Cry to Me

“What an upset,” Sidney said aloud, referring to the Carolina/Boston game. Boston was down by four in the third period.He was reclined on his couch, legs crossed on the coffee table like an ottoman.He was nursing a beer while eating a bowl of popcorn.

“No shit,” Marc added with equal disbelief. He instantly covered his mouth, realizing that Estelle was playing with some of her toys on the rug within earshot.Sidney laughed at Marc, knowing Vero would strangle him for his terrible language around their daughter.Estelle was at the age where anything she heard would be replicated like a parrot.While he laughed in that moment, Sidney knew his time for foul language at home was limited as well.

“Just wait, man. You wont be able to say anything anymore,” Marc exhaled as he fell back onto the couch cushion.“They repeat everything.”

“I’ll just save it for the rink,” Sidney watched Estelle play with her toys, talking quietly to herself in her own little world. She was having a conversation with her toys, speaking a combination between English, French, and gibberish, occasionally raising her voice in excitement, making the dogs lift their ears while they laid on their beds.

In that very moment, a muffled clicking sound started to come over the monitor, and Sidney muted the television to listen. It was a noise he’d heard before.It was coming from the most adorable and endearing action that Sidney had immediately learned to love; it was thumb sucking.

“Estelle will never get over this. You broke her heart with Dulci, and now she’ll have to compete for your affections with Tucker.”Marc slapped Sidney on the back before getting up to get another bottle of water and bag of chips.

Sidney observed Estelle as she played with her toys, imagining what the future with Tucker would hold. He remembered playing with cars and action figures as a small child, but more importantly, he remembered the moment he wanted to play hockey.He couldn’t wait for the day that he could teach Tucker how to skate, hold a stick, shoot the puck.They’d play for hours in the cold, only to eventually come in and warm up with a cup of hot cocoa that Dulci prepared.Sidney was so consumed in his musings that he didn’t notice Sam and Noodle had perked up, thumping their tails onto their beds. Noodle was the first to get up and run to the door, followed by a more arthritic Sam as the front door opened.

“Estelle, mama is here,” Marc sang from the kitchen, causing Estelle to drop her toys and run to the front door, only to be knocked over by Noodle’s wagging tail, laughing when Sam nudged and licked her face.

“Hello, children!” Dulci cooed excitedly as she knelt down to greet her dogs, kissing both before she noticed Estelle getting swept continuously across the face by Noodle’s fluffy tail.

“Hello Ms. Estelle, lets go find your daddy,” Dulci said as she picked Estelle up and walked her hand in hand to the kitchen.

“Where’s Vero?” Marc asked with concern as he looked around Dulci toward the front door, wondering why his wife didn’t come in.Dulci quickly walked into the living room to pack up Estelle’s toys, greeting Sidney with a quick kiss on her way.

“She’s asleep in the car.She got sick at the restaurant and fell asleep on the way home.I didn’t want to wake her,” Dulci explained as she handed the traveling bag off, giving Marc a sympathetic smile.

She walked Marc and Estelle to the car, helping put Estelle in her seat as Marc woke Vero up to check on her.

“She’s been complaining that she’s nauseous and groggy for a couple of days.I hope she doesn’t have the stomach flu,” Marc shut her door and walked with Dulci to the driver’s side door.

“I don’t think it’s the flu,” Dulci said with a raised eyebrow and devious smile.

“No…” Marc shook his head, choking out a small laugh.“You have baby fever,” he pointed at her before pulling her into a hug.

“Just saying,” Dulci patted his back.“Call me when it’s positive,” she jabbed as she headed back toward her front door.

“I’ll be sure to call you.You can Sid can babysit,” he shouted out the window before backing out and driving away.

As she shut the front door, Dulci recalled the first time she and Sidney babysat Estelle.Her bottom lip would pucker and her chin would quiver every time she looked at Dulci.She watched as Sidney entertained her for hours, coloring, painting, watching cartoons, playing house, and napping. Dulci smiled at the thought of Sidney and Estelle asleep on the couch with the credits of some children’s movie rolling in the background.She knew she’d see that again very soon, only this time it wouldn’t be Estelle.She walked to the backdoor, letting Sam and Noodle outside.As she was walking toward the kitchen to get something to drink, Sidney hooked his arm around the waist, pulling her onto his lap.

“I can’t believe I let you out in that,” Sidney said as he looked her up and down, specifically at the slightly see through black shirt and black mid-length leather skirt.He kissed her, entwining his fingers with hers, bringing it to his chest as the kiss grew with desire, only to be interrupted by the sound of commotion coming from the monitor.

“I missed my guys,” Dulci told Sidney as she wiped her lip gloss off of his lips with her finger, melting into him as he gently took hold on her wrist, kissing each and every fingertip.

“We missed you,” Sidney returned as he turned the television off.“I’ve got to say, I’m really surprised you didn’t call more for your first night without him,”

“That’s because I knew your were more than capable of taking care of him on your own,” Dulci yawned as she snuggled into him, resting her head on his shoulder.“How’d he do?” Dulci questioned, kissing his cheek before giving him her full attention.

“He was fine.I had him down here while Marc and I watched the game.He got a little fussy so I took him into the nursery to feed him and put him down,” he recounted like he did in pre and postgame interviews, subtly biting his lip between thoughts.There was nothing in the world that made Dulci more turned on than seeing Sidney with their son, the way he gently held him, burped him, fed him, rocked him, changed him.He was very hands-on without any reservation, and she couldn’t have asked for more.She wanted him right then and there, on their living room couch, away from the nursery where moans and cries were less likely to wake the baby.She got up and faced him, resituating herself to straddle him, giving him an uninhibited kiss as he slowly pushed her skirt higher to rest on her hips, squeezing her ass as she subtly rocked against him.As she threw her head back in ecstasy, Sidney moved down her chin and neck, gently nipping at her skin as he traveled toward her breasts, caressing them with his hands.He could tell she was uncomfortably full as she pulled back, needing to “pump and dump,” as she termed it.She bit her lip uncomfortably, looking away from him with embarrassment.

“Sorry… I just don’t want that to happen again.”He knew exactly what she was talking about.She was on top, meeting him thrust for thrust as she rubbed her clit.He was holding her breasts, switching between squeezing and stimulating her nipples, something he knew she couldn’t get enough of.He knew she was very close, so he cupped them again, putting pressure on her nipples between his pointer and middle finger as he squeezed them.At the same time, she letdown all over his hands and arms, something that neither of them knew could happen.While she was mortified, Sidney didn’t care.He just wanted to give her an orgasm, something that hadn’t physically happened since Tucker was born, but it wasn’t without trying.

He slid his hand around her back and pulled her back to him, kissing her worries away as she relaxed into him again.He was just about to flip her on her back to go down on her, the one way he knew he could get her to climax when Noodle’s scratching on the backdoor interrupted them before running off.

“Let’s go to bed,” he slapped Dulci’s butt playfully.

“Will you let the dogs in?I’m going to go say goodnight,” Dulci asked as she walked toward the stairs.

“Inside,” Sidney yelled after whistling, listening as the faint jingling of collar tags got closer.Both Noodle and Sam ran inside the house and into their perspective beds as Sidney locked the back door, turning off lights as he heading toward the staircase to finish what he started.

He paused as he passed the coffee table, slowly reaching for the monitor as he heard Dulci singing quietly in Tucker’s bedroom.It was a song that he vaguely knew, probably something he heard in a TV show a long time ago.

He slowly climbed the stairs as she sang, taking the monitor as he went.

“My funny valentine.Sweet comic valentine.You make me smile with my heart.Your looks are laughable.Unphotographable.Yet you’re my favorite work of art.But don’t change a hair for me.Not if you care for me.

Stay little valentine stay.Each day is Valentines Day.”

He’s never heard Dulci sing until Tucker was born, and she only sang when she thought no one was listening.Sidney wished she’d sing more often. She had a soft voice and wasn’t tone deaf like him.He listened as she sang the short song again, undressing down to his boxers before lying down.He put the monitor on his night stand, smiling as he remembered one of the many nights they woke up to Tucker crying.Dulci insisted she got up because Sidney had a game that evening while Sidney argued that he should go because she had a stressful adrenal gland tumor removal the following morning.The difference was that he could nap during the day while Dulci couldn’t, not to mention that lives were in her hands.

“Vero’s pregnant,” Dulci said as she entered the room, shutting the door behind her.

“Oh yeah?”Sidney watched as Dulci undressed in the walk in closet, taking her shirt off to reveal her cupped breasts spilling over her black satin bra.

“Yeah.She doesn’t know it yet, but she is.”Dulci slipped her shoes off one at a time, and as she was in the process of unzipping her skirt, Sidney whipped her around and pushed her into the dresser, lifting her to sit on the top as he kissed her deeply and fully, making her moan out of surprise.

“Is he asleep?” he said breathily resting his forehead against hers.

“Yes.”Dulci exhaled as she pulled him back to her, kissing him intensely.

“Good, because I’m going to fuck you until you come, and I don’t care about what happened last time,” he said as he caressed her breast, causing her to moan into his mouth as he carried her to the bed, laying her down as he took her in.Her hips were slightly wider and she had a small pooch on her stomach, but he didn’t mind it.He actually enjoyed the physically changes that came with pregnancy.He laid down on top of her, kissing her erotically as she pulled his shirt off, placing it next to them as he undid her bra, throwing it across the room as he kissed down her jaw and neck.Her breath hitched as he took one of his nipples into his mouth, trying hard not to stimulate her too much. He slowly traveled down her stomach, planting kisses all over her stomach as he slipped her skirt and underwear off of her body.He spread her legs before slowly and ever so lightly took her clitoris between his lips to suck, releasing it with a smack as he heard her let out a long and low moan, throwing her head back onto the mattress.He went to repeat the action when a loud sound started to come over the monitor, causing them both the jump.It sounded like the alarm from the guest bedroom.

He opened his eyes, sitting up quickly to gauge his surroundings before turning his phone alarm off, not realizing it was a reminder notification.He turned over to find Dulci sleeping in a pile of conference papers, drooling on her pillow.He slowly reclined next to her, resting his head in his hand as he brushed hair off of her face.He gazed at the woman in front of him, the same woman he just dreamt about in the most realistic and intimate of ways.He wasn’t a dreamer in the sense that he remembered his dreams, but the fact that he remembered that particular dream made him want it even more, like it was some kind of foresight into what he and Dulci would become.He leaned in closer, giving her a light Eskimo kiss, causing her to stir.

“Was I snoring?” she asked groggily, wiping her eyes.

“Just drooling.”He smiled, giving her a kiss before pulling her to lie on top of him.He woke up with a raging erection and wanted nothing more than to exhaust it.

“Wow… we really slept the day away,” Dulci commented as she caught sight of her watch, the first time she opened her eyes since the mild foreplay started.

“What time is it?” he asked between kisses to kisses to her neck.

“Its almost seven,” she said as she sat up to straddle him, unbuttoning her shirt as he caressed her thighs.She stopped immediately when she saw Sidney’s panicky look.

“Shit.” He sat up, gently pushed her off of him as he looked at his phone.They missed the first part of his plans for their evening.

“What’s wrong?” Dulci asked as she sat up, buttoning her shirt, startled by his sudden change in behavior.

“I made dinner reservations at six.We missed it,” he huffed, combing his hands through his hair in frustration.

“Well, I’m not sure if you’re up for it, but I know a fantastic pizza place around the corner,” she offered with a shrug, unsure if he’d go for unhealthy food during the rigorous season.When he didn’t respond immediately, Dulci nervously continued.“If you’re up for it, that is.We could go somewhere else.I know you have to abide by a regimented diet right now, but since I effed up your dinner reservation, I thought I’d throw out some options…” she said in one breath, only inhaling when he smiled at her.He couldn’t believe how lucky he was so have a girlfriend that was so accommodating, not at all upset that his attempt at a romantic dinner on the town was off the table because of their long nap.She’s never questioned or nagged him about anything he’d done or hadn’t done.His attempt at planning was usually interrupted by something in his professional life, and she never complained.

“How did you fuck up my dinner plans?” he pulled her down next to him.

“You asked me to wake you up in two hours and I fell asleep.”

“Pizza sounds good.How long are they open?”

“I’m not sure.Maybe three or four AM?Nothing closes around here.”

“Good,” he smiled as he rolled on top of her.“Because there’s something I’ve wanted to do since you walked through that door this morning,” he said as he started unbuttoning her shirt.

Three hours later, they finally made it to the small restaurant, sharing a large supreme pizza with a pitcher of beer after working up a huge appetite in the hotel room.Sidney watched in awe at how euphoric the evening seemed and he couldn’t decide if Dulci’s afterglow was because of multiple orgasms or the spontaneity of their impromptu change of plans. She was laughing hysterically at something he said, something he didn’t even realize was funny.Laughing with her, he chalked it up to being the amount of cheap beer she drank.She wasn’t drunk, but she was definitely on her way.

“Don’t you feel like you traveled through time to get here?”Dulci looked around the restaurant, moving her head subtly to the selection of 40s and 50s music playing.

“Yeah.”He had noticed the decorations as they walked in.It looked like an old dinner.The wait staff wore uniforms from the period with paper caps and red bowties.As he continued to look around the room, his phone started to ring for the fourth time that evening.

“I’m sorry.Do you mind if I step outside to take this?” he asked politely, taking a sip of beer as he scooted out of the booth.

“Not at all,” she waved him off, smiling as she finished her slice of pizza.

He stepped outside into the chilly Manhattan air as he took the call.

“Hello?” he answered zipping up his collared sweatshirt to keep out the chill.

“Why, hello there.”It was Carly.

Sidney closed his eyes, admonishing himself for not checking his caller ID prior to taking the call.He knew better, but he figured it was someone important considering the frequency of the calls.

“Carly, this isn’t a good time,” he started, only to get interrupted by his ex-girlfriend.

“Don’t hang up!I know you’re spending the night in New York with Dulci.My call is about her.”

“What about Dulci?” he asked, worried about the concern in Carly’s voice.

“I’m sure you’re aware that her birthday is around the corner.I’m throwing a surprise birthday party for her and I was wondering if you would consider helping me plan it?”

“Yeah, sure.I’d love to help if I have time.”He loved to surprise Dulci, something that he never thought to do in previous relationships.It was the way her face lit up when she wasn’t expecting him that kept him wanting to do it over and over.He knew that he loved Dulci, wanting to give her anything and everything she wanted.It was the same reason he bought her unlimited access to the veterinary conference and a room at the Waldorf Astoria.The only crutch in the plan is that he wasn’t sure if he physically could help Carly.It all depended on his schedule.

“You’ll make time, for her,” Carly scolded.“This is your downfall, Sid.You don’t ever consider your girlfriends.And before you get onto your soapbox, I’m well aware that you’re a big deal and have a lot riding on your shoulders.It’s always about you and your game schedule.You’re lucky she doesn’t mind because of her own schedule.She makes sacrifices to be with you, so you’d better make sacrifices for her.”

Sidney looked into the window of the restaurant, watching as Dulci finished her glass of beer, smiling as she sang along to whatever song was playing on the speakers.

“Do you love her?”Carly’s probing took Sidney by surprise.He knew he loved her, but felt uncomfortable talking to his ex-girlfriend about his feelings for his new girlfriend.He remembered his dream, the preview of his married life with her, something he knew he wanted to see more of.

“Answer me,” Carly demanded in a quiet, yet menacing tone.

“Yes, I love her,” he confirmed as he watched Dulci through the window.She caught eyes with him, waving with a sweet and cheerful smile.She mouthed to him if he was ok, concern arising on her face for a quick moment until he shook his head, smiling as he put two fingers against his temple, mimicking a gun.

“Good.Because she’s in love with you.”

The idea that Dulci loved him as much as he loved her made him tingle with excitement, smiling at the thought of her actually telling him.While his valiant attempt at a romantic even fell through, Dulci’s idea was turning out to be more than he’d ever imagined. He wanted to spend all of his free time with Dulci.

“Carly, I’ll call you later.I want to spend time with my girlfriend.Goodnight,” he said, hanging up before Carly had a chance to respond.

He walked into the restaurant and sat down across from Dulci.He noticed the pizza was boxed and Dulci was putting on her vest and scarf.

“Sorry about that.Let me get the check and then we’ll go back to the room,” Sidney told her as he waved down the waiter.

“I already paid,” Dulci told him as she scooted out of the booth, gripping the table for support, snickering at the feeling of being mildly intoxicated.

“I’m supposed to pay.” He took her hand and the pizza, exiting the restaurant as he placed her hand around his waist, putting his hand around her shoulder to guide her.

“I’m not sure if you’re aware, Mr. Crosby, but it’s the twenty first century and women can pay on dates,” she said matter-of-factly, trying not to slur her words.

“Besides, I owe you a lot of money,” Dulci sighed as she snuggled up to him for warmth.

“You owe me nothing,” he told her, kissing her forehead.

“Did you honestly think I was going to allow you to pay for all of this?” Dulci asked as she gestured at their surroundings.

“I wouldn’t have done any of it if I didn’t want to.I told you that you deserved it.”

They walked in silence for a while, just enjoying the company of one another.As they were waiting at a crosswalk, Sidney noticed Dulci humming absentmindedly, and without notice, she started singing out loud.

“Stars shining bright above you.Night breezes seem to whisper I love you.Birds singing in the sycamore tree.Dream a little dream of me.”

The beginning of the song started as an octave above a whisper, but as she continued to sing, the volume got louder to the point where bystanders were looking at them.He tried to playfully cover her mouth, but she pushed his hand away, singing louder as she faced him.

“Say nighty-night and kiss me.”Sidney kissed her in an attempt to distract her from the song, but also because he thought she was being incredibly cute regardless of his mild embarrassment.

“Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me.While I’m alone, blue as can be.Dream a little dream of me.”

“Dulci,” he chuckled, trying to get her attention, covering her mouth as she belted the lyrics to a song he barely knew but instantly liked.

“Stars fading but I linger on, dear.Still craving your kiss,” she pulled him down to her by his sweatshirt, kissing him while she continued to hum the rest of the chorus into his mouth.

“I want you,” she whispered to him as they continued to walk into the hotel, fighting to keep their hands off of each other until they got into the elevator.

Once the elevator doors closed, Sidney pushed her against the wall, giving her an uninhibited kiss as the elevator climbed toward their destination.When the doors opened, he pulled her quickly in the direction of their room to the point where she was jogging to keep up.Once he pushed the door open, he picked her up and threw her onto the bed, wanting to rip her clothes off to get to her flesh.As he pulled his belt, setting up to toss it toward his suitcase, Dulci stopped him, grabbing his wrist, looking at him with dark, erotic eyes.

“Wait,” she insisted, taking the belt out of his hands, softly running her fingers over the leather, biting her lip before she looked at him.She stood from the bed, getting as close to him as possible as she placed the leather belt back into his hand.She craned her head up to his ear as if telling him a secret.After she finished whispering, she seductively undressed in front of him.Once she was naked, she started to turn around.

“Dulci, I’ve..” he started to tell her openly.

She leaned back to him, telling him what to do before turning around, leaning over the bed.Sidney gulped, unwilling to forfeit or admit he was nervous.What she wanted was uncharted territory for him, but he’d do it.

Notes