Chapter 55

Chapter 55

When her break from school ended, Lauren reluctantly left Sidney in Pittsburgh and headed back to school and work. She went home almost every weekend to see him and go to his games. She loved the games when her family went with her – she didn’t even mind them teasing her every time she would yell at the referees.

By this time, Lauren and Sidney were approaching their one year anniversary. At first they had both agreed they didn’t want to make a big deal out of it and they just wanted to spend a quiet evening at home together as their celebration. But then Sidney realized that their anniversary was just a few days before a road trip to Montreal, and he asked her if she’d be able to swing a long weekend away with him. Montreal was very special to both of them, and they were both really excited about celebrating in the city that held such special memories for them. Lauren was also excited about the trip because she had convinced Vero to come along too, so she would have someone to hang out with when Sidney was at practice and she’d have someone to sit with at the game. Sidney’s family was flying in for the game too, and she was looking forward to spending some time with them, especially Taylor.

When they arrived in Montreal, it was late so Sidney and Lauren headed straight to their room and pretty much went straight to bed.

The next morning, they invited Marc and Vero over to their room and had breakfast together. “So you ladies are going to spend the afternoon shopping with Taylor and then we’ll see you at the game?” Sidney asked.

“Yep, that’s the plan. We’ll come down to see you before you warm-up.” Lauren replied.

“Okay, have fun ladies.” Sidney said with a lopsided grin. He leaned down and kissed Lauren’s cheek before whispering in her ear, “I love you. I’ll be thinking of you, sexy.” This caused Lauren’s face to turn a dark shade of pink, and Sidney chuckled as he and Marc headed off to morning skate.

Lauren, Taylor and Vero spent the afternoon wandering from shop to shop in Montreal. Lauren had needed some new “work clothes,” and Vero had a great fashion sense, so Lauren was thrilled at the wonderful new clothes Vero helped her find.

“Hey Lauren, Sidney told me a secret the other day.” Taylor said with a devilish grin.

“Oh really, what was the secret?” Lauren asked curiously.

“Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.” Taylor replied, giggling.

“No fair! Tell me!” Lauren cried.

“Nope. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Lauren turned to Vero, who was trying very hard to keep from smiling. “Do you know the secret?” Lauren demanded.

“I cannot say. It would be rude of me to get involved with these, uh, family matters.” Vero said with a wink.

What did she mean by that? Technically, Lauren and Sidney weren’t family. Or maybe that’s what Vero was talking about. It was no secret to Lauren that Sidney was going to ask her to marry him…someday. Was Sidney planning to propose?

Lauren got butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it. She could see Vero and Taylor whispering and giggling a few feet away from her, so she knew they were up to something. She just shrugged her shoulders and laughed at them. If Sidney proposed, she couldn’t wait to throw her arms around say yes. But if didn’t propose just yet, she still couldn’t wait to throw her arms around him and tell him how much she loved him. Either way, it put a smile on her face to think of him.

Around 4:30, they headed back to the hotel to get ready for the game.

“There’s a TV special that I want to watch, so I’ll just come to the game with my parents when they come over later.” Taylor said when they got back to the hotel.

“Are you sure?” Lauren asked, knowing how much Taylor enjoyed spending time with the “older girls.”

“Yeah, it’s something I need to watch for school anyways.” Taylor explained, waving at Lauren and Vero before heading off to her room.

They walked towards Lauren’s room – Vero had dropped off some of her stuff earlier so they could get ready together. They stepped into the room and both women screamed when they saw someone sitting in the room.