My Girl (Jonathan Toews)

37

Jonathan

I'm not going to lie, leaving our little paradise was impossibly hard. But we got some memories that will last forever and Kimberly made us little tea cups in her pottery class for us to remember our time by. So we put all that stuff away in Jonny's apartment and return to the ice here in Chicago ready to continue on with our lives.

So I pull on my skates and Alexis pulls on hers. And after assuring Kimmy that even though its summer the ice was inside and safe to skate on she joins us too. We all skate a few laps at the ice house to warm up before getting more into training, me with shooting and Alexis with her figure skating. Kimberly tried to do some of the stuff her sister does, and luckily for us she doesn't cry when she falls, because she did a lot of that. But she always gets back up after a "I'm okay" and keeps moving on. Even though I missed Greece, it was fun to get back into the swing of things. Although I needed a break it's nice to be doing something so familiar to me.

"My legs hurt" Kimberly yells as she sits down on the ice in protest. Her little arms cross her chest as she starts to pout.

"I'm sorry to tell you that this is a part of being on the ice. Until your legs get stronger they're going to hurt" Lexi explains.

"I don't want my legs to be stronger, I want a cupcake" Kimberly demands causing me to laugh.

"We can get you a cupcake... after you've skated" Alexis claims.

"Fine" Kimberly scoffs as she slowly gets up off the ground.

She continues to skate but she finds a stick that was her size I got her and decides to come mess around with me. So we pass the puck and do some skating drills. Eventually she was done so she was going to change out of her skates and bother Bethany at the front desk. She usually gives Kimmy some candy to stop talking for a few seconds but it never does last long.

I skate over to Alexis who was bent over messing around with her skates. I try my best to control myself but still end up standing behind her and grabbing her hips.

"And what do you think you're doing" she giggles.

"Something that is probably a bad idea but because it's you I'll do it anyway" I assure her as she stands up. She gives me one of those "I don't want any trouble you're causing" looks I know all too well.

"I'm gonna go for as long as I feel like these skates will go before they start giving me issues again then we can go and do whatever it is you please" she says.

"How long have you had those" I ask her as I looked down at her feet. Her skates looked good but they looked used.

"I've had these ones since I was 14. They're a bit small but I think it helps. They're worn down but they still work. My family could never afford the nicest skates, so these were good enough and they got me to be the best skater in the world at one point. So they got me where I wanted to go" she shrugs.

"Why haven't you gotten new ones" I wonder.

"I don't really know. Part of me doesn't want them gone because I don't want to let go of my past. Part of me is afraid of so much change. Part of me knows that if and when I get new skates then the old me is gone. And as much as I despised that girl I was when I first started wearing these skates but she was trying. She was learning and without her I wouldn't be me. I just... I guess I never really thought about getting new skates" she explains.

"You should get some like Kimberly's. The skates are like the only thing she doesn't complain about" I laugh as she nods along with me.

"I wouldn't mind" she admits. "But until then these will have to do."

I finally decide to leave her be and let her finish up training. Frank wasn't back in town yet but she's 25, she can handle her own. So she keeps practicing and I head off because I don't practice that long. I needed back into the gym to get conditioned and build up muscle instead of on the ice all the time. But until then I was just going to skate around by myself and work on shooting.

I find Kimberly in the front of the building asking Bethany a million questions and I decide that I should probably save her. So we play outside and eventually Alexis joins us. We decide to go to Sprinkles to get a cupcake like promised.

We get some cupcakes and decide to go to the park to eat them. We all sit on the bench and enjoy the sugary sweets I shouldn't be eating but will enjoy anyway.

"I want to be a cupcake when I get older" Kimberly claims as she stares at her cupcake.

"You can be anything in this whole world" Alexis claims.

"And I want to be a cupcake" Kimberly argues.

"Fine... whatever" Alexis rolls her eyes.

"What did you want to be when you got older" Kimberly asks me.

"I wanted to play hockey" I say.

"I mean after that" she claims and I look at her. "You can't play hockey forever you know" she tells me and I laugh.

"Yeah. I wanted to be a dad" I admit and she smiles.

"I think you would be a really good dad" she claims.

"What makes you say that" I wonder.

"Because you're really funny and you give nice hugs. You don't know how to cook but you do know how to do laundry" she lists off.

"I would love to be a dad and have a little girl who is just like you" I admit and she smiles up at me.

"Then I get a sister" she questions.

"You get a niece. But I think that's still pretty cool" I admit.

"A niece" Alexis smirks and I smile at her.

"I'm sorry, but I can't imagine having a family with anyone else" I assure her.

"Good" she winks.

"So where is my niece" Kimberly questions as she looks between me and her sister.

"You asked what I'm going to be when I'm older, not right now, right now I'm still playing hockey. So I still have a while before I get there" I assure her.

"Well I want to meet her first" Kimberly claims making me chuckle.

"I'll see what I can do."