city you won’t even be in during t’e season, most people would not t’ink of this. You ‘ave brought current and former teammates of ‘is toget’er to make sure t’at he knows he is still important to people. I am guessing he does not know t’at you ‘ave done t’is.” I felt my ears turn red as my embarrassment of being caught grew.

Vero laughed. “We can work wit’ t’is. Kris call everyone and tell t’em to play t’is off as a planned dinner and get together. We play t’is off as you forgetting t’at we were coming over.”

I shook my head. “That won’t work, easier to just tell them all the truth. Danny has a meeting with the Habs bigwigs. I doubt this will even be a surprise if Gionta speaks with him. This is as much for the boys as it is for him. So they know that Danny has people who have his back when they can’t be here to light his day.” I sighed. “I’m being dumb aren’t I?”

“You could never be dumb Kalista.” I looked up and saw that Danny and the boys were here already. I had no idea how long they had been standing there or that Kris had even opened the door, but apparently it was long enough. “You are a thoughtful woman who insists on bringing joy to her friends. And so you know Talbo ruined t’e surprise.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out from behind the bar. Wrapping me in a hug. “Je vous remercie, je vous remercie beaucoup d'avoir pensé à ce que moi et les garçons pourrais avoir besoin de cette saison à venir. Nous ne méritons pas vraiment vous comme un amie. (Thank you, thank you very much for thinking that me and the boys might need this coming season. We really do not deserve you as a friend.)” Quickly we found us surrounded by the boys as well.

“Mama mine!” Alex made his way to my ankles and smacked them as he pronounced his second word loudly. I looked down and just shook my head.

He looked up at me with those big blue eyes of his and smiled. “Don’t try it little man. Flirting with me won’t get you out of trouble.” Every other male in the room chuckled, they all knew what he was doing and why. Alex patted my foot, his signal that he wanted up. “Je ne vais pas vous ramasser en haut. Je ne vais pas récompenser votre comportement. Crier et frapper ne sont pas agréable et je ne vous aura pas les faire. (I will not pick you up. I will not reward your behavior. Yelling and hitting is not nice and I will not have you do them.)”

Soon after arriving Danny had to go to his meeting but the boys would be here with us. Caelan was amazed that the condo was so open and in his words cool. Cameron and Carson also thought the place was great. “Dad said you were moving though, where’s that place?” They had warmed to both Marc-Andre and Kris as the 5 of them kind of bonded over whatever video game they were playing.

Kris explained where the house was and that we didn’t have anything on in it yet. The water and such were going to be turned on this week before we moved in. That’s when Flower decided he had to see the house before anyone else on the team. Kris tried to dissuade Flower but he should have known better. Soon the boys joined Flower in begging to see the house. He threw up his hands. “Nous ne pouvons pas aller jusqu'à après la compagnie de déménagement est ici depuis pour découvrir comment grand un déménagement ce sera vraiment. Cette façon les filles n'aura pas à rester derrière et attendre pour votre papa, nous pouvons tous irons ensemble à voir. Volonté qui de vous satisfaire tout? (We can not go up after the moving company has been here to see how big it will be really moving. This way the girls will not have to stay behind and wait for your dad, we can all go together to see. Will that satisfy you all?)” Cheers rose from everyone else while I just laughed quietly.

Carson soon was in the kitchen helping Vero and I get things together for the dinner we were going to have this evening. We were teaching him the basics of cooking, meaning the right ways to clean and prepare food for cooking. He was actually quite talented with a paring knife. We all were waiting for either Danny to come back or a knock at the door from the moving company. It turned out that they all got here at the same time.

Kris brought them all in and while he showed the movers what would be going and just how much we actually had, I kept the rest either busy or out of the way. That wasn’t difficult as I set up the boys to help prepare things for dinner and Kris had Alex so we could keep track of him easier.

When I could I went to check and see how the estimate was going and found them in Alex’s room, trying to figure out a schedule so that we wouldn’t have to interrupt Alex’s nap time to get this done. I sighed. “Gentlemen, I know where the portable crib is, if it comes to that Alex _has slept in it before for his nap. I’ll just make sure his favorite items are handy and not worry about anything else.” The moving company man looked relieved. “So with that taken care of, how long do you think it’ll take? This little guy can sleep through anything once he’s down.”

The man doing our estimate smiled. “This will be an all day affair but if you’re willing to help by boxing some things before we get here it will go more smoothly. By that I mean the things you don’t want us handling. I noticed that one room was mostly packed up already that will give us a huge head start.” We wandered back into the living room.

I couldn’t help but blush as we did though. “Yeah that stuff is mine, I moved in not too long ago. I haven’t really unpacked too much. We can make sure electronics and such are as ready to go as we can get them before you guys get here.” Kris was nodding even though I was sure I’d be doing most of the packing. We settled on a time and he went on his way. By now others began to arrive and the party was on.