The Truth Is...

“You’ll call when you get in?” Claudia asked James as she followed him through the airport, waiting patiently as he checked himself in, and then they came to a stop outside of the gates for security and James turned to face her with a smile.

“I’ll call when I get in.” He assured her, reaching out to tuck her blonde hair behind her ear before he told her with a grin, “You should get a haircut soon.”

“Back at ya.” She fired back, reaching up to tug gently on his longer than usual brown locks. He smiled, leaning down to kiss her lips quickly and when he started to pull back Claudia grabbed the front of his shirt in her fist and kept him where he was for just a few seconds longer.

Finally, when she allowed him to straighten up James looked down at his bags and sighed, Claudia reached out and grabbed his free hand in her own, pulling his attention back to her. He told her, “Tell me again why I shouldn’t be so nervous.”

“Because you have the chance to do something really amazing, and you’re gonna kill it in Vegas.” She told him, nodding her head in agreement with her statement and James let out a small laugh.

“Even if you’re not ready for the move… you’ll come for home opener… right?” He asked her softly, surprising Claudia because it sounded as if he was afraid to hear her answer.

He seemed to perk up a little when she smiled over at him, gave his hand a squeeze and told him, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Glancing at his watch James sighed, leaning over to kiss her quickly once more before he told her, “I’ll see you in forty-two days.”

“Maybe less.” Claudia told him with a grin and he nodded.

“Maybe less.”

When he went to turn away from her she tightened her grip on his hand causing him to turn and look at her and Claudia told him, “Just… in case I don’t make it out there before your first game; you don’t have anything to prove to anyone. You’ve always been as good as I know you are, but maybe remind the people who seem to have forgotten.”

“I’ll try.” He told her, that answer didn’t appear to be good enough for her though because the second the words left his mouth Claudia took two steps, closing the distance between them as she wound her arms around his neck.

Once James’ own arms had circled her waist Claudia told him softly as he fingers ran through the hair at the back of his head, “I know your confidence took a beating this summer but I know somewhere deep down you know what you’re capable of.”

“I know.” He told her, nodding his head before he pressed his face against the side of her neck, leaving a gentle kiss to her skin before they finally pulled apart.

Shooting him her usual, upbeat smile Claudia informed him, “And if you ever need reminding you know where to find me.”

James let out a laugh and he told her, “Alright, get out of here before I miss my flight.”

She leaned up to kiss him once more before she turned and as she walked away she told him, “See you in a few weeks.”

“See you in a few weeks.” He mimicked, smiling as she turned back to wave before she disappeared completely from his sight.

The drive home was lonely, and longer than it had felt when she had driven him an hour earlier, and when she pulled into the driveway outside of her condo she found a big, black truck parked at the curb. When she hopped out of her car she noted the fact that Kelly and Craig were getting out of the truck, and Kelly was carrying two plastic bags.

Holding them up Kelly told her, “I wanted to check in on you, and I figured you might be hungry.”

“I figured you might be hungry, actually. Figured you wouldn’t have had much time for food this morning.” Craig told her, and Kelly rolled her eyes.

“Does it matter whose idea it was?” She asked him with a huff that made him laugh.

Claudia smiled at the two of them, not even aware of the fact that her eyes had started to water until Craig joked, “You know you’re gonna see him in like a month, right?”

Claudia rolled her eyes, but the sniffle ruined her tough exterior, and she told him, “Shut up. I didn’t expect that to be so hard.”

“Yeah, but just think, you’ll be ditching us for Elvisville soon enough.” Kelly pointed out as Claudia unlocked the condo door.

She had to pause for a second, it was strange after having James and the dogs around to come home to an empty home again. With a sigh she kicked out of her shoes and held the door open for her company, who immediately went into the kitchen to separate their lunches.

Craig told Claudia, “Speaking of the whole Elvisville thing, if you two decide to go that route and don’t invite me I will disown you both, and I might have to beat James up.”

“What route?” Claudia asked him as she reached into the cupboard above the stove for glasses.

“You know…” He finished by humming out what was supposed to have been the wedding march.

Claudia, catching what he meant, told him, “Please, you and Kelly will be getting hitched way before James and I ever do.”

“Oh ye of little faith.” Kelly told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as she told her, “You just watch, spending all that time passing by all the little chapels will have you two saying ‘I do’ in no time.”

“Now you’re delusional.” Claudia informed her as she dropped onto the couch with her plate of food and glass of water. Adding in for good measure, “James isn’t the marrying kind.”

“Ouch.” Craig stated, and Kelly laughed.

Claudia chuckled and explained, “Not like that. I mean it’s never been something that’s been on his agenda.”

“True, but he also never had a real relationship that had the potential to head that way either.” Craig pointed out.

Claudia had to tell him, “I just dropped him off at the airport to live in Vegas by himself for possibly two months, let’s not talk about where our relationship is headed until we survive this.”

“You don’t really think you’re not gonna make it through the two months apart, do you?” Kelly asked her curiously.

Shrugging her shoulders Claudia told her, “No, I think we’ll be fine I just… this just really sucks.”

“Tell me about it, James going to Vegas and Colin going to Denver has left me with zero friends here. Zero.” Kelly stated with a pout.

Craig couldn’t help but point out in amusement, “You would find a way to make this about you.”

“It is truly a gift.”



Nearly a month had passed with daily contact between Claudia and James, either a call each evening or several text message conversations during the day, sometimes both. The Golden Knights were about to play their first regular season game that night and Claudia hadn’t heard from James all day about whether or not he would be playing.

He had been expected to miss the first game, at least, still recovering from his surgery that summer, but he had mentioned to her that things were progressing really well and that there was a chance that he would be playing.

She was packing up her last few things into boxes so that she could bring them to the movers tomorrow, taking the chance that maybe this time they wouldn’t lose everything. She had spent a small fortune shipping things to James in Vegas over the last few weeks, and anything important would be securely tucked away in her carry on when she boarded the plane with her one way ticket to Vegas two weeks from now. She had it all figured out.

Her phone buzzed on the box next to her and she picked it up instantly, frowning when she found a message waiting from Lucca and not James.

‘Any word? I need to figure out this whole Game Centre thing out. Colin got it for me this season but like… I haven’t even logged on yet.’

With a smile Claudia text her back quickly before she went back to packing.

‘Not yet, I’ll let you know when I know. PS, it’s cute how Colin bought you Game Centre so you could keep up with my boyfriend’s career.’

There was a knock on the door, followed by the door opening and Kelly and Caleigh walked in, took off their shoes and approached her in the living room. Kelly looked around and marveled, “Damn… it’s empty as hell in here.”

“What are you guys doing here?” Claudia asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Caleigh told her, “We came to drag you out for dinner.”

Claudia gave her a weary look and Kelly rolled her eyes, telling her, “It’s our last chance to take you out to dinner before you head out to Elvisville for the home opener, get up and let’s go.”

Caleigh assured Claudia, “We’ll be back before the game starts, I promise.”

“Yeah, and we’re coming back to your place to watch it.” Kelly told her.

Claudia sighed as she grabbed her phone and followed them out of the door, telling them, “I no longer have a couch.”

“I brought those floor cushions from my place.” Caleigh told her with a grin as they all hopped into her car.

Once they had arrived at the restaurant and been seated Kelly asked her, “What are you doing with the rest of your furniture anyway?”

“Sold most of it. Kitchen furniture is being picked up tomorrow, bedroom furniture is getting picked up two days before I leave.” Claudia told them, adding in, “I just want to get all this crap dealt with before I leave Sunday, so that when I come back Wednesday I don’t have to rush around getting things finished, you know?”

“Fair enough.” Caleigh told her, adding in, “If there’s anything I can do to help you out, you name it.”

Kelly nodded her head in agreement and Claudia stated, “Well… I do have a bunch of clothes I’m not taking, if you guys wanted to take some off my hands that would be cool.”

“Say no more, we shall spend the night watching hockey and gathering our loot.” Kelly told her with a smile, making the three of them laugh.

Claudia’s phone buzzed, a text from Lucca that made her nearly choke on her glass of wine. She had to explain and then read the message out to her company, who were watching her with raised eyebrows, “Lucca text me earlier to ask if James was playing tonight, apparently Colin bought her Game Centre so that she could watch games in Denver so I made a joke about how sweet it is that he did that so she could keep up with James’ career and her response was ‘He’s accepted the fact that I now have to whore myself out across the league. You gotta get you a man like that.’”

Caleigh and Kelly both laughed, and Kelly told her, “I mean, I may have signed up for it too… it sucks when everyone got separated this summer. I’m gonna have to make a color coded schedule to know when James and Colin and Craig all play.”

Caleigh couldn’t help but joke, “I think the Preds should just hire you to do up their schedules.”

“I’ve only been saying that for years. Seriously, the schedule they give Craig gives me major anxiety.” Kelly stated with a smile.

“Why am I not surprised?” Claudia asked, laughing when the brunette across from her stuck her tongue out at her. She then turned to Caleigh and asked her, “Is Roman ready for captain duty?”

“Yeah, he’s definitely excited.”

Before she could say anything else Claudia’s phone began to ring and when she looked down to find James’ picture displayed she glanced over at her company and Kelly told her, “If that’s James pick the phone up right now, we need to know if we’re watching their game or not.”

With a laugh Claudia hit the little green phone icon and brought the phone up to her ear, “I’ve only been sitting around waiting for you all damned day, you know.”

James let out a laugh, “Sorry, didn’t have the chance to call earlier, it’s been a busy day.”

“I bet.” Claudia told him, and after a few seconds of silence she pushed him forward with, “Well? Do I have a game to watch tonight or no?”

With a chuckle James told her, “Yeah, you have a game to watch tonight.”

The large smile that stretched across Claudia’s lips gave his answer away to her company, who high-fived each other, and Claudia then let out a breath of air and said, “I’m so happy for you.”

“It’s just a game, it’s not like it’s the home opener.” He was terrible at playing off his own excitement.

Claudia called him on it, not caring that she was in a public restaurant across the table from two of her friends, “But you were worried about not being ready, and I know how badly you wanted to play tonight. So yeah, I’m really happy for you.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of glad too.” He admitted and Claudia let out a near giggle. Caleigh and Kelly raised their eyebrow’s at each other, and Claudia rolled her eyes at them as James asked her, “Where are you, it sounds noisy?”

“Got dragged out for dinner by the ones whose names rhyme.” Claudia informed him, knowing he would know exactly who she was talking about. He let out a chuckle and she added quickly, “I was told that we would make it home in time for your game and if that doesn’t happen I get to choose which one has to walk home… and being that Caleigh drove us that one will be Kelly.”

“That is rude!” Kelly stated, looking around in dramatic panic before she asked, “Where is our waiter?”

Again James laughed and he told her, “Alright, I’m gonna let you go. Enjoy your dinner, if it’s not too late maybe I’ll call you after the game.”

“It won’t be too late, so you had better call me.” Claudia warned him with a smile on her face even though he couldn’t see it.

“Will do boss, talk to you later.” He told her, no doubt with a shit eating grin on his face.

Rolling her eyes Claudia told him, “Enough of that. Now go away before I hang up on you.”

“And there I thought you enjoyed the sound of my voice.” He joked.

“I just tell you that to make you feel good about yourself.” Claudia informed him with a grin, before she told him, “Good luck tonight, by the way.”

“You sure you’re not just telling me that to make me feel good about myself?” He challenged, a hint of amusement in his voice that made Claudia smile.

“Maybe, but I guess you’ll never know.” She told him, glancing at her watch before she said, “Alright, for real, you need to go. I’ll talk to you later, do me a favor and show off a little tonight, yeah?”

“You got it boss.” James told her, laughing as he hung up the phone.

Claudia couldn’t help but send him a text message the second the call ended.

‘Jackass: (adjective) a real jerk. Pictorial reference:’

She attached a picture of him and then hit send before she put her phone down and apologized to her company, “Sorry, he’s a real bastard sometimes.”

They both laughed and Caleigh asked her, “Would he be Mr. Right if he wasn’t?”

When they arrived back at Claudia’s after dinner Kelly got the game set up on the TV in the bedroom while Caleigh assembled their snack line up and Claudia dragged pile after pile of clothing out of her closet for them to sort through while they watched the game.

As she settled on the bed, grabbing a Rice Krispy bar Claudia told them, “Most of it is just stuff I haven’t worn in forever, or things that I won’t be bringing with me being that I don’t need twenty-five winter sweaters in Vegas.”

Caleigh held up a dress and pointed out, “Dude, this still has the tags on it.”

Shrugging Claudia told her, “Probably never fit.”

“This is brand new, I know this because I just bought this top yesterday.” Kelly stated from her side of the mountainous pile of clothing.

“So take yours back and keep mine.” Claudia told her, raising her eyebrow when Kelly looked at her in surprise. She asked, “What? It’s only smart.”

“You need a clothing intervention.” Kelly told her, adding in, “I’m pretty sure that clothing shoppers anonymous meets the same night that fishers anonymous does, I can have Craig pick you up on his way.”

Claudia laughed and told her, “At least I’m doing better than James, his closet is a mess.”

“Oh my God, I know, it’s like a hurricane went through there. Nothing is hung up, shits just everywhere, nothing is folded, he has like twenty five of each item and none of it is organized.” Caleigh stated, having been in his closet once or twice on covert missions for Claudia so that she knew what not to buy him for gifts.

Kelly scrunched her face up and stated, “I would die.”

“It would take even you hours to sort through that mess.” Caleigh told her.

Claudia added, “It took us days to pack everything, and getting him to part with things was like pulling teeth. I finally had to just start throwing things out when he wasn’t looking.”

“I would have just snuck in while he was sleeping and done it all then.” Kelly stated with a nod of her head, she paused, looked over at Claudia and backtracked, “Not that I’ve ever snuck in his house or anything… that’s a little creepy. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Caleigh and Claudia both laughed and it was Claudia who told her, “I have.”

“You have?”

Nodding Claudia explained, “Yeah, I used to let myself in with the key he gave me after a date ended with a break up. He would wake up to me in in the guest room asleep with the dogs.”

“It’s so funny to me how it took you two so long to realize what was right in front of you.” Kelly told her and Claudia had to nod her head in agreement.

“I used to always say never in a million years would I date him, because I knew what he was like with women. He was disgusting with women, to put it nicely.” Claudia stated with a laugh.

Caleigh told her, “Yeah, but like I’ve always said about him, he just needed the right one to make him want to change and I knew all along that you were the right one.”

“Y’all are gonna make me cry.” Claudia told them with a smile.

Their attention was stolen by the noise on the TV getting louder and when they turned to find the Vegas team celebrating a goal they all groaned, it was Kelly who pointed out, “It was James!”

“I missed it!” Claudia exclaimed, face palming before she watched the replay intently. She muttered, “Of course he gets the first goal in their history and I missed it because I was talking about what a man whore he used to be!”

The three of them burst into laughter, and Caleigh told her, “There’s still time for him to get another one.”

“I’ll probably miss that one too. Nobody talk to me for the next ten minutes.” Claudia stated with a laugh.

As Caleigh had predicted with only a few minutes left in the game that goal horn went off after Vegas scored again. This time Claudia had been looking at the TV and she had known that it was James again and her company laughed at her when she had to reach up and wipe at her cheeks.

Rolling her eyes she muttered, “I’m a little emotional lately.”

“I mean, I cried when Roman put on that captain jersey for the first time.” Caleigh told her, offering her a pat on the shoulder.

Kelly grinned as she said, “You two are emotional messes.”

Claudia tossed a pillow at her before she grabbed her phone, Lucca had text her and Claudia let out a laugh.

‘God damn. Are you guys into the whole sister wives thing? I could handle Vegas over Denver. I would barely even miss Colin.’

‘Not sure I’m willing to share but you could always be our roomie!

She pulled up she and James’ last conversation, he hadn’t responded to her jackass text message but he had read it, she figured he would say something when he called after the game. Still, she couldn’t help but send him a message now, something to make him smile when he saw it. She sent him a reference to their favorite car ride jam song. A bunch of banana emoji’s followed by:

‘B-A-N-A-N-A-S!’