One Night Becomes a Liftime

Of course I had another sleepless night and when my alarm went off at five a.m. I climbed out of bed and went about my morning routine. I walked into the kitchen and started the coffee pot and went through the mail I had laying on the counter while I waited for it to brew. I hummed to myself as I sorted through the bills I had to pay that week then I reached up to the cabinet and pulled out my coffee mug. I had completely forgotten that Brent was there, that was until I heard him clear his throat behind me causing me to jump and I spun around to face him. I didn’t remember seeing him on the couch when I walked through the living room.

“I didn’t see you on the couch.” I said as I felt my heart racing and he smiled at me.

“I couldn’t sleep so I went and sat on the chair in Evan’s room and fell asleep in there.” He said smirking at me as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I take it you forgot I was here.”

“No I didn’t.” I said lying to him and his smirk grew into a full blown grin.

“Yeah you did.” he said leaning against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Or I’m sure you wouldn’t be standing here in just your t-shirt and panties… what if Evan woke up right now and saw this?”

I looked down at my tanned bare legs and closed my eyes as I tried to play it off like I was not fully embarrassed, the shirt I had on was not long enough to cover anything I didn’t want him to see and I was sure he got an eye full when I reached into the cabinet. “Evan never gets up before I wake him but if this bothers you I can put some pants on.” I said walking pass him.

“The view doesn’t bother me one bit.” He said smiling at me as his eyes wonder down my body. “It’s been a long time since I had this view.”

“The way your eyes are roaming bothers me.” I said quickly walking away and I heard him let out a laugh. “Asshole.” I mumbled under my breath.

I grabbed my scrubs and went into my bathroom and quickly showered then got dressed. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and applied a thin line of eyeliner and went into Evan’s room to wake him and get his things ready for school. When he shuffled off to his bathroom I went back to the kitchen to see Brent had put his dress shirt and tie back on and his hair was slightly damped so he must have washed up in Evan’s bathroom while I was in the shower.

“I got to be back at the hotel in forty-five minutes.” Brent said handing me a cup of coffee and I raised an eyebrow at him as he sipped on his. “I figured you wanted one so I made it the way I take mine.” I hesitantly took a sip and he laughed. “It’s not going to kill you.”

“I was just checking.” I said sarcastically as I placed the cup down and began getting Evan’s breakfast ready for him. “Once Evan eats we’ll take you to the hotel.”

“How do you handle working two jobs and taking care of Evan?” Brent asked me and I could tell he wasn’t being nosy, he was just curious.

“It depends on the day and the Sharks schedule.” I began to say and closed my eyes when I realized what I said to him.

“Go on.” Brent said and I opened my eyes to see he didn’t look upset.

“If the Sharks are off or have a home game Adam takes Evan to school, if he’s not around my friend Sarah takes him for me and he goes with Sarah to the daycare after school.”

“So Adam is around a lot.”

“Brent I was waking Evan up at four forty five in the morning everyday just to get him to Sarah’s house in the morning and when I found out Adam moved in the building he offered to help out.”

“Adam lives in this building?” Brent said with a little edge to his voice.

“He moved in before we even seen each other for the first time.” I said shaking my head at him. “And yes Adam is around a lot, Evan enjoys his company and likes talking hockey with him.”

“How did Evan get into hockey?” Brent asked changing the subject.

“He’s your son… his love for the game naturally came to him.” I said as Brent smiled at my words. “They tried him as a forward but he didn’t like it so they moved him to defense and he loves it.”

“Number seven… was that you or him?” Brent asked again sounding curious.

“It was all him… Crosby centric.” I said laughing at Brent’s disgusted facial expression. “You know the whole birth day, birth year thing. Evan is a seven, seven… he always drops the ten.”

“I understand now.” He said nodding his head when I explain what I meant by Crosby centric. “Who is his favorite player?”

“Ask him yourself.” I said as Evan walked in the kitchen. “Hey little man.”

“Hi mommy.” He said tiredly walking over to the table and sat down ignoring Brent. “Can I stay home mommy, I’m too tired and Uncle Adam doesn’t have a game today so I can stay home with him.”

“No Evan you have to go to school.” I said shaking my head at him, I felt bad but I wasn’t sure of the mood that would put Brent in and I knew Adam was mad at me.

“Let him stay home, it was a long night for him and he didn’t get a lot of rest.” Brent said looking over at me. “You don’t want him falling asleep at school.”

“Can you play nice?” I asked him knowing he would know what I was talking about and he rolled his eyes at me. “I’ll call Uncle Adam and see if he has any plans for the day.” I said kissing Evan’s forehead and went to get my phone and scrolled to Adam’s name and hit send.

“Hello.” Adam answered in a sleepy voice.

“Adam, I know you probably don’t want to talk to me but…” I started to say and he cut me off.

“You’re right I don’t, so don’t call me.” he said still sounding sleepy.

“Adam it’s about Evan.” I said before he could hang up, the line was silent still so I looked at the phone but he was still on so I continued talking. “Evan is not feeling up for school today, he is still exhausted from last night and he...”

“I’ll be down there in a few minutes.” He said cutting me off as I heard shuffling coming from his end of the phone before it went silent and this time he did hang up.

“Adam is coming down.” I said walking back into the kitchen. “We can leave when he gets here.”

“When am I going to see you again?” Evan asked looking over at Brent.

“Your mom said you guys should be in Chicago by the twenty six.” Brent said as he sat across from Evan. “If you guys can’t make it to Chicago by then, I’ll fly here to spend the day with you and we’ll work something out.”

Evan smiled huge at him and they kept talking with each other when I heard the knock at the door. I walked over and opened it. “Thanks Adam.” I said as he walked in the apartment.

“I’m doing this for Evan not you.” He said as he went into the kitchen but stopped walking when he saw Brent sitting there. “Hey little man.” Adam said smiling at Evan.

“Can we go back to sleep?” Evan asked looking over at Adam and he nodded at Evan. “The twenty six you promise.” Evan said looking back at Brent.

“Yeah I promise.” Brent said smiling at him and we both heard Adam let out a humorless laugh but Brent ignored him and continued talking to Evan. “You go back to bed and I’ll call you in a couple of days.” Brent said giving Evan a sideways hug.

“I get out at five so I should be home soon after that because I don’t have a shift at the diner tonight.” I said and Adam nodded at me.

The two of us left and sat silently in the car as I drove him back to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel just as the guys were starting to come out and load on the bus. After an awkward goodbye Brent got out of the car and went over to his teammates as I drove away. The last time we played out this scene of me dropping him off at the hotel in the morning was after a night of lots of hot sex and the goodbye was a lot more handsy than the awkward handshake we just shared.

The date the two of us agreed upon gave me twenty days to get everything together and hopefully find an apartment in a decent price range. The first thing I had to do was find out if there was a way for me to get transferred to one of the Chicago hospitals so I wouldn’t have to do the whole job hunting thing then I needed to find a good private school like the one Evan attends now. My move list has seem to be getting longer the more I thought about what I needed to do.

A week later I was nowhere close to being ready for the move. Adam and I were still not talking to each other but he did continue spending time with Evan up until the team left on a long road trip that was keeping him away for the next thirteen days. I had told Evan’s school about the move and also his coach but we were going to let him practice with them all the way to moving day so he wouldn’t miss anything. Brent called and talked with Evan every other day which helped keep Evan’s constant question of can we leave now at bay sometimes.

I was currently sitting in the kitchen with Sarah talking while the boys played video games in the living room. “I still can’t believe you agreed to just move to Chicago.” Sarah said shaking her head at me.

“I didn’t want to go but Sarah he has a hell of a lot more money than I do and can hired the best lawyers.” I said running my fingers through my hair. “If I didn’t agree on something he felt was reasonable he would have fought for custody of Evan and probably win.”

“Adam would have helped you.” She said placing her hand over mine. “We would have all been here for you.”

“I kept Evan away from his father for four years and a very good lawyer would hold that against me.” I said shaking my head. “Plus Evan wants to be with Brent now that he knows that he is his father.”

“Ok let’s change this subject.” Sarah said leaning forward on the table and clasped her hands together. “I am still jealous you slept with a hot ass athlete and I want details.”

“Sarah it has been over five years since I slept with him,” I said shaking my head as I got up to check on the boys.

“I was doing the math and I don’t understand how you met him at a bar and you were only twenty at the time.” Sarah said shaking her head.

I laughed as I sat down and decided to give her some details of the night I met Brent.

I lived with my best friend Kristy at the time, she was twenty one and I was just twenty but we got our hands on a fake ID for me so we went out the night I got it. It was just a Tuesday night but we didn’t care and the Wild had just won the game against the Blackhawks. So we went to the bar we thought the Wild hung out at but they weren’t there… the Blackhawks were. I sat at the bar with Kristy and few of our friends drinking. When Kristy got brave and went to hit on Adam Burish I locked eyes with his teammate for a moment. I watched as Kristy and Adam made their way to the dance floor and when I looked back at the table they were sitting at his friend wasn’t sitting there anymore.

“Let’s dance.” I said getting up and the girls we were with smiled and we all walked out to the dance floor.

We were out there a good ten minutes dancing when I felt two strong hands grab my hips and pull me back against a hard body. I glanced over my shoulder to see that it was Brent Seabrook standing behind me, we danced like that for a good few minutes before he spun me around to face him. Brent slid his hands from my hips up my back under my shirt pulling me flush against his body as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, my hands slid up his chest coming to a stop at his broad shoulders.

“How about we get out of here?” he said in a low voice.

“Sorry sweetheart but I’m not drunk enough to just leave with you after one dance.” I said pulling away from him and walked over to the bar and he followed me. “Can I please have a water?” I asked the bartender.

“Water?” Brent asked as he leaned on the bar next to me.

“I like to pace myself.” I said smiling and he laughed as I took a drink from the glass that was placed in front of me.

“Do you do those fruity drinks or beer?” he asked as he sat in the stool next to me and leaned forward on the bar.

“Neither… a bourbon straight is more my style.” I said smiling at him and he smirked. “Angela.” I said holding my hand out.

“Brent.” He said taking my hand in his much larger one. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”

“You may still be somewhat new to the game but yes I knew who you were.”

“So you like hockey?” he asked with a gorgeous smile on his face.

“Four years at Shattuck St. Mary’s, can’t attend school there and not fall in love with hockey.” I said smiling at him. “And growing up next door to a couple of hockey players kind of helped.”

“Did you go to SSM for a sport or boarding school?” he asked sounding curious.

“I used to do figure skating.” I told him shrugging my shoulders.

The conversation between the two of us continued and so did the drinking, which became more liquor than water due to Brent being the one ordering our drinks. Sometime later Brent managed to get me to leave with him and we ended up at my place. One thing led to another and I woke up the next morning to an empty bed, sore body and a killer hangover.

“Wow… he was just gone.” Sarah said shaking her head. “No goodbye note, nothing?”

“Nope… not even a thanks for the fuck.” I said shrugging my shoulders at her. “He ended up getting my number from Adam who got it from Kristy and when they came into town again which was just a few days later, he called and my dumb ass met up with him again.”

“Wait a minute… Angela you said you went to Shattuck’s for four years.” Sarah said with wide eyes. “Do you know how many NHL players came from there?”

“Yes I do.” I said in an obvious answer kind of voice. “I crossed paths with a few of them, some older and some younger but I never had time to get to know any of them.”

“Four years at that school and you didn’t get to know any of them.”

“I grew up next door to one and I still see him whenever we happen to visit our parents at the same time.” I said smiling at her.

“Who?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Zach Parise and I grew up together, he’s a couple of years older than I am but he was best friends with my brother when they were in school together.”

“Oh my god Angie, how come you never talk about this shit with me before?”

“Because I don’t like to flaunt around who I know and I have taught the same thing to Evan, that’s why he has never mentioned that he knows Zach.” I said shrugging my shoulders at her. “The only reason he talks about Adam and the Sharks all the time is because Adam is always around him.”

“Does Zach know who Evan’s father is?” Sarah asked being nosy.

“No… I never told him and he never asked.” I said shrugging my shoulders. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if Anthony told him and he just never said anything to me.”

“Wow life for you is like a damn soap opera.” She said laughing and I couldn’t help but laugh with her.

The next week went by quick and I had finally got everything packed and was waiting on the movers to show up to haul all my things to Chicago. Evan and I were going to spend our last few days in San Jose at Sarah’s house. I was walking through the apartment double checking everything was packed when I heard a knock at the door. Hoping it was finally the movers, I jogged to the door as Evan came out of his room. When I opened the door I saw Adam standing there with four of his teammates, all with small smiles on their faces.

“Hey guys.” I said smiling back at them.

“Burs told us you guys were moving in a few days.” Patrick Marleau said and I nodded with a small smile.

“We bought little man a gift.” Joe Thornton said holding up the bag in his hand. “It’s from all the guys on the team.”

“Come on in.” I said stepping to the side and waved them in. “We were just waiting on the movers to show up.”

“Patty, Jumbo Joe.” Evan yelled as he came running out of his room. “Zus and Marty too. Uncle Adam brought all my friends over.” He said running straight to Adam and he lifted Evan up in the air.

“Hey little man… we couldn’t let you leave without coming to see you.” Adam said smiling at him.

I stood there watching as Evan laughed and talked with Michal Handzus, Martin Havlat, Joe Thornton and Adam. The guys gave Evan a San Jose Sharks hockey sweater signed by the entire team and he was beaming from ear to ear while they pointed out every player’s signature to him. Patrick Marleau walked over to stand next to me and quietly start a conversation with me.

“You’re not going to let the Hawks turn little man against us are you?” he said with a little humor to his voice as he bumped my shoulder with his own.

“I don’t think it would ever be possible.” I said smiling at him. “Evan has always loved the Sharks and it made that love stronger when Adam took him around you guys.”

“When we come to Chicago we all want to see him.” Marleau said in a serious voice. “We don’t care who his father is.”

“I don’t have a problem with that and I will make sure Brent doesn’t either.”

“Angela, you are a good friend to all of us.” He said keeping his voice serious. “You have any problems in Chicago do not hesitate to call us and we will do anything and everything we can to help you.”

“Thank you so much.” I said with a smile and he hugged me. “Keep Adam out of trouble and when he does get over being mad at me let him know I still want to be friends.”

“I will and he will get over it.” Patrick said patting my shoulder. “Just give the man a little time.”