Run to You (12 page)

Once the Stanley Cup Final was over—and hopefully, the Cup in the hands of the Ice Bandits—he’d tell Greta everything he wanted to say to her. As soon as they had a minute alone, he would give her that gold ring, and ask her to marry him and spend her life with him.

But there was still hockey. They had to get past the Detroit Red Wings. Tough as always, Detroit took the first two games of their playoff series into overtime, and won both of those games, even though the games were here, in Chicago. The Ice Bandits were down two games to none, and faced them again tomorrow night. Soon, Brandon and the other Ice Bandits would be on their way to Motown, to face a hot team and their devoted fans.

He figured he’d let the apartment go, until the playoffs were over. The place would be clean in case he brought the Stanley Cup home.

The day the guys left for Detroit, Brandon was not aware of the person who entered his apartment, carrying a tote bag filled with items. The lights went on, and that person went to work.

Brandon could hardly drag himself into his apartment.

What a series. What wild games. Now the Ice Bandits were down, three games to two, with Detroit. They were lucky to win two out of three in Detroit, on the road, and the Wings had some fiercely devoted fans too. And Game 6 was tonight at the Arena, in front of the home crowd. The Ice Bandits had to win tonight, to stay alive, and then win another game.

He had to get some sleep. Even a short nap would help. Eating would come later. Worry about the game and workouts could come…

There was someone in his apartment.

Was he hearing things?

Brandon snapped wide awake as he listened at his front door.

Something crashed to the floor.

“Who is it? I know you’re there.” His heart sped up. Was it a robber? Or some goofy fan who wanted a piece of his pillowcase?

“Jesus God, Brandon! When was the last time you swept your kitchen floor?”

Greta Patton came out of the kitchen, wearing cutoffs and an Ice Bandits shirt. She held a broom and dustpan, which was filled with dust bunnies, crumbs, and a piece of bread crust.

“You…you’re here.”

Greta dumped the pan into a garbage bag. “I wanted to surprise you. You’d find the place clean when you came home. And I know you did well.”

Brandon looked around at his apartment. It was so clean he almost didn’t recognize it.

Besides the clean kitchen floor, a week’s worth of dishes were washed, dried and put away. The countertop and all appliances sparkled. Everything was dusted, including the dining room table with its detailed work. The bathroom was spotless; the mirror on the medicine cabinet shone. His bedroom was immaculate; even the sheets had been changed. The rug, after a thorough vacuuming, looked like new. And the laundry basket was empty, for the first time since Brandon moved in.

“What…what did you do?”

“What didn’t I do?” Greta brushed her bangs out of her face. “I cleaned this place from top to bottom.”

Brandon kept looking around at all of the rooms, as if he were moving in for the first time. “Why…?”

“Brandon, that’s what friends are for. I figured I’d do you a favor. You get me tickets for games. You take me out for lunch. So I owed you a favor. I know you’re busy with your games, so I cleaned your place. When would you have the time to do all this?”

He couldn’t believe it. He never could imagine Terri, or any other of his girlfriends, cleaning his place and vacuuming. Even scrubbing the sinks, and by God, the toilet. When he gave his other girlfriends tickets, they expected even more perks.

Not Greta. When she wasn’t creating something beautiful, or picking him up from the airport, she was doing him the favor of cleaning his dirty apartment.

“I had no time to cook you a meal,” Greta explained, “so I picked up some fried chicken. It’s in the fridge.”

Brandon checked out the chairs in his clean kitchen. She had dusted those too. “Thank you, Greta. Thanks so much.”

“Here, let’s take a break. I’ll wash my hands and dig out some of that chicken.”

While Greta went to the refrigerator, Brandon sat down on his couch and fell asleep immediately.

Greta fixed a paper plate for him with a few pieces of chicken, cole slaw and a biscuit. She ate her portion quietly, letting him sleep.

Suddenly Brandon opened his eyes.

“Don’t let your chicken sit too long. It tastes better cold, just out of the fridge.”

Brandon picked up a leg and ate it quickly. He took a forkful of slaw, and bit into a meaty chicken thigh. “Thighs are the best part. Wings are overrated.”

“You can do a lot with chicken thighs. You can make a good meal with…”

“I knew a girl who couldn’t cook at all,” said Brandon, looking down at his plate. “She always wanted to go out to eat. Expensive places, too.”

“It’s nice to know how to cook. My mother taught me…”

“And the day I won my Olympic gold medal, I found her in bed with another man.”

Greta stared at Brandon.

“I cared about her. I trusted her. And then, that happened. That gold ring I lost was for her. I planned to give her that ring, that same night.”

“Brandon. I am so sorry.”

She let him talk, and she listened.

“I met her at a charity event. She was helping out. Now that I look back, I think she wanted to meet an Ice Bandits player. She spent more time socializing than she did actually helping with the event. She talked to me and flattered me. And she was pretty. She sweet-talked me and made me feel like I could rule the world. She went with me to all the team dinners and things. But she didn’t go to many games. She said she didn’t like hockey. My career, and she didn’t like it.

“But she sure liked hockey players. When I won my gold medal at the Olympics, I don’t know if she even watched the game. But when I got back to the Olympic Village, there she was. In bed with a Swedish hockey player. The one I fought with, and it got in the paper, and I showed your mother the picture.”

Greta had no idea. She didn’t know what to say.

Brandon looked down at his plate, with the chicken and slaw that Greta got for him, after she cleaned his apartment.

Then he looked up. “Sorry. Sorry to unload on you.”

“That’s okay, Brandon.”

He sighed. “I guess I had to tell you, sooner or later.”

They finished their meal in silence.

Greta picked up her plate and reached for Brandon’s empty plate. “Here. I can take these.” She dumped the used paper plates in the garbage and puttered around the kitchen. What could she say, after hearing Brandon’s story?

When she glanced at him, he was sound asleep again. These games were wearing him out. She decided she’d clean up the last of the kitchen debris, and let him rest.

She was walking out the door when she heard her name called.

“Greta. Thanks again.”

“If there’s anything else you need, Brandon…”

“Can you come to the game tonight? I’ll leave a ticket for you at the window. Or do you have to work tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I have to work. But I can come to the game.”

Brandon wanted Greta to be there. And she wanted to be there too.

Greta’s cell buzzed the minute she got home. Not Brandon, not April. Her mother. And she was furious.

“I can’t believe anyone would have the nerve to do that. Does she think I’m stupid?”

“What’s the matter, Ma?” Greta, physically tired from the house cleaning and mentally tired after hearing Brandon’s story, wondered if she had to help Ma with some major problem.

“You know that dumb broad next door to me? The one with the long red fingernails and the hair like a circus clown?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, I was looking through my Christmas boxes and I found the present she gave me.”

Greta had to laugh. “Good timing, Ma! It’s almost Memorial Day.”

“Greta, this isn’t funny. Remember I told you, she got me some kind of appliance? This is a candle warmer. What the hell is a candle warmer? You light a candle and burn it, and then you blow it out.”

“I never heard of a candle warmer.”

“Listen to this! I was digging it out of all the wrapping, and guess what I found! The old to and from tag!”

Greta burst out laughing. “Talk about regifting! Ma, that is too much.”

“I’ll say it’s too much. And I got her an expensive pair of gold earrings. I wonder what happened to those earrings? And she gave me this piece of crap she didn’t want.”

Ma continued to talk about the dumb broad, but Greta had to stop listening and start getting ready for the game. “Ma, I’ll call you back. I’m going out tonight.”

“Are you seeing that guy Brandon again? How serious is this, Greta?”

Greta closed her eyes. “Ma. You kept telling me to find a guy. He’s nice. The one I met at April’s hospital.”

“Is April going with you?” Ma didn’t know the story about Greta leaving April at the baseball game. Ma didn’t know a lot of things, and that was fine with Greta.

“Not this time. I’ll call you tomorrow, Ma.”

The Ice Bandits won their game and forced a game seven. Brandon played some of the best games of his career, scoring a goal and two assists. Greta was there for both games six and seven, to watch him play and to learn more about the game of hockey. She wore a sweater bearing Brandon’s name and number, and looked just like any other fan. She happened to sit next to an older fan and season ticket holder who informed her of some of the nuances of the game. He explained a lot of things to her as the game went on, and she enjoyed it. Hockey was a better game than baseball; there was hardly any downtime.

Greta didn’t mention that she was seeing a player, until the end of the third period of game seven, when he asked her how she got such a good ticket.

“A friend got me a ticket,” she told him.

“What number does he wear? Forty-eight?”

She didn’t tell him. But a number of fans, hanging near the parking lot, saw the pretty blonde in the #48 sweater and the star defenseman embracing at his car. The fan club took note of Brandon Taylor’s new girlfriend. They always kept track of such things.

Brandon fell asleep on his bed with all his clothes on, before Greta could even take her shoes off. She stayed with him that night, then went to work the next morning. She began drinking bottles of energy drink, like her friend April did, to stay awake for hours and keep going on the job.

The season was wearing on Greta too. The hectic schedule, the stress, and the constant pressure on Brandon to perform at the top rung would end soon. Greta hoped with all her heart that this would have the best possible ending.

Greta’s heart pounded as Mr. Blakely addressed his staff.

Was this the end? It couldn’t be. This couldn’t be happening.

But Mr. Blakely smiled, the first time anyone had seen him smile like that.

“Record-breaking profits,” he said. The room erupted in applause that lasted a few minutes.

When he was able to speak again, Mr. Blakely said, “This never would have come about if not for your efforts. Everyone one of you works hard and contributes so much to South Side Precious Metals. But there are two people I want to single out.

“Steve, our coin expert, recognized that double eagle gold coin for what it was when that customer came in with it. The customer couldn’t believe it. But he was convinced when Greta personally took him to her car, drove him all the way downtown to Windy City Galleries, and he was informed that he held a very rare coin.”

Mr. Blakely held up a copy of the Tribune feature article on the old man, his coin, and the young woman who drove him to the coin shop. There was also a sidebar that told the story of the coin and why it was worth so much money.

“Business is better than it ever was. I owe it all to you, to the great workers I have, and to the honest people like Steve and Greta.

“Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Steve and Greta, come up here. I have something for you.”

Mr. Blakely handed them gift cards. Greta looked at hers. It was worth fifty dollars.

“Thank you, Mr. Blakely. You didn’t have to…”

“Yes, I did, Greta. Honesty is not rewarded as much as it should be. But you went above and beyond.” His eyes twinkled. “And I know your days are full, with your projects, the gold bracelet, and dating an Ice Bandits hockey player.”

Steve accepted his gift card, and turned to Greta. “Any chance of some playoff tickets?”

Greta never thought of asking Brandon for tickets. She didn’t even know who they were playing.

“Should be one hot series. Wouldn’t be surprised if it went all seven games.”

“All seven games?” How long were these playoffs, anyway? They just finished a seven-game series with Detroit that wore Brandon to the bone.

“Maybe a few overtime games too. Those Washington Capitals are tough, and score a lot of goals. They took care of Quebec, and they had the best record.”

The Washington Capitals had eliminated the Quebec Voyageurs, the top seed, in a seven-game series that many hockey fans called a classic. Four of the seven games went overtime, including the last game in Quebec. That last game was tied for almost the full three periods. But with 95 seconds to go, the Caps’ team captain scored a goal that held up. Greta saw a picture of that team captain in Steve’s Sun-Times. He looked like a lumberjack, with his long hair and heavy beard. Tears streamed down his face.

Hockey was so intense. The game made these tough men cry.

Brandon had told her about playoff beards, but she still thought all that hair was unattractive. “I have plenty of time to shave later,” he said. Right this minute, Brandon was at the Arena with his teammates, getting ready for that first game with the Caps. And Greta would be there, of course. The Ice Bandits had home ice advantage for this series too.

The Arena was rocking.

Greta almost had to cover her ears as the fans screamed and cheered, when the players were introduced, when the Anthem was beautifully sung by a teenage girl, and when the puck was dropped to begin play.

Both teams came out roaring. The first period flew by, and neither team scored. One of the TV announcers interviewed Brandon just as the first intermission began. Brandon said, “We have a tough game here, but we’re up to the challenge. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”