Tread This Fantasy

“Hi, it’s me. Mel. I’m just calling to tell you that I, uh, I think maybe it would be best if we didn’t see each other anymore. You’re busy with your career and it’s inappropriate for me to date a client of Mike’s. Thanks... for everything. The skating lessons and dinners and the hockey game. You’ll make some lucky girl really happy one day. So, yeah... bye.”

Sid listened to the message three times in a row. He felt sick and confused. Did he take it too far last night? Was the phone sex too much? Did it scare her off? It didn’t sound like it at the time, but until then everything had been perfect. He was going to finish out the road trip with two wins, come home for a game at Consol and then a dinner with her. Alone. In her apartment. Where he had planned on getting her into bed and seeing if they could take things to the next level.

Now this. This weird message where she basically dumped him. It hurt.

“Hey, get your ass moving,” Kuni said, smacking Sid on the shoulder and dropping a bag by his feet. “We’re going to be late for morning skate.”

“Yeah.” Sid shoved his phone in his pocket and grabbed his gear, moving toward the bus that was idling on the tarmac of the small private airport just outside D.C.

He went through the morning in a daze. His performance that morning was horrible because his mind was elsewhere. It started to piss him off and he almost called her to demand more of an answer than her cowardly voicemail gave. She knew he’d been in the air early that morning. She had called him at seven on purpose.

Sid changed in the locker room at the Verizon Center, putting on an old pair of athletic pants and a Penguins hoodie. His fingers were itching to call her, but he didn’t want know to say other than, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Hey, man.” Sutter plopped down beside him. Sid was still irritated over his poor performance in practice and upset over Mel’s voicemail. He needed to get back to Pittsburgh and sort things out with her.

“Hey,” Sid all but grunted, turning his head away from Sutter, trying to get his point across that he wanted to be left alone.

“Sophie called me this morning.”

“That’s nice.”

“Have you talked to Mel?”

“No,” Sid snapped. Sutter obviously wasn’t getting the point.

Sutter continued, undeterred. “Sophie said she was over at Mel’s last night. That Mel was upset because she was told by the big whigs at her work that she couldn’t see you anymore.”

It took a few seconds for what Sutter said to sink in. “What?”

“Sophie said she was messed up over it and didn’t know what to do.”

“She left me a voicemail,” Sid said.

“She tell you about it?”

Sid shook his head. “She broke up with me.”

“What?” Sutter seemed surprised.

“She loves her job.” Sid was staring at the wall and getting progressively more pissed by the second. How dare they tell her who she could and couldn’t see. “I’ve got to go.”

Without giving Sutter a chance to say anything, Sid grabbed his bag and left the room. He felt like punching a wall, but didn’t do anything so dramatic. Instead he considered calling her. She probably wouldn’t answer. What was the phone sex? She had to have known at that point that she was going to break things off. What was it--a last hoorah or some shit?

Instead of waiting for the rest of the guys to get on the bus to go back to the hotel, he called a cab. In twenty minutes he was back in his room, alone. Sid dialed Mike’s direct number and got his voicemail. It was Saturday after all. The voicemail provided a cell phone for emergencies. Sid dialed that. This was a fucking emergency.

“Mike Belcher.”

“Mike, it’s Sid Crosby.”

“Hey, Sid. How can I help you?”

“What did you say to Mel?”

MIke was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, he sounded confused. “What do you mean?”

“She dumped me and her friend said it was because you told her she couldn’t date someone who is a client.” Sid was seeing red, his free hand clenched in a fist.

“Woah, woah, woah. I never said anything about that. I encouraged her to go out with you.”

“Well, who told her she couldn’t see me?”

Mike paused before he answered, “She had a meeting with Compliance yesterday afternoon. They wanted to talk to her about you, but I thought they were just doing it to make sure everything was on the up-and-up. There’s nothing in the employee handbook that forbids her from seeing you on a personal level.”

“I want their number. I want to talk to them.”

“Sid, let me handle this. I’ll take care of it first thing Monday morning.”

“If you can’t fix it, then I’m leaving. I’ll work with another firm. I’m not letting her go that easy.” The words were out of his mouth before he really knew what he was saying. The impact of the last phrase shocked him. And it seemed to shock Mike too.

“I’ll fix it. First thing Monday. And if I can’t fix it, then I’ll give you the name of a good friend of mine who works with another firm.”

“Fix it,” Sid repeated. “Fix it and tell her to call me. Please.”

“I will.”

They hung up without saying goodbye. Monday morning. It was so far away. It was just Saturday afternoon.

He dialed Mel. It rang four times and went to voicemail. “It’s me. Call me, please.”

If he had been in PIttsburgh, he would have driven over to her apartment and made her talk to him. But he wasn’t in Pittsburgh. He was in Washington and he needed to get his head on straight for a hockey game in five hours. I wish she’d call me, he thought, lying down on the bed and closing his eyes. Call me. He looked at the phone beside his head. The screen stayed black and dead.

*******************************

His frustration fueled him during the Caps game and he got two goals. A couple of the guys tried to talk to him, sensing something was wrong, but he brushed them off. He didn’t want to talk to them; he wanted to talk to her. But she wasn’t talking. By the time he got back to the hotel, his phone was still devoid of missed calls or voicemails.

Someone knocked on his door. “What?” he yelled.

“Let me in, dick!”

It was Duper. Sid wasn’t in the mood. He got up and jerked the door open. “What?”

“What’s up your ass tonight? Trouble in paradise?” Duper asked, pushing his way into Sid’s room.

Sid stood by the door, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides. He felt broken. This was something he couldn’t fix, at least not right now. “I’m not in the mood to talk.”

“Sutter said something to me.”

“What? Are you two fucking gossiping girls talking about my business?”

Dupuis sat down on the foot of the bed, resting his forearms on his knees. He leveled his gaze on Sid. The look made Sid feel like an asshole--like a young, inexperienced fool who thought no one understood what he was going through.

“Sorry,” Sid mumbled.

“You’ve got her under your skin, yeah?”

Sid exhaled and slumped down into the armchair. “Yeah.”

“What happened?”

He opened his mouth and then closed it. Maybe talking to someone would help focus him. Sid pulled his phone out of his pocket and played her voicemail on speaker.

“Hi, it’s me. Mel. I’m just calling to tell you that I, uh, I think maybe it would be best if we didn’t see each other anymore. You’re busy with your career and it’s inappropriate for me to date a client of Mike’s. Thanks... for everything. The skating lessons and dinners and the hockey game. You’ll make some lucky girl really happy one day. So, yeah... bye.”

“She get in trouble at work?” Duper asked.

Sid nodded. “Yeah, I think.”

“You call her?”

“Yeah. No call back.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I already called her boss. He wasn’t the one who wrote her up. Said he’s going to fix it and have her give me a call.”

Duper nodded slowly. “That’s good.”

“I want her.”

His teammate’s lips curved up in a knowing smile. “I can tell. You can’t imagine the future without in her in it.”

Sid swallowed and looked away, a flush creeping over his cheeks. “It pisses me off that they tried to put her in the position of choosing her job or me.”

“Does it piss you off that she chose her job?”

“Honestly? It just hurt.”

Duper ran a hand through his short hair and looked at Sid. “How would you feel if she gave up her career for you?”

“Like shit.”

“When I met Carole-Lyne, I thought she’d roll over for me. I was playing for the Wild and thought I was hot shit. She loved hockey and knew who I was, so I thought she’d be easy.”

Sid watched his friend. Duper’s wife was very nice and Sid had always admired their relationship.

“She wasn’t easy. She made me work for it. The ones that will give up everything for you are the ones who aren’t worth it in the long-run. They’re the ones who would be satisfied with anyone who has the success and the money.”

Sid nodded slowly.

“You should be relieved that she doesn’t need you. Being wanted is so much better than being needed.”

“But she doesn’t want me.”

“I think you’re wrong. We’ll see if she calls you next week. Then you can tell me if she wants you or not.”

“I want her. Bad,” Sid confessed.

Duper laughed. He stood up and flipped Sid’s baseball hat off as he walked by him. “Focus on the game and talk to her when you get back to PIttsburgh.”

Sid grabbed for the hat and smacked Duper in the back with it. “Thanks, asshole.”

*****************************

He broke down and called her again on Sunday. “Mel, we need to talk. Please call me.”

She didn’t. He felt depressed. And he worried that she was out with some other guy, moving on from him already. Really, he knew that probably wasn’t the case. She didn’t seem the type to hop between men like some of the women that waited for them outside the arenas, but he still worried. Sunday was a very long day. They traveled to Toronto and took the day off, resting.

He opted to stay in the hotel and watch coverage of other games on the NHL network. Duper tried to drag him out to dinner with four of the other guys, but he didn’t feel up to it. Sid asked Sutter about Mel, but Sophie hadn’t said anything about her friend. He all but begged his teammate to ask Sophie to pass along his request to hear from Melanie.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, he still hadn’t heard anything. They were all due at the arena at ten to practice for a couple hours. Then they planned on working out and going back in the afternoon for another session. He was anxious to get the game on Tuesday night under his belt, so he could get back to Pittsburgh.

At nine-thirty on Monday morning, he stepped off the bus and stood under an overhang at the arena while the other guys went inside.

“You okay, Sid?” Coach Bylsma asked him.

Sid nodded and held up his phone. “Just need to make a call.”

Coach nodded and followed the last player inside. Rain was pouring down and running off the roof in sheets. He pressed the phone tightly to his ear and listened while it rang three times before someone picked up.

“Mike Belcher.”

“It’s Sid.”

“I’ve already talked to Compliance. They’re being dicks.” Sid was taken aback by the comment from the 50-something man in a nice suit and a corner office.

“What do you mean? I thought you were going to fix it.”

“They say she’d violate an ethics policy if she sees you.”

Sid’s desperation was creeping up. “Did you talk to her? Tell her to call me. I’ll transfer my accounts if it means I can still see her.”

The man on the other end was quiet. “Are you in love with her?”

Sid’s eyes followed the water as it cascaded off the overhang and splashed onto the pavement of the parking lot. Love. The word made him nervous. He’d never said that to someone. Well, his parents, his sister. Not a woman. “I... I don’t know,” he said. It was honest. He didn’t know. “But I think I deserve a chance to find out.”

“I haven’t spoken to her yet this morning. She’s in her office with the door shut.”

“Please ask her to call me. And give me the name of your friend at the other firm.”

Mike cleared his throat. “Actually, hold on a second. Let me see if Paul and Patricia are available. They’re the ones who told Mel she couldn’t see you. Maybe you should talk to them. Tell them what you told me.”

Sid’s eyes narrowed and the anger he’d buried under the hurt blossomed. “Yeah, transfer me over to them.”

The line started playing music--a soothing piano piece that made Sid want to shoot himself in the head. The door opened and Granato poked his head out. He gestured inside and looked at Sid. “Give me a second,” Sid said, holding up his hand.

Granato nodded and went back inside. The door clicked shut and a voice came on the line at the same time.

“Mr. Crosby?”

“Yeah,” Sid replied to the man.

“My name is Paul Tompkins. I’m here with my colleague Patricia Schwartz. I understand you asked for us.”

“Yeah,” Sid said again. “I understand you told Melanie Kay that she couldn’t talk to me outside of work.”

“We discourage personal relationships between employees and clients. We feel it fosters an unprofessional work environment and breeds potential problems with ethics and compliance with FINRA rules,” Paul replied.

“She’s been nothing but professional to me. I’m the one who asked her out. In fact, I bugged her until she agreed. She never pursued me. And she’s never discussed work during our personal time together.”

The woman spoke up. “Regardless, Mr. Crosby, we feel it is in everyone’s best interest for this relationship to cease as long as you are a client of the firm.”

“She’s the best employee you have and if you bully her into dumping me, then you’ll regret it. Do you know my net worth? It’s all with your firm. And I’ll pull it out and put it somewhere else so fast your head will spin.”

“Mr. Crosby,” Paul said.

“No,” Sid interrupted. “And after I do that, I’ll come in there and ask her out again. I’ll keep asking her out until she says yes. And if you even think of giving her any trouble about it, I’ll hire the best lawyer in Pittsburgh so she can sue your ass for harassment.”

“I don’t think...” Patricia said.

Sid shook his head, jamming his finger in the air to make his point. “You didn’t think. She looked through your employee handbook. There’s nothing that forbids us from going out. She told Mike about us. He gave her his blessing. I should go ahead and hire a lawyer right now. But first I’m going to hang up and call the advisory firm down the street from you so they can start moving my accounts.”

“Mr. Crosby, I... I apologize for how upsetting this situation is to you. Can you, can you give us a moment to review our procedure? May we call you back this afternoon?”

“If you try to fire her because I called you, I’ll...”

“No, no, no,” Paul said. “We won’t speak to Ms. Kay about anything. We’d just like to speak to our CEO. When is a convenient time to reach you this afternoon?”

Sid scowled. “After two.”

“We’ll be in touch,” Paul said before disconnecting. Sid shoved the phone in his pocket and jerked the door open. He wanted to slap a few pucks around.

*****************************

He was bent over the exercise bike, working his legs when the phone rang. He stopped and jumped off the bike to take the call in the hallway. He didn’t want his teammates overhearing his personal business.

“Crosby,” he answered gruffly.

“Mr. Crosby, this is Paul and Patricia. Thank you for taking our call.”

“Am I pulling my accounts or not?” he asked, cutting to the chase.

“We spoke to Williard Lyons, our CEO. He was very understanding to your situation and reviewed Ms. Kay’s record. She’s been an outstanding employee of the highest caliber.”

“And?”

“And,” Patricia continued, “after much discussion we believe that exceptions can be made in situations such as this. Ms. Kay has demonstrated dedication and has a pristine ethics record. Because you have vouched for her and indicated that nothing untoward has happened in your professional or personal relationship, we all feel a continued relationship is acceptable.”

He pushed sweaty strands of hair off his forehead. “So you’re saying you messed up and shouldn’t have said anything to her.”

“We jumped to conclusions where it wasn’t necessary. We apologize to you for any trouble we’ve caused and hope you will continue to maintain a business relationship with our firm. Mr. Lyons feels you are a valued client.”

Sid bit his tongue. He wanted to tell them they could fuck off. “You better apologize to Melanie today,” he spat out instead.

“Of course,” Patricia said. “We’ll speak to her this afternoon. Again, we apologize.”

Sid hung up and dialed Mike’s number.

“Mike Belcher.”

“It’s Sid. I just talk to the two assholes. They’re sorry and take it all back.”

“You get results,” Mike said.

“If they don’t apologize to her today, call me.”

Mike chuckled. “Will do. Hey, Sid?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for watching out for her. She’s a good girl.”

Sid sighed. “I know. I just hope she calls me tonight.”

“I’ll see what I can do on my end.”

Sid disconnected and finished his work out, one eye on the phone. He was waiting for her to call. Surely she’d call as soon as they spoke to her and she realized she didn’t have to choose between her job and him.

And hour passed, then two, then three. It was after five o’clock and he convinced himself he’d hear from her when she got home. He didn’t.

At nine o’clock that night he was knocking on Sutter’s hotel room door. “Can you call Sophie?” he asked when the younger man opened the door.

“What? Why?”

“I need to talk to her.”

Sutter shrugged and dialed the number, handing his phone to Sid. An unfamiliar female voice answered warmly. It hit Sid that she probably thought Sutter was calling.

“Hi, this is Sidney Crosby. I’m a teammate of Brandon’s.”

“Oh, hi. I know who you are.”

“Have you talked to Melanie this afternoon?”

“No, why?”

“Please ask her to call me. Please.”

“Her work. She got in trouble...”

“I know about that,” Sid said, cutting her off. “But I took care of it. I need to talk to her.”

Sophie was silent for a moment. “Okay, I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you,” Sid said.

Notes