Gentleman (Jonathan Toews)

Jealous

Jonathan

Before we all leave for Christmas the team has a little get together at Payton's place. Everyone knew her and her place was nicer than any of ours so that's where we decided to hang out.

Some of the guys play basketball and I had the joy of watching Payton move the tree all by herself because she didn't want any help, never does. It's one of my favorite things about her.

After the tree was removed we put our secret Santa gifts under the tree and roam around. A lot of the wives take in her paintings and pictures while the kids played on the Wii and the guys played basketball.

I sat with Duncs and Sharp and Hammer as the other guys make believe they are in the nba instead of the nhl.

"Patrick knows he's like 5'10 at best right" Sharpy asks as we watch him get pick pocketed yet again.

"You want to tell him that" I ask.

"Absolutely not" he admits and we all laugh.

"This place is so cool. It's like a Payton museum" Brent says joining in our little circle.

"You mean her home" Sharp asks.

"Well yeah. But she's like a open book. Even if you can't read into it she'll tell you if you ask nicely" he goes on.

"I get it, she's not like most girls" Duncan concludes.

"She's not like most people" I clarify.

"Yeah, she's got to be unique to understand you" Sharp chirps.

"I'm not that hard to understand" I defend.

"You kind of are" Hammer agrees and I frown.

"What's so hard to understand" I ask.

"Literally everything. Why you walk across the locker room like someone killed your dog. Why you have to do things certain ways. Why you go home and you still look like you want to take your skate to someone's throat. Why you think vegetables will give you a advantage over everyone else who eats them too" Brent lists off.

"Okay... maybe I'm different than other hockey players. But that doesn't mean I'm hard to read" I insist.

"You're practically in another language" Sharp adds.

"I'll prove it" Duncs insists. "Hey Payton, come here" Duncs yells. She comes from the group of wives and girlfriends she was talking to and stops when she's by my side.

"What's up" she asks.

"Do you think Jonny is easy to read" he asks.

"Not particularly" she admits.

"But you understand him" he asks.

"Well yeah" she claims.

"Thank you, that's all" he says and she looks at me. I just shrug before she returns from where she came from.

"What's your point to all of this" I ask.

"My point that if she gets away from you, you're screwed. I know you're being cautious and you don't want to hurt her but she doesn't care. She understands you, she knows you're going to make mistakes and she'll understand who you are and what that means to your relationship. She knows you're holding back" he insists.

"I don't want to say I love you and her not feel like I mean it. She'll know if I say it because I feel like I have to or because I need to. I want her to know that I really do love her and not just because she lets my friends hang out at her place or because I'm afraid to lose her. That's not right" I defend.