Chapter 27

“Ok El, ready? You're not looking!” Elia's brother Taylor yelled at her.

They were standing in the backyard at her Mom's house in Wheaton. Elia had arrived in Chicago after spending a few days at Comic Con and drove to the suburbs for a visit with the family. Taylor and Brian had gone on a road trip together for the summer and taken the corgi Byfuglien with them. Allegedly she had learned discipline and become a productive member of society. Elia watched as Taylor instructed Buff to sit. The dog tried to sit without actually putting her butt all the way down. Taylor was disappointed, insisting that she had learned to sit, give paw and play dead. Byfuglien loved Elia's brothers. She loved all men more than she loved Elia, for some unknown reason. Taylor finally gave up trying to prove his dog training skills and the two joined Elia's mom and brother Brian inside. Her mom was making dinosaur and heart shaped pancakes for them, just like she used to when they were kids.

“When am I going to get to meet your boyfriend?” She asked, pouring pancake batter into a mold on the skillet. Elia shrugged, eating a banana she grabbed off the counter. She and Brad had talked about spending a week in Chicago at the end of the summer, before pre-season, but hadn't set a date or anything. Elia had a habit of not bringing her boyfriends around her family, and her mom was always complaining she never met any of them before Elia broke up with them. That was kind of the point.
“I was emailing with Donna Kane on the Facebook yesterday,” Her mom started to say.
“Mom you're on facebook?” Elia asked, disturbed.
“Of course, everyone is these days. She was talking about the family coming out here for Thanksgiving. Would Brad and his family want to come here for Thanksgiving too?”
“I don't know mom, they are Canadian. And that is so far in the future to think about right now. Tay are you sure you want to go to Northern?” Elia asked her brother, changing the subject. He had graduated high school and would be starting college in the fall. Instead of going to one of the ivy league schools he had been accepted to he had picked Northern Illinois.
“Yes he is. The family is finally going to be all together in Illinois and you are going to live in Canada or something?”
“Mooooommmmmm,” Elia groaned. Sometimes Elia wished she could spend more time with her family. This was not one of those times. Her mother had noticed she had cut back on partying and drinking and seemed to be settling down a bit. She took that as a sign that Elia was actually wanting to settle down and was eagerly anticipating grandchildren. Elia ate her pancakes as fast as possible and headed out with the dog.

If Elia thought she missed Chicago before, driving down Lakeshore Drive later that day only made it worse. Beautiful blue skies and white puffy clouds reflected against the skyscrapers. The beaches were packed with sun bathers, swimmers, drinkers and volleyball games. She told the cab to take the exit to Belmont and head into the harbor parking lot. Elina, Abby, Amanda and Sylvie were hanging out on a boat still tied up in the dock. Everyone was drinking margaritas except Abby, who was now officially pregnant.
“Who's boat is this?” Elia asked, confused. Nobody knew who's boat it was. They had walked over to the pier and charmed someone into letting them through the gate. Elia was impressed by their tactics. They hung out on the boat for a while before catching a cab over to Wrigley Field for the Cubs game. Word had gotten around to the guys that Elia was in town, and she started getting texts from Kane and Toews inquiring on her whereabouts.

After the game all the women went back to the Hilton together where the Blackhawks' Convention was being held. Patrick, Jonathan and Elia met up at Kitty O'Sheas for some dinner before the guys were expected back for the Saturday night Blackhawks' Bash Karaoke party. It was a restaurant attached to the hotel, and the inside was packed with fans. They sat down at a table on the sidewalk, perhaps not the wisest choice they realized, after people started taking pictures as they walked past. Kaner wanted to know why Elia hadn't told them she was going to be in town.
“I was trying not to have to see you guys.” She said flatly.
“What? Why? Really?” Patrick said, frowning.
“Of course not, I was going to try to surprise you.” She said, laughing. “How did you find out, Sharpie? The Sharpies can never keep secrets.” Elia said shaking her head. For once it hadn't been the Abby-Patrick rumor funnel, someone had seen it on Twitter. They started telling Elia everything that had happened the day before at the convention, and some of the funniest things fans said to them in autograph lines. At times Pat seemed to forget what he was saying and had to start over at the beginning of the story again. Elia looked over at Toews, raising her eyebrows. He looked back at her, nodding slightly. When Patrick got up to go to the bathroom Elia leaned in over the table towards Jon.
“Ok, is he completely wasted already?”
“Pretty much.”
“And they are letting him walk around the convention like that?”

Jon told her that Pat had not been allowed alone in the past couple hours, and was being closely monitored by the organization. Nobody knew how he had gotten drunk in the first place. They stopped talking as soon as he came back to the table. At least he would be getting a burger soon to start soaking up the alcohol, Elia thought.

“Hey, so did they announce you as part of the new cast for Game of Thrones at Comic Con?” Jon asked. Elia looked up at the sky, then down at her hands, before saying “No.”
“Oh, I'm sorry, I just figured they couldn't say no to casting you,” Jon said sympathetically.
“Actually, I did get an offer. I turned it down. We decided that it wasn't the best direction to go in right now.”
“I thought your agent was on board with it?”
“Yeah, he was,” Elia replied. Jon looked confused. “Oh, 'we', I meant 'we' like me and Brad,” She said awkwardly. Jonathan leaned back in his chair, grimacing. He put his hands up, questioningly, “Why?” he asked.
“Just...You know...” She tried to figure out how to explain. Jon continued to stare at her. Their food arrived at the table, but Elia and Jon didn't break eye contact. Pat looked back and forth between the two, eating some fries.
“It isn't exactly conducive to a relationship to be separated by an ocean. If I am committed to this relationship it's not fair for me to always be putting work first. I'm going to move in with Brad in Boston for the hockey season.”
Jonathan stared at her like she was a linesmen that had just made a bad call.
“You're going to move in with Brad? You haven't even been together that long,” Patrick said suddenly, surprising Elia and Jon with his coherence. He started laughing, “Marshmont doesn't even have a contract right now, why doesn't he take a year off and go to Ireland with you?”

Elia frowned. “He doesn't like being called a Marshmont. And I thought you guys would be happy about this.” The guys started laughing in disbelief. Why would anyone be happy about that they questioned. Boston was a lot closer to Chicago than Ireland was, and they were both always saying they wanted to see her more. Jonathan put his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. His biceps flexed beneath his tight black polo shirt. He leaned back again in his chair, putting his hands up and looking at Elia.

“This is so wrong. It's all wrong. You literally said to me, you said 'Jon I would die to be in this show,'---”
“But--” Elia tried to stop him but he kept going.
“El, you can't leave Chicago for Boston. This is your home, you belong here. You don't belong with this guy. You think he gets you? If he was right for you he'd never ask you to give that up,” He stood up from the table, “He's not right for you,” he repeated again. Jonathan walked away shaking his head. Elia called after him but he kept walking. She looked back at Patrick.
“Well? Anything to add to that P. Kane?”
“No, he summed it up pretty good. Elia, I love you. Ultimately I just want you to be happy. And if you love that little shit head you've got to follow your heart.”

But there in lay the problem. As strong as the passion was that pulled her towards Brad, something was holding her back. She brushed off the feeling.

“Are you sobering up?” She asked Pat. He shrugged, then nodded. She followed up with “Do you want to stop?” He shrugged, then nodded. They paid their bill and headed around the corner and down the street to pick up some 40's. They had about an hour before they had to head to the grand ballroom for the karaoke shin dig. Back in the hotel they took the elevator to the twenty-third floor. They walked down a hallway, then turned and walked down another. Elia kept looking behind her, nobody was coming so she pulled Kaner in through a fire exit at the end of the hallway. It led outside. “What are you doing?” He asked. She told him to be quiet and follow her. They walked down a fire escape catwalk and came to another door back into the hotel. It led into maintenance stairwell. Up three flights of stairs they came to another door and went through. Somehow they were on the roof of the Hilton.

They sat against the ledge of the roof drinking their beers out of paper bags. The summer days were getting shorter and the sun was setting behind them. It was still hot and humid. The air conditioner units on the roof buzzed around them.

“You shouldn't be day drinking at the convention Pat, you're going to get in so much trouble.” Elia said in between swigs of Colt 45.
“Then why did you get beers with me?” He replied.
“I can't let you drink alone, can I?”
There was something different about Kane. It was hard to pinpoint, but there was an edge that hadn't been there before. He was less easy going, and more defensive. Elia tried to get to the bottom of it but Patrick snapped at her. Everyone treated him like he was something that had to be managed, but nobody had noticed that he was doing just fine. Elia had read enough blogs and articles online to know that was a debatable statement right now. His ability as a two-way player had been questioned hard, along with his work ethic. Few people were saying outright that the Hawks should trade him, but his value as a bargaining chip had been mentioned. She wondered how aware he was of the criticism. Elia knew this wasn't the time to push. If he was heading down a dark path she needed to stay where he trusted her and not lose him completely.

Back in the hotel they found their way to the banquet hall, both of them were feeling good and buzzed. They couldn't figure out how to get into the back hallway and ended up using the main hallway where they were stopped every few feet for pictures and autographs. They could hear music from down the hall where the karaoke party had already started. Everyone was telling Kane he was their favorite player, or what their favorite of his goals was, some telling him good luck for the next season. These people were here for hockey, not movie stars, but were still happy to take a picture with Elia. Some had bizarre questions for her, such as, “Is it true that Joey the Junior Reporter is you and Toews' secret love child?” to which Elia laughed and then responded, “How old do you think I am?” Old enough, apparently, the fan explained. It was one of the strangest rumors Elia had ever been confronted with. She had to set them straight. “The truth is, he is our secret love child from the future sent back in time to harass Patrick Sharp.” Elia enjoyed joking around with fans but often got herself into trouble with her sarcastic humor. Words could get twisted, repeated, and turn into something quite different than what was originally intended.

Inside the ballroom the players were sitting up on one side of a long stage, with a karaoke station set up on the other side. Patrick Sharp was sitting in the middle on a wing back chair wearing a crown. He had been voted by the fans as the Karaoke King, meaning he decided who had to sing which song. As Elia and Kane walked up the steps to the stage Bickell was singing “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry with a fan from the audience. They sat down between Corey and the steps at the end of the stage. Sharpie looked over at them, and then wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to the karaoke person. Elia nudged Crow on the shoulder and whispered “Hey, tell Duncs to tell Seabs to tell that scrawny guy who's name I forgot to tell Tazer that I need to talk to him.” Corey turned to her with a confused look on his face, “Are you for real?” She stared back at him. He turned to his other side and passed along the message. After a few moments another message came back down the line.
“That guy is Nick Leddy.”
“What?”
“The guy who's name you forgot. It's Leddy.”
“What about Toews?”
Crawford shrugged. Elia's face scrunched up, frustrated. Bickell was walking back down the line, and Sharp announced Toews as the next singer.
“You're in my chair.” Bickell said to Elia. She scooted over, half sitting on Kane's chair and half sitting on Bickell's. He sat down, and Elia was scrunched in between Kane and Bickell. Toews walked up to the microphone and stood uncomfortably. A soft banjo started playing, followed by a guitar. Patrick Sharp was already laughing.
“Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see
That I want and I'm needing everything that we should be
I'll bet she's beautiful, that girl he talks about,
And she's got everything that I have to live without.”

“Oh, poor Tazer. Getting Swifted,” She said, looking over at Kane, who was starting to doze off. She elbowed him in the ribs and he jolted upright. “Do you want to dance like we're in middle school?” Elia asked him. Patrick agreed and stood up, putting his hands high on Elia's waist. She put her hands on his shoulder and stepped back and forth with a foot of space in between them. The fans in the audience starting dancing and singing along.
“He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star “

Towards the end of the song Patrick leaned over to Elia and said, “Want me to dip you?” Elia looked back at him bewildered. “I don't think that's a good idea...” “I always dipped the ladies in middle school,” he countered. “Were you also drunk in middle school...? Oh god here we go!” Pat tried to bend her over his arm but they started to fall over. Luckily, Crawford jumped up behind them and stopped them from falling. Jonathan was walking back to his seat now and Elia ran over to talk to him. He said he had nothing more to say to her, and kept walking, brushing past her with his shoulder. "Not about me, we need to talk about Kaner," she whispered.

He turned around quickly. Saying nothing he took her arm and led her around the back of the stage to the security exit. They went through a door into hallway. A few players and PR reps were walking through to other panels and events. They walked down a few turns until they found a deserted hall.
“I had beer with Pat on the roof,” she started to say, in a low hushed voice.
“What? Why would you do that?” He glared at her angrily.
“Would you just listen please?” She asked, looking up at him in a serious face he had never seen before. She told him about their talk on the roof, and explained her concerns about his attitude and demeanor. She told him it sounded like he had been running around Buffalo with his trouble maker cousins getting blackout drunk all summer.

“Do you think I need to have a sit down with him?” Jon asked. Elia shook her head.
“Maybe he really does have it under control. But if he doesn't? It doesn't matter how many times you tell him you think he has a problem he needs to see it himself. Right now he has too much validation that he's doing well enough, and he will just get irritated if you try to tell him otherwise.”

Jonathan wondered how much of her insight came from experience. Aside from that day in California so long ago, Elia had never brought up her past drug abuse, and he had never asked her about the details. If she had had a meltdown, it hadn't been in the public eye. He could see the deep look of concern for Patrick in her eyes, and could sense her bracing for a coming battle. It was an oddly beautiful look. He put his hands on her shoulders, and for a moment he thought about kissing her. Instead he told her he wouldn't let anything happen to Kane.

She said it was really important for Jon to keep an eye on Pat without letting him know about it. Start listening and paying attention to the chatter in the locker room. He might be surprised by what was going on. Elia knew a startling amount of league gossip. The NHL, like any organization, had its secrets. They were in a sport that required a lot of energy, a lot of focus, and a high tolerance to pain. A lot of the guys in the league were well known for partying hard. There were whispers of sudafed abuse, benzadrine, prescription pain killers and cocaine among other things, to keep the energy up and the pain dull. If something happened with Kane, or if he heard anything suspicious, she wanted him to call her.
“I'm only ever a three hour plane ride away. If you ever need me.” She said, sincerely, looking up at him.

The next morning Elia drove out to the suburbs one more time to see her the horses. Then there was a final stop Elia had to make in Chicago before heading to meet Brad in Boston. She sat down at the desk in her office, and sorted through some mail. Sam came in with coffees, some documents that needed to be signed, and some additional mail she had sorted as priority. Elia asked her to sit down.
“I need you to come to Boston with me for a month. Hire and train someone to replace you.” Elia said.
“Am I fired?” Sam's face turned white.
“What? No, I couldn't fire you, you know too much. You still want to work in the music industry?”
“...Yes.”
“I've got two options set up for you, so let me know by the end of the month if you would rather go into booking and events management or artist management.”

It was hard for Elia to let Sam go, but it was time. She had been working for Elia for almost five years. In the beginning, they had mostly been sidekicks and drinking buddies, but as Elia's business dealings had flourished Sam had started to step up. She was practically running the production office in Chicago. It was time for her to move on.

Notes