Chapter 9

Chapter 9
When they got to the hotel lobby, Sidney’s parents and sister were already there waiting. Taylor’s eyes lit up when she saw Sidney. She ran over to him and he picked her up and spun her around. “I missed you.” he told her. It had been over a month since he had last seen her. He put her down and she grinned up at Lauren. He hugged his mom and dad and then grabbed Lauren’s hand. “Mom, Dad, Taylor, this is my girlfriend, Lauren Somers. Lauren, this is my family.”
“It’s very nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Crosby, and Taylor.” Said, smiling warmly at each of them as she shook their hands.
“Oh, please call me Trina.” His mom said.
“And call me Troy.” His dad said, smiling.
“And you can call me Taylor.” Taylor joked. Sidney rolled his eyes at her.
Dinner went very well. Sidney and Lauren had his family nearly in tears they were laughing so hard at the story of how they met. Trina and Troy asked Lauren a lot of questions about her family and college and her future plans. Troy asked her what she thought about hockey and she surprised him with her knowledge of hockey, specifically about the Pittsburgh Penguins. After all, she had been a fan since she was a little girl. She told them stories about going to Penguins games as a child, when Mario Lemieux was at the peak of his career, and he was playing with great wings like Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis, among others. Taylor told Lauren stories about growing up with Sidney and about a few embarrassing moments he had in his younger days. This caused Sidney to blush like mad and he quickly shut her up. “Well, as fun as this is,” he said sarcastically, “I think we’d better be getting back. It’s been a long day.”
When they got back to the hotel, Sidney and Lauren parted ways with his family. “Lauren, it was so lovely meeting you. I hope we will be spending a lot more time together very soon.” Trina said, smiling warmly at Lauren and then winking at Sidney.
“I agree, Lauren. It was delightful talking with you. Now, I’m not sure what you see in my son, but I’d say he’s pretty lucky to have found such a charming young woman.” Troy joked, elbowing Sidney in the ribs.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. He’s pretty charming himself.” Lauren said with a grin, giving Sidney’s hand a squeeze. “Goodnight Trina and Troy and Taylor.” She said. Sidney shook his dad’s hand, kissed his mom’s cheek and ruffled Taylor’s head and they walked towards the elevators.