Keep It Kasual

We took both cars over to the condo. I would be leaving the one I had been driving here. As we got to the place I noticed another car outside. Getting out of my car and grabbing my bag, I headed to the front door. “Mr. Richard.” I called; he turned and then smiled.

“I came to see ‘ow things were progressing.” He said as I unlocked the door, punched in the alarm code and went inside. It wasn’t until we were inside that he noticed Kris. “Mr. Letang, what a surprise.”

Kris just smiled. I dashed over to my computer and began pulling up the pics I had taken. “Sir, would you like to see these?” Mr. Richard came over and sat down. I moved the computer to where he could see it easily and began letting him look through the shots I had taken. “I got through the entire list and then some. In fact I was going to send these to you tonight.”

As he looked through the shots, Mr. Richard looked amazed. “This is _more_ than what we thoug’t you would do. You must have spend days walking around taking pictures to get some of t’ese.” He kept scrolling, looking at everything I had taken and worked on.

Kris was nosing around carefully. I had a few pics of my family and friends I never went anywhere without. He had one in his hands of my brothers and myself. Was I keeping tabs on him, well kind of.

“Ms. Brassard you have a fantastic eye. You have managed to capture the fun side of the city from a unique angle. T’is is more than we anticipated.” I think he was gushing but I couldn’t really tell.

He was now to the shot I had taken on Mont Royale. He was speaking half to himself until he found one where I had the Old Town laid out before me in an overview. He gasped. “C'est Incroyable! C'est ce que nous voulions pour le couvercle du guide et vous capturé parfaitement! (This is incredible! This is what we wanted for the cover of the guide and you captured perfectly!)”

That _did_ have me blushing. I was, to my knowledge, the only non-Montrealer to have gotten hired for this guide. For _me_ to have the cover would be a serious coup. “It was a gorgeous day and the sunlight hitting the Old Town was perfect, I couldn’t resist it. It wasn’t until I loaded it on the computer that I saw how good it really was. I haven’t even touched that one at all. Some of the others I have cleaned up for various reasons.”

“Non, ils sont parfaits. Si vous ne m'avez pas dit que vous aviez nettoyé certains d'entre eux jusqu'à jamais je n'aurais connu. (No, they are perfect. If you do not tell me that you have cleaned up some of them I would never have known.)” He said waving a hand in my direction. "Serait-il possible que je le prend avec moi aujourd'hui? Si tu as fini de prendre des photos, bien sûr. (Is it possible that I take with me today? If you have finished taking pictures, of course.)"

I chuckled. “If you have a flash drive I can load everything, even the originals onto it and then get ready to leave.” Mr. Richard looked at me oddly. “Kris has asked me to help care for his son which would be easier to do if I were there. I don’t feel right being here if I’m done with everything that I was asked to do. Call it professionalism.” I smiled and he nodded.

“I understand. Do not give up your photography; you are an artist wit’ t’e camera.” He slid over a flash drive and I quickly loaded everything onto it. After I gave it back, he smiled at me. “I shall show these to the rest of the company and your remaining payment will be in your account tomorrow.” Turning to Kris he spoke again. “Prenez soin d'elle, si elle est à moitié aussi bon avec votre fils comme elle est avec un appareil photo. Vous êtes à la fois chanceux. (Take care of her, if she is half as good with your son as she is with a camera. You're both lucky.)”

I walked him out and assured him I would drop the keys off where I had picked them up. Coming back into the living room I apologized. “Sorry I didn’t expect him to be here.”

“No problem, it saves you from ‘aving to email the pictures. He seemed really ‘appy with them.” Kris replied as he looked around for where to start. “What do we need to pack up and move?” I kept the place pretty tidy, I was used to a lot less space.

I looked and saw a few things scattered around. “Mostly I just have clothes and some food. I have some pictures I take everywhere with me too. I didn’t come here with a lot.” I started putting my pictures on the table next to my computer.

He nodded and put the pic of my brothers and I on the table. “Do you want to go pack your clothes, I can pack up what food you ‘ave.”

“That sounds good. There should be some plastic bags in the kitchen for it.” I went upstairs and quickly packed my clean clothes into my suitcase. I grabbed the bag of dirty ones and threw it into the bag as well. I went into the bathroom and began collecting my toiletries. It took me all of about 10 minutes to triple check I had gotten everything upstairs and come back down.

I found Kris was carefully packing my computer and picture frames. I set my bag by the door, next to the bags of food he’d already packed. I double checked that everything had been gotten in the kitchen and around downstairs while he finished packing my electronics. I hadn’t brought a big camera kit with me and even that was already at Kris’ place. “I think we’re done.”

There was a knock at the door, which I answered quickly. It was Marc-Andre, Vero and Estelle. “ ‘Ello!” I moved so they could come in.

Once in the living room Vero took over. “I called Kris to see if ‘e knew w’at you were doing today and ‘e said you were moving into ‘is place. When I asked why, he said t’at you were going to ‘elp ‘im care for Alex. I ‘ope that t’is means we will see you in Pittsburgh too.” I had a feeling she already knew the answer to that but I nodded anyway. “Très bien! W’at do we ‘ave to do ‘ere to finish up?”

Both Kris and I laughed. “It isn’t here that I’ll need a lot of help. It’s getting my stuff from Toronto, dropping my couch at my folks’ place in Gatineau and getting back here. Well not so much the last two, I’m sure Benj and Frankie would help with that.”

Marc looked over at Kris and then at me. “ ‘ow can we help wit’ t’at?”

Kris smirked. “If we can get some of the guys to help pack and load up on either end it will go faster. If you don’ wan’ to go on a road trip you can ‘elp on t’is end.” It sounded like a challenge to me.

Marc scoffed. “I do no’ mind going on a road trip if it means we will ‘ave Kalista as part of t’e family sooner.” Vero just shook her head.

“I have an idea, why don’t we go drop the keys off and go back to your place Kris. Then we can plan the trip, how many guys we might be able to ask for help and how long. My place is _under_ 600 square feet. I have a bedroom set, TV and stand, couch and my table and that’s about it for furniture that I want or need to move. I have some small appliances that I want but most everything else in the kitchen, like my dishes, aren’t a big deal to me. I know Paula and Adam will come help, bringing Ava with them. Who knows they might be organizing an packing party so that all I have to do is load things up and say see you later.” I was going to miss Toronto, but that’s how life went at times. The opportunity I had now was one I couldn’t pass by. My inner mommy wouldn’t let me.

Once we all were back at Kris’ place we found that Alex was still asleep which was probably a good thing. We let Estelle out of her car seat to have some time to be oohed and ahhed over by Christiane and Michel. I put the food we’d brought away and then grabbed my laptop. “If we’re going to plan this, let’s do so right.” I opened up Chrome and fired up the correct website and found my floor plan. “This is how big my place is.”

I looked up and saw 3 gaping people. “T’ere is _no_ way you live t’ere. It’s so small!” I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Not everyone makes as much as you do. And quite honestly I like to spend a lot of time outside so the size never bothered me, easy to keep clean even with the hideous carpeting. It also forced me to realize what I _really_ needed to live. Hell at one point last summer I had all 3 of my brothers over for a week. Then it felt small but when it was just me, it wasn’t that small.” I had a lot of good times in that apartment. I hated to give it up and yet I didn’t.

I grabbed my phone and dialed Paula. “Hey sexy lady!” She said as she answered, which made everyone on my end look at me oddly.

“Hey mama llama. So, tell me true, how much of a packing party have you already planned?” The phone went dead silent which told me what I needed to know. “So how much packing am I going to be allowed to do?”

I heard Adam chuckling, which made me sigh. “A better thing to do is to just tell her what you want to keep and what goes where. She’s got everyone ready to help however it’s needed. The one thing we all agree on is that we want to meet the people you’re abandoning us for.”

Marc-Andre fell off of the couch he started laughing so hard, that made the rest of us start laughing. When I got a chance, I answered Adam. “You know how Mom always was working and I’d have to take care of the boys when we were younger?” I could hear him nodding on the phone. “My new job is _very_ similar, just a few steps up from where Frankie is now.”

Adam went non-vocal on me for a brief minute. “Frankie is about to go pro. There aren’t _that_ many levels to Pro hockey Kals.” Then he jumped to the wrong conclusion. “Holy shit you’re working for a Hab!”

Now Kris fell off the couch laughing. I sighed I cocked an ear towards the back rooms, still silent. “Right Conference, wrong Division. Let’s just say orange will _never_ be a part of my wardrobe now.”

Adam chuckled. “This from the woman who said the only place orange is lovely is on the trees.” Then the right answer must have hit him. “Kals, there aren’t that many guys that don’t have ladies in their lives. Are you going to be helping Danny?”

Both Marc and Kris looked at the phone sharply and I just sighed. “No Adam, Danny is on his own and besides I already gave you a _huge hint. God Frankie would have gotten this why can’t you?!”

Paula must have found her wits and figured out who I was working with as she found her voice. “You better damned well bring him, the little man and whoever else wants to come meet those of us who have known you the last few years.” I had to smile. Paula was someone who, like her husband, had always stood by me, for her to make this demand made me heart warm.

Kris by now had gotten himself under control. He added his own 2 bits into the conversation. “There are several of us who want to meet people who can give us all the dirt on Kalista.”

Vero shook her head while Marc-Andre straightened up. “T’ere’s dirt? Oui we wan’ to know t’is.” She smacked him while _I_ shook my head.

The conversation eventually got down to brass tacks. It turned out that Paula had checked how much stuff I had and had found that the local U-haul had a trailer big enough for most of it. She then asked for my permission to go in and pack up my stuff. She’d seen literally everything in my place so I freely gave it. “Good then give us 2 days and then you can come down and load it all up. Spend a day or two and then leave.”

Vero was now smiling. “I would love to get t’e chance to spend a day or two in Toronto. I do no’ know w’ere might be good to take t’e babies t’ough.”

“That’s easy. There are a lot of parks. Heck we could even take them to the Hall of Fame. There’s a lot to do in there.” Trust Paula to bring up the Hall of Fame, she loved going there.

Vero grinned. “T’is is going to sound bad, but I ‘ave _never_ been to the Hall of Fame.” I heard Paula gasp but as I sat here it made sense. “You _do know who I am married to non? He swears ‘e will no’ go in t’ere until ‘e is inducted.” Marc-Andre nodded once and with feeling, which made me giggle.

Paula snorted. “_He_ can stay away then, we’ll go without him. Ava loves going there.” I mouthed ‘her 2 year old’ when the quizzical looks came my way. “Of course we’ll have to take shots after we look at the exhibits.”

I sighed heavily. “Can we do without the cursing when it doesn’t go in this time?”

“I think we can do that, after all Adam won’t be with us.” I heard him cry out with an objection, which just made me laugh. “Will we have enough hands to hold all the kids?”

“Pfft,” I said scoffing at her idea. “This is what strollers are for. So we’ll see you in a couple days. Email and text me if you have questions and remember that the red couch by my camera gear is yours. I’m gonna call mom and see if someone can come help us load in exchange for my couch for their downstairs.” Goodbyes were said and I let out a sigh as I leaned back into the couch.

“So you will be taking Alex, Estelle and Ava to the Hall of Fame. How many times ‘ave you been t’ere before?” Kris asked carefully.

I smiled. “I’ve been once, there’s tons to see. It’s Paula’s go to site for visiting friends and family, fortunately all of her friends and family love hockey and going to there. Before you even ask the Danny that Adam was talking about is indeed Danny Briere. He lives down the street from my folks in the summers. Normally I would go up and take photos of his boys for him to carry while on the road the next season.”

“Have you ever met Giroux?” There was venom in the question. I shook my head.

“No, the boys tried to convince me he was a great guy but… god no. I was running with Dom one morning and ran into Danny and the clown…” I could see his face, but I couldn’t recall the name. “The one that keeps falling at least once a game.”

Marc cackled! “Hartnell! ‘e _is a clown.”

“That’s him!” I said quickly. “Anyway Dom and I were out and so were they. I had to eventually put Dom between me and him, he kept hitting on me. Fortunately he doesn’t speak a lot of French and especially not the short hand Dom uses.” I shuddered. “If I’m not around him again it’ll still be too soon.”

Marc draped an arm across my shoulders and grinned, it was like another light had gone on. “Don’ worry we will keep you safe from t’e Flyers, well most of t’em. Max is harmless, Bruno too. T’e rest, stick close to Max and Bruno, t’ey will keep you safe from t’ere teammates. We will make sure t’ey understand.”

Before we really could do anything more, there was a cry from the backroom. Kris got up before I could. “No no, if you’re willing to do t’e mornings I will do my best to ‘elp the rest of t’e day.” He padded back to get Alex up. Soon enough Vero, Christiane and I were making dinner for everyone. Tomorrow my real work would begin.