waiting // r. bortuzzo

Chapter 4

"Mommy, are you lost?"

"Yeah, I am. Maybe I should call Robert." I mumbled as the two of us wandered, trying to find where exactly we were supposed to go. Robert wanted to just get us tickets, but I would rather have people that can help me with Addie.

"You must be Olivia. Robert told me you were coming. I'm Alex Pietrangelo's girlfriend. My name is Kennady." She had on a blazer over a Blues t-shirt and a baseball cap with what was probably Alex's number on it. "Everyone is really excited to meet you."

"This is Adelaide. Careful what you say to her because you never know what's going to come out of her mouth."

"Isn't that every five year old?" She laughed and opened up the door that lead into the suite we would be sitting in.

"Oh, but she is especially sassy."

Kennady introduced us to everyone that was already there. Everyone was extremely nice and Addie loved all the attention. Not to mention, she found a new friend that she could run around with.

Of course, I was freaking out while my daughter ran around. The other moms told me she would be okay, especially if she was running around with someone that grew up around here.

The girls handed me a beer and told me to calm down, that maybe a conversation about Robert would make me relax a little more.

"So you and Robert? He's a good guy. Haven't seen him with a girl since he moved here. But he's always the first one that the kids go to, to play with. Probably because they can climb all over him."

"Yeah he's been amazing with Adelaide." I smiled. You would never guess that he just met her. That's what scared me. He seemed all in and we had only gone on a few dates, two of which involved my daughter.

Part of me wanted to be okay with this whole relationship, but I had a career and a child. Not to mention multiple students who basically were my children. Nothing was official yet and I wasn't sure I wanted it to be any time soon.

I was pretty focused on the ice when Robert dropped his stick, and then his gloves. Now, I wasn't stupid. I knew he was going to get in a fight. The guy was a couple inches shorter than him, but he also seemed like he had more muscle.

"I can't watch this." I told the women around me, "Nope. Not doing it."

"Olivia, there's no way he's going to get seriously injured. He's fine. Unless there's a cheap shot, he might get a bloody nose. Maybe stitches." Yana shrugged. Her accent was thick and barely understandable which didn't help.

"It's over, Liv. You can look now." I turned around just in time to watch him walk off to the locker room. He came back a few minutes later, I'm guessing with stitches. Or at least that's what some of the girls said. Even though it was insanely attractive, it wasn't something I wanted to live through again.

"So what are you doing after the game?" Ken asked me as we walked down to meet the guys

"Well, Addie is going to bed and I am going to grade some papers with a bottle of wine."

"We were going to grab some dessert, but since you have something to do, how about lunch tomorrow? We've all been the new girl and we want to make sure that you don't feel left out." I was amazed at how everyone was treating me. With the way these women looked, I thought that they would be cliquey and uninviting. I was completely wrong. Most of them were so down to earth, especially the other mothers that I talked to.

"Yeah that sounds amazing. Maybe another night we can get dessert after the game."

"Kennady, you're being nice to my girl, right?" Robert walked over with who I'm guessing was Alex and draped his arm around my shoulder.