Chapter 7

End of March, 2007

It was after noon when I was working out in the weight room that was located in the basement of the station when my phone began vibrating across the padded floor making a funky clunking sound.  I finished my last rep and bent over to check the text message.

Ryan: You coming to the game tonight?

Who the hell is Ryan?  I don’t ever remember putting anyone by the name of Ryan in my phone.

Me: Ryan who? I don’t know any Ryan’s L

Ryan: Well now I’m offended that u claim not to kno any Ryan’s bcuz I remembered u…

Now I’m really confused.  Me: I think you might have the wrong number.

Ryan: Is this Emma Kasyk?

Ok…creepy.  Me: Yes.

Ryan: Ur best friend is Patrick Kaleta?

Me: Yeah…

Ryan: Well, meet me at the player’s parking entrance gate at 5pm and mayb seeing me will jog ur memory.

Me: Player’s entrance?

Ryan: J

Did I really just make a fool out of myself with Ryan Miller, again?! Grrrrrrrr.

I called Patty on my way home from the station to find out what the fuck was going on.

“Hello?” he answered groggily.

“Shit! You have a game tonight, don’t you?”

“Um, yeah.  It’s okay though, my nap time was almost up anyway.  What’s up?”

“So I just got a text from a guy named Ryan.”

“Okaaaaay??” he drew out into the phone.

“Well, I don’t remember meeting any other Ryan’s except for a certain Ryan Miller.”

“Okaaaay??” he drew out again.

“Well, he’s invited me to the game tonight…”

“Really?  Well that’s cool, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.  I’m just nervous and wondering why he invited me.  Did you put him up to this?”

“Um, actually, no,” he said hesitantly.  “He did mention to me before I got sent back to Rochester that he thought you were really cool and asked me a bunch of questions about you…”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I squeaked into the phone.

“I didn’t really think about it I guess,” he said calmly.

“Oh.”

“So are you going to go?”

“Um, yeah…sure.”

“Well have fun then.  Do you have my jersey to wear?”

“Of course I do!  I’ll be the only one in the arena wearing it, so I’m definitely going to do that while I can,” I said with a big smile.

I heard him laugh into the phone.  “Love ya, Emmy!”

“Love ya too, Patty.  Good luck tonight!  Text me on how you make out tonight.”

“Will do.”

I was nervous as hell and chewing at my lip as I walked across the parking lot.  Plus I was worried that I might fall on my ass from stepping on an ice patch and make myself look like a big fat goober.  I was paying attention to the ground so that I didn’t do the latter part when a strong arm hooked into mine.

“Afraid you will fall on the ice?” his soft voice asked me as I looked up to find the tall, dark, handsome goalie looking down at me, smiling.  He was wearing sandals with socks, long gym shorts and an UnderArmor shirt that clung to his muscles.

I left out a laugh that sounded more like a squeak and nodded my head like a mute.

“I won’t let you fall,” he leaned down and whispered as I felt his warm breath caress the side of my face.  He smelled of peppermint and I was instantly intoxicated.

“Well that’s good, because I would feel stupid if I got hurt off the job; considering I do more dangerous things there.”

He laughed quietly as he broke out the sexy smirk that I always found enchanting when he did TV interviews.  “Yeah, I guess that would be bad…” he said as he held the door open for me to walk inside.  He helped me out of my coat as we walked into the family meeting room and hung it on the rack.  “Do you want a quick tour?”

“Um, sure.  As long as it doesn’t interfere with your pre-game stuff…”

“No problems,” he cut me off.  I turned before he got over to me and I felt him straighten out the back of my jersey to read it.  “Kaleta, huh?”

I just looked over my shoulder with a grin and shrugged my shoulders, “The only jersey I will ever wear til the day I die,” I said as I crossed my heart with my hand.

He left out another cool laugh as he took my hand away from my chest and began our tour.

I was a little weirded out by sitting in the player’s family section, considering I was used to sitting in the nose bleed seats.  However, I enjoyed being able to watch Ryan close up in the crease.  They won the game against Jersey 4-3 and everyone was buzzing when they were coming out of the locker room after the game.  Drew basically jumped on me as soon as he walked out the door and found me standing there.

“Emma!!” he said, pulling me into a tight hug.  “Glad to see you here!  Miller told me he was going to invite you…”

“He did, did he?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow; wondering what else “Miller” had told him.

“Yup!” He answered excitedly.  Drew then leaned down and said quietly, “He’s a really nice guy, Emma.  I’d give him a chance if I were you.”

“Are you telling all my secrets, Staff?” Ryan said as he came up behind the two of us, causing me to jump out of my skin.

“Nah, I was just trying to find out what was up after the game,” he said, covering up well.

“Not quite sure yet,” Ryan answered truthfully.  “It’s up to the lady, I guess.”

I stared at him for probably what was an ungodly amount of time as I took in how good he looked wearing a suit and tie.  I finally got the nerve to speak, “I don’t have any plans, so I’m down with anything.  I don’t have to work til tomorrow night, so I can stay out past curfew.”

Ryan’s face lit up as he wiggled his eye brows, “Well then, I’m set then!”

After meeting Emma the other month, I couldn’t seem to get her out of my mind.  She captivated me with her independence and she was definitely out of the ordinary.  I’m a very reserved, quiet guy around people I don’t know; for some reason I found it easy to talk to her even if she was a little star struck in the beginning.  She was definitely comfortable in her own skin, and I adored that about her.

I talked with Stafford a little later on that week and asked him how he knew Emma.  He informed me that he had gotten to know her while he played with Kaleta in Rochester.  I found out that she was a firefighter for the city of Buffalo and had always seemed to be easy going.  He did inform me that she had been with David Booth for a short time and that a fall out had occurred between Booth and Kaleta because of that fact.

Supposedly she and Kaleta have been best friends since they were little kids.  Stafford said he always wondered if something more was between them, but if there was, neither of them had fessed up to the other.  That piece of information worried me a bit because I didn’t want to piss off Kaleta.  He was a good kid and I knew that sooner or later he’d be up on the team.  I didn’t want to be involved in some twisted love triangle so it took me awhile to actually take the first step in contacting her.  I had actually saved my number into her cell phone the night we were at Club Pure, when she was out dancing with Kaleta.  I hoped she wouldn’t think it to creepy.

Before Patrick was sent back to the AHL I had asked him in passing if Emma was single to see what his reaction was.  He didn’t seem phased by the question so I figured I was in the clear to make my move.  I promised myself that I would step back if it ended up becoming an issue.

I laughed to myself as I watched her walking across the parking lot, all bundled up in her Columbia coat, paired with a bright, multi-colored scarf and matching toque while looking down warily at the ice covered parking lot.  My feet led me out into the cold to assist her inside so that she didn’t fall.  She was still obviously nervous around me, but by the end of the night I hoped she would look at me as a normal guy. 

I found it endearing when she made the proclamation about never wearing another jersey except for Kaleta’s.  She was definitely loyal and I liked that quality.  The other quality I liked was her subtle beauty.  Her long, wild, curly blonde hair was accented by the bright blue eyes.  I could tell she took very good care of herself by working out, but she wasn’t so muscular that it took away her femininity.

Stafford had invited us out with a couple of the other guys, but my plan was to get to know Emma without the whole crew breathing down our necks so I leaned down and whispered, “I’d like to take you to get a bite to eat, if you are hungry.”

She looked up at me and smiled shyly, “I’d like that.”

She quickly went to her car and changed out of her jersey and threw on a warm, loose fitting woven olive green sweater, easily transitioning into a city girl who was chic but casual. 

As we pulled up in front of Romeo and Juliet’s Café she left out a quiet squeak and I watched out of the corner of my eye as her face lit up with a big smile.

“Do you like this place?” I asked, trying to hide my humor in the whole scene.

She looked over at me blushing and said, “I’ve always wanted to go here…”

“It’s got great Italian food, so I hope your hungry despite it being so late.”

She grabbed at her stomach and nodded her head, “I’m actually starving, I didn’t get a chance to eat anything accept for a soft pretzel between the 1^st and 2^nd period.”

We parked and she looked shocked when I quick ran around to help her out of my Range Rover.  “Oh!” she exclaimed surprised when I took her hand.

“Everything okay?” I asked her, worried if I did something wrong.

She smiled reassuringly and shook her head, “No nothing wrong at all.  I just never had anyone get the door for me.”

“Sorry, I’m a little old fashioned about some things,” I admitted as I tucked her hand in the crook of my arm, walking towards the entrance.

“I think that’s cool,” she said quietly.

Dinner was actually relaxing and we both asked each other a shit load of questions about growing up and families.  She talked more about the Kaletas and her grandmother than she did of her dad.  I got the gist quickly that the relationship between her and her dad was strained.  I couldn’t imagine not being close with my family, considering we were a big family and they were my support system through everything.  However, it seemed that the Kaletas’ were Emma’s support system and for that I was grateful.  Now the close relationship between her and Patrick made a lot more sense.  He was the brother she never had.

End of July, 2004

“Hellooooooo Patty!” she crooned into my ear as she answered her phone.

“Helloooooo Emmy!” I mocked back in the same octave as her, causing her to giggle on the other side.

“Whatchya want?”

“Wanted to know what you were up to tonight?” I asked, nervously as I chewed on my fingernails.  I’m not quite sure what I so nervous about because I knew damn well she wouldn’t have anything planned.  She never had any plans unless they were with me.

“Um…let me check my black book,” she said seriously into the phone.  “Oops!”

“Oops what?”

“Oops! I gots nothing planned,” she said as she popped a piece of her bubble gum into the phone, creating a loud ‘crack!’ into my ear.

“Damn it Emma! Why do you have to pop your gum in the phone like that?” I growled as I rubbed my now aching ear.

“Cause I know it annoys you,” she said smugly.  “So what’s up for tonight?”

Ah, back to the task at hand, making my palms go sweaty once again.  “Um, wanna go to dinner and a movie with me?”

“Heh.”

“Heh?”

“Yeah, heh.  That sounds like a date thing.”

“Um, well it could be if you want it to be…” I answered hesitantly.

“Ooo! I get to go on a date with the future NHL star, Kaleta!”  she said mockingly into the phone.  “Where are we going for dinner? McDonalds?”

“No you dumbass, I was going to take you to some place nice.”

“I don’t have to dress up, do I?”

“Not if you don’t want to,” I said as I realized my plans were already going sour.  I wanted to take her Romeo and Juliet’s Café, but I knew you needed to wear something a little nicer than shorts and a tank-top.  Of course Emma lived in those two things, so I had to down-grade a bit.

“Well I’ll just wear shorts and a tank-top with my new flip-flops I got!” she said all excitedly, proving my point that I knew the girl all too well.

“Ooo! New flip-flops, you are really going all out to impress your date tonight,” I snorted into the phone.

“What time ya picking me up, Patty?”

I sighed into the phone and said, “I’ll be there in an hour.”

“Okie! See you then!” she squeaked and then the phone went dead in my hand.

I smacked myself in the head and said, “This is going to be harder than I thought.”  After the 4^th I had been itching to kiss Emma again and possibly ask her to be my girlfriend.  However, my job at the lake was taking up too much time and Emma was busy with her job at the ice cream parlor.  Plus, every time I thought I worked up enough nerve, something stupid would happen and blow the plans.

For example: The other day we were down at the lake, swimming and doing the normal horse play when I pulled her down off my shoulders and went to lean in and kiss her.  As I did, a crack of thunder made us jump 10 ft out of the water and had us swimming to the dock as quickly as possible.

Plus, every time I tried talking to her about the evening on the Jet-Ski she would come up with some way to get us off topic and I’d be left wondering how the hell we went from talking about her being in my arms to the 20 different flavors of ice cream she was serving that day.  It was frustrating to say the least.  Tonight, I hoped to end that frustration.

Instead of going to a really fancy Italian restaurant, I settled for the next best thing, Olive Garden.  Doesn’t matter if you wear shorts and a tank-top, the food is still good and no one gives you dirty looks for not being dressed up enough.

“So what movie are we going to?” Emmy asked as she slouched back in her chair and patted her belly.

“You can be such a guy sometimes,” I said, laughing at her mannerisms.

“Well you’ve always told me I wasn’t a girl,” she said, smiling back.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and picked up her glass to suck out the rest of her iced tea.

“Well, they have a movie in the park by home, tonight.  It’s some old black and white film…”

“That sounds like fun! I love those old movies.”

“I know you do.  Okay, well let’s head out there then.”  I picked up the check and paid for dinner as she whined about at least getting the tip.  The whole ‘date’ thing was not working out very well, so I finally decided to remind her that we were on a date.  “Emma, I’m paying because we are on a date!” I playfully jabbed at her side, causing her to bend over while grumbling about being too full.

“Fiiinnneee.  I should make you take me out on dates more often if you are going to pay for everything,” she said in a teasing tone that told me she still didn’t get it.

When we got to the park I pulled out some blankets and took her hand in mine as we walked across the field.  Surprisingly she didn’t pull her hand away from mine but instead just squeezed it and smiled at me.

We were probably the youngest two there, but we enjoyed it all the same.  We sat on the blankets and she snuggled in between my legs so that she could lean her back against my chest and rest her head on my collarbone.  Her shampoo filled my nose with honeysuckle and I couldn’t keep myself from lightly running my fingers through my hair.

At one point she turned her face towards me and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Just playing with your hair…” I answered quietly and dreamy.  “Do you mind?”

She smiled lightly and quietly said, “No.  It just gives me goose bumps.”

I was going to take my chance now and kiss her but she turned back to watched the movie, leaving my lips on her hair and my heart on my sleeve.