Family Secrets

The dreaded phone call came earlier than expected. Thankfully, Charlie had left earlier that morning for the team’s morning skate so Bridgette could take the call in peace; well, as much peace as one could have with Catherine Letang freaking out on the other end of the phone line.

“I can’t believe you’ve had a boyfriend for almost a year and you didn’t tell me!” She shrieked for the fourth time in the span of the already ten minute phone call.

“Cath, je suis désolé,”Bridgette said yet again, meaning it less and less every time she said it. “I’m sorry but I really did not want to deal with all of this and I couldn’t tell you something and not Kris.”

“Yeah, why don’t you want Kris knowing? I really think that he would be happy for you,” Catherine mused. Bridgette snorted in response.

“Yeah right,” she scoffed. “The second he finds out I’m willing to bet all the money that I have he will hunt down Charlie and kill him.” Catherine was silent for a moment before saying,

“Honestly Bridge, I don’t think so. He just wants you happy and if Charlie makes you happy I think he’d be fine with it. Plus, believe it or not he was saying the other day how he thinks it would be good for you to find someone; that way, you won’t be as lonely all the time and it would give you someone other than Ally to hang out with.”

“Are you sure we’re talking about the same man? Kris Letang? The boy who flew all the way back to Montreal for literally four hours just so he could stare down and intimidate my prom date?”

“Yes,” Catherine said with a chuckle. “We are. Kris worries for you being in Boston all alone with no one but that crazy roommate of yours.”

“Tell him to stop worrying. I have Ally and Charlie.”

“He’s always going to worry about you.” Catherine paused before continuing, “So, tell me all about Mr. Charlie. What’s he like? Where did you guys meet? I want all of the details!”

Bridgette smiled at the thought of her boyfriend and how it was nice to finally get to talk to someone about him who wasn’t Ally.

“We met my freshmen year when he had to tutor me in math.”

“Your freshmen year?” Catherine cut in before Bridgette could continue. “So he’s older than you?”

“He was a sophomore but he’s not that much older, only a couple of months,” Bridgette explained. “His birthday falls weird and he could have been either the year above and be the youngest or the year below and be the oldest.”

“So, what does he study?” Bridgette hissed in a breath at that comment, not sure how to tell Catherine that she was dating a rival of Kris’s team.

“He’s not in school anymore,” she started slowly. “He left just before the end of his sophomore year.”

“A college dropout? Bridgette are you kidding me? Sweetie, you could do so much better!”

“Hey, Kris didn’t even go to college!” Bridgette defensively shot back.

“Yeah, but he’s in the NHL so it doesn’t matter it all worked out for him. I’m sure Mr. Charlie doesn’t have a career that will set leave him set financially secured for the rest of his life.”

“Well, actually,” Bridgette began. “Charlie does have that. He left BU to play for the Bruins.”

“The Bruins? Like Boston Bruins?” Despite her being in Pittsburgh, Bridgette could all but see the confusion on Catherine’s face.

“Yes, the Boston Bruins. Charlie is a hockey player and signed with them after BU got knocked out of the tournament two years ago. He’s a defenseman, like Kris.”

“Oh sweetie,” Catherine started to laugh on her end of the telephone. “I take back what I said, Kris is going to kill the poor boy when he finds out.” Bridgette let out a loud groan as she fell backwards onto Charlie’s bed.

“I know! That’s why I haven’t said anything and why you can’t even so much as hint at it!” She warned, speaking slowly yet forcefully so Catherine would know how serious she was.

“I don’t like it but I will not tell him,” Catherine assured. “I promise.” Bridgette expressed her thanks before a moment of silence overtook the two girls.

“He treats you right, right?” Catherine finally questioned, her motherly and sisterly concern for her surrogate sister taking over. A small smile crept over Bridgette’s face as she thought about her relationship with Charlie.

“The absolute best. He is amazing Cath, I love him so much and he loves me.” All the way back in Pittsburgh, a smile was also breaking out over Catherine’s face at Bridgette’s words.

“I’m happy for you Bridge and I can’t wait to finally meet him. He sounds like a good one.”

“Yeah,” was all Bridgette managed to say for she did not truly know how to respond. Of course she wanted Charlie to meet the people that were her family, but that would also mean opening up to him finally about her past—and the thought of that scared her.

“You don’t want him to meet us?” Catherine said slowly, accurately reading into her lack of response. Bridgette sighed as she thought about what to say next.

“It’s not that Cath and you know it,” she began. “It’s just, I’m not ready to tell him everything and him meeting you guys means that I will have to. And I just, I can’t. I’ve pushed that whole part of my life away for so long I don’t think I am strong enough to pull it back.”

“Bridge, it’s been ten years, you’re going to have to talk about it sometime. Luc was your brother and I understand your reasoning I really do, but pretending he does not exist…” Catherine may have trailed off but Bridgette got the message anyway.

“It’s not just about Luc, it’s about everything that followed with my mom and, and M-Marc, leaving home, switching schools, the bullying. I just, I’m not ready to have to face all of that again, even if by now it’s all just a memory.” Bridgette paused to recollect herself and wipe away the few stray tears that managed to escape her eyes as a mirage of memories flashed through her mind. “And Charlie, what if he decides I’m not worth it after learning the truth? That I’m too broken and not worth trying to fix because I may have been able to sloppily piece myself back together, but I know that I am not strong enough to remain fixed if I have to bring this all back to life again.”

“Bee, ma chérie, you are so, so much stronger than you think you are. And I may not know Charlie, but I have a feeling that he will love you even more when he is able to truly realize that. And if he doesn’t, then he was not the one for you to begin with.”

“I just feel so awful all the time now,” Bridgette confessed. “Charlie knows I am keeping something from him and it is killing me because I know that it is bothering him more than he cares to admit.”

“Well, I can’t tell you what to do but I would advise that you tell him sooner rather than later,” Catherine stated. “And you don’t even have to tell him all of it, maybe start slowly and work your way up to everything else.”

“Yeah, maybe,” was the soft, mumbled response.

“Think about it. Now, please tell me you can send me a picture of you and Mr. Charlie. I am looking at him on my computer now but all I can find are pictures of him in hockey gear.” Catherine was so good at changing the subject; it was one of the things Bridgette loved most about her.

“You better delete them before Kris sees,” she warned as she put her cell phone on speaker phone and began selecting some of her favorite pictures of her and Charlie together; the one the two took on their first official date to the zoo, the one of them after one of Charlie’s hockey games, and the candid shot that Melanie Krug, Torey Krug’s wife, took of them when the two couples decided to spend an off-day wandering around Newport, Rhode Island.

“I promise I will,” Catherine stated before she let out a squeal so loud that Bridgette was glad that she had not taken her off of speaker phone yet. “Bridgette!” she exclaimed. “You two are so cute! Oh my gosh, I love this picture of you guys by the water!” A slight blush crept onto Bridgette’s face.

“Yeah, that one is my favorite too. I am so glad Mel was able to take it.”

“Mel?” Catherine’s excitement over the pictures faded into confusion. In all of the years she had known Bridgette, the girl had very few friends and Catherine knew all of them. She had never heard of a Mel before.

“Yeah, Melanie Krug. She’s the wife of Torey Krug.” Bridgette said it so simply that Catherine was suddenly hit with the realization that her little ‘sister’ was a WAG now, just like her.

“Welcome to the WAG club,” Catherine chuckled.

“Thank you, thank you,” Bridgette joked with a laugh that made Catherine smile; it had been a while since she heard Bridgette joke around.

“Hey, where are the kids?” Bridgette suddenly realized that this was the longest she had ever gone talking to Catherine without Alex interrupting to talk to her or Victoria needing some sort of attention.

“Little Victoria is asleep and Alex went with Kris to practice this morning.”

“Practice shit! Charlie should be home soon from his. Hey, I have to go and get ready! He has the rest of the day off and I don’t have class today so I think we were going to go do something. Can I call you back later?” Bridgette exclaimed as she sprung off of the bed and began scrummaging around the room for her overnight bag that was tossed somewhere in the room the night before by Charlie.

“Of course! Talk to you later! Have fun with Mr. Charlie!” Bridgette smiled, said her thanks, and hung up the phone with one hand and punched her fist victoriously into the air when she came across her bag that was half under the bed on Charlie’s side.

Outside of the bedroom, Charlie leaned against the wall as he heard his girlfriend scurry into the bathroom and turn the shower on. A loud “shit!” later, would have told Charlie that she did not even wait for the water to warm up; but, he was not really paying attention. No…instead, he was too busy trying to absorb the better half of the conversation he just eavesdropped on.

Notes

I am SO sorry that it has been so long since this was updated...finals were a bitch is my only excuse. But, I am done now and hopefully this will start to pick up more. Would love any feedback that you may have...thank you:)