Chapter Thirty Three
New York was one of those cities that Sid loved playing in. Sure it was a huge market and the games were almost always sold out with fans booing him every time the Pens came to town. Yeah, sure, he had to deal with an impossibly good goal tender and that cock suck Avery which was never fun. But it was also a city where nobody knew who he was. There were way bigger celebrities in New York City, that nobody gave a fuck about some out of town hockey player. He could walk the streets, go shopping, go out to eat and just hang out with the guys like a regular team mate. If he was in a Canadian market, he would have been locked in his hotel room, taking the staff entrances and service elevators to avoid mobs of people but not in New York. It was a breath of fresh air, especially around the holidays. He had most of his Christmas shopping out of the way, thanks to online shopping, but he had one more purchase to get done. It wasn't for Christmas, but shortly there after. There was a special trip out West coming up for the team and he needed to be prepared.
"Hey man, what are you doing after practice?" Sid threw a tape ball at Max from across the visitor dressing room at the Garden.
Max just shrugged. "I dunno… my mom will kill me if I give her a gift card to the grocery store again this Christmas, so I guess I should get some shopping in… why?"
"I was thinking the same thing… there's one store in particular I want to go to…"
"If you are heading to the NHL store just to see a 100 foot version of yourself, I am going to pass…" Max joked.
Sid just laughed and shook his head. "No, I think I would pass on that too… chances are it's a picture of me looking like a dog with my tongue hanging out…"
"You're tongue is hanging out in almost every picture…" Dupuis laughed, chiming in on the conversation after entering the locker room from practice.
"What can I say? I am running out of room in my head… something has to give," Sid laughed.
"Yeah, it's full of your anal retentive tendencies…" Cooke threw his used socks into the laundry hamper.
"Anyways… you in or out?" Sid turned his attention back to Max.
Max shrugged and agreed.
"Awww… isn't that cute? The lovers are back together…" Cooke mocked. "You two love birds have a date?"
"Yeah, shopping for our moms… its going to be a hot one…" Max retorted, throwing his gear into a heap. "Wanna make it a threesome hot lips?"
-.-
Spending time alone with Sid was far from his idea of a good time. But Max had promised the coach, that unless he wanted to get traded to some half bit southern team, where no one would ever know his name, he would be on his best behaviour. And besides, Sid would pay for dinner.
As they walked down the sidewalk, Max pointed out stores that he thought he should go into, but Sid insisted that they could come right back there. He wanted to get to his store first. 'Typical,' Max thought 'It's all me, me, me…'
"Here we are," Sid declared, as he arrived at the door to the store he had intended to go to.
"If you knew you wanted to come here specifically, why didn't we just get the cabby to drop us off here? Why did we have to walk?" Max asked, voicing his frustration.
"I didn't want you to not get out of the cab…" Sid admitted, holding the door open.
It was then, when Max looked up that he realized where they were standing. 'Tiffany's, every girls dream…' Max thought to himself.
"What are we doing here?" Max asked cautiously.
"I am going to ask Amber to marry me and I thought that you could help me pick out a ring," Sid responded slowly. "You know her better then anyone and I need all the help I can get."
Max stood in the doorway of the famous jewellery store in absolute shock and he was sure that it was written all over his face. He knew his mouth was hanging open and that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't hide his emotions in this moment.
"Coming in?" Sid asked, still holding the door.
"I… I… I don't know what to say… I didn't know you guys were that serious…" Max stumbled out some bullshit line, to give him time to think. "She's like family to me… She's everything to me…"
"I know… that's why I thought I would ask for your help here…" Sid offered. "I needed to know that you were okay with this. I wanted to deal with any backlash before it got back to her. I'm more nervous talking to you about it then her parents…"
"Have you asked her parents?" Max asked quickly.
"No, I thought I would to talk to them at Christmas. They are coming down," Sid explained.
"Oh…" Max returned his gaze to the busy street, letting out a slow breath into the cold, damp air. Amber's parents were so traditional, he was surprised to hear they were leaving Montreal. She wasn't even allowed to come to Helsinki until the day after Christmas when he played for Team Canada in the World Juniors because her parents said she needed to be at home for the holidays.
"Can we go inside? I am freezing my balls off here…" Sid pleaded once more.
"I don't know man… that's a lot to take in… I think I need a minute to compute."
"Okay, fair enough. Take your time. I do need your support. It still matters a lot to her and after everything… I thought we were heading in the right direction," Sid let the door go and walked out to where Max was standing on the wide boulevard.
"So you're asking her at Christmas?" Max asked.
"No… she hates that, says it's cheating… I am going to ask her in Vancouver, when we play the Canucks… that's where we first…" Sid stopped talking and looked at his feet. He could feel his cheeks getting warm with embarrassment. It was still too hard to talk to Max about their relationship. "That's the plan anyway…"
"Yeah… no, that's good… she'll like that…" Max responded slowly as he stood staring out over the traffic on the busy city street.
Sid and Max stood together silently for what seemed like an eternity. Sid chewed on his bottom lip. He knew it was a risk bringing Max with him but he thought it would be better in the long run – better then him finding out from someone else. Sid could deal with any backlash before it made its way back to the dressing room. He was prepared for anything.
"Okay… l can do this…" Max finally said, shaking his head vigorously, psyching himself up. He turned around and opened the door of the jewellery store and walked inside, letting the door close behind him. Sid weaved his way through the oncoming people on the side walk and followed him inside.
-.-
Max watched as Sid picked up ring after ring, inspecting each and then putting them down. It was now ticking on over an hour and Max was getting frustrated to say the least.
"For fuck's sake man, what was wrong with that one?"
"I dunno…" Sid shrugged. "It's just not the one…"
Sid moved to the next counter and pointed at another display of rings, which the sales woman dug out from beneath the glass. "This one's nice… what do you think of this one?" He asked Max.
Max looked down at the glistening stone in Sid's fingers. "They all look the same now man… we have looked at a thousand rings… just pick one already…"
"It needs to be perfect," Sid put the ring in between his fingers back down. "Do you have anything else?"
The saleswoman shook her head. "If there is something you have in mind, we have a designer on staff. We could make an appointment for you…"
Sid shook his head. "No, I am only in New York for the weekend… There was one back there that was nice, can I see that one again?"
"Of course," She said politely, as she put the tray of rings away. Max was amazed by how patient this woman was being. He wanted to stab himself in the eye with one of the sterling silver forks on the other side of the room rather then look at another freakin' ring.
As Sid headed back to the first counter they had been at, Max wandered around the large store. He winked at a cute, young sales girl who was busy cleaning the glass countertops. Maybe a quick distraction was what he needed. 'No,' he thought. 'What I need is a plan to stop this…' starring back over at Sid, scratching his head and pointing into the glass.
"Can I help you with something?" The young sales girl asks, approaching where Max was standing. Max leaned over the counter and gave her tight little body a once over. 'Concentrate on the task at hand, Max…' he warned himself.
"Actually maybe you can… I need a gift for someone… something not to flashy… but expensive… but not pretentious… Do you know what I mean?" Max asked the girl.
"Um, yeah… I think I know what you mean… let me show you some stuff…"
"That would be great," Max nodded, quickly checking over his shoulder to see if Sid was still occupied. Sure enough, he was still chatting with the sales woman and probably wouldn't decide on anything for hours.
-.-
"MOM!" Amber ran down the corridor at the airport and flung herself around her mom's neck. The airport was packed with people, busily trying to get to where they needed to be but Amber didn't care.
"Ma petite fille!" Amber's mom, Gabrielle, wept as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. Her father, Claude, pushed his way through the crowd with a cart of luggage and embraced his daughter.
"I am so glad you guys are here!"
"Well, I can certainly think of a thousand places I would rather be…"
"Dad, come on! Please don't be like that…"
"I heard the weather is bad, is all…"
"Yeah, we got a truck load of snow but it makes the City really pretty…" Amber tried to put a positive spin on it. She knew her parents weren't pleased about having to be away from Montreal during Christmas, but it was really important to her that they at least attempted to not be miserable.
"Well we can't wait to see! Where is this boy of yours?" her mother asked while looking around.
"He left last night for Washington, they have a game tonight but they should be home around midnight," Amber explained. "Come on, let's head out to the car."
Claude reached for the cart of luggage. "No dad, let Frank take that," Amber summoned to a man in a dress coat.
"Who's Frank? Your body guard?" Claude asked, eyeing the man up. "Doesn't look very big…"
"No Dad, he's my driver. When the weather is bad, Sid doesn't like me driving. I don't have a body guard."
"Why not? I have seen some of the things they are saying about you in the news… it's only a matter of time before some crazy person goes too far…"
"Oh my God dad, you sound ridiculous! People here are really respectful. The media is just trying to create story lines. Don't worry about me… you shouldn't even be watching that stuff!"
"It hard not to… that's my baby girl they are talking about…"
Amber just rolled her eyes and began walking towards the airport exit doors. Sid and her had talked about her having a body guard but it seemed absurd to her. She was hardly ever alone and the only people that usually approached her were over excited teenage girls. Amber knew that when they decided to start a family, she would stop arguing against a body guard, if for no other reason then to stop random people from touching her stomach while she was pregnant. Why did people do that? That creeped her out! For the time being, she was fine with the freedom to go where she wanted, when she wanted and not draw anymore attention to herself.
-.-
Amber sat with her mom in the sitting room off the kitchen. This room was referred to as the 'mom's' room because it seemed like every mom loved being in there. It was definitely a girly room, with white washed walls and four oversized comfy chairs. The shelves were lined with cookbooks and the fireplace was one of the only ones in the house that ever got used, as you couldn't be in this room without it – it just didn't seem right.
Trina returned with a tray of tea cups, as she had taken it upon herself to play hostess – even though it was Amber's house. 'No, no… you just sit and catch up… I'll do that…' She would say every time Amber made a motion to get up. She had to admit, it was kinda nice…
Troy had taken it upon himself to show her dad around. She was pretty sure that they hadn't made it past the awards room, Troy's favourite room in the house. He loved any opportunity to brag about his son.
"It must be hard for you to have your family away every holiday?" Gabrielle asked Trina, as she accepted her tea cup.
"It was at first but Sidney hasn't been home for Christmas since he was 15… we just got used to it…"
"I don't think that I will ever get used to it. Christmas is about being home with family," Gabrielle protested.
"Mom, please…" Amber just shook her head and looked at the floor. Her mom was famous for the guilt trips and she really didn't want to deal with them in front of Sid's mom. The woman finally seemed to be warming up to her and the last thing she needed was more tension.
"I am just saying… it will be a hard adjustment…" Gabrielle insisted.
"All the changes get easier with time," Trina assured her sympathetically. Gabrielle just turned her head and looked out the window. "Sid should be home soon… He has been looking forward to meeting you and Claude for quite some time."
"Really? Because he has been in Montreal a number of times since dragging our daughter out here. He could have stopped in… Max stops by every time they play at home," Gabrielle pointed out, knowing full well the situation that existed between Sid and Max.
"Well Sid's schedule is a lot busier then Max's… he can't just take off and go visiting… he has responsibilities," Trina responded sharply, increasing the level of defense for her son. Amber could feel the tension in the room climbing.
"If he really was interested in meeting us, he would have made the time…"
"Enough!" Amber said forcefully. "Mom, arretez d'essayer de creer un probleme! Trina, I am sorry, my mom is having a hard time with all of this…"
Trina just shrugged and sipped her tea. The room sat in quiet tension, as neither woman spoke to eat other.
"Perhaps, I should go check on the men," Trina placed her coffee cup down on the coffee table and lifted herself from the chair. Amber smiled up at her, as she gently placed her hand on her shoulder as she walked out of the room.
"That was rude mom," Amber turned to her mom as soon as Trina was out of earshot.
"It's the truth," Gabrielle shot back. "Max always makes time for family… why you need to be here with this other boy, is beyond your father and I."
"Max and I are not together anymore Mom. You need to accept that! We have both moved on."
"He hasn't. He still loves you."
"No mom… we've talked… he has moved on…"
"No. He told me so himself, when he was home, not two weeks ago," Gabrielle protested. Amber grit her teeth and faced the window so her mom couldn't see her mouthing the swears that were flowing from her lips. "You need to stop playing pretend with this boy and go be with the man you are supposed to be with."
"How can you say that? You haven't even met him…"
"I don't need to meet him to know he isn't right for you… I know what they say about him in the papers…"
"Yeah mom, the Montreal papers… any hockey player that isn't on the Canadiens is slammed by them… that is hardly a good source…"
"It's not just what they say about him. Do you know what they say about you? Do you really expect me to sit back while my daughter's name is dragged through the mud? If you were with Max, nobody would care… we wouldn't have to get the looks from our friends that we get…"
"Well I am sorry that my life is affecting your wine club social standings… but it's my life…"
"You were happy with Max… you didn't need at this glitz and glamour to make you smile… he didn't buy your love, he earned it…"
"You don't know half the shit Max put me through, he was no angel! You make him out to be some kind of saint… You seem to forget sooooo much… Sid would never put me through any of that!"
"Really, he has dragged you away from your job - which you loved - your family, your friends… everything you know. He has dragged you into his world with no regard for you."
"I am happy here Mom."
"Are you? Or are you just convincing yourself you are so you don't have to admit the truth?"
-.-
Sid walked in the side door of the house and put his bag down on the bench. He kicked off his shoes, stretching and yawning. It had been a long day and he was beat. He was excited to have the next couple of days off but knew they would be far from restful.
"Don't go in there!" his mother hissed quietly as she appeared around the corner.
"What? Why? What's going on?" Sid chuckled, as his mom very dramatically blocked the hallway with her body.
"Seriously, no matter what you do, you will not win these people over, you should just turn around and run…"
"Oh come on Mom… they can't be that bad!" Sid laughed nervously, removing his suit jacket and carefully folding it over his arm.
"Fine, go find out for yourself… but don't say I didn't warn you…"
Sid laughed and pushed past his mom into the hall, making his way to the kitchen. He could hear Amber's voice and couldn't wait to wrap his arms around her. It was going to be a great Christmas!
"I can't believe you are siding with HER! Don't you EVER think for yourself?"
"That's enough young lady! We don't approve and that is that…"
Sid stood at the entrance to the kitchen and watched Amber yelling at someone he assumed was her father. He turned behind him in a panic and saw his mom mouth the words 'Told ya so'.
Sid took a step into the room awkwardly. The yelling stopped, as everyone turned and looked at him.
"Oh thank God you're back!" Amber practically threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the side of her head.
"What's going on?" He whispered into her hair.
"Nothing, it doesn't matter…" Amber pushed herself away from him. "Mom, Dad… this is Sidney…"
Sid stepped forward, extending his hand to Amber's father. Instead of extending his hand outward to him, Claude left his arms crossed over his chest, then walked over to his wife.
"I think we will be off to bed," He stated, putting his hands on Gabrielle's shoulders.
"Dad!" Amber cried in shock.
"Goodnight…" He said sharply, guiding Gabrielle off.
Sid turned to Amber. "What was that?"
-.-
"A BREAK? You want to take a BREAK?"
"It's just an idea…" Amber wiped the tears from her face.
"My parents didn't like you at first… but I dealt with that…" Sid threw his arms up in the air. He was tired and frustrated and this was the last thing that he wanted to deal with right now. He wanted to come home, shake hands, and then curl up in bed with his arms around Amber and fall asleep for hours and hours. Coming home to World War Three in his kitchen was not his idea of a good time.
"It's different…"
"HOW? How is it different?"
"Because… because I have been through a lot and they have always been there for me…"
"Oh I forgot, my parents put me on a raft up a river and hoped I could paddle… That's bullshit Amber! My parents are just as important to me… I thought you were committed to this relationship!"
"… I just… I need time to think… "
"Do you love me?"
"You know I do…"
"Then you don't need time to think… this should be easy…"
"There is more to a relationship then love…"
"What the FUCK did they say to you? Before they got here you were happy!"
"Was I?" Amber asked. "How would you know?"
Sid was pretty sure his heart sank to his knees. "What?"
"When was the last time you asked me? When was the last time we talked about anything?"
"We talk everyday… You knew I would be busy… you knew that better then anyone! You make my schedule for Christ sake! You can't pull that shit…"
"Then you can't make statements, assuming you know how I feel..."
Sid stood in front of her, seeing the pain in her face. It was a look that he had never seen before. "Are you really not happy?"
"I don't know… I just… please, just give me a minute to figure this out… I don't know what to do…"
"It's Christmas…"
"I know… I'm sorry… "
"We'll talk about this after Christmas," Sid snapped, then soften his tone. "I just wanted this year to be special… it's our first Christmas together… just, please… give me this…"
"I can't… my parents want to go stay at Max's… and I have never been away from them for Christmas…"
"There is no way IN HELL I am letting you spend Christmas with Max!"
"Sid… this isn't easy for me either but they're my parents! What do you want me to do?"
Sid just shook his head. He hadn't even done anything to piss her parents off yet and they already hated him. But it was more then that. Not only did they hate him – they loved Max. Sid wasn't sure which was worse.
"We will figure something out, okay? All I know is that I am not going to be without you for Christmas…" Sid stepped closer to Amber, pulling her arm to get her closer to him. He was going to say whatever he had to in order to get this 'break' idea out of her head. "I am sorry if you're not happy… just tell me what I have to do…"
Amber looked up at him with a sad look in her eyes. "I dunno what you can do…"
"Can we just agree to deal with it in the morning? I will talk to your parents, okay? Right now I just want to go to bed and wrap my arms around you…" He smiled down at her. It may have been one of those old clichés, but Sid's parents always said 'Don't go to bed mad'. They had been married for twenty-four years, so Sid figured there must have been something to it. He didn't know if delaying the problem counted as not going to bed mad but it worked for him.
"Okay… in the morning…" Amber laid her head on Sid's chest. "I am sorry…"
"Shhh… don't worry about it… it will all work out… we are going to have a great Christmas… together…" Sid reassured her before taking her hand and leading her up the stairs to their very comfy bed, which had been calling him since the team had touched down in Pittsburgh.