Days of Black and Gold

“I don’t know that last time I had that much fun shopping,” I exclaimed, as Catherine and I tumbled into her house. “Thank you.”

“Don’t even mention it,” she said, waving of my appreciation. “I had a lot of fun, too. I’m glad we found you something to wear.”

“Me, too.”

“Go sit on the couch,” she instructed. “Kris just texted to say they won’t be back for another hour, so we have time to gossip. I just need to know more about you.”

“Sid sent the same message,” I informed her, sitting on their oversized couch.

“Do you want a glass of wine? We have a bottle of red open.”

“That would be nice. Only one glass though, we still need to make it out, and act somewhat appropriate, with the men.”

“I’m so glad Kris’ parents are in town. I love Alex to death, but sometimes it’s nice when he gets to stay with his grandparents.”

“I can just imagine what a ball of energy his is,” I chuckled, as she handed me a glass.

“He really is,” she confirmed, sitting next to me. “Enough about him, tell me about you and Sid.”

“Honestly, I’m not even sure how it happened. One moment, I was going through the motions and the next, I was insulting the captain of the Penguins. Then it was text messages and phone calls almost daily for around two months. Now, here I am. Taking a vacation, for the first time in years, to be with someone that I hardly know.”

“Wow,” she gasped. “That was fast.”

“You’re telling me,” I sighed, taking a sip of wine.

“Why do I get the feeling you are not overly excited about that?”

“I started worrying about it last week, when the boys were in Washington.”

“Thanks when you met the team, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I had spent the night with Sid.”

“Oh?” Catherine’s brows popped up in surprise.

“Not like that. We cuddled, watched a movie, kind of kissed.”

“Nothing more?”

“Nothing more,” I swore. “That’s when I started thinking about how quickly things were moving, and we don’t even live in the same city.”

“But you’re here to visit.”

“Before I met the team, I had a pretty personal talk with Geno.”

“Sorry, did you say Geno? Like as in Evgeni Malkin?”

“The one and only,” I laughed. “It wasn’t as bad as you’re thinking.”

“What could he have possibly said that would make you less concerned?”

“There may be a few personal things about me that I haven’t told Sidney. I don’t think he would take to it very well, and I don’t want to scare him away before we give this thing a go.”

“Did he talk you into telling Sid?”

“God, no. I made it very clear that I didn’t want Sid to know, yet.”

“I’m going to pry,” she warned me with a smirk. “What are these secrets?”

“You can’t say anything,” I stated. “You and Geno will be the only two in Pittsburgh who know.”

“I promise,” she said, making an X across her heart.

I drew in a deep breath, and looked around, as if I thought someone might be hiding. “I sort of swing for both teams.”

“Really?”

I nodded.

“I can see why you don’t want to say anything to Sid yet. Most of the guys I know wouldn’t be comfortable enough to know how to handle that news.”

“I know,” I groaned. “I feel like this is new territory for me, too.”

“How long has it been since you were with a man?”

“About five years,” I confessed, cringing. “No, wait, longer. I haven’t really been interested in a man for five years, but my last male fling was closer to six or seven years ago.”

“That’s longer than I expected you to say,” she admitted. “And no one else knows?”

“No one else from the Pens. The Caps know because I had to go to their Christmas party last year. Some of the guys knew I was in a relationship, but I had never introduced them. They insisted I bring a plus one, so I figured it was a good time for them to meet my fiancée, at the time.”

“Shit, you were engaged?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, sheepishly. “I feel a bit guilty about it, since she only left me about a month ago.”

“You’ve been talking to Sid for more, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“But you two didn’t get together then.”

“We only got together last week. That is still relatively soon after the end, I think, of a two-year engagement.”

“You think?”

“She was very vague about what she wanted, so I’m not sure she thinks it’s over, but for me it is. She had been pushing back the wedding for sometime, and then got really secretive over the past few months. Finally, she just told me she moved her things out and needed space.”

“That really sucks, Margot.”

“I was angry at first, but I got over it quickly. We were together for five years, so I should probably be more broken up about it, but I’m not.”

“Maybe subconsciously you knew it was over long before.”

“Maybe,” I shrugged, finishing off my wine and placing the glass on the coffee table. “I’m happy to be moving on, but I also don’t want people thinking the Sid is a rebound.”

“That’ll be tough to convince, once they find out about your broken engagement.”

“I think it will be hardest to convince Sidney. I get the feeling that he is a lot stronger on the ice than he is in his personal life.”

“I think you may be right, but if you can make the team see it your way, Sidney will come around.”

“Thanks, Cath. It feels so good to get everything off my chest for awhile.”

“What are friends for?” She grinned.

“You two are friends?”

We both turned to see Kris and Sidney standing in the doorway.

“How was practice?” Catherine asked, sending me a wink as she got up to go kiss her husband.

As they had a private moment, Sidney ventured over and sat next to me.

“Did you two just get here?” I asked, worried that they had been listening.

“Yeah, sorry about that. They wanted to have a meeting after practice, so it was a bit longer than usual.”

“I see,” I nodded, relieved that he wasn’t showing any sign of hearing our girl talk. “Are we still going for supper?”

“We are,” Sidney said. “Did you have a good time with Cath?”

“She’s great,” I grinned. “I had such a great time. Bought a dress, and some other clothes, then just spent some time getting to know each other.”

“I’m glad you are making friends. I was a little worried you weren’t going to click with anyone.”

“I’m not that horrible.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I raised a brow at him, daring him to try to explain.

“Are we ready to go?” He asked, loud enough that Catherine and Kris could hear. “I’m hungry.”

“Good choice,” I muttered, standing from the couch and making my way to the door with the others in tow. “We aren’t going anywhere fancy, right?”

“No, no. Your jeans and sweater are fine.”

“Thanks, Sid,” I chuckled, pulling on my knee high boots. “Let’s get out of here.”