The Day Has Come (Counting on Hockey #4)

Chapter 4: Pick Up

Cole and I stand in the lobby of the airport while we wait for Lina to arrive. She's here for four days, then leaves the fifth day. Cole took one day off from practice this week, a day we don't have a game, and I took off a game on Wednesday night so I could bring Lina to the game and she could get the full NHL game experience watching her cousin play. I've talked to her on the phone once a day for the past week after she got home from school. We've been talking about what she wanted to do.

Cole and I watch the exiting passengers from the flight from Boston, looking for a little blonde haired girl. I finally see, at the back of the crowd, a small, light haired girl with a huge smile on her face, walking towards us. I jump up from my seat. She rushes over to Cole and I, running to me first for hug first, then for her long needed hug from Cole. He picks her up and her legs wrap tightly around his abdomen. She finally unwraps herself from him and Cole puts Lina down. "I missed you so much", she wraps her arms around Cole again.

He chuckles. "I missed you, too".

Cole leads Lina and I over to baggage claim to grab Lina's bag. Cole grabs it and we show Lina out to Cole's car. I sit in the back seat as Cole explains everything about the Twin Cities and what it's like to play for an NHL team. I listen to them talk, just like the first time I heard it, when Cole was 17 and Lina was just 5. They have such a connection. I love seeing and hearing the way they communicate, like the good times between brother and sister.

Cole drives through the city to our apartment building. He drives into the tenant parking garage and parks in our reserved spot. Cole takes Lina's luggage out of the trunk and we start up the two flights out stair to the main lobby of the building. We take the elevator to our floor and I unlock the front door.

"So, your room is going to back here", I lead Lina through our living room and down the right hallway to the opposite end of the apartment. I open the door to our biggest guest bedroom. This one and the second biggest rooms are the only ones with beds. I decorated this one in black and white, per Lina's recommendation when I asked her what she had liked.

"Oh, it's perfect", Lina gives me a quick hug and rushes to set her messenger bag down on the bed. Cole comes from the doorway, sets the suitcase on the bed, then stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Thank you so much for letting me come out here", she squeals as she unzips her suitcase and unpacks it.

"I'm going to start on dinner", I say.

Cole unwraps his arms from around me and sits on the bed, watching Lina. I've planned on my family's lasagna. Cole loves this recipe, and Lina pretty much loves anything that has to do with pasta. I take out all the ingredients and pots and pans for it when I hear my phone ring from the living room. I rush to pick it up and see it's Terra.

"Hola mi amigo", I laugh, sandwiching the phone between my ear and my shoulder, continuing on dinner.

"Hey, sexy girl friend", Terra replies with her own round of laughs. "How's you and the super sexy hockey player?"

"Thanks Terra, try to be a little less subtle next time", we share another laugh. "Things are going very well. We have a child in the house, too".

"Is Noah visiting?" Terra jokes.

"No, not that young", I say sarcastically. "It's Cole fourteen year old cousin, Lina, from Massachusetts. She's here for the week because she missed her favorite cousin and his super fun girlfriend, aka, us".

"Well, the sounds fun. I wish I had as fun of a life as your is, I've got nothing new, bleh. But I wanted to know if you had an extra bed in your giant mansion tomorrow and the night after?"

"Is that your way of telling me that you're coming out here?"

"Yep. Business conference for the company I now work for here in Dallas", she says. "I would prefer to stay with you instead of the crappy hotel they want me to stay in".

"Terra. You don't even need a reason to stay here. Of course you can. I would love if you did. Do you need a ride from airport? What time does your flight get in?" I squeal in excitement.

"Around noon, I think. I'm sure you'll be at work. I can find my way around".

Terra and I talk for a little while longer before I hear ruckus walking through the living room. We bid our goodbyes and I put my phone down as Cole and Lina trample into the kitchen, laughing hysterically.

"What is going on here?" I ask, stirring the pasta sauce in its pan. Lina explains what happened, and it was actually quite funny.

Lina helps me layer the lasagna in the baking pan and I put it in the oven. We all sit at the kitchen table and Lina tells us that her and her best friend, Jonny, who she met in kindergarten, just completed a full six mile hike through the mountains in Eastern New York.

The lasagna is ready soon enough and we sit down for our first meal with Lina here with us. It's so awesome to see Lina again, the last time I saw her was Cole's party when he was drafted to the Wild. She was only ten then, and she's grown so much since then.

I love Lina like a daughter.