Chapter Twenty

Amber stepped out of the airport and into the rain. She looked down the road of cabs and cars, making pickups. This wasn't boding well. 'As if he couldn't even pick me up from the damn airport,' she thought. Half of her debated heading back inside and getting on the next flight out. She walked back into the warmth of the terminal and pulled out her cell phone to see if he had called.

"Amber?"

She turned and looked behind her, as a tall blonde woman was racing up behind her.

"Oh my goodness! I am so glad I found you! I was worried that you had left… not that you probably have any idea where to go…Sid would have been pissed at me!" The woman came up, kissing her on both cheeks and then with a smile looked Amber up and down. "You're exactly what he described! I am sorry I was late, the traffic… it's like when it rains a bit, people forget how to drive!"

"I'm sorry… who are-" Amber looked at the woman quizzically.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Nathalie… didn't Sid tell you?" The woman looked at her with concern. "He had a team commitment, so he asked me to come and pick you up and take you back to our place. He said he would be there as soon as he could!"

"Oh… okay…I'm sure he called but I don't have any reception yet…" Amber explained.

"This airport is archaic! Come, let's get out of here!" Nathalie reached for Amber luggage and put her arm under hers, guiding her towards the parcade.

-.-

"Don't worry about your bags, I'll get Rosa to take them up to the guest room," Nathalie offered to Amber, as she climbed out of the car. The trip from the airport had been a bit of a rollercoaster, weaving through heavy traffic and listening to Nathalie describe Sid's schedule, as if making excuses for why he hadn't picked her up himself. She had been busy looking out the windows and trying to pay attention to where they were heading but everything looked so foreign that she didn't even recognize the Starbucks drive thru window until Nathalie prompted her for an order.

Amber climbed out of the passenger side slowly, looking up at the large brick house which they had finally arrived at. She had grown up in a modest home, in a modest neighbourhood. She knew that Sid wouldn't exactly live in a family bungalow but for some reason she hadn't quite prepared herself for this.

"Come on then, we'll see if anyone's home," Nathalie walked towards the front door and headed inside. Amber quickly chased after her, feeling as if she didn't keep up, she'd get lost.

Upon entering the house, Amber felt a little weak in the knees. If the front of the house was nice, then this entrance way was simply unreal. The large room featured a wide marble staircase, with a wrought iron banister and a huge crystal chandelier. She half expected children to emerge from a bedroom, lined up like the Von Trap children. Nathalie was greeted by a housekeeper, to which she instructed to take care of the bags. Amber followed Nathalie down a wide hall where they entered a large ornate kitchen.

"Okay, now I am jealous…" Amber couldn't stop herself. She had only ever seen kitchens like this on TV or in magazines.

"Jealous? Oh darling, I am going to be jealous of your kitchen soon enough!" Nathalie joked.

"My kitchen?" Amber stuttered. It had never occurred to her that she would have something like this or even half as nice as this. Maybe Sid was right, maybe there would be perks to this living arrangement after all…

"That is if Sid ever gets the renos finished! He can't seem to make decisions! I'm sure you'll be able to help with that… It will be so nice for him to have someone around, to help with stuff. I was beginning to worry about him being all alone over there. I was thinking I was going to have to drop off food everyday… I doubt the guy has ever cooked a meal for himself in his life!"

"Oh great…" Amber smiled and laughed to herself.

"Not that he wouldn't learn or try to help… it just may be easier to just do it yourself… you do cook, don't you?"

"Yeah, no I love to cook, its just funny…" Amber shifted uncomfortably, realizing that she may have just offended her. She knew that he had pretty much everything done for him for the past five years but come on…

"And watch out, he is a bit of a momma's boy…" Nathalie continued, making nothing of it. "Oh and he leaves cereal bowls all over the house. I'm not sure who's worse, him or Austin!"

"Cereal bowls, gotcha…" Amber made a mental note. "Anything else I should know?"

"Oh… I could write a book!" Nathalie laughed, then gestured Amber to a large breakfast table. "Come and sit, you must be exhausted."

"Mom, do you know where Dad is? I need him to sign… oh sorry, hi." A tall dark haired young girl walked in. She was in a tank top and baggy sweatpants, ipod ear phones hanging from her shirt.

"Steph, this is Amber, Sid's friend," Nathalie introduced her. "And no, I don't know where your father is… I think he is supposed to be here… Did you call him?"

Steph shook her head, looking Amber up and down. She seemed to have a 'not impressed' look on her face, thinking that perhaps Sid could do better. The inspecting look made Amber more then a little uncomfortable but she knew that she would be on display and had been warned that a lot of people were going to hate her by Nathalie on the drive from the airport. It was going to take some getting used to. Her own insecurities were going to have to be held in check. She imagined that this would be the first of many teenage girls to give her that look.

"Pleasure to meet you," Amber stated.

"Right… whatever… I guess I'll call him…" then Steph just walked away.

"Don't worry, she is just a brat. She, and everyone here, is very protective of Sid and it will just take a little getting used to. She might be your toughest audience 'cause she's friends with Taylor, and its an age thing…"

"No worries… I'll have to get used to it."

"Oh that you will! Let the hazing begin… The WAGS will be the worst… but if you pass their tests, you'll be in for life…"

"The WAGS?" Amber asked

"Wives and Girlfriends… the players significant others kind of form a tight group. Most of them just get together to drink too much when the guys are on road trips then gossip behind each others backs but some are genuine and can be great friends. Some are worse then others, you'll be able to tell right away. As a warning, they can pick out a weakness and will feed on it. You need to go in strong, knowing that you deserve to be there."

"I don't tend to get along well with a lot of girls," Amber admitted. "That's why I work in hockey, I guess. Growing up, I was always out playing with the boys…"

"Well you're going to have to learn. When they find out that you are here, if they haven't already, they are going to appear by the masses…" Nathalie warned, and then placed her hand warmly on Amber's. "I'll be there to help as much as I can!"

-.-

"Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't come get you…"

"Mmmm… whatever," Amber rolled over on her side. She had gone to lay down after a long chat with Nathalie. "I got to hear all your dirty secrets from Nathalie… apparently your very particular about the way your socks get folded… I think you can damn well fold your own socks…"

"Oh yeah? Well I don't expect you to fold my socks… I never asked Nathalie to do it either, she just did and I wasn't going to argue… I just refolded them… we can hire someone to fold my socks…" Sid bent down to where she was lying and kissed her cheek, then flipped his legs up onto the bed and curled up behind her.

"I hate that they put you in the guest room," he muttered, nuzzling up to the back of her head.

"Yeah, she said something about house rules," Amber replied.

"Yeah, I know, it just sucks… I've never even brought a girl here before," Sid continued. "We could stay at my house, but I haven't really moved in yet and it's a huge disaster."

"No worries…" Amber rolled over to face Sid. "I could get used to this… the housekeeper already unpacked my clothes and ironed two shirts that she said were too wrinkly… they've certainly never been ironed before…"

"Yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal here," Sid agreed. "Have you met any of the kids?"

"Steph. She gave me the once over and walked away."

"Nice. She can be a bit of a bitch. I've picked her up from school and I swear the boys in her class are actually afraid of her," Sid laughed. "I would have been afraid of her…"

"She's friends with your sister?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. My sister will form her own opinion. They head back to school next week and I'd like you to meet her before then…"

"Well, I guess I am in deep now…"

"Oh, you are in deep alright," Sid laughed and leaned in for another kiss, this time taking his time and lingering on her perfect lips. She tasted so sweet and he hadn't seen her in weeks. He was going to have a hard time respecting the house rules, with her being so close by.

"I'm going to tell on you!" Came a boy's voice from the doorway.

"Piss off Austin!" Sid sat up, wiping his lips and laughing.

"Mom said to tell you and your friend that dinner is ready," Austin teased before heading off.

"Thanks little dude, we'll be right down," Sid offered, hoping that Austin wouldn't run down and tell everyone how he had just been found.

"And that's Austin…" Sid turned back to Amber with a smile. She sat up and gathered her long hair into a ponytail.

"Two down, two to go?" Amber confirmed.

"And Mario…"

"Right."

"But Nathalie already loves you and I am sure she probably already told him, so it won't be weird or anything. And the fact that you speak French and know hockey pretty much wins him over," Sid reassured her. "We better head down…" Sid climbed off the bed and pulled her up to him. She wrapped hers arms around his neck and kissed him one more time.

"What I'm sensing is that we're never going to be alone for long in this house…" Amber purred into his ear.

"I promise I will pick up the pace on the renos…" he mumbled back. "I know this is less then ideal, but it will all work out… come on, let's go eat…"

And with that Amber let Sid pull her down the grand stairs, hand in hand.