Trip to Your Heart - A Hockey Fanfiction

McDonald's and the Swear Jar

We made our way back out to the car, Robert looking happier than I was used to seeing. "You're going to the team lunch, right?" I asked as Robert reversed out of his parking spot.

"No, I was planning on the three of us having lunch, why?" He shot me a quizzical look.

"It's your ritual, isn't it? I don't want to mess you up for the game tonight; I remember how superstitious this team is, I don't think y'all could get any more superstitious if we moved you to the heart of New Orleans," I joked.

Robert laughed and my smile broadened, I'd give anything to hear that sound every day. "The only person who is that superstitious is Sid, and he gave me the go-ahead," Robert assured me.

"Can I choose lunch?" Lottie piped up.

"Sure," I said, "Where do you want to go?"

"McDonald's," Lottie said, her eyes glowing like candles in excitement, the idea of trying asparagus long forgotten.

I cocked an eyebrow at Robert. McDonald's on game day was something I as a trainer had never heard of, but he seemed to be wrapped around our little girl's finger.

Robert met my gaze and scratched the back of his head, a lazy grin on his face as he read my thoughts in the look I gave him.

"Please?" Lottie asked.

"How about McDonald's for dinner?" Robert offered.

"For dinner? We are having lunch next," Lottie furrowed her brow.

"Right, we'll have something else for lunch and then get McDonald's for dinner," Robert said.

Lottie gave a very melodramatic sigh for a five-year-old and then said, "Okay."

"Okay," Robert agreed.

Robert had one hand on the wheel and the other one wrapped around mine. I watched him as he drove, a small smile playing on his lips. He was humming along to whatever was playing on the radio and I was thinking about how I wanted it to always be like this.

"You're happy," he murmured quietly so Lottie wouldn't hear our grown up talk.

"I am," I could feel blush coloring my cheeks and I looked down, even though he wasn't looking at me.

"Your smile brightens everything around you, you know that?" He said, looking at me. We were stopped at a light and I looked up into his eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had said something to me that made me want to start smiling all the time.

"Thank you."

"It got a lot gloomier here in the Burgh after you left."

"Better now?" I asked, tracing circles on his hand with my thumb.

"Much." Robert turned back to the road and continued driving.

Lunch was sandwiches, a much better option for fuel for Robert on game day than anything McDonald's could have offered, and there was grilled cheese, which pleased our little Princess. We went home to prepare for the game and all got changed into what we would wear to the arena, Lottie and I in jerseys and Robert in a suit.