Hair, Nails & Hockey

Sorry it took so long! I was out of town!

Chapter Seven

"I am so sorry, I'll send money with her tomorrow to repay you-"

"Don't worry about it Sarah, you're fine, mistakes happen," Denise, Lilly's mother, one of Missy's friends, said as I spoke with her on the phone.

Hockey season had started, and just like I figured, things around the house were a little nuts. It was Friday, January 25th, Ian had left yesterday to go to Winnipeg and Ottawa for away games and wouldn't be back until Monday afternoon. It was hard because I had to wake up earlier and do everything that he did around the house.

Today I had accidently packed my lunch for work into Missy's backpack and packed her lunch into my bag. I was in horror when I opened my paper bag this afternoon and found a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grapes, goldfish and a mini bottle of water instead of my usual salad and water. I was lucky that Missy's friend's mom, who was a lunch lady at the school saw this and gave Missy a school lunch.

I sat at the table running my fingers through my hair and wishing that Ian was here. I looked at the dirty dishes on the table and then looked towards the kids, they were sitting in the living room doing their homework on the coffee table. I placed the phone back on the wall and then started to clean up, looking towards the clock to see that it was just after eight.

"Guys, it's after eight!"

"The game!" Jake jumped up and ran towards me, "Auntie the game!"

"Yes, go put your homework away and put the game on," I said and he nodded his head, knowing that whatever they didn't finish tonight, they would finish tomorrow.

I made some popcorn for them and walked into the living room to see Missy and Jake sitting on the couch looking like they actually understood what was going on. The game had started an it was the beginning of the first period, the Penguins were up against the Winnipeg Jets and were picked to win.

"Let me know when they score," I said as I ruffled Jake's hair and kissed Missy's head.

Ever since Ian started to work for the Penguins, I've kind of been keeping up with the sport. They've only had one home game so far, this being their fourth game of the season. Jake and Missy were in love with the guys and the guys adored them. I saw the guys on Wednesday when I picked Jake and Missy up from the arena, it was the first intermission when I manage to come after working late. Ian had fed them and made sure their homework was finished while in his office, I was grateful.

"Auntie!" Jake yelled while I was in the kitchen doing the dishes.

"Yeah buddy!"

"Sid scored!" he yelled and I smiled and nodded his head.

"Go Pens!" I said and Jake smiled brightly, bounced up and down and ran back out of the room.

Since it was Friday, I was going to let the kids stay up and watch the game; although I was pretty sure that they were going to fall asleep in the middle of the game since it was going to be late.

By the time I finished cleaning, letting Rocko out and then heading upstairs to grab the dirty laundry and start doing the laundry, it was the beginning of the second period and the score was two to one, the Penguins were winning and Sidney had scored both of the goals.

"Auntie sit down and watch with us!" Jake insisted as I walked into the room and stood behind the couch.

"Let me get the stuff from the dryer and I'll be right back, all right?" I said and he nodded his head.

I came back into the room with the laundry basket full of clean towels that I had placed in before dinner. I sat on the chair next to the couch and watched the game while folding the towels.

I was right, by the middle of the second intermission, Missy was fast asleep on the couch, I smiled when I saw that Jake was close to it. I picked Missy up and walked upstairs, laying her in bed and putting her to sleep. I was glad that I told them to put their pajamas on during the first intermission, one less step to do. By the time I got back downstairs, Jake was asleep, so I had another trip to do.

"Goodnight guys," I smiled as I tucked the kids in and walked downstairs, turned the alarm on and finished folding some more laundry in the living room.

I was a little disappointed when the Penguins lost, the final score being four to two. The game was over, I finished up the folding the clothes that I had, and then placed the basket in the laundry room, leaving to finish the remaining clothes in the morning.

I walked up the stairs and towards my room, just as I was about to lay down, my cell phone went off. I sighed and then reached over towards the nightstand and picked it up to see Ian calling me.

"Hey," I said as I sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed my face.

"You sound tired," he said and I sighed.

"I am."

"Sorry, we're you about to fall asleep?"

"No, you're fine," I lied and then looked at the clock to see that it was after midnight.

"Kids in bed?"

"Yup."

"They watch the game?"

"Most of it," I answered, "Done for the count in the second intermission."

Ian chuckled and then I heard him talking to someone else about his pictures. I waited patiently, truth was, I was so tired I felt like if I didn't let him go, then I was going to pass out with him still on the phone.

"Sorry about that, Sar-"

"It's all right, I'm actually gunna let you go, I'm so tired," I said and heard Ian chuckle.

"All right, I'll talk to you in the morning, love you!"

"Love you too, Ian," I said and then hung up the phone and laid back on the bed. I let out of loud yawn before kicking off my shoes and rolling myself into a little ball. I heard my bedroom door open a little and picked my head up to see Rocko walking into the room, "You're supposed to be with the kids," I chuckled but then patted the bed and watched as he jumped up and moved to my side, "How's it going, buddy?"

-Ian-

I sighed and then rubbed my face, just hanging up with my sister and hearing the sleep touching her voice. I was looking at the pictures that I had taken through tonight's losing game on my laptop when there was a knock on my hotel room door.

"Just a minute!" I yelled as I placed the laptop to the side, crawled off of my bed and then walked towards the door to see Sidney, "Hey man!"

"Mario said that you had some pictures that you wanted to go over with me?" Sidney asked and I nodded my head and then moved out of the way so that he could come into the room.

"Sorry to do this so late, but Mario wants them as soon as possible," I said and Sidney nodded his head and walked into the room.

I walked over towards my laptop and brought it over towards the desk on the other side of the room, Sidney sat in the chair and I brought up all of the pictures that I had taken of him during the game, mostly of him making the two goals.

"They look good," Sidney said and I nodded my head and then closed out of the program, bringing me to my home screen, a picture of Craig, Sarah and I with Missy and Jake last summer, "Nice family."

"Thanks," I said and took the computer to the bed.

"So are Jake and Missy Sarah's kids?" he asked and I looked at him and shook my head, "But she takes care of them?"

"We both do."

"Are they yours?" he asked and I sighed and sat on the bed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry-"

"No, it's all right, it's pretty complicated," I said and Sidney looked like he wasn't going to move, '...Guess he wants to hear the story...' I thought and then sat on the bed and shut down my computer, "Sarah and I have another brother and sister, Craig's in the military, so we don't get to see him a lot and Danny, my younger sister and Sarah's older- Jake and Missy are hers, she's not the best person to be a mother, let alone a person- but, hey, you can't pick your family," I said and shrugged, "My parents adopted Missy and Jake and then when my parents died, Sarah received custody of them. She works a lot, so I knew that she was going to need help."

"So Jake and Missy are you niece and nephew slash brother and sister slash kids?" Sidney asked and I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Pretty much," I said and his eyes widened and he shook his head.

"Wow, that's definitely a lot to take on," he said and I nodded my head.

"Yeah we definitely have to thank the school and daycare that they go to for their patience with us- And definitely Mario for letting me bring the kids here because sometimes Sar has to work later than usual, and then we'd be screwed."

"You guys are good with them."

"Thanks, don't get me wrong, we get help from my brother, he sends in some money that we use to help pay for the daycare, but raising those kids isn't something I had planned for my life at this point- But to be honest, I wouldn't change it now, they're pretty great kids, even after everything they've gone through."