Chapter 6

"Loralei, you have a visitor," Nancy said to me peeking her head into my office. It was my lunch break so I didn't know who would be coming in to see me. Nancy winked at me as I walked past her into the waiting room. I rolled my eyes when I saw who was standing at the desk talking to Violet.

"Is there a problem with Shooter?" I asked Sidney. He looked over at me and flashed me one of those toothy smiles of his.

"No, there's no problem. I just wanted to talk to you about something. Are you free?" he asked. I started to tell him that I was busy when Nancy chose to answer for me.

"She's on lunch break for another 40 minutes," she explained. He looked over to me and smiled again. I narrowed my eyes at Nancy and she winked again.

"It would probably be quieter if the two of you talked in her office," Violet piped up. I clenched my jaw and decided I was never speaking to either of them ever again.

"Come on back," I said to him motioning for him to follow me. Once in my office I closed the door behind me as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"How have you been?" Sidney asked.

"Pretty good, although I don't think that's what you came here to ask me." He pulled an envelope out if his pocket and put it on the desk in front of me.

"A ticket for tonight's game. I didn't have your number to call and see if you wanted to come so I had no choice but to stop by." I picked up the envelope and took out the ticket. They were playing the Capitals.

"Crosby versus Ovechkin tonight, eh? I've always thought Ovechkin was a better overall player," I told him. He pretended to be hurt.

"How dare you say such things?" I rolled my eyes at him and held back the laugh that came. "There's something else in there, you know." I looked back in the envelope and saw a laminated card. It said "press pass."

"I'm not the press," I said. He laughed like he always seemed to be doing.

"I know but it gets you downstairs. I know you hate driving to games so you can just wait for me in the wives room and I'll bring you home after." The wives room? Seriously? I didn't belong in there.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," I said shaking my head.

"Relax, the girls are really nice. Your seat is with theirs and I told them you might be coming so they're keeping an eye out for you," he explained. He was having the wives and girlfriends keep an eye out for me?

"I'm not your girlfriend, Sidney," I said sternley. Once again he laughed.

"I know, I know, we're just friends. If we're going to be friends you need to get to know my friends and those girls are my friends." I looked back down at the pass and the ticket and knew that he was right.

"Okay, I'll be there." Suddenly he grabbed my cell phone which was sitting on my desk. "What are you doing?"

"This is your cell phone, right?" he asked. I nodded and he started scrolling through it.

"Again, I'm going to ask what are you doing?"

"Now you have my number," he said typing into my phone. Then I heard another phone ring and he took his out of his pocket. "And I have yours." He stood up and walked over to the door. "I'll see you after the game then." I watched him walk out and let my head fall to my desk.

"What did he say?" Nancy called rushing into my office with Violet close behind. I kept my head on my desk and held up the ticket. They both squealed when they saw what it was.

"You're going, aren't you?" Violet asked. I looked up at them and nodded.

They went on and on about how cute he was and they were so glad I was coming to my senses about him. I didn't answer and stopped listening. I was trying to get him to leave me alone and here I was accepting tickets from him and letting him add his number to my phone while getting mine. What was wrong with me? I continued on with my day continuously kicking myself for my stupidity as far as Sidney was concerned. Hello, Loralei, you are working on things with Thomas again! I debated skipping the game but then decided that it would be rude to tell him I was going and then be a no show.

I spent longer than I wanted to picking out my outfit for the game. The whole cab ride to the rink I went back and forth between cursing myself for caring about how I looked while there to telling myself it was only because I was going to be sitting with the other girls. I wasn't stupid I knew how the girls dressed. I'd been around it my whole life. When I walked into the arena I was still questioning myself.

I sat down in my seat about ten minutes before the game started. None of the girls were there yet. Even though I hadn't met them I knew because it was always obvious who was dating the guys and who just wished they were. Just before the drop of the puck a group of girls came walking up the stairs to the section and I knew exactly who they were.

"I'm sorry, are you Loralei?" a pretty brunette asked walking over to me. I smiled up at her.

"Yes, I am," I replied. She sat down next to me and the others surrounded us sitting in the row above and below us.

"Hi, I'm Mel, Colby Armstrong's girlfriend," she said holding out her hand. I did the same with the other girls. The group included Vero who was with Fleury, Brianne who was with Talbot, Abby who was with Malone, and a few others whose names I couldn't remember. The girls were sweet and made an effort to include me in the conversation throughout the game.

"So, are you and Sid dating or just friends? Marc never knows," Vero asked laughing.

"We're just friends, that's it," I told her. The group chatted through most of the game and I followed downstairs after the Pens beat Washington 3-2. I sat down on a couch in the wives room and waited for Sidney. I was hardly surprised when I was one of the last left in the room.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Sidney asked finally coming in. I shrugged at him.

"Not starving but I could eat," I answered. I guess that was good enough for him because instead of going home he drove to a pizza place that was open late. A few of the other guys were there.

"Loralei, how are you?" I heard someone say. I recognized Colby as he stood up to make room for us at the table.

"I'm good, how have you been?" I asked him as I sat down next to Mel who was moving over.

"Great, thanks. You've met Mel, right?" I nodded and we began to talk as the guys ate more food than any human should. As I looked around the table I noticed that it was all couples except for Sidney and I. It was a little awkward but there wasn't much I could do.

"I completely forgot to tell you earlier, but I love your shoes! Where did you get them?" Brianne asked looking at my silver open toe flats.

"They're Jimmy Choos from Saks that I got on a trip to New York City not too long ago," I told her.

"Score one for Sid dating someone who doesn't need him for his money," I heard Max whisper to a few of the guys. I managed to hold my tongue instead of announcing to the table that we weren't dating. After the food was gone Sidney and I got back into his car and drove home.

"Sorry that it was all couples back there. Usually the whole team heads there for food after games," Sidney apologized. He looked like he genuinely felt bad and I told him it wasn't a problem. Just like every other time I'd been around him conversation came easily to us. We talked about the game and he expressed his surprise at how knowledgeable I was.

"I told you, hockey came first in my family," I told him.

"Are you sure you never played?" he asked.

"No, I never played. Volleyball was my sport and I played it year round from the time I was 12 years old." Just then we pulled into my driveway. "Thank you again for the ticket and the late dinner. I'll talk to you later." I got out and walked inside only to have my phone ring almost immediately. I picked it up with looking at the caller ID.

"He, Lee-lee, I've been trying to get a hold of you," I heard Thomas say. I smiled and collapsed down on the couch.

"Sorry, I was out with some friends. What are you up to?" I spent the next half an hour on the phone with him until he said he had to get off and get some sleep for his game the next day. After a promise that he'd call me again when he had a chance we hung up and I went to bed smiling to myself. Maybe it had only been a few days since we'd seen each other after all those years, but things with Thomas were going well again.