Master of Timing

A magazine flew at her face, landing on top of her hands as she typed away into a patient’s file on the computer. It was open to a page displaying men’s watches. Sam was pouting from where he rested his head on his arms on the reception desk. “Help.”

Lyndsey and Jackie laughed at the pathetic look on his face. “Little late to be buying Christmas presents, isn’t it Michaels?” He glared at the older nurse.

“Well, if he would make up his fucking mind about what kind of style he’d like, I would’ve already got it,” He hissed, pointing to a high end Rolex. “I wanted to get him something like that, only not as…”

“Pretentious?” Lyndsey offered, shaking her head at the design. Who needs three mini dials on a watch face? It looked like it would’ve been bigger than her hand. “No Rolex’s. They’re for golfers.” And hockey players that pretend they can play golf, she thought to herself. Sidney’s face came to mind. And she had been doing so well to not think of him tonight, too.

“Ugh, don’t get me started on golf.” Sam rolled his eyes, moving behind the desk and flopping his body down onto a chair. It was a slow night in the ER. They were in the middle of a blizzard though, so Lyndsey hoped that everyone in the area had decided to stay indoors and away from their cars. “He has some business trip thing in Florida coming up and he wants me to go. And it’s at a golf resort and I was like ‘uh, no. I’m not one of those doctors’, but I’m pretty sure he ignored me. Like, let’s go talk shop over 18 holes and compare how much money we all have and how fantastic our lives are and oh look we’re in the 1% and blah, blah fucking blah. Shoot me now.”

Every now and again, Sam would let his inner gay monologue come out. It wasn’t that he tried to hide the fact that he was, he just didn’t flaunt how much he loved men when he was at work. If people asked, it was fine, but he wasn’t about to tattoo ‘yeah I’m fabulous’ across his forehead anytime soon. Some days he could actually pass for a straight guy. Lyndsey was impressed by the number of women that seemed to be in love with him. And disappointed that their gaydars were just so far off. Honestly? In this day and age and people still couldn’t tell if someone was gay or not? Maybe she just had a knack for knowing these things.

“So, did you apply for leave?’

He threw a pen at her, which she was ready for and blocked with the magazine. “Fuck no. I’d rather scalpel my eyes out.” A sufficiently gay eye roll followed that statement, just to emphasise his point. “Help me!”

She frowned at the pictures. “I don’t know! Dylan didn’t really strike me as a ‘fancy watch’ type of guy.” She had met him last year at the work Christmas party but hadn’t seen him since. He and Sam had been on a few vacations together, but nothing for longer than a week and he didn’t usually bring up his personal life at work. For a while she thought they’d actually broken up. Turns out they had, but for some reason unknown to her, found their way to each other.

“He’s not,” Sam grumbled. “But he made a point of wanting something nice that he could wear out on New Years Eve and to that business thing.”

“It doesn’t have to be a watch.”

“I’m not buying him a tie, Lyndsey. That’s what his mother is supposed to do.” She snorted at his face and handed the magazine back.

“Cufflinks, a new wallet, get a new briefcase for him that’s monogrammed with his initials, book a room at the Hilton in the city for a weekend. I don’t know why you’re asking me.”

Jackie decided then that it was time to pipe up. “Yeah, why are you asking the eternally single? She’s-hey! Don’t throw things, it’s not polite.”

“Yeah, Lyndsey.”

“What?” She exclaimed, pointing at the doctor to her left. “He just hurled a magazine and a pen at me.”

“Well, he started it and now I’m finishing it.” Jackie seemed satisfied with her answer.

“Wow,” Sam nodded. “Okay, Mom.”

He received a pointed finger back. “Watch it. I actually am old enough to be your mother.” He rolled his eyes and turned back to Lyndsey.

“So. What’s the deal with…” He wiggled his eyebrows and Lyndsey blushed, turning back to her paperwork. “Don’t try and weasel your way out of this.”

“Yeah, what’s been going on with you two?”

She groaned, trying to ignore the both of them, but to no avail. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to tell them that they were friends now, she just didn’t know how to explain it. “I don’t know…It’s complicated.”

“Duh,” They both agreed.

“It’s Sidney Crosby.”

“Would you keep it down?” Lyndsey stressed, looking at Jackie like she had two heads.

“Oh please,” she pushed up on the arm rests of her chair to look out into the vacant ER, “No one’s listening.”

Sam tapped her nose. “That’s who was on that call the other week, yeah?” He already knew the answer, knew before he told Lyndsey to move to the locker room two weeks ago when he found her in the cafeteria, so she didn’t know why he brought up that particular conversation. Everything had sort of gone back to the way it was before in the last couple of weeks, but some days it still felt… stilted.

“I… I have no idea what’s- he’s who he is, you know? And I’m here and it’s… it’s just weird,” She finished lamely, shrugging her shoulders and moving onto the next file. She didn’t see the look Sam and Jackie shared behind her back, but she knew that they did it. “And before either of you say anything; no I’m not in love with him, I’m not quitting here and moving to Pittsburgh, and I’m not about to fly out and surprise him for Christmas.”

“Because he’s back home, right?” Sam and Jackie smirked.

“Yeah, he flew up yesterday.” It was too late before she realised what she’d said. There was no backing out of it now. She had just proved that she knew his schedule for the holidays, which meant that neither of them were going to leave her alone until she blushed so hard her skin caught on fire and she disappeared into the floor, or Sidney Crosby walked through the doors to the ER.

She wasn’t betting on the latter.

“Lyndsey and Sidney sitting in a tree,” Sam sang quietly behind her, breaking off in laughter as she stood up, taking the files she had entered and hitting him across the shoulder with it. “What? Hey, I approve,” He said defiantly, crossing his arms and leaning back to get comfortable.

“Everyone would approve,” Jackie pointed out.

“You guys suck,” Came Lyndsey’s reply as she moved to the filing room. The other two just burst out laughing.



“How’s the bed?” His Dad asked as the two of them set the table for breakfast. He had flown home a couple of days before the team played their last game coming up to the Christmas break, seeing as it was against LA and he didn’t fly for the away games. It had felt good to just get some family time, he hadn’t seen either of his parents since they first flew out in the beginning of October when he came home from Edmonton. He missed them.

“Shit,” He laughed. “I’m going to buy a new one for when I’m here.”

Troy nodded, handing over the cutlery. “I’m glad you decided to stay with us the whole time. Mom’s been worried.”

He knew that. He could hear it every time he spoke to her on the phone. He told the both of them that he didn’t want to Skype at first, at least until all the swelling on his jaw had gone down and he didn’t resemble a chipmunk anymore. His excuse was that the screen hurt his eyes (“Remember no TV, Mom? Same concept.”) but really it was because he knew how much it upset his mother to see him looking the way he did.

No parent really accepted how bad the injuries could be in hockey, even if they supported their sons to the end of the earth so that they’d have their chance to play it forever.

“Morning’,” Taylor said as she entered the dining room. She leant up to kiss their Dad on the cheek and turned to her brother. “Are you still completely not allowed on the ice?”

He set the knife and fork down on his placemat setting and rested on the back of the chair. “Why?”

She shrugged, looking out the window. “Dad and I checked the pond yesterday, I was thinking a little one on one.” She grinned the Crosby grin at him. “For old time’s sake.”

“Taylor,” Troy's voice carried that parental warning tone. Sid waved him off and pointed a finger at his sister.

“You hook me, Mario will kill you.”

She shrugged. “So don’t get in my way.” He grinned.

He took a deep breath, his eyes squinting against the glare coming off the ice covered pond set back a little from their parents house. The local schools hadn’t been let out for break yet, so Sid was happy that he and Taylor had it to themselves for as long as they wanted. Not that he would’ve minded kids being out there, he usually stopped to play street hockey with a few of the locals when he was home anyway. Cole Harbour was proud to have him as their favourite son, but most of the town still treated him like a regular. He was going to be grateful for that for the rest of his life.

Taylor was still tying her skates, so he picked up his stick and stepped out onto the ice, the unique sound of the pond beneath his feet so different to the arena. He missed it. Pond hockey was his favourite type to play, he thought it was always going to be. The nets had been replaced recently, but he found that the cages were still the same from last year, one of them having a pretty large dent where Sid had skated into it and hit it with his blade when he came home for Christmas last year. He hadn’t meant to wipe out as badly as he did, but the kids laughed, so he wasn’t too fussed.

He’d made a couple of laps by the time his sister joined him, softly hip checking as she stopped at centre ice, throwing a puck down. He grinned at each other and he pushed her back, pulling the puck away and pivoting, heading towards his goal.

He never tried to play properly when it was just the two of them. Firstly, he was in the NHL. One of the best in the NHL, although he’d never say that out loud. His speed and skill didn’t match Taylor’s. Second, she was a goalie. Whenever she wanted to test her reflexes he was more than happy to give it his all in a slap shot, but he was more carefree when it was just the two of them playing. He knew she hated that he played at 50 percent, but he didn’t care. It was just fun to play hockey for what it was, not to win.

“Ha!” She quipped, swiping the puck from in-between his blades and pushing off down the ice, towards her own goal. He laughed, the sound echoing over the empty pond as he tried to catch up, trying to remember for chippy ice so he didn’t fall unexpectedly. He had been feeling better since the MRI (only a few waves of nausea, no actual vomiting), with just an odd headache here and there and he was anxious to bring on the New Year. He had another scan due the first week of January and he prayed to whatever was watching over him that the abnormalities from the last scan had cleared up.

“Nice,” He praised her goal, fist bumping her glove as they moved the puck back down to centre ice to reset. “First to 10?”

She bent down, ready for the face-off. “You’re on, Captain.”



“Hey,” She heard her Mom call out as she closed the front door behind her. The blizzard had eased up as the morning shift dragged on, but it was still snowing heavily by the time she had clocked off. She shook the snow from the hair and hung up her coat, slipping off her boots at the door, calling out a greeting back. “Breakfast?”

“Yeah,” She sighed happily, following her Mom into the kitchen, reaching for a mug from the cupboard. “Are you going into work?”

Her Mom nodded to her, rolling her eyes. Which meant she had already called the school to see if they were going to call it a snow day, and the answer was ‘no’.

“I was going to go pick up some last minute things this afternoon, if you want to come with me?”

Lyndsey had finished all her Christmas shopping. She only really got things for her Mom, Aunt and a couple of cousins anyway. Everyone else in the family had proved to them that they weren’t really part of the celebrations anymore and it suited Lyndsey just fine. There were some people who were no longer in her life that would’ve just ruined the day anyway.

“Sure.” Maybe she’d find something she liked that she could con her Mom into buying. They ate their breakfast in relative silence, the warmth of the house slowly seeping into Lyndsey’s bones. The hospital had been freezing overnight, and the only reason she didn’t put on more layers was because she wouldn’t have been able to move her arms in her coat to check on patients. It was tempting, though.

‘Morning. Did you survive?’ She laughed at her phone once she had dug it out of her bag at the end of her shower. She couldn’t wait to go to sleep.

‘Barely. It’s still snowing pretty bad.’

They hadn’t actually spoken on the phone since the day she called him back to apologise. Either he was busy, or she was at work, or he was asleep or something got in the way, so they were back to texting. It wasn’t all that bad, she had decided. It was kind of what they were used to. And she hated awkward silences.

‘Wow, you’re going to have a nice Christmas then, eh?’

‘I’m working Christmas :(‘

She finished finding her pyjamas, her obnoxious kangaroo socks (a hilarious birthday gift from Kate) shoved under the sheets at the end of the bed. Lyndsey didn’t know why she wore socks at night, she always managed to kick them off and then had to hunt to find them the next morning. “Fucker,” She frowned, just catching the edge of one from where it had gotten stuck between the sheet and the mattress. “Bingo!” There was the other one.

‘That sucks :( Still celebrating it though?’

‘Oh yeah, just a couple of days early. I have Boxing Day off. So yay shopping!’ She entered a few of the dollar sign emoji’s after it before pressing send.

She was in bed by the time he had replied. His ‘Oh God, I didn’t think you were one of “those girls” :S’ made her laugh. She couldn’t help it, she pointed out. All girl’s are born with the shopping gene.

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

‘How’s the head?’

He must’ve been bored, because he replied back straight away. ‘Feeling good. Skated on the pond behind the house this morning. Taylor owned my ass.’

‘Like you didn’t let her win :P’ She knew enough about him that he would do what he could to make someone else feel good, and most times when people met him that meant beating him at what he’s good at. Sure, Taylor had grown up with him as her brother, but Lyndsey didn’t doubt for a second that he went hard on her.

‘Eh, might’ve fudged a couple of face offs. Felt good to be out there.’

‘I bet it was. Any idea when that’ll be back on home ice?’

The bubbles appeared, but he was typing a message so long that Lyndsey’s eyes had started to close. She was almost asleep before the pinging of her ringtone woke her back up.

‘If the next scan is clear, then could be by end of Jan. Fingers crossed. Don’t want to keep getting my hopes crushed so I just sit and wait for someone to tell me what’s happening. Hockey life. What’re you doing for NYE?’

What was she doing for New Years? She didn’t have to work, but she wasn’t quite ready to go out with her friends again after the last time. Not that she planned on ever getting that drunk again (since it obviously just caused trouble) but she didn’t want to be out with a whole lot of people who were too intoxicated to hold themselves up on their own two feet. She had worked enough New Years Eves and treated enough overdoses to be quite happy bringing in the new year sitting on her couch, a mug of hot chocolate in her hands and a movie playing on the TV.

‘Probably nothing.’

‘??? How come?’

‘Because I’ve seen enough OD’s in the ER to last a lifetime and don’t feel like watching them happen at a club. Nursing life.’ she joked back. It was a crap joke but she knew he’d get it.

‘People are idiots.’ She burst out laughing.

‘Yeah they are. What about you?’

She could picture him shrugging. She got distracted by the memory of his shoulders for a moment and wondered briefly what he looked like now that he was back to being able to train in the gym. She had seen photos of him shirtless and it had nearly killed her. Knowing that he probably looked like how he did in 2010 broke her heart a little and she just wanted to hug him. She had seen enough interviews of hockey players talking about how much work they put into the off season to try and get their bodies into shape, never mind keeping that physique through the season. She imagined he was pretty annoyed at the fact he’d have to restart the whole thing again, but in the middle of the season.

Would they even let him condition that much? Probably not.

‘Not willing to risk all the lights & sounds of a club. Might be a quiet one this year.’

She didn’t know why, but that made her feel sad. How having the world at your feet, access to some of the best parties or restaurants in the entire country going to waste because his brain was like ‘nope. Not today’.

‘That sucks :(‘

‘Why?’

‘Because? You’ve got a whole team who will probably be out celebrating and you’ll be stuck at home. Maybe some of them will have a party & you could go to that.’

‘…maybe. I’ll think about it. I just realised the time, I’ll let you get some rest.’

She smiled and moved to reply but the phone slipped and fell on her face. “God damn it,” She muttered, rubbing her nose. ‘Talk to you tonight :)’