Chapter 3

“So that girl who had the nephew pull me off the bus lives in Pittsburgh,” Sidney said to a few of his teammates after practice the next afternoon. Whit, Jordan, and Max looked up at him in surprise.

“She lives here?” Whit asked as if he hadn’t heard what Sidney had just said.

“Makes sense why she sent her nephew on the bus then,” Jordan commented, tying one of his shoes.

“I don’t think she sent him,” Sidney defended. Max rolled his eyes at him.

“Naïve isn’t a word I would normally use to describe you, except for right now,” he said, agreeing with Jordan.

“No, really. You guys didn’t see her face,” Sidney argued.

He didn’t believe for one second that Tanner had sent Andrew onto the bus to get him. Not after their conversation on the phone the day before. He wished that Mario hadn’t come in to tell him that he and Nathalie were leaving for the night and Sidney had babysitting duty. He would have liked to have stayed on the phone with her a bit longer. He was intrigued.

“So she’s from here?” Marc asked joining the discussion.

“I don’t know. She goes to Duquesne. It’s her senior year,” Sidney explained wishing he knew if she was from Pittsburgh. Maybe she was from Philly if she was at the game there.

“You’ve got that look on your face,” Kris Letang said jumping in.

“What look?” Sidney asked.

“It’s the look you get when you want something,” Whit replied. He shook his head. Sometimes he just didn’t know about his friends.

“I don’t know anything about her except that her name is Tanner, her nephew wants her to have a boyfriend, and she goes to Duquesne.” As he finished saying that, the wheels started turning in his brain. “You know, Tanner isn’t a very popular name.” Jordan groaned.

“You’re not going to do something crazy, are you?” he asked. Sidney pulled a hat over his head and grabbed his car keys.

“I’m just saying,” he began while shrugging his shoulders. He started to walk out the door to head home.

“He’s going to do something crazy,” he heard Max say as the locker room door closed behind him. There was nothing crazy about what he was going to do.











I closed up my notebook and stuck it in my bag. Animal behavior was not the most exciting class ever today. I grabbed my car keys from my bag and made my way to my car. I checked my phone on the way and saw that I had a missed call from Lisa, one of my housemates and decided it could wait until I got home.

I pulled into our driveway a few minutes later and stared in confusion at the strange car parked there. Who the hell did we know with a Range Rover? I grabbed my bag and got out of the car. Before I even had a chance to make it to the front door Lisa ran out to me.

“You did not tell me hockey boy was so cute!” she exclaimed. I did a double take at her unsure as to what she was talking about.

“Hockey boy?” I asked. She rolled her eyes at me.

“From the Penguins. Sidney, you dumbass,” she said slapping my arm.

My eyes opened wide and I looked back over at the Range Rover. How the hell did he know where I lived? Had Andrew given him my address too? I followed Lisa inside and spotted Sidney sitting on the couch in the living room talking to Grace.

“About time you got home,” Grace commented looking over at me.

“I-I had class,” I stammered still in shock. Sidney looked over and smiled before standing up.

“Hey, sorry to just surprise you like this,” he told me.

“It’s definitely a surprise. What are you doing here?” I asked. I was still clutching my bag like it was a security blanket.

“I thought maybe you’d want to get some coffee.” I glanced over at Grace and Lisa and they were nodding their heads at me, telling me to say yes.

“You drove here to see if I wanted coffee?” I asked stupidly. My brain really was not currently functioning at 100%.

“Well, after our last conversation I didn’t think you’d agree to it if I asked you on the phone. I thought I’d have a better chance if I were here in person. Maybe you’d feel bad about turning me down,” he explained. I opened my mouth to say something but Lisa beat me.

“That was probably a good idea,” she chimed in.

I glared over at her, but she just grinned at me like that mischievous Cheshire cat. I didn’t say anything, unsure if I wanted to get coffee with him. I didn’t even know this guy, and to be honest I was a little creeped out that he was in my house when I hadn’t told him where I lived.

“She’ll go,” Grace told Sidney.

She opened the door and practically pushed me out onto the porch. I started to protest but Sidney was following me outside. Grace quickly closed the door behind us. I felt my face turning bright red again. Every time I talked to him I felt like my face was doing that.

“I’m sorry about them,” I apologized, feeling extremely embarrassed, not to mention awkward.

“You really don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” he said looking down at the car keys in his hand. For the first time I took a minute to check him out. Lisa was right, he was cute. Okay, not just cute, but gorgeous.

“No, it’s okay. I know a place,” I told him. He looked at me and smiled.

“I’ll drive,” he said. I followed him to his car and got in. I gave him the directions to a café I often frequented and then we fell silent for a few minutes.

“Okay, look, I’m a pretty say-what-you-feel kind of person so I’m going to be blunt. How did you know where I live?” I asked him finally turning to look at him. There was a glimmer of panic in his eyes like he was scared to tell me, but it faded quickly and the smile was back on his face.

“Tanner’s a pretty unusual name and I figured there was no way there were a lot of them at the school. I looked it up in the directory online and you were the only one. It had your address listed,” he explained. My eyes widened.

“They have that information on the internet!” I exclaimed. He laughed at me, obviously not thinking it was a big deal, and shrugged.

“You’ll have to take that up with the school. I didn’t do it,” he joked. Despite myself, I smiled at him. He pulled up to the café and we got out. We put in our orders and took the coffee to a table in the back. I paid for mine, of course.

“So what made you want to drive here and ask me to get coffee?” I asked him after I took a sip of some wonderful hazelnut coffee.

“I enjoyed our conversation the other day. I wanted to get to know you a little better,” he responded. I took a sip of coffee and struggled to think of something to say.

“So what’s it like to be a hockey player?” I asked him, honestly curious. He looked at me strangely before answering.

“I don’t know. I don’t really know anything else. It’s just my life. I love hockey, but it’s my job. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes I want to give up like I’m sure most people do with their jobs. The only difference is millions of people watch me do my job,” he told me. My eyes widened.

“Millions?” I asked shocked. He laughed and gave me that strange look again.

“You really don’t know much about hockey, do you?” he asked. I shook my head.

“My father and brother are die hard Rangers fans but I was never really into sports, except for football. Even then I’m not hardcore or anything. I don’t know, you’d think I would have picked up something from them, but no.”

“The Rangers? How did that happen?” he asked making a face.

“I’m from New York City. Manhattan actually.” He nodded his head in understanding. “How about you? Where are you from?” Again, he gave me that strange look.

“Nova Scotia,” he replied. I smiled.

“Ah, a Canadian, eh?” I joked. He laughed.

“My accent’s not that bad,” he said defending himself. I laughed with him.

“No, it’s not. So, are you any good?” I asked. Okay, that strange look he kept giving me was starting to annoy me.

“Well, I’m in the NHL so I guess that means someone likes what I’m doing,” he said modestly.

“I bet you’re better than you’re letting on.” He laughed at me. “So how old are you?”

“I’m 21.”

“Wow, you’re 21 and a professional athlete. I’m 21 and I’ve never done anything significant in my entire life. That’s just crazy.” I shook my head unable to comprehend how a 21 year old could handle the pressure of playing hockey in front of millions of people. He just shrugged.

“It’s really not a big deal. I’m only one of 19 guys on the ice each game.” I felt like he was holding something back, but since I hardly knew him, I didn’t push. “So what are you majoring in?” I smiled at the change of subject.

“Biological Science, but my focus is really on supra-organismal biology,” I told him. He looked at me like I was speaking another language. “I like to study animal behavior. Working in a zoo would be my dream, and animal conservation is my passion.”

“That’s an interesting dream. I can’t say I know too many people with the same one.” I shrugged.

“Animals are my life ever since my parents took me to the Bronx Zoo when I was 5 and I saw the Polar Bears. I could watch the bears all day.”

“So does that mean you don’t wear fur and leather, and eat food with no animal products?”

“No, I’m not like that. I save my battles for the animals in danger of becoming extinct, although you’ll never catch me wearing fur.” He smiled at me and I smiled back.

We stayed at the café for almost two hours talking and laughing and getting to know each other. The longer I was with him, the more I enjoyed his company. I was actually disappointed when it started to get dark out and we had to leave. Sidney had dinner plans and I hadn’t even touched any of my work yet. When he dropped me off he said he would call, and I sincerely hoped he would.