Dirty Little Secret (Patrick Kane)

Thirty Eight

Patrick

The season was fresh, just a few games under our belts. We were on a mission to get back to the finals again this year and we were ready. It's a long season but it was about to be made a lot longer.

"Promise you'll call me every day" she asks with tears in her eyes.

"I won't go to bed until I talk to you" I insist.

"Make sure you kick some ass" she says with her lips pulling into a slight smile.

"Just for you" I assure her.

I pull her into a deep kiss and she grabs my face. I hold her close as she softly caresses my cheek.

"Call me whenever you need me" I insist and she nods. She turns and walks to her plane and I walk away too afraid to turn around.

I get to the gates before my phone starts going off. I see it was Emerson and finally turn around. She stood in front of her plane with her phone up to her ear. I finally answer the phone before putting it up to my ear.

"I need you" she whispers and I can feel my heart break. I know she really didn't want to do but she had to go and I couldn't go with her.

"I need you too baby. I know we can get through this" I insist.

"I know I can do this without you. But I don't want to" she admits.

"I don't either. It's no secret I play better when you're here" I laugh.

"Well you better not suck while I'm gone, your team needs you" she insists.

"And I need you" I remind her.

"I should probably go before I get in trouble..." she trails off.

"Miss you already" I reply softly.

"I miss you too."

And just like that she gets on the plane and I watch it take off to California. I drag my feet back to the house and head to the kitchen. There was food in there she left for me so I wouldn't starve, just gotta make sure the guys don't come over and eat it all.

I pull out some pasta and decide to have that for lunch today. I open the container and smile when I see a note in the food. I pick it up and read it while I pop the food in the microwave I warm it up.

"Dear Patrick,
I don't know if it's been days or weeks or even hours since we last talked. Maybe we're fighting about something silly or missing each other a little more than usual. Regardless of the situation in which you have this in your hand, know that I love you. I always have and I always will. Keep being yourself and no one can take a single thing from you. I've had the honor of getting to know you the past year and some and I love who I found. I hope you have too.
Much love,
Emerson Knight (almost Kane)"

The timer on the microwave goes off bringing me back to reality. I set the note down but the smile stays there. That was incredibly thoughtful of her and I can't believe someone like that exists. Honestly I feel like this is a very long and very detailed dream. But I wake up and I'm still engaged to the coolest woman alive.

I eat my food in peace for once and take my pre game nap. I get to the United Center and warm up in the weight room. I bike for a little and stretch out before going to change.

My stall was between Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw which leads to some pretty interesting conversations. Sometimes it's nothing, other times we argue about who would make the best figure skater. You never know with those two.

"So Patrick, how is the wedding planning going" Shaw asks as he sits next to me.

"Pretty good. We got a lot of people who rsvp'd already and I swear to god if you're embarrassing in front of some of those people..." I trail off.