"Hey, how come you never got a car?" Bryson asks as we head back down to my building’s underground lot. He asks like it just dawned on him. Maybe it did.
"Well, when I first landed here, Crosby lived in the building and he would always drive me."
"And then he moved to his house and the rest of us just picked up the slack." Bryson fills in the rest of the story as we wait for his trunk to open.
"Yeah. Really the only time I drive these days is when I’m visiting Granny in Scotland."
"Isn’t that on the other side of the road?"
"Yep."
"Huh." His whole forehead creases as he thinks. "Isn’t that harder?"
"That’s what she said." He laughs and rolls his eyes. I laugh too. "Yeah, it is, but I like being the team’s passenger princess."
It gives me time to check in with the guys. It gives me a chance to stay involved in their lives. Especially as they all settle down, giving me rides to practice or games might be my only contact with them outside of the locker room.
I wasn’t ready for the changes in our core group as they each started pairing up. And I know Crosby wasn’t ready to become a dad either but I don’t think how our relationship will change is even on his mind.
I can’t blame him.
But I can still feel left behind.
I shake the icky feeling away.
"Do you really think I need all this crap?" I grunt as I lift the next round of bags onto the counter.
"How should I know?"
"Hopefully the girls will." I say as we go back for the final items.
***
"This is totally for a girl." I overhear Caroline saying as the elevator opens into my condo. Camp was tough today.
"It isn’t for a girl, C." I insist, tiredly, as I round the cover and her precisely slicing a roll of drawer liner. Those teens gave us everything and after not doing as much conditioning over the summer as I could have I’m beat.
And, one of them didn’t lift his head during a drill so he crunched Crosby into the boards. We helped him off the ice and finished up the camp. I’ll head over later and make sure he’s okay.
But, I need to check on the girl’s progress in my kitchen first.
Except it seems like they’re focused on my relationship status, not organizing the mountains of things Andre bought.
"Well, when are you going to hitch up?" Caroline asks like I’ve personally done her wrong by staying single.
"What am I missing here?"
"Nothing." She says too quickly.
I rise up from where I was inspecting a set of different sized ice cream scoops and cross my arms. Slowly Caroline looks up at me and huffs. "Fine."
Harper and Ivanna slow their progress on one of my cabinets to listen in.
"I just want to see you taken care of, is all." Caroline says sweetly.
I glance at the girls and they turn their heads away quickly.
I know when a jig is up.
