Just My Luck

Kylie laughed at her two year old niece as she pushed her on the baby swing set. Her older sister, Victoria, was visiting for the day since they had only lived half an hour away from Chicago in Oak Park. The eldest sister sat on a nearby bench, browsing through a gossip magazine that she had bought while her younger sister played with her daughter.

“So how are you holding up?” Victoria wondered, watching as her sister continued to push the two year old on the swing.

She gave her sister a shrug as her sunglasses sat on the top of her head. “Okay, I guess. I’m not crying in my sleep anymore but I’ve been pretty lonely since everyone is visiting home.”

“I’m glad that you’re doing better,” Victoria said with a caring smile, “between you and Hailey you guys kept me up all night long.”

Kylie laughed, “You’re a mom now. Get used to it.”

Victoria rolled her eyes as she continued to browse through her magazine. Hailey loved her aunt Kylie to death, so Victoria was going to take advantage of what little free time she had left before she and Hailey had to return home later that night. Hailey giggled loudly as Kylie began making funny faces to entertain the small child. She stopped what she was doing when she had felt something cold and wet touch the tip of her toes.

“Doggie!” Hailey pointed down at the dog with a smile so big, that it showed all of her teeth.

The dog seemed familiar to Kylie. She crouched down to the ground to look at the dog’s collar and snickered when she realized whose dog it was. “Hi there, Shooter,” she said, petting his head. “Where’s your dad at? You’re a slow poke, so you couldn’t have wondered off far.”

Victoria took Hailey out of the swing set and watched as she went to go and play with Shooter. He was an old dog, so he wasn’t as playful as she thought he would be. Picking up Shooter’s leash, Kylie looked around the park as she heard Hailey giggle when Shooter licked her face.

“How about we go look for his owner and then I’ll buy you some ice cream?” Kylie questioned her niece. Of course the two year old quickly agreed once she had learned she was getting a little treat. “Come on, Shooter.”

They had to take their time walking with Shooter since he was such an old dog. Despite his age, he still loved being outside, running as much as he could in the park which was why Patrick still bought his dog out.

“Shooter, there you are!” Patrick shouted from a distance. He quickly jogged over and squatted down to scratch the back of his head. “I can’t turn my back on you for one second, can I?”

Kylie handed the leash over to Patrick after he stood back up from the ground. “He’s a trouble maker just like you.”

Feeling disgusted, Victoria rolled her eyes. “Hailey and I will meet you by the slide when you’re done.”

Patrick bit the inside of his lower lip to prevent himself from saying anything smart to her. “Nice seeing you too, Victoria,” he said, giving her a little wave. Oh how Victoria wished they weren’t in a park full of children. She would have loved to say a few things to him. When Patrick had turned back around, Kylie had a scowl on her face as she shook her head. “What?” He asked innocently, “It’s not my fault he ran away. I got distracted by a few fans and I thought I tied him tight enough to the bench.”

“I’m not talking about Shooter. I’m talking about Victoria. Please don’t start with her,” she asked politely.

He gave her a little sigh, looking down at her sadly. “I wasn’t trying to,” he said lowly. “But it’s nice seeing you again.”

“It’s nice seeing you too,” she said honestly. “How’s Carrie doing?”

“Carrie is, Carrie,” he shrugged. “She’s still in Thunder Bay. She’s not coming back till the end of the summer.”

She gave him a little nod, not knowing what else to do. “That’s good. How are your parents doing? I didn’t even get a chance to ask how they were the last time I saw you.”

“Missing you like hell,” he confessed with a chuckle. “My mom was really disappointed that you didn’t get a chance to help her in the garden this summer.”

Kylie managed to laugh along with him. “I am the definition of perfection after all,” she joked. She looked over by the slide to see what her sister was up to while Patrick looked at her with a smile. She had no idea that he had completely agreed with her statement. “Well, I’m going to get going. I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Sure,” he hid his sad tone a lot better than he thought. Kylie crouched down and gave Shooter a kiss on his head before walking away. “Wait,” he quickly grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.

Sighing quietly, she tugged her wrist out of his grip. “What is it, Patrick?”

“Do you want to grab some dinner sometime soon?” He questioned, watching her fidget. “I mean, you can bring someone if you’ll feel more comfortable that you’re not alone with me.”

She stood there and awkwardly played with her hands. “I don’t know. Do you think that’s such a good idea? I mean, would Carrie mind?”

He had cheated on her with Carrie, and she was still making sure she would be alright with him. It just showed him how mature she was, despite everything he had done to her. That only made him feel even guiltier for all the pain and trouble he had caused.

“Trust me, she’ll be okay with it,” Patrick said, making sure he had a tight grip on Shooter’s leash. He didn’t need his dog running off while he was trying to make things up to Kylie. “Just please think about it. You can pick the time and place for all I care.”

“I’ll think about it. I’ll call you later this week or something.”

He felt a triumphant smile on his lips as she only stared up at him. He knew things must feel uncomfortable for her because they were uncomfortable for him as well, but he felt the need to fix things with her. He told himself over and over again that he never deserved her forgiveness but that didn’t mean he would stop trying to achieve it. He quickly thanked her for her help with Shooter before she reminded him to keep his phone nearby in case she had called.

Walking away, she could feel her palms sweat. She had no idea how she was going to deal with the rest of the week, knowing that Patrick would be waiting for a call to see if they could meet up or not. Victoria quickly grabbed Hailey and her diaper bag and chased after her sister who walked right passed them. Once they had caught up, Victoria could tell that something had happened between Kylie and Patrick. Wanting to shrug it off, Kylie picked up her niece and said that they were on their way to get ice cream like she had promised.

“So what did he want?” Victoria asked in a hushed tone, quickly making sure Hailey wasn’t making a mess with her ice cream.

Kylie glanced over at her sister as she licked her ice cream that sat on top of a cone. “He wants to have dinner with me.”

“Is he out of his freakin’ mind?” Victoria ridiculed softly, making sure Hailey didn’t hear a word of it. “Why on Earth would he want anything to do with you?”

“Gee, thanks a lot Tori. That means a lot coming from you,” Kylie snickered.

Victoria rolled her eyes dramatically, a trait that both girls learned from their mother. “Be quiet, you know what I mean,” she playfully shoved her younger sister. “Look, I liked Pat, I really did. Tim loved him too,” she said, referring to her husband. “But with him cheating on you, it showed who he really was. I understand that you’re still in love with him but if you’re trying to get over him, you’re not doing a good job of it.”

“I know,” Kylie mumbled. “It’s just so hard. I’m still good friends with some of his teammates so it’s not like he’s going away. He and I talked a few times after the break up and it sounds like he still cares about me, you know? I’m just confused.”

“You’re acting like a love struck teenager,” Victoria frowned. “You know I’ll support whichever decision you make, but you need to make sure you’re making the right one. Just because he seems all romantic now, doesn’t mean that he’ll be that way in the end.”

Kylie knew she was acting childish, but Patrick made her that way. Just by looking at Patrick, one would think he was a mature man, but Kylie knew that was far from the truth. He was the biggest man child that she knew and it was actually one of the reasons why she loved him so much.

“I’m just afraid of who’s going to get hurt in the end,” Kylie admitted. “I don’t know if I can handle it if I’m the one getting hurt again.”

“And what if the w-h-o-r-e is the one who gets hurt in the end?” Victoria always made sure she spelled out any bad words while in front of her daughter. “I’m not saying get together with him just to steal him away, but how awesome would it be if you stole him back and she went back to which ever Canadian moose town she came from?”

Kylie giggled quietly, “I don’t know, Tori.”

“I know you miss him a lot,” Victoria said in a more serious tone. “I don’t know what I’d do if Tim cheated on me. It takes some serious balls to leave him like you did. I know a lot of women who would’ve stayed because they’re afraid that they’re not going to find anyone else to love them.”

Kylie’s eyes shifted to the ground as she leaned forward on her elbows, resting her head on her hand as it was balled into a fist. “Honestly, I think if I was married to him I would have stayed.”

“You don’t deserve that though. Do you know how much I admire you for doing what you did?” Victoria smiled, grabbing onto Kylie’s arm. She tugged it slightly so her younger sister would turn and face her. “You are seriously the bravest woman I know. You are the one person that isn’t afraid to put him in his place and he needs that. He can’t be the man who Carrie wants him to be because he’s still in love with you.”

“And how do you know that?” Kylie found herself crying in the middle of the ice cream shop, which was the last thing she wanted. Victoria handed her a tissue as Hailey climbed into her lap.

“Please, a blind person can even tell that he still loves you,” Victoria rolled her eyes. “I know he cheated, but he would try to work things out if he didn’t love you.”

Hailey reached her arms out in Kylie’s direction, silently telling her aunt that she wanted to be held by her. Kylie gave her a sad smile as she lifted the two year old out of her mother’s arms. The young girl snuggled into her arms, making Kylie smile and kiss the top of her head.

“I liked it better when you hated him,” Kylie said with a laugh.

“Oh I still hate him,” Victoria said without a doubt. “I just want you to know that I support you either way. But If I could have things my way, both of his arms and legs would be broken and by the time he’s all better he’d be too old to play hockey anymore.”


“Carrie, you know that I can’t go back to Thunder Bay. I would if I could but the city hasn’t sent anyone yet to fix the pipe on my street,” Patrick sighed into his phone as he sat at the foot of his bed. “I’m not even at home I’ve been staying at a hotel.”

“I just don’t understand why you have to be there,” Carrie whined. “I mean, the pipes are outside the house, aren’t they?”

Patrick rolled his eyes. “They are but they eventually have to dig up the basement and I have to let them in the house. I don’t know when they’re going to do that but I have to be here just in case. I don’t want to just give them the key because I don’t want strangers in the house while I’m not there.”

“I know, I understand,” she sighed. “I just miss you a lot, that’s all. We’ve been so busy lately we barley have time to talk anymore.”

He was actually very thankful that they had been spending time apart together. The alone time was giving him a lot of peace and quiet to just sit and think to himself. As much as he cared for Carrie, he didn’t get a lot of quiet while she was around. She always had something to say and it drove him crazy sometimes.

“Okay, well I have to go. I’m going shopping with my sister. Call me later tonight?”

“Sure.”

She said happily, “Bye baby, I love you.”

“Bye babe.”

Patrick quickly hug up his phone and tossed it over his shoulder as he laid back into his bed. The phone hit the headboard before bouncing onto his pillow, but he didn’t care if his phone was damaged or not. He secretly hoped it was to have an excuse to not talk on the phone anymore, even though he was still waiting for Kylie’s call. He prayed to God that she would give him a call.

It had been a week since he had ran into her at the park, making him Shooter for randomly running off the way he did. The fast few times he had seen her they were able to have a civil conversation and it made him happy. He knew he had Carrie, but their relationship hasn’t been going well ever since they had first arrived to Thunder Bay together.

He felt like karma was biting him in the ass. He always thought it was silly how Kylie believed in karma, but seeing how his life was unfolding in the past few weeks he started to believe it himself. The rush he had with Carrie in the beginning of their relationship was now long gone and he didn’t know why he was still with her. He felt sorry for her, sorry that she had to stoop so low that she had to steal him from someone else, but he knew he wasn’t any better.

His cell phone rang again, making him groan loudly in frustration. He reached for his phone and prayed it was Adam Burish, letting him know that he was ready to go out to dinner. His lips curled into a smile when he saw Kylie’s name and picture pop up on the screen. He honestly thought he’d never see her name flash on his phone again.

Patrick made sure he calmed himself down, making sure he didn’t sound too eager. “Hello?”

“Hi Patrick, its Kylie. Are you busy tonight?” Hearing her say his name put an even bigger smile on his face.

He sat up from the bed and looked down at his watch, knowing that he was supposed to meet up with Adam soon. “I’m actually meeting up with Burish tonight for dinner.”

“Okay, well maybe another time then.”

“How about you join us? You always have a good time with Adam anyway,” he suggested, hoping that she would agree to his gesture. “You can still pick out the place if you want.”

She let out a small chuckle, although he didn’t know what was so funny. Maybe she was laughing at his desperation. That had to be it. “How about we go to that pub that we always go to when Adam’s in town? Say, seven o’clock?”

“That sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”

Kylie was the first one to hang up the phone. Looking back down at his watch, he realized he had 45 minutes to change, pick Adam up, and then head over to the pub. He was glad that he showered moments before he had his phone call with Carrie, so that was one less thing he had to worry about. After getting dressed, he slicked his wet hair back into a baseball cap and headed out of his hotel room to go and pick Adam up.

“Why do you look like you’re about to shit in your pants?” Adam laughed.

“We’re having dinner with Kylie,” was all Patrick had said.

The ride over to the pub was quiet. Adam wanted to ask so many questions but he chose to not press on anything until Patrick felt like talking. He felt anxious and wanted to explain everything but he was afraid to talk. He felt like he was going to throw up every time he opened his mouth to say something. He was so grateful that Carrie was back in Thunder Bay, or else he wouldn’t be able to meet up with Kylie for dinner.

Patrick followed Adam into the pub with his head hung low. Adam spotted Kylie sitting in the back of the pub and had to drag Patrick over, who wanted to leave as soon as he saw her sitting there. The idea of having dinner with her suddenly seemed like such a bad idea. He cheated on her with Carrie, and was now going being Carrie’s back and having dinner with his ex-fiancé. Patrick then knew he was going straight to Hell.

“Kylie!” Adam said with a big smile as his arms were held out for a hug. “How’s it going?”

She wrapped her arms around his body as Patrick sat in the booth, knowing that he wasn’t going to get a greeting like that. He felt like he was the awkward third wheel on a date, but he knew that was his own fault since he wasn’t making an effort to take part in the conversation. While they waited for their food, Adam excused himself to go and use the restroom.

“You’re pretty quiet tonight,” she noticed, “is everything okay?”

He nodded his head as he played with his beer bottle. “I’m just really glad I’m with you right now.”