The three months following their reunion constituted the end of the regular playing season for Kip. A sort of routine formed over those months. During the week if he had time off he would come up and stay with them at her townhouse. If he was off on the weekends or playing in town, she and Colton would make the trip down there. And when he was out of town, they talked via their webcams.
The euphoria of the new relationship faded in comfortably of togetherness. But, it felt like there was something nagging in the back of her mind all the time. The same thing that nagged her has a teenager.
Once again, he was the popular guy about town. And she was this recluse, not only was she a geek, but she was overweight. She didn't have the thick glasses anymore, thankfully. She hadn't worn braces since the year before she met Kip. She no longer felt awkward in her own body. But she wasn't suave or cool. While the spotlight on him wasn't that big, there was still some.
Besides that, there was always the possibility of a trade. He'd told her that his contract was only for a year. After that, he didn't know what he was going to do. And she'd been afraid to ask. Time and again, she'd wanted to ask, it had been on the tip of her tongue. But, the fear that he was going to say, "I'd move and I'd ask you to come with me," was always present in her mind.
Moving to Calgary was one thing. She could handle that kind of move. She felt like she practically lived here anyway. She would still be close to some of her friends. But she wasn't going to move across the country. When she'd moved to Alberta from Saskatoon, it had been hard to leave her friends. But she'd done it for Colton. Now to consider moving across the entire country, maybe even further, depending on where he ended up, it was too much. She couldn't do that to Colton.
They could do long distance for a few years, she considered. But, it was hard enough to be an hour away with his playing schedule. But that wasn't a marriage. That wasn't her description of happy.
But here she was, racing down to Calgary on Friday after school, for the last game of the regular season. There was an electricity in the air as she drove in, bypassing the turn to Kip's house, she headed straight for the Saddledome. The team had already made the playoffs.
Which to Mandy, was almost a shame. Over the months she'd gone from just watching Kip to cheering for the whole team. She'd gotten to know them over the season, on and off the ice. She'd been sitting with spouses and girlfriends. They'd had dinners together as friends, when there was time. She'd even gone to Calgary a few times to watch the games with the other women when the team was out of town.