Changes

Opening day for training camp in Philadelphia was mind-blowing. The amount of people crammed into the rink surprised me. I scanned the crowd and noticed a few people wearing my new number “27”. Maybe the transition wouldn’t be so hard after all.

I honestly didn’t think I would be so well received. I had friends on the team so I knew that wouldn’t be an issue. I figured the fans would give me a hard time, especially those who still were bitter over the fight I had against Carcillo in the playoffs a few years back. It was an eerie feeling, Philadelphia’s golden boy was gone, shipped off to LA in the offseason, gone with him was half of their team from last year.

I had gotten into town about two weeks ago, Danny Briere picking me up from the airport and taking me back to his house. His wife Raina was one of my closest friends. They had convinced me that Philly was a good fit and honestly, the money and length of contract was too hard to turn down. I was actually living across the street from them in Raina’s old house with Claude Giroux, Philly’s rising superstar.

Raina was thrilled I was playing for Philly. She took the offseason hard, losing Pam and Jeff, Kris and worst of all Mike. Those two were really close. He was her son’s godfather and her confidant when I couldn’t be.

She had a hard time with one of my teammates before she got married to Danny and for a while, we weren’t as close as we used to be. That had changed once she got married and Jordan got over her. I was her one bright spot in the offseason. On top of everything, she was forced to accept Jagr as one of our teammates. I think the words “mortal enemy” were used to describe him in the beginning.

She was the type of girl hockey players would die for. She was a great mom, she ran around like crazy and never complained, she was close with the team and could still go out and have a good time.

I hit the ice skating hard, wanting to have a good practice so the media had nothing to complain about. Most of us had volunteered to stick around and participate in the Free Skate they had scheduled after the practice. It was a routine, fairly short practice, mainly for the fans as camp didn’t really start until Monday and today was only Saturday.

I skated by the far end of the rink and noticed Raina. She was talking to an older security guard, handing him a cup of coffee. Jolie and Daniel were running around like crazy. She had her leg blocking the ramp, she was handing cookies to the twins and talking.

Danny had skated up beside me by that point. “Is she always this calm with them?” I asked, knowing she probably was.

Danny smiled. “Man I have no idea how she does it. Although she did get really upset the other day when Caelan brought home a girl she felt was too easy. I had to listen to her and Sylvie commiserate on the phone for an hour.”

We skated back towards center ice and re-joined the team. Twenty minutes later and practice wrapped up. I went back to the locker room and showered, throwing on jeans and a hoodie before running out to say goodbye to Raina and the twins. The boys were apparently somewhere on the ice by that point.

I sat back down and laced my skates back up. There was a good amount of people on the ice, mainly teenagers and little kids who could barely keep their balance. I made eye contact with Claude who was surround by giggling teenage girls. His eyes pleaded for help and all I could do was shrug at him. Brayden wan’t fairing much better at center ice.

I had made a promise to myself when I got traded to Philly that I would try and start behaving and maybe even settle down. Pittsburgh was a blast, but it brought out the devil in me for six years I didn’t have one meaningful relationship. I figured new city, new start.

I didn’t realize how hard that would be I thought as I glanced over at the girl against the glass. Typical bunny, blond, slim, lots of make up in jeans that looked like they may have been painted on. She was standing around with several other girls laughing, not even attempting to move on her bright pink skates that she probably bought this morning.

The devil on my shoulder was telling me to go for it. I was sex deprived by my standards, fifteen days and counting. I had a conscience though. It was telling me to leave it alone in a strange, Sidney-like voice. I had to laugh at myself and remember to call Sid later to tell him he was my own Jiminy Cricket. I turned abruptly to skate the other direction and collided into someone, knocking them down. I looked down praying it wasn’t a kid.

Her green eyes bore a hole into me. “Good job Talbot, hurt one of your few fans here” she said as the little boy beside her looked concerned. “I’m ok sweetheart.” she said and I swear my heart may have skipped a beat.

I reached my hand down to help her up. “I’m really sorry Miss. I wasn’t paying attention.” I managed to stutter out as I pulled her to her feet.

“It’s ok, no harm no foul.” She called skating away hand in hand with the little boy. I paused for a minute, surprised she didn’t stay and talk to me. Philly girls were sure different.

At least this one was. I skated around the rink in the opposite direction, meeting her on the other side. “I didn’t catch your name.”

She gave me a small smile. “It’s Callee, and this is Brendan. He just happens to be a big fan of the Flyers and Penguins.”

I crouched down. “Oh yeah, so who is your favorite hockey player. His face lit up as he said Fleury. She shook her head beside him.

“Well you are in luck cause he is one of my best friends. I pulled my phone out and hit the number 3 on speed dial. Marc answered almost immediately. "Marc, me faire une faveur et dire bonjour à mon petit ami Brendan ici. Vous êtes son joueur préféré. Il a obtenu vraiment excité quand je l'ai dit, je savais que vous. Et d'ailleurs, j'ai besoin d'aide. La femme, avec qu'il est est chaude et j'ai déjà renversé son par accident.”

He agreed quickly and I handed the phone to Brendan. They talked for a few minutes and then he handed the phone back to me. I hung up promising I would call him later.

“Thanks Max” Brendan said grabbing her hand.

She looked at me her green eyes glistening. “So you think I’m hot, eh? Vous n'êtes pas si mauvais vous-même.” she said and promptly started to skate away. “See you around Maxime” she called.

I left her alone the rest of the time she was there. I didn’t want to bother her or seem too overzealous. A lot of the guys approached her and Branden. She would talk to them casually and then skate away after a few minutes.

The old Max would have skated beside her until she agreed to go out with me, but I was trying to change. Besides, something told me if I did that she would never agree to go out with me.

After the skate ended, I went to Friendly’s with James, Wayne, Claude and Brayden. We were seated almost immediately and the service was quick. According to Claude, they went here a lot. We placed our orders and started to make plans for the night. It was the last night to go out before camp started. We had just gotten our menus for dessert when I saw her being seated. It was just her and Brendan still and he immediately saw us and yelled “hey guys.” She smiled and waved, helping him into the booth.

Claude walked over to her and Schenn looked at me. “Bro she is hot, even for a mom.” I just shook my head, mad because Claude beat me to the punch. He ended up dragging her over to our table.

“Ok guys, this is Callee and her nephew Brendan. I convinced her to eat dessert for lunch today” he said smiling. She sat down and we all had to laugh at her order. She ordered a large hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream and hot fudge. When it came, Reemer shook his head. “No way you are eating all of that.”

I took my spoon and tried to get some but she smacked my hand. “No way Maxime. All mine. You guys have camp. No messing up your diets.” She ended up eating about 75% of it before giving up and posing for a picture with Reemer for his twitter.

Notes

New story. I miss Max.

Marc, me faire une faveur et dire bonjour à mon petit ami Brendan ici. Vous êtes son joueur préféré. Il a obtenu vraiment excité quand je l'ai dit, je savais que vous. Et d'ailleurs, j'ai besoin d'aide. La femme, avec qu'il est est chaude et j'ai déjà renversé son par accident-------------------

-Hey Marc, do me a favor and say hi to my little friend Brendan here. You are his favorite player. He got really excited when I said I knew you. And besides, I need help . The woman he is with is hot and I already knocked her down by accident

Vous n'êtes pas si mauvais vous-même.-------------- You are not so bad yourself.