Skating in the Dark

The next morning I woke up to my phone ringing. I reach over to grab it and then I answer "Hello."

"Is this Tina speaking?"

"Yeah."

"Hi this is Sam Rico one of your old sponsors. Heard what happened and I'm sorry. I also heard everyone is dropping you, I am dropping you but I am however also here for you, anything you need let me know. Oh I have to go. Take care."

"Thanks Mr. Rico. Have a nice day." And with that we both hang up. Domino ran to the door and barked signaling he had to go out. "Here boy" he trots over and I grab his collar. "door" I say and he leads me over to the door and I open it. Once it's open I say "front door" and he leads me to the front door. I open the door and let him go out by himself. He runs out to do his business then starts to head back, but sees something off in the distance and chases it. "DOMINO!" I yelled, but he kept running. 'Great' I though. I called Erin on the phone, since she was at work. "Er, Domi, Domino ran away."

"Its okay he is smart he will find his way home. Plus I changed his tags to my address."

"Er I love you!"

"I know! I got to go. I’ll see you later. Don't forget to lock the door.” She says before hanging up. I close and lock the door before making my way to the kitchen. I see a bowl and a box of my favorite cereal next to it. I pour myself a bowl of cereal, pour some milk in, pour a glass of orange juice, a glass of apple juice and a glass of cranberry juice. As I'm putting the dishes in the dishwasher I hear my phone ringing. I try to make it to my phone in time but don't make it because I left it by the front door. I pick it up and dial for my voice mail.
'one new message'. “Hey, I think I have your dog. I was calling to see when you wanted to meet. I will swing by your house and drop him off around 10. That's 40 minutes. I hope that's okay. Alright bye.” 'end messages to replay..'I hang up and check the time. 9:25. I decide to get a shower and change into something clean, before sitting on the couch and pulling up my pc. I end up youtubing my fall and am watching the second to last jump I land before the fall when the doorbell rings. I pause the video and say as loudly as I can that I'm coming.
I walk as quickly but as safely as I can to the door when I hear knocking. “Coming” I yell again hoping they can hear me. I reach the door and open it right as the man at the door was mid knock.
“uh hey,” he says then pauses before continuing, “this your dog?”
I look down but all I see is a blur. I try to hide the fact that I can't see and kneel down and put my hand out. A paw is instantly in my hand. I say “Hey Domi, you bad boy. You shouldn't have taken off.” I then stand and say to the man “Yeah, thanks. I don't know what got into him, he normally doesn't take off. Thank you for bringing him home.” I say with a smile.
“Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. I'm sorry. I'm Daniel, but everyone calls me Danny.” He says sticking out his hand. I put my hand out hoping it's near his. He must have moved his hand closer to mine before shaking my hand.
“Hi Danny, I’m Tina, Tina Johnson,” I say shaking his hand. There is a comfortable silence as he puts two and two together.
“Oh mon Dieu. You’re the figure skater who fell, yeah?” He asks.
“Yeah, that was me,” I say trying to hide my emotions at the thought of my career ending from the mentioned fall.
“We are looking forward to seeing you perform at the Wells Fargo Center,” he says.
“Oh, I, Im sorry. Im not skating. Im done,” I pause as I notice we are still in the doorway, “Sorry, care to come in?”
“Oh, yeah, thanks.” He says as I step aside. He walks in and Domino follows him in, but turns around and waits for me. I close and lock the door and grab Domino’s collar. Danny steps aside as Domino leads me into the kitchen. We stop at the island.
“What anything to drink?” I ask.
“Yeah, do you have water?”
“Yeah, one second,” I say to Danny before whispering “fridge” to Domino. I open the door and grab a bottle. I try to look at it but can’t tell what it is. “I think this is a water.” I say before trying to hand it to him.
“Thanks,” he says and takes the bottle.
“You said we. Who all was going to watch me skate?”
“Oh, I play hockey,” he pauses and notices my reaction, “Yeah I know,” he laughs, “and a few of the guys figured it could be fun. And I watched some videos of you before deciding, I’d wanted to see that kind of grace in person.”
“Well, I’m not going be skating anymore, and definitely not competitively. I am truly sorry,” I say before grabbing Domino’s collar and whispering to him, "couch”. I take a seat on the couch and motion for him to do the same.
“I won't be able to skate due to my vision. It's far too risky and I could seriously hurt myself or others,” I continue after a moment of silence.
“I couldn't believe having to give up hockey because of an injury, I won't pretend to know how it feels, but I know how hard it is to stay away from something you love.”
“You said you play hockey, what position?”
“Forward. I play center. I have a lot of great guys to call my teammates, friends and family, on and off the ice.”
“Thats cool. I haven't been to a hockey game in ages. And now i probably won't even be able to watch.”
“Yeah, it's fun. I haven’t seen a game as a fan in a long time. I should get going. I have to head to practice.”
“Thanks for bringing him home. Where did you find him?” I ask while getting up off the couch, grabbing Domino’s collar and starting to head towards the front door.
“He was sitting at the back door, and then was playing with my two dogs. And my neighbors don’t have a dog, and I saw he had tags, so I called.”
“Thanks again. I hope he wasn't any trouble.” I say before opening the door.
“It was nothing. It was nice taking. Maybe I’ll see you around.” He said before walking out of the door and to his car. Domino sat down next to me and started whining.
“Domi. It’s fine. Let’s go watch your favorite movie. Come on.” I say to my big puppy, after closing the door and locking it. A few seconds after I sit back down on the couch and turn on Marmaduke the front door opens and Erin comes running it. I pause the movie and Domi looks at me and lets out a whine.
“OH MY GOD! DID you See who was here?!?” she squeals with excitement.
“Um. Domi is back.” I say.
“Hi domi,” she says petting him, “Daniel Fucking BRIERE!”
“Who?”
“The Philadephia Flyers.”
“Hockey?”
“UH YEAHHHH,” she says full of sass and a hint of ‘isn't it obvious.’
“Oh. Well a Danny dropped of Domi.”
“Briere dropped off your dog!”
“And he also called me.”
“HOLY SHIT!”
“Why are you home? Its not even two yet.”
“I came home for my lunch break.”
“Oh fun, Well Domi is gonna watch his Movie. Be safe. And no you can't have his number.”
“But…” she whines.
“Nope. Love youuuu.”
“You’re mean,” she says before disappearing. She comes back and picks up the bottle off the coffee table. “T next time put the sweet tea on a coaster. Or on the rug.”
I look at her and realize that I gave him a bottle of Sweet Tea instead of water.
I fall asleep and wake up to Domino’s stomach growling and my bladder feeling like it's about to explode. “Domi, bathroom.” I say waking him up. He jumps up and walks me quickly to the bathroom. After washing my hands I walk into the laundry room to feed Domi. I grab his food and he disappears as I go to put the bowl down. He comes back with my phone in his mouth. I get the phone and see I have a new message. I open up my voice mail for the second time today. “Domi let's go outside before you eat.” I open up the back door and he runs out to do his business as my phone announces a missed call. “Hey T, I'm going out to dinner tonight with Jerry. Don't worry about me. I can pick up food if you want. Just call and leave a message. If not I'll see ya tomorrow. Love you!”
I hear a scratch at the door and say “Domi” and in response I get a bark. I open the door and he sits in front of his bowl. “Dinner time” and he starts to eat.
I head into the kitchen, slowly, and find some salad and make that my dinner. As I'm finishing up I hear my phone ping with a new message. I decide to ignore it. And go to my room. I lay on my bed and am soon asleep.

Notes

This Chapter is longer, hope it makes up for the last chapter being so short.