One Night Becomes a Liftime

After spending a couple of hours with the guys the movers had finally showed up. Adam and Joe stood with me while they cleared the apartment so I wouldn’t be alone with the six men that showed up. I sat there listening to Adam complain to Joe about Brent being irresponsible sending all these men to move my stuff. Joe was nice enough to stick up for Brent knowing it was starting to irritate me. Once the movers were done moving everything out Evan and I said bye to Joe and Adam then went over to Sarah’s house where we were staying until we left for Chicago.

Time was going by too quick, it was the day before Evan and I had to make the final move and I was beginning to stress out. Sarah had been great at being there for me, when I would freak she would calm me down again. The hockey schedule has been so grueling on the guys but both Brent and Adam kept calling Evan. It was just one more night and then Evan and I were going to be flying to Chicago and Brent was meeting us at the airport.

“Did you get everything you need taken care of already?” Sarah asked as she sat down across from me and I nodded as I watched our boys play in the backyard. “Angie are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“No I’m not sure but I feel like I don’t have much of a choice anymore.” I said shrugging and she shook her head at me. “Evan is excited about the move and being able to see his father more. Brent has actually called every time he gets a chance just to talk with Evan… I guess he really is trying this time.”

“Angie if things don’t work out with everything out there I want you to know you have a place to come back to.” Sarah said smiling softly at me. “Bobby said you can stay with us if you need a place.”

“Thank you Sarah.”

“What time is your flight in the morning?” she asked changing the subject.

“It’s at ten… Sarah, am I crazy or stupid for doing this?” I asked looking over at her, hoping for an honest answer. “Do you think maybe I should have put up a bigger fight and stalled this much longer?”

“I would say crazy… but hey we all do crazy things. You said it yourself he would have tried to take Evan so I think you made the right decision for the circumstances.” She said smiling at me. “Tell me about this apartment you got?” she asked changing the subject again.

“It’s a small two bedroom place, I wish it was as big as the place we had here but it will have to do for now.” I said as my phone rang, I glanced at the screen but didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?” I said answering the call.

“Can I speak with Ms. Angela Casalino?” the man said when I answered.

“This is Angela speaking, may I ask who is calling?” I said as Sarah raised her eyebrow at me and I just shrugged.

“Ms. Casalino this is Thomas Andrews, the landlord from the apartment you have rented in Chicago.” He said and I heard him sigh before he continued. “I remember you telling me that you were making a big move from San Jose California to Chicago but I have some really bad news to tell you… the building… well I’m so sorry to tell you this but the building had a fire last night and it was a total loss.”

I stood there in shock, I didn’t know how to react to the news that had just been given. “I honestly don’t know what to say.” I said in a low voice as I closed my eyes. “I don’t want to sound insensitive or rude.”

“Ms. Casalino I understand.” He said in a soft voice. “I don’t know how long it will take to rebuild or if we even plan on doing it yet so when you do arrive in Chicago we can meet and I will give you a complete refund on your first month’s rent and deposit.”

“Ok… thank you.” I said and we hung up. I stood there a few moments in silence staring down at my phone, things just couldn’t go right for me and I didn’t know what to do. I did know I wanted to cry but I was trying my hardest to keep that from happening. I looked up at Sarah and she had a concern look across her face. “I need to call Brent.” I said standing up.

“Angie what happened?” Sarah asked in a concerned voice.

“The building I was supposed to move into burned down last night.” I said with no emotion to my voice. “I need to call Brent, I have to talk to him.”

“Ok.” She said in soft voice as I walked away.

I scrolled to his number as I walked back into the house and sat down at the kitchen table. I listened to the phone ring a few times and just as I was about to hang up he answered. “Hey Angela, what’s up?”

“Did I disturb you?” I asked because it took him a while to answer the phone.

“I was just about to lay down for my pre game nap.”

I had forgotten he had a game and now I felt bad for disturbing him knowing he needed his rest for the game. “I’m sorry I forgot about the game today… I’ll just call you tonight after it is over.”

“Angela it’s not a problem, what’s wrong… you sound upset?” he said in a concerned voice.

“Brent the building I was supposed to move into burned down last night.” I said as my voice cracked slightly. “I can’t move out there with no place to live, I can’t do this Brent… this was all a mistake even agreeing to this.”

“Angela calm down.” Brent said to me and I took a deep breath in. “You and Evan can stay with me, I have a big enough place for all of us. All of your stuff has been shipped and you already paid for the plane tickets.”

“Oh my god, I forgot about my stuff it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow at the apartment.” I said finally letting my tears fall down my face. “What am I supposed to do with all of it? I can’t do this.”

“Angela calm the hell down.” Brent snapped in a stern voice and I went silent in shock. “I’ll call the moving company and have them meet us at a storage unit instead… you and Evan will stay here at my place until you find another apartment. I’ll give them a call right now.”

“But you’re supposed to be getting ready for your game not worrying about my problems.”

“I have this under control, it won’t take me long to handle this then I’ll do whatever I need to do for the game.” Brent said in a calm voice and I was glad one of us was calm and relaxed because I was about to have a mental breakdown. “Just get on the plane tomorrow and I’ll be at O’hare to pick you two up.”

“Ok… I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” I said then hung up.

It took me a few moments to pull myself back together before I went back into the yard. I told Sarah what happened and she did her best to tell me everything was going to be fine. It was a little hard to believe right now but I just let it go and let things happen as they were. I once again had another sleepless night, which had seemed to come more often now. I felt completely exhausted when we arrived at the airport for our flight.

The flight was long enough for me to finally calm my frazzled nerves and when we arrived at baggage claim Brent was standing there waiting for us. Evan ran straight to him when he spotted Brent and I walked slowly towards them carrying our carry-ons. I noticed he had two coats in his hands one small and one looking much larger. He had Evan put on the smaller one over the light jacket I had on him then he looked up at me as he lifted Evan up.

“I wasn’t sure if you had any coats and its cold here so I had Abby pick one up for Evan and I just brought one of mine for you.”

“Thanks, I couldn’t find any coat thick enough for Evan.” I said with a small smile as I put the bags down and took the coat he held out to me. “I just had this sweater and figure it would be good for now.”

“How was the flight?” Brent asked looking over at me as he shifted Evan in his arms and I picked our bags back up.

“Good.” I said softly and he nodded. “I didn’t check any bags so we don’t have to wait for anything.”

“Ok… let’s go.” He said smiling at Evan then looked back at me as he took one of the bags from my hand. “Did you want to get something to eat first or go straight to my place?”

“What time are we meeting with the movers?”

“At five, so we have time to get you guys settled in.” Brent said as we walked to his SUV.

“I’m not sure of your schedule yet, do you have a game today?” I asked as he placed Evan back on his feet next to his SUV.

“I’m off today and tomorrow but I fly out to St. Louis on the twenty eighth then I have a game here on the first.” Brent said as he put the bags in the back and then helped Evan in and buckled him. “Things will work Angela.”

I just nodded at him as I walked to the other side and got in while he got in the driver’s seat. I nervously sat there looking out the window as I played with the long sleeves of Brent’s coat I was wearing. Brent and Evan talked about what he learned at his last practice with his team. Brent had promised Evan to get him on the team here so he wouldn’t miss anything and until then he could go to practice with him. I shook my head no at Brent but he just shrugged his shoulders at me. Watching them talk amazed me how they had connected so easily as if they had always been in each other’s lives. We pulled in front of a small hotdog stand and the two of them went in to get food while I waited for them in the warm car.

“Mommy you had to see it.” Evan said as Brent helped him back in the car.

“See what?” I asked turning in my seat to face him and smiled at his rose colored cheeks.

“Everyone in there kept taking pictures of daddy and asked him to sign things.” Evan said smiling at me and I looked up at Brent with concern on my face. “It was so cool.”

“It was just a few fans.” Brent said shaking his head at me. “Evan never left my side.”

I just nodded my head at him and smiled at Evan who was too busy smiling at his father. I had never thought my life would turn out like this. I was not looking to be a hockey player’s anything let alone the baby mama of a NHL star. Brent was a well known player here in Chicago and I knew the fans were going to find out about me and Evan and that worried me. I tried to focus on Evan’s voice as he talked to Brent hoping to try and calm the thoughts roaming through my head. Evan was so happy and the smile that seemed to be permanently etched on his face was a wonderful sight.

I had expected to pull up to some apartment or condo but was surprised when he pulled in front of a house, it was pretty big and I didn’t understand why a single man needed such a big place. Brent walked ahead of me with Evan by his side to the door. In one hand he had the food and in the other he had one of our bags, I had grabbed the other one. He placed the bag down and opened the door for us and held it open until I walked in.

“We can eat then I’ll show you guys the rest of the place.” Brent said leading us to the kitchen after he picked the bag back up and nudged the door closed with his foot.

“Do I get to have my own room?” Evan asked as he climbed up one of the stools by the breakfast counter in the kitchen.

“Of course you do… you can have two rooms if you want.” Brent said with a laugh as he put the food down and walked over to me. “I’ll put the bags in the other room for now.” He said taking the bag I had.

“Evan one room is enough for you.” I said in a low voice as I walked over to the bag of food and started pulling it all out.

“But mom.” Evan whined as he removed the coat he had on. “Daddy said I could have two.”

“Evan.” I said sternly and he pouted.

“Angela its ok, there is four bedrooms and a whole basement.” Brent said coming back in the kitchen.

“I just don’t want him to get too comfortable then get upset with me when we move out.” I said as I also took the coat off and handed to Brent. “I can’t afford a place like this.”

“I don’t want to move again, I want to live with my daddy.” Evan said shaking his head with another pout on his face. “Why can’t we stay with daddy?”

“Let’s not worry about that right now.” Brent said with a small smile towards Evan and I sucked in a deep breath knowing this was the reason I didn’t want to move into his place. “Angela, I looked into those schools you told me about but I found a few closer to here that are just as nice.”

“Can we talk about this later?” I asked glancing down at Evan hoping he understood I didn’t want to talk about it in front of him.

“We should talk about it soon, he needs to get back in school.” Brent said shrugging his shoulders.

“I understand that but I rather talk later.” I said with a little edge to my voice.

“Yeah I guess.” Brent said sounding a bit upset and I sucked in another deep breath to calm myself. “Little man why don’t you start eating, I’m going to show mommy something really quick.” He said and Evan nodded as Brent gestured for me to follow him.

I was now the confused one as I followed him back towards the front door. He opened it up and once again gestured for me to follow him out. I only had my sweater on and he was in a t-shirt but we went out the door anyways and he closed it behind us. It was like the cold didn’t bother him but for me it was freezing so I pulled my sweater closed and hugged my arms around my torso.

“What are you showing me?” I asked as I tried to keep warm. “It’s cold out here.”

“It’s not that bad.” He said shaking his head but sounded mad and I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m trying to make everything go as smooth as possible for you.”

“Ok.” I said sounding confused.

“You’re not making it easy on me, I’m trying to help.”

“I understand that but Evan doesn’t understand that his parents are not together like his friends parents.” I said shaking my head at him and now he sucked in a deep breath. “Staying here with you is just going to confuse him, I really think this is a bad idea. I should have stood back home in San Jose until I found another place.”

“Angela you haven’t even given this a try and Chicago is home now.”

“I haven’t even been here an hour and we are already at each other’s throats. How would this even work?” I said as I pulled my sweater even closer and he still looked as if the cold didn’t bother him. “He is going to be mad when we move out of here.”

“Then don’t move out, the place you were moving into is almost an hour away from here.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” I asked shaking my head in disbelief and he raised his eyebrow at me. “I’m not going into this delusional.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he snapped at me.

I had to give it to him at least he was smart enough not to want to fight inside where Evan could hear us but I was freezing my ass off. “I am trying to tell you that I didn’t move here thinking we were going to be anything other than parents to Evan. I plan on having a life of my own but I won’t do that living under the same roof as you.”

“Fine… whatever.” Brent said glaring at me. “I want you to change Evan’s last name to mine.”

“Brent it is fucking cold out here.” I snapped at him not being able to take it any longer. “I have lived in California too long and I can’t fucking stand this weather anymore.”

“I guess we can talk about this later.” He said opening the door and waved me in first.

We both went inside and I stood there warming my arms back up and he just kept walking back to the kitchen. I knew he was going to say something about Evan’s last name I just didn’t think it would come up so quick and while we were having a bit of a fight. I took slow deep breaths as I glanced around, the place was beautiful but it felt like it had a feminine touch to it. I really began to question it the more I looked around myself. I wasn’t exactly sure how long I was standing there and Brent’s voice broke the trance I was in.

“We got to get going soon so you should come eat.” He said to me and my head snapped in his direction.

“Have you always lived here alone?” I asked ignoring what he said to me.

“That doesn’t matter.” Brent said as he turned to walk away.

“It does matter.” I said before he could walk away and he just froze but didn’t turn to face me.

“No.” he said in a low voice.

“When exactly did she move out?”

“Angela…” he said shaking his head.

“When?”

“Last night.”

My mind was processing his words slow and I was stunned. “Last night” kept repeating in my thoughts as I stood there staring at his back. Brent slowly turned to face me and I stood there shaking my head and he closed his eyes. I glanced down at his left hand to see if he had a ring on it or if there had been an indication there used to be one there. From the distance I was standing from him I didn’t see anything but I wasn’t sure and I was pissed that it had never crossed my mind to ask him. Now I was questioning if I was some kind of homewrecker… did I break up a family… were there any other children… wouldn’t Adam have told me… maybe Adam was trying to spare my feeling until I had pissed him off and this was Adam’s way of paying that back to me.