Seven Year Ache

Early October 2014

"So what exactly are we doing today?" Riley asked Shea as he slowed to turn the corner at an intersection.

He glanced at her for a moment and then explained, "Meeting Neal and his girlfriend for lunch."

"Neal…" Riley wondered out loud.

"New guy?" Shea asked, a hard tone to his voice that made her roll her eyes.

"Yeah. Got it. Why am I going?" Riley asked him, her voice snippy.

Shea let out a breath of air and pinched the bridge of his nose before he told her, "Because after lunch we're going to a press thing and I thought maybe you could show his girlfriend around or something."

"Okay." Riley stated, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to look out of the window.

"Can we please just spend an hour or two without being at each others throats?" When he asked this Riley again rolled her eyes at him.

She turned to him and reminded him, "I'm not the one who started this."

"What the fuck did I do?" Shea asked her incredulously.

She let out a scoff, figures he wouldn't even realize it. She clenched her jaw for a few seconds before explaining to him, "You're the one who's all snappy and pissy today."

"Well if you had bothered to pay attention to what I was saying last night we wouldn't be having this conversation again." Shea muttered as he pulled into a parking spot at the restaurant they decided to meet at.

Without so much as another word Riley grabbed her phone, got out and slammed the door to the SUV loudly before she walked into the restaurant and left Shea by the vehicle. She was being seated by the time he walked in and he had to rush to catch up as they rounded a corner.

They sat side by side in silence for ten minutes until a couple walked up to the table. The man, tall with dark hair and ginger stubble was dressed in a pair of cargo shorts and a shirt. The woman next to him, much shorter than he, with long brown hair and a dark tan, wore a long sleeve tucked into jeans. Riley knew it was James even before he said, "Sorry we're late."

The brunette beside him told them, "Someone refused to use the car GPS and his phone froze."

James rolled his eyes but smiled as he said, "This would be Quinn, feel free to ignore her. I do."

Quinn rolled her eyes but introduced herself anyway, and Riley, as she had gotten so good at, executed the friendly introductions with an Oscar like performance. And when everyone was seated and drinks were ordered James and Shea busied themselves in conversations about the up coming season and things only a hockey player could possibly understand. So Riley turned to Quinn to ask, "So how do you like Nashville?"

"Oh its great so far. How long have you been here?"

"Seven years." Riley told her, taking a moment to take a good look at the woman across from her, and then she glanced at James. James' arm was resting across the back of Quinn's chair, and every so often his eyes would flicker to her and Quinn's would do the same. Riley felt herself grow just a tiny bit jealous of a couple she didn't even really know.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts when Shea asked Quinn, "So what is it that you do?"

"I own a salon slash spa slash yoga studio in Pittsburgh." Quinn told him, both her and James chuckled when Shea crunched his eyebrows together. Quinn was quick to explain, "It started as a spa and then I got my hair license and one of my best friends is a yoga instructor so you can get a work out in between services."

"Don't knock yoga man its no joke. She made me do hot yoga once and seriously I was dead like five minutes in." James told Shea seriously after he chuckled at the yoga comment.

"So do you cut his hair?" Shea asked her curiously. James had a reputation around the league for being very finicky with his hair.

"Not anymore. He's too damn picky now." Quinn informed him, adding in, "I won't even shave his beard anymore."

"You ever want a straight razor…she's your girl." James told Shea, who tucked that information away for future use.

"The only thing I absolutely refuse to do is handlebars." Quinn stated, giving James a look that told Shea she wasn't too fond of the handlebar shave and clearly James had done it before.

Riley was grateful when their meals came, because with that came silence and thirty minutes later they were parting ways. James and Shea took the SUV to the rink and Quinn got behind the wheel of James' Ferrari with Riley in the passenger seat. With Riley giving her directions Quinn stated, "God I hate driving this thing."

"Nice car though." Riley stated as she glanced around it.

"Oh don't get me wrong it's a gorgeous car but I'm always terrified when he hands me the keys. I hit the garbage bin once in it and I thought he was gonna have a brain anyurism… and there wasn't even a scratch on it." Quinn told her with a laugh.

"Shea actually backed my car into a pole once." Riley told her, and Quinn raised her eyebrow in curiosity. Riley explained, "I had this little Dodge Neon in high school and he was backing out of a parking spot and bam pole."

"That is great. I wonder if James has ever backed into something." Quinn wondered out loud, and Riley looked at her in surprise.

Curiously she asked, "How long have you too been together?"

"Oh…we're uh… I mean… it's a long story." Quinn said, struggling with words. When Riley nodded Quinn told her, "We aren't…technically."

"I just assumed… you two seem like you've been together for a long time." She felt bad for even asking now, especially seeing the look of sadness that crossed Quinn's face for a fraction of a second before she smiled and it was clear to Riley that she wasn't the only one who had gotten good at the hockey wife routine.

"We were. For about three years and then we broke up, and then right when we were starting to figure things out again he got traded." Quinn told her, turning left when Riley instructed her to. As Riley told her to pull into the driveway of her house Quinn told her, "So we aren't really sure what we're doing yet."

Riley unlocked the front door, bending down to grab Dug by the collar when he went running at them. Quinn leaned down and gave him a good pet and Riley asked, "You're okay with dogs?"

"Oh yeah, love them. We actually have one in Pittsburgh, I haven't been able to convince James to get another." Quinn told her as Riley let go of Dugs collar and Quinn continued to pet him.

Glancing over her shoulder Riley asked Quinn, "You want anything to drink? Water, juice, wine, beer?"

"Beer sounds good." Quinn called out as Riley disappeared around a corner.

Grabbing two bottles of beer Riley brought them back out to the living room where she and Quinn sat on the couch and Dug laid at their feet. Quinn every so often would run her foot down his back, and he would let out a content noise at the feeling. Curiously Riley asked her, "So are you staying with Rich too?"

"Oh no. I'm still in Pittsburgh. Just here for the season opener and then I'm heading back." This surprised Riley, Shea hadn't mentioned this. Then again there was a lot Shea didn't mention to her lately. Sensing her surprise and confusion Quinn explained, "I'm working on getting my license to transfer here but but honestly I don't know what I'm doing. Just with James and I the way we are…"

"You don't know if moving here to be with him now is the right choice for you." Riley finished for her, knowing exactly how she was feeling.

Quinn nodded, "That's exactly it. It's like am I willing to gamble on this when we don't even know what we are or what we're doing?"

"And then if you take that chance and you get here and things fall apart it's like where do you go from there." Riley stated softly, taking a drink of her beer.

"Exactly."

When she saw the look Quinn was giving her Riley made up a quick lie, "It was like that for me when I finally decided to move here."

"Honestly sometimes I'm jealous of all these wives and girlfriends that don't have jobs or anything and can just pick up and go when their husband gets traded." Quinn admitted to her, and Riley smiled gently at that.

Shaking her head Riley told her, "Don't be. I'd much rather have your job."

"You don't love being the captains wife? Doing all the charity stuff and everything?" Quinn asked her curiously.

"I mean that's great too but honestly it's so tiring sometimes. Sometimes I just want to watch a game from my couch and not have everyone asking all these questions and bothering me all night and the endless swinging door of puck bunnies I mean good god." Riley stated, her cheeks flushing when Quinn chuckled. She was very quick to tell her, "I shouldn't be saying all this."

Quinn shrugged, took a drink of her beer and assured her, "Hey we all need to let it out sometimes and I don't know any of these women so basically I'm the perfect person to vent to."

"Was it like that in Pittsburgh? It probably was with the guys that are there." Riley asked curiously. She had met Crosby a few times through Shea but not enough to form an opinion on him really. She often wondered what it would be like on a team with high profile guys like Pittsburgh had and how different it would be compared to her life in Nashville.

"I'm probably not the best judge of the wag room in Pittsburgh. I was never in there." Quinn stated with an edge to her voice that made Riley's eyebrow quirk. Catching that Quinn told her, "I was never comfortable in there it always felt like they were just being nice until the next girl came around and then when James and I broke up they all dropped me like a stick."

"Yeah I've heard some horror stories about other wag rooms, but I also know first hand there are some pretty great ones too." She told her with a soft smile.

"Yeah I think if Nashville is the answer for me I'm gonna like it here." Quinn mused as she finished her beer. She grinned and said, "Besides how bad can a place full of country music and boots really be?"

"That's the spirit."

- - -

After an afternoon of getting to know the new forwards significant other and a silent dinner with her own significant other Riley was beat. Shea was already in bed and Riley was outside letting Dug run off some energy before being inside all night. She was sitting on one of the patio chairs watching Dug run around the fence line.

She jumped when she heard the patio door slide open and Shea's deep chuckle filled the air. She narrowed her eyes slightly at him and said, "I thought you were asleep."

He shrugged, "I was laying in bed and figured you might want some company. I can leave if you want…"

Riley surprised him by shaking her head and saying, "No stay."

He pulled a chair out and sat down beside her, his own eyes following Dug around the yard. They sat like that, side by side in complete silence for nearly fifteen minutes. Neither one knew what to say to the other but for the first time in a long time it wasn't an angry, ignore you will all I have kind of silence. It was a silence that eventually made Riley turn to Shea and study him.

It was barely October and he already looked exhausted. His hair was longer than he usually kept it and he hadn't shaved in a few days, which to most men wouldn't be a big deal but to Shea a few days looked like a few weeks. He turned his head, catching her stare and raised an eyebrow.

Reaching out to run her fingers through his hair Riley told him, "You need a cut."

"I know." He stated, trying to memorize the way her hand felt on his head, her fingers grazing through his hair and pushing gently against his scalp. Eventually her hand slid down his neck, shoulders and then his bicep. Her fingers were gently wrapped around his forearm and it occurred to both of them that this was the most physical contact they have had in months. She ran her index finger along a red welt on the inside of his wrist and looking down at it Shea told her, "Took a stick in practice the other day."

For some reason it felt like she had the wind knocked out of her. It occurred to her just how off track their relationship had really gotten and it was worse than she originally thought. She used to know every little bump, scratch or cut Shea got in practice and yet she had gone three days without even noticing this one, and it wasn't like it was an easy one to miss.

Her silence wasn't anything new to him but Shea still cracked a joke, "Rookies you know?"

She didn't even smile. Instead she got up, whistled for the dog and Shea sat on the deck in confusion as they both went inside. He pushed his large hands over his face and through his hair as he let out a loud sigh before heaving himself up off his chair and locking the patio door behind him.

He stopped only to turn the alarm on and pat Dug on his head before heading up the stairs. Riley was in the bathroom when he walked into the bedroom and he stood by the door, ready to knock when he heard a mixture of sniffling and deep breathing from the other side. His hand dropped to his side and instead of going in there to comfort her somehow Shea simply took a seat on his side of the bed and put his head in his hands.

Fifteen minutes later Riley came out, eyes red and puffy and acted like she hadn't just spent twenty minutes crying into the sink. She pulled the covers back, got into bed and was removing her earrings when Shea turned to her. He opened his mouth but she simply told him, "Not tonight Shea please. I don't want to fight with you right now."

He should have told her that he didn't want to fight with her either, that he wanted to make things better. He should have told her that he was tired of the way they were going about things and he wanted to fix it. But like the coward he seemed to be lately he simply laid down and rolled onto his side as Riley shut the light off and they were enveloped with darkness.