Miles Away

Danielle sat quietly on the steps waiting for me to arrive. I was really surprised that she would show up in Los Angeles. “Mike, can we talk” she asked and I nodded and invited her in.

We sat down in the living room and she looked upset. “Listen, I know my brother isn’t the greatest in the world, but he really needs his wife now. At this point, he doesn’t seem to think so, but he will realize soon enough how much he will miss her.”

I looked up at her and shook my head. “So he did throw her out then?” I asked.

“Yeah, but he is angry right now. He feels betrayed as he should.” She said icily to me.

“Look Dani, Raina and I made a mistake. We were good friends and took it too far. She thought he was cheating on her and she felt like he was not invested in their marriage anymore. I took advantage of it. It’s my fault. I should have never let it happen.”

She nodded her head. “You know he wants to kill you right. He is furious. He thinks you planned this all along. As for her, he says she is nothing to him now.”

“You know what Dani, in all honesty, she was wrong, but people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. In case he forgot, he wasn’t the only person who was cheated on in that relationship. In all reality, if he treated her better and actually spent time with his family, she wouldn’t have been so unhappy. I’ll stay away from her, but he better make amends with her and treat her right, or I will make sure she is happy.”

Dani gave me a death glare before walking out of my house. I called Andrej on the phone the minute she left. “Just wanted to let you know she arrived in Los Angeles safe and she just left my house. She isn’t happy with me, but I guess no one is. I just wanted to let you know she was ok as I’m sure she rushed out and probably didn’t tell you she got here ok.” Andrej thanked me.

I called Pam next, Jeff was away on a road trip but I knew she would talk to me. “Hey honey bear. How are you holding up?” she asked and I sighed.

“I guess I have been better. Raina told Danny in case you didn’t hear. I am number one enemy I am sure throughout the organization.” She just laughed quietly.

“Mike, don’t stress it. You don’t play for them anymore, what do you see them, once a year? I don’t know why she told him. Even if she wasn’t leaving, she should have took that one to the grave with the problems he is having. I talked to her tonight Mike. She is torn. She does love you, but she isn’t going to leave him. She doesn’t want to hurt him anymore than he already is hurt. I’m sorry.”

She sounded so sad on the phone. “It’s ok Pam, I told her the last time I talked to her to go back to him. She has a family to worry about. She just needs to make sure to make him treat her right. If I could take back everything I would. I would have never let it happen. I don’t know how, but somewhere along the way I let myself fall for her. Now I need to let her go. I will manage.”

I said goodbye to Pam and went to lay in the chair on the balcony overlooking the water. It had been a long few months. My mind was exhausted. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, wondering what the future would hold.

Apparently, the gods had plans for me because when I woke up this morning, I had a text message from Ava. It kind of surprised me. I had totally forgotten about seeing her at the game with all of the other craziness going on. It read “hope you had a safe flight home, have a great practice today.”

It was the first thing to make me smile in the last twenty-four hours. I dialed her number and let the phone ring but she didn’t answer and I figured she may be at work. I got dressed and headed for the rink. It was an optional skate day for us, but I wanted to practice a little. We had a pretty good road trip and I wanted to keep that going.

“Yo bro, things ok? Drew asked when he seen me firing on the empty net.

“Better today than yesterday. I have to let her go. Find someone for me. Ya know?” I said and he nodded.

“So I guess you are down to go out and party a little tonight then.” Brad said as he skated by.

“Yea, I am in.” I said feeling a little better. Hell I wasn’t going to go home and eat ice cream from the container, that is for damn sure.

We hit the club early last night, and it was already packed. LA was a lot different than Philly. There were a lot more people to pay attention to and people didn’t follow my every move. I drank with the boys for awhile before setting my sights on a leggy blonde. She was perfect, in an over-obsessed plastic sort of way. She was the perfect distraction and one time type deal I needed.

After buying her three drinks and dancing with her to one song, we were on the freeway headed towards a hotel, my package in her mouth.

I woke up the next morning with a hangover and a few scratches. I didn’t feel bad leaving, she didn’t seem much interested in me after I told her who I was. She told me she thought hockey was a silly sport and that real men played football. I slammed into her and made her retract her words as I made her come again and again. It was fun for a night, but I was not looking forward to going back to that lifestyle.

I got home around eleven and decided to take off from the optional skate today. Regular practices resumed tomorrow and I deserved a break.

I laid on the sofa and napped on and off throughout the day, ordering Chinese for lunch. I was half out of it around two o’clock when my phone rang and woke me up.

It was Ava. I sat up and answered the phone.

“Hey you, thank you for the message yesterday.” I said sounding like a dork because I was happy to hear from her.

“Sorry I missed your call, I worked for ten hours yesterday, I crashed when I came home last night. She said, sounding tired still.

“You work too hard Ava. You need a break.” I commented hoping she may come to visit me at some point.

“Yeah, well, I was going to see if you wanted to play tour guide for me at some point this weekend. My friend Megan offered to take the boys Thursday night and drop them off Sunday night so I could get away.”

The grin on my face couldn’t have been bigger. We had a game Saturday night but were off the rest of the weekend. It was a perfect time for her to visit. “Ok Ava, but I have one condition. You have to let me buy the plane tickets. Spend your money on the boys. When you are visiting me, it should be on me, not you. I have it to spare.”

“Mike, thank you.” She said quietly. I could see she was struggling with letting me pay but she agreed to it so that was a start in the right direction.

“So I will send you the info later on about what flight on Friday morning. I can’t wait to see you Ava. It will be nice having you here .”

She said goodbye and I looked around my house. Four days and counting to get my house together for her visit. I was excited to see her. Maybe we could work things out. It was worth being hopeful for.

Notes

:) Happy Friday Eve.