Sweet Caroline (Corey Crawford)

Can't Live Without You

Caroline

I pick up my bags and my cat off the cool sidewalk and walk the familiar path up to my childhood home. I set my things back down and knock on the door. I hear some shuffling before the door opens up. My dad smiles big when he sees me but then his face falls when he sees my bags next to me.

"I'm gonna kill him" he snarls and I shake my head.

"You can't do that daddy" I insist.

"Watch me" he claims as he briskly moves outside the house.

"Please stop" I beg and he lets out a harsh breath.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't go kick his ass" he argues.

"Well you don't know what happened, for one" I defend.

"Well then what happened" he asks.

"I caught him cheating on me" I inform him.

"That's more than a good enough reason for me to beat him to a pulp" he claims.

"You won't do that Dad" I say picking up my things and walking inside.

"I'm pretty sure I can kick his ass. I might be old but there's a lot of fire left in me" he claims.

"Please come inside before you do something stupid" I beg.

"But-" he starts but he stops himself.

"Are you coming in or am I going to have to push you in here" I ask.

"I'm coming" he mumbles.

He comes in and I take my things up to my room. I let hawk out and he goes to inspect things. I go back into the living room and find my dad sitting there. I sit next to him and he turns to me.

"This is where I really wish your mom was still here. I don't know what to say. If you were having trouble seeing pucks I could talk to you for hours. But I never went through this with your mom and I will never date another woman that isn't her so I'm at a loss" he admits.

"You don't need to say anything Dad. Trust me... I don't want to hear it" I sigh.

"I'm sorry this happened" he says and I shake my head.

"You don't have to apologize" I assure him.

"Are you guys... you know... done for" he asks and I sigh.

"I'm not sure. I don't want to give up on what we had, on where we were going. But I can't believe that he loves me if he cheats on me. I watched him grow into this amazing man. Someone any woman would be proud of. I watched him rework his game and his life into something he was so very proud of. And I was proud of him too. Not just because he was a great goal tender or because he was a goalie like you. I was proud because he has a passion, a purpose to his life. He had something he cared about and something he wanted to fight for. And maybe without hockey the fire has died, maybe he is confused about his life" I say.

"That passion and purpose you're talking about isn't really about hockey. There is a reason every guy plays and I can tell you his reason is you. I know for a fact he loves you a lot. That doesn't make what he did okay and I still want to kill him. But I know he's probably hating himself right now" he explains.

"I don't want him to hate himself" I defend.

"I know sweetie. I know you don't. I wish I knew what to say to make this better" he sighs.

"Can we watch the game six of the 1985 Stanley cup final where you stole me from mom so you could put me in the cup" I ask and he laughs.

"That one is already in the DVD player" he smiles.