Chapter 29 - An American Flavour

Unfortunately, when Dad and I got back to Helsinki from Hameenlinna it was far too late for me to be telling Sidney anything about anything. He had long since gone to bed I was sure, since Dad and I got back at shortly after 2 in the morning. I had a hard time sleeping, because I was anxious to tell Sidney the good news.
Again, unfortunately, at least from my stand point, I didn’t know WHEN I was actually going to be able to see Sidney. I mean, this was the World Junior Championships after all… and in Canada this was like, the hugest deal. They’d won five in a row back in the early 1990’s Danny had told me, but since then they hadn’t won once.
Apparently, they’d gone as far as to have a summit on the state of the game when they place 8th a few years ago. Since then, the team had always finished in the medals, but Gold had been elusive. This years’ team was going to do their very best to fix that and I had a feeling that that was going to mean very limited free time.
So I crawled into bed in my suite that night, relieved that I wasn’t pregnant on Christmas night. I wasn’t usually much for praying, but that night, for the first time in a long time, I prayed. I prayed for strength for both Sidney and I… strength to deal with the inevitable problems that were still going to exist between us.
The fact that I wasn’t pregnant was not a cure all. I knew that, and I just hoped that Sidney and I both cared enough about each other to try again. That was really all I could hope for. Except I was trying not to hope too much, because I didn’t want to get so caught up in the idea that Sid and I might have a future that I was completely destroyed if we didn’t.
I was trying to protect myself from getting hurt as I lay in bed, talking to God. I didn’t want to get hurt. I didn’t want to hurt Sidney. I just wanted things to be the way they were when we started dating. I knew full well that it wasn’t possible, but I still wanted it. Either way, I was so relieved and exhausted that it wasn’t long before I fell asleep.
When I woke up on December 26th, I felt a familiar wetness between my thighs. Heading to the bathroom, I grinned with relief. The tests had been right. I wasn’t pregnant. I smiled… I couldn’t wait to tell Sidney, even though I knew that I was going to have to.
So that night my Dad I were in a luxury box in Helsinki, watching as Team Canada opened the tournament with the team from the host country. I hadn’t seen Sidney in nearly a month. We hadn’t really talked for a month and a half. I shifted nervously in the leather seat of the luxury box that my Dad and I were sitting in.
“You okay Kally?” Dad asked, looking over at me. “You didn’t touch your champagne last night and now you’re acting all jumpy.”
I shrugged. “I miss Sidney Daddy.” I told him. “We haven’t really seen each other for nearly a month… as to the champagne… Zach and Drew are always teasing me about what a lush I am, so I had a bet going on.”
Dad laughed. “A Van Steen never loses Kally, and you are pure Van Steen.”
“I know.” I replied with a grin, reaching over and accepting a glass of champagne from the server who was offering it to me. “To a USA-Canada final.” I said jokingly.
We clinked our glasses together. “To my lovely, talented, intelligent daughter.” My Dad said. “And to getting everything you want out of life and more.”
“Thanks Dad.” I said, taking a long swig of my champagne. “The USA-Austria game is going to be broadcast live on one of the TVs in here right?” I asked, glancing around.
“I believe so.” Dad said with a shrug. “But really Kally, it’s Austria. We all know that the boys are going to do more then fine.”
I shrugged. “I know Dad.” I said with a smile. “I just want to see if Zachie and Drew can put their money where their mouths were last night so to speak.”
Dad chuckled. “Those boys definitely do not lack confidence.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” I said, smiling. “I prefer to say that they have egos whose size dwarfs that of the Pacific Ocean.”
Dad laughed again. “Cheers Kally.” He said, clinking his glass against mine again.
With that, my Dad and I sat back to watch the game. The puck was dropped and the World Junior Hockey Championships were officially underway for Team Canada. The first period was okay I guess. I think I’d just gotten used to high scoring, big offense games in the QMJHL, because the first period wasn’t really that wow.
I mean, I was on the edge of my seat with every shift because I was waiting for Canada to break through and score. Finally, with less then 5 minutes to go in the first, Dion Phaneuf, a big kid from the WHL hit the score sheet for Canada, making it a 1-0 game. The assists went Nigel Dawes, another WHL boy, according to the brass in the box with us, and Anthony Stewart, a big scorer from the OHL.
It was a surprisingly penalty free game. The Fins had taken a penalty in the first for hooking, and they took one early in the second for holding. Not long after, Dan Paille, the captain scored from Maxime Talbot, who I recognized because he played for the Olympiques. The Fins took another penalty before Canada took their first, a holding charge against one of the WHL boys.
In the third Canada iced the game early when Anthony Stewart scored from Mike Richards (another OHLer). Canada took a couple more penalties before the end of the game, but Finland seemed unable to beat Marc-André Fleury, the keeper from Cape Breton, much to the hometown crowd’s disappointment.
Meanwhile, through two periods in Hameenlinna, Zach had a goal and an assist and Team USA was leading Team Austria 5-0. It was awesome, and part of me wanted to stay in the luxury box and watch the game. But Dad insisted that we go down to the locker room to see the guys.
He was only doing that because he knew how badly I wanted to see Sidney. But the fact was, I was kind of scared. I wasn’t sure how Sidney would react to seeing me, though he knew that I was going to be here, I still wasn’t sure that he’d want to see me.
It didn’t really matter to my Dad either way though. My Dad viewed this the same way he saw everything else… as a business transaction. He had donated a lot of money on behalf of our family and in return we had been granted VIP status. We were not going to waste that. So we went down to the dressing room.
You could tell that the guys were happy after the victory. They were smiling and joking as they spoke to reporters, glad to have this first one, against a tough Finnish team, out of the way. I stood there, next to my Dad, feeling awkward. Usually when I’d been in a room like this it had been for sex. It was odd not to be, to say the least.
And I have to admit, I looked good. I was wearing a tight pair of jeans, a pair of incredibly high heeled boots, and a deep blue Cashmere sweater and a short grey, black and white chinchilla fur coat. A number of guys’ turned to stare when they noticed my Dad and I standing there.
Sidney noticed the sudden silence and turned. His eyes actually lit up when they saw me, much to my surprise. “Kally, baby.” He said, coming over.
He looked as if he were going to kiss me and I wasn’t sure that I wanted him to kiss me. I mean, not after the way things had been going the past little while. I wasn’t sure he deserved it. I double kissed him instead. “Sidney, nice to see you.” I said coolly.
“Who’s the hottie Crosby?” The only none-sweaty guy in the place (clearly the back up goaltender) asked, giving me the once over.
“This is my girlfriend, Kallista Van Steen.” Sidney said.
I raised an eyebrow. His girlfriend? Well at least now I knew where he thought things stood, even though we hadn’t spoken to each other really since the middle of November, except to keep up appearances. Well, it was still nice to know, even if it was only because another guy was checking me out.
“Kally this is Josh Harding.” Sidney said. “Josh, Kally.”
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.” I said.
“You too.” Josh replied, squeezing my hand.
“Kally and I met when I was at Shattuck’s.” Sidney explained. “And she’s going to
College in Rimouski this year.”
“Cool.” Josh said. “So have you too been dating long?”
I shrugged. “Not really. Since September.”
“But you’ve known each other since last fall?” He asked, as if he somehow hadn’t gotten it when Sid told him.
“Yeah, Stoney, the headman at Shattuck’s caught me on the first day of school and made me show the kid around.” I said with a shrug. “I wasn’t his first choice for that, but I was the first one in the school building that morning.”
“How was your flight Kal?” Sid asked pleasantly.
I shrugged. “It was fine. We took the jet, so it was far more comfortable then those commercial flights we took last year.”
As Sidney was asking me this, Josh wandered away to get out of his pads. Sidney nodded, then leaned in close to me, sniffing deeply as he did so. “You smell like champagne Kally.” He said, sounding somewhat angry.
I rolled my eyes. “Get changed, and we’ll talk when you get back to the hotel. Dad and I are in a suite. We’re having some of the Team Canada brass for drinks.” I said. “They won’t mind if you’re up there when they get there, then you can go have dinner or whatever you guys call that post-game meal, with the team.”
“You have some explaining to do.” He said firmly.
“So do you.” I replied. “I still don’t know why Mark, Danny, Alex, Patrick and Cédrick are so mad at you, and I expect an explanation Crosby.”
“Just because you and your father bought your way into everything with Team Canada doesn’t mean that you can buy me too.” Sidney said.
“Have I ever tried?” I retorted.
Sidney sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “No.” He said tiredly. “You never have Kally and you never will.”
“Exactly.” I snapped. “So maybe you need to remember that. I’ve only ever cared about who you are Crosby, not about money, or about hockey skills. Maybe it’s time I start asking you about whether or not you expect me to buy you.”
Sidney sighed again, leaned down, kissed me on the forehead and said. “I’ll see you later baby. I’ll come up to your suite as soon as we get back to the hotel and I’ve had a chance to get showered.”
I nodded. “I’ll see you then.”
I purposely didn’t tell him that I had good news. If I had, he might not have appeared at the door of my suite about an hour later. I was sitting in front of the TV, a glass of Cris in my hand. Sidney sighed, looking disgusted. “Not again Kally.”
“We are not going to argue over the fact that I am drinking.” I told him, reaching over and pouring him a glass of Cris. “In fact, we are each going to have one glass… I know you can’t drink, but surely to God one glass isn’t going to kill you.”
“Why on earth would I want to have a glass of champagne with you Kally?” Sidney demanded angrily. “For fuck’s sake you’re pregnant, and you need to accept it.”
“Actually….” I said with a wry grin. “You should want to have a glass of champagne with me to celebrate the fact that I’m not pregnant.”
“Not pregnant?” Sidney asked. “What do you mean not pregnant?”
“I took three different pregnancy tests last night, and let’s just say, God gave both of us a Christmas gift.” I told him with a smile as I handed him his glass.
“Meaning what exactly?” He replied.
“Meaning that my so-called monthly visitor has finally arrived.” I told him. “But better late then never, and all three of the test came back negative. It was official as of this morning sexy – I’m not pregnant. I was just incredibly stressed out, and now that I’ve finally had the time to relax, things are working the way they’re supposed to.”
I at least thought that he’d be thrilled about me not being pregnant, even if he wasn’t sure about me personally. So imagine my surprise when all he did was tipped back his glass, down the Cris, put the glass down, and walked out, saying “Cheers.” As he went.
I starred after him in horror. That was my Sidney. I knew that things would never be the same again, but part of me had kept the hope that somehow, we’d be able to find some common ground. Or at least that he’d want to find some common ground. Instead, he just walked away from me, and I sat down, tears in my eyes and poured myself another glass of Cristal, because sometimes, you just want to forget.