Changes

“Well fellas, thanks for the invite. I’m sure Bren will be talking about this for weeks. I need to get him home. I will see you guys around.” She was walking away again and for some odd reason, I couldn’t get out the words to ask for her number. I wanted to kick myself.

“Ok, well she is awful interesting. You got her number Claude?” Wayne asked as he was getting up from the table. “Nope, was too busy trying to get her to the table and figure out where I have seen her before. Its killing me but I know I run into her, just can’t remember from where.”

Reemer laughed, “funny I was thinking the same thing. Whatever it is though is just in passing, because I wouldn’t not remember her.” We paid the bill and left.

I headed home to take a nap before we went out tonight. I slept for two hours, showered and threw on shorts to walk across the street. Cam answered the door with the Wii controller. I walked into the living room and Danny was laying on the floor, Jolie and Daniel running all around him. I could hear the boys downstairs battling out in another NHL 2012 fest and I could see Caelan sitting on the deck with some of his friends.

“Where’s Rainy?” I asked, picking Jolie up and giving her a kiss.

“Shower. Probably just for peace and quiet. It’s a madhouse around here right now. We got ours, three of the neighbors, plus Caelan has a few over.”

I smiled at him. “You two love it though. Do you guys want to go out tonight? I think most of us are going out and I heard from a little birdie named Danielle that your Maman is in town and offering to watch the kids.“

He sat up and Rainy ran down the steps. “We are so going out and getting loaded. We need it. She is coming at 7 pm so any time after that works.” Danny agreed.

I put Jolie down and headed back across to my house. Claude was just getting in. “Last night to party eh, better make it a good night” he said as he threw his practice stuff down.

“I got a present for you. A welcome to Philly type deal” he said flinging a piece of paper at me. I looked at it curiously until I realized the name written in big letters at the top.

“When did you get her number? And isn’t it a little stalkerish to call her when she gave it to you.”

He opened a bottle of beer and handed it to me. “Well she did give it to me for you so no, it isn’t psycho type stuff. I remembered where I knew her from. She works at the hospital. She is a nurse in the maternity ward. I had to think about it for a while but I remembered her in passing when Raina had the twins and Jeff’s wife had Mikey but she was one of the main nurses in the NICU when Andrej and Dani’s daughter was there. No one was really allowed to visit her so I didn’t see her too much. So I went to the hospital and asked one of the other nurses for her phone number. She called her for me and I asked for her number for you once she agreed to talk to me.”

I looked up and grinned. “I owe you, seriously.”

I headed upstairs and jumped onto the bed, dialing her number. “Hello?” she answered in the cutest city girl accent.

“Hey Callee, it’s Max. Claude gave me your number.”

She paused for a second. “Yeah, I don’t know why you just didn’t ask me for it.”

I mentally kicked myself. “Yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t either. So listen, us guys are going out tonight, most of the team, some of the wives, stuff like that. Do you want to come with me?”


She answered quickly and it made me feel so much better. “Yep, how do you want to meet?”

I thought for a second. “Would it be ok if I came and picked you up and brought you to my place a little bit early? We are all meeting here at seven o’clock. Not sure where we are going yet.”

Someone was clicking in on my other line. “Sounds good, just call me when you want to come get me and I’ll give you directions.”

I hung up and switched over. It was Marc again. “What’s good Flower? You know that girl I was talking to you about, she spoke French.”

He laughed. “Only you Max.”

We talked for a little bit while I tried to figure out something to wear for the night. I finally settled on jeans and a black shirt that was kind of on the tighter side. The ice cream probably didn’t help today but screw it. I hung up with Marc and got dressed.

It was ten minutes until six when I finished. I dialed her back and she gave me directions to her apartment in the city. I parked in a lot and walked down Arch street until I found the building. It was a fairly large building. I rang her bell and she buzzed me in. She was on the sixth floor. The apartment was modern and immaculate, although on the smaller side. She showed me around quickly and we left, headed for the lot I parked in. “You look beautiful tonight.” I said, running my gaze from head to toe. She was dressed in a brown tank top with cream accents, a pair of dark jeans and sandals that maybe gave her another 3 inches of height. She was pretty close to my height with the shoes.

She looked up and smiled. “Thanks, you don’t look bad yourself.”

We got into the car and ended up back at the house about thirty minutes early. Claude was still in the shower. I took her across the street figuring she would feel more comfortable if she met Rainy and Danielle.

I knocked on the door and could hear the kids rushing towards the door. Raina came chasing behind them . “Max, yell at them to calm down, Danny went to get Maman from Andrej and Danielle’s. They don’t listen to me.”

I laughed and grabbed Callee’s hand. “Raina, this is Callee, my date. Callee pulled her hand away.

“And who said I agreed to this being a date Maxime?” Callee said and Raina cracked up. I turned red.

“God, me and you are so going to get along. I think I know you anyway. You work at Virtua right?” Callee and Raina walked away talking.

I gathered up all of the boys and sent the kids that didn’t belong there home. I spoke to Caelan who was going out, but promised to be home early enough to help Maman put the boys to bed. I promised him concert tickets. The little ones were easier, I told them if they didn’t behave I was coming home to watch them and they were gonna miss a week of hockey.

I picked up Daniel who had started to fuss and walked into the kitchen. “So not even gonna ask why this kid got a Kings shirt on.”

She grinned. “Richie sent it to me last week. So excited to see him soon. I haven’t seen him since his golf tourney over the summer.”

She looked up at Callee and explained. “Mike is Daniel’s godfather. Do you watch hockey at all?”

Callee grinned “I watch almost all sports.”

I had to laugh. “Boy you two are a match made in heaven.”

Danny walked in after that carrying Andreja. Danny's Maman gave me a huge hug and I introduced Callee who made an awesome impression by speaking French to her. I got to hold Andreja for the first time, the little miracle who had stolen everyone’s heart.

Callee stood next to me and smiled. “God I can’t believe how big she is getting now. Those two are awesome parents. I have never seen two people more dedicated.“ We said goodnight to Maman and followed Raina and Danny to their car ready to get out and have a good time. We were meeting everyone else back in Philly.

Notes

:) Thoughts ?