Chapter 387: Mimi XLI—Green Eyed Dragon

A veritable buffet of roasted food smells, and gleeful human conversation greeted Michele and her family when they entered the restaurant. Technically it was after hours, but Joe had made arrangements so that the team and wives could privately have use of the establishment. The sight of baskets of amber, round, steaming baskets of bread, and glasses of blood red wine caused Michele’s stomach to whine and twist in impatience.

“Ah food!” Jonathan sighed. “Oh beautiful food, food, gimme gimme!” The boy needed no prompting as he dashed into the midst of the restaurant, pouncing to a table and snatching a roll of bread. Half of it disappeared into his mouth as Debbie Sakic laughed and patted him on the back. When Jonathan didn’t respond, she stood up and hugged him.

“Mom can I go get food?” Jana asked with a plaintive whine.

Michele noticed the long table of roasted meats being carved and sides being served. “It looks like we can get what we like, go on baby.”

“Yay!” Jana and Freddy exclaimed and the kids dashed to the table wriggling in and out of the line after grabbing plates and silverware.

“Do you want to get a seat?” Patrick asked, “I’ll get our food for us if you like?”

Michele yawned, “Yes that sounds great.” She tilted her cheek up and Patrick kissed it before heading towards the food table, waving at people greeting him.

“Do you see Cecile anywhere?”

Michele looked at Danny and smiled. She hadn’t noticed him behind her, had he just come into the restaurant as well? Why such a straggler? She hadn’t noticed him at the press conference really, what had he been waiting around for? “Oh hello there,” she said and she patted Dan on his arm, squeezed it briefly. His cheeks reddened but he didn’t look at her, his eyes were too busy scanning the restaurant for his green eyed beloved one. “Hmmm.” She looked into the crowd and saw Mitchell and the twins sitting with their mother and Jonathan, eating bread and meat. Rory, Tammy, and Jennifer also sat at the table but no sign of Cecile… odd. “Oh well I don’t know where she is.”

Dan’s chin tightened visibly but he didn’t say anything.

Michele narrowed her eyes, and she felt a little excited. “Oh, I, I don’t see Joe either, funny, well perhaps there are some that are missing? A group maybe?”

“You don’t see Joe?” Dan asked and audibly, his voice was a little nervous. He began to look back and forth in the restaurant like a dog searching for its master.

Dan didn’t look at her and Michele was glad because she couldn’t stop smiling. “Oh, well it seems like everyone else is here… I wonder…” She stopped and forced her smile off her face.

Dan looked at her with wide eyes, almost panicked eyes but he kept himself in check. “You wonder what?”

Michele shrugged and acted as if she were surprised by his earnestness, “I just wonder where they are, yes? You must want to be with her so badly?”

A cloud fell over his face, almost as if a shadow had darkened him where he stood. “I guess she’s not as excited,” he said softly, glumly.

Michele tilted her head to one side and she gave him the full force of an indulgent smile. “Oh but here you go again with the melodrama! You act as if she’s abandoned you completely and you will never see her again. Young men are so cute! Sometimes I wish I could just tell you how…” And then she blushed and looked away from him and he reacted perfectly.

“Tell me what?” He asked and his hand went to her arm squeezing eagerly. “Tell me what?”

“Oh nothing, it’s nothing I shouldn’t have said a thing, yes?” Michele said quickly and she looked at him and she hoped that she looked frightened and nervous, like an innocent woman almost caught with a crime. “Just forget I say anything.”

Dan shook his head. “I can’t, Mimi I can’t anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“I can’t just forget the words that leave your mouth,” Danny said softly and with such sincere eyes that for a moment Michele felt caught up and breath taken. And then she remembered that this was just a game, and she wasn’t a silly girl in a silly romance movie or a silly girl from a Catholic school for that matter. “You leave an impression, you really do.”

Michele allowed her eyes to get a little dewy and she smiled. “Well that’s a nice thing for an old woman to know, yes?”

Before Danny could reply, however, Michele heard the unmistakable generous ripple of Cecile’s laugh and she cursed her choice of using the term “old woman” to describe herself because here came Cecile into the restaurant in all of her emerald eyed, alabaster skinned youthful glory. The girl sparkled with vigor and joy, and at her side, his arm over her shoulders, was none other than Joe Sakic, looking as buoyant as if he’d just won the Stanley Cup. The pale shock on Dan’s face was priceless and Michele greeted Cecile first, kissing the girl on her cheeks. “Oh and what were you too up to?”

Dan didn’t say anything.

“Up to?” Cecile laughed with eyes that narrowed and displayed how absurd she thought that statement to be. “Up to? Oh Danny you’re finally here! I was beginning to think you just went home or something.” She grabbed his hands but he didn’t hold them back and he let them go limp, they slid out of her grasp until Cecile held only onto his fingers. Why, he didn’t even lean in to kiss her.

Oh how brilliant.

“Why would I go home? You’d think I’d just leave you?” Dan said letting his glum mood show through.

“Danny what’s wrong?” Cecile asked.

“Oh nothing,” Dan said.

“Ha!” Sakic laughed clearly in a mood to tease and breathing out with just a touch of beer breath. “See didn’t I tell you Cecile, Dan, he, he, he’s mad about yer hat trick, you’re not gonna live it down anytime soon Noter, you better contribute pretty soon or we’ll sign your fiancée to replace you, ha!”

“Oh don’t be mean,” Cecile said quickly looking pleadingly at Sakic and then back at Danny. She touched his cheek. “Dan really, what’s wrong? Did I do something?”

“You scored a hat trick I told you,” Joe practically cackled and then he started whistling, rocking a little on his heels.

“Where were you?” Dan asked, so painfully blunt and devoid of sugar.

Cecile lifted the corner of one lip and narrowed her eyes and Michele could see the sparks of anger, “Outside. There were some news cameras out there and they asked to do an interview with us. We were just answering a few questions.”

“I didn’t see any cameras,” Dan replied. Funny, Michele thought the same thing.

Cecile blinked rapidly. “Danny are you accusing us of something?”

Michele made brief eye contact with Sakic who grinned and lifted his eyebrows as if he found this whole conversation amusing. Fortunately for Danny, he seemed to snap back to his senses and he sighed loudly. “Naw,” he shrugged. “I’m just hungry and tired…. and I didn’t get to play with you on my team so I feel kinda left out.”

“Oooh!” Cecile said as if she were a mother telling a kid not to be so silly. She grabbed Danny in a hug and he closed his eyes and squeezed her tightly.

“Awww all is well again,” Joe grinned and he looked so goofy that Michele wondered exactly how much he’d already had to drink.

“Yes,” Michele sighed as if genuinely happy and then she noticed Patrick almost at the table in the food line, “Oh I told Patrick I’d find us a seat, have you eaten yet, Joe? Cecile?”

“Nope,” Sakic said, “But I see Debbie’s already chowing down, heh, hey Mimi see that table over there where Alex and Peter are, save us some seats okay?”

Michele nodded and without looking behind her, she went to the table. Peter Forsberg was in the process of hand feeding small pieces of buttered bread to Josefina, who practically sat in his lap, and neither seemed to notice her arrival. Alex Tanguay didn’t notice her either as he stared at the love struck couple with an open mouth and wrinkled nose.

“Hello, Alex,” Michele said.

Tanguay shook his head and the looked at her. “Hey Michele,” he said. “Peter and Jo are being gro-oss.” And his petulant voice sounded as if it could have come from a whining Jonathan or Frederick. “Can you make them stop?”

Michele shrugged, “Oh let them have some….”

Peter said something in a low voice to Jo who laughed and she grabbed the glass of wine and she took a small sip of wine but didn’t swallow. Instead she slid fully into his lap and kissed Peter obviously trading off the wine to him, and he swallowed.

“Ick!” Alex gasped.

Michele rolled her eyes, “Alright stop it you too that’s disgusting!”

Peter laughed and blushed and Josefina slid off his lap and grinned. “Oh Mimi it’s just a little wine, we have to swallow worse things to please our men, right?”

“Oh ew!” Alex whined.

Michele grinned. “Well, I guess that’s true…”

Another disgusted whine from Alex.

“…but my children are present, dear,” Michele continued, “Please don’t add something for their dreams tonight yes?”

“Or mine neither!” Alex huffed.

Josefina laughed and slung an arm over Alex’s shoulder, “Aw Alex, are you a little baby boy?”

“I am not,” Alex insisted.

“Awww come on you are and you know it!” She leaned on his shoulder and then grabbed a pinch full of his doughy cheek. “Did big bad Mimi drag you around by the ear, whose the big bad Mimi that you around by the ear? Poor widdle baby boy!”

“Oof!” Alex exclaimed and he pushed Jo off him and onto Peter’s lap. “You better not drive tonight because you’re drunk!”

Josefina hiccupped and giggled her agreement.

Within the next couple of minutes, Patrick came to the table with food laden plates and Michele gratefully stabbed her fork into a hunk of roast beef. Joe soon hopped into a chair and right next to him Cecile and then Danny. All of them had food and wine and Michele noticed that even on this special occasion, Cecile stuck with a soft drink. “Oo have a little wine Cecile, it’s really good for you!”

Cecile smiled. “No not yet, I won’t get anyone in trouble.”

“Oo no one would tell,” Michele grinned.

Cecile smiled politely and ate her food with small movements of her fork and knife and small ladylike bites, no matter how famished she might feel.

The next hour, Michele pegged as probably one of the most disastrous for Dan Hinote’s fragile emotional life. For Joe Sakic, his exuberance could easily have been brushed off as due to copious amounts of red wine and not sitting with his wife. Cecile on the other hand, she was clear headed, if a bit exhausted and clearly enamored with her on ice performance earlier that evening and in love with the praise Joe kept slathering onto her. Whenever someone else dropped by the table to compliment Cecile on her hat trick, the girl would blush and smile and say it was all due to “Mr. Sakic” and then Joe would cut in telling them how Cecile was obviously a “diamond in the rough” or in her case and “emerald in the rough” and he began to seriously overuse the joke about the team dumping Danny and signing her to a one year deal.

Oh don’t be mean, Cecile would say and she would pat Danny on the arm but Michele could see that jaw of his tighten and his face pale just a little more. In fact, that Michele noticed, Danny and Cecile barely shared two words with each other, barely exchanged their usual quota of lovesick glances although they held hands for a long time. All of the conversation centered on Joe and Cecile’s line, Cecile’s hat trick, or at best how Joe thought Cecile the best little winger he ever had.

Really, Michele couldn’t be anymore thrilled.

After everyone had eaten their fill, they began to mingle in the restaurant, talking drinking more and chasing down trays of bite size dessert cups for a nibble. Frederick and Jana seemed to have a scheme down pat of kidnapping trays and before they could be retrieved the rest of the children had scavenged it like a pack of piranhas.

More wine went around and the decorative settees and couches and even the tables in the restaurant began to turn into makeshift beds for exhausted children and even adults. When Michele walked by a recliner to see all three of her children packed on it sound asleep, she knew it was definitely time to get home. Patrick, surprisingly not inebriated agreed and Michele went to get their coats while Patrick chatted with an adoring waiter.

As Michele headed for the coat rack she saw the funniest thing. Cecile was sitting upright on a couch, sound asleep and her hand rested on the ebony haired head of Joe Sakic as he was sound asleep, his cheek cradled on her lap. “Gooodness,” Michele breathed standing next to Debbie who had her arms crossed. “What happened here?”

“Oh Joe’s really drunk,” Debbie replied calmly. “Cecile sat down to rest her feet and Joey just invited himself over, plopped his head on her lap and passed out.” She laughed. “She couldn’t push him off her I just told her to let him have a nap, there could be worse things in life aye? Anyway she just fell asleep too.”

Michele hugged Debbie and patted her little butt. “I suppose,” she winked. “I’m going to get our coats.”

“Yeah, we’ll be leaving soon too,” Debbie called back.

The coat room was dimly lit and Michele had a little trouble at first distinguishing her family’s coats from the others. Why there was no one on staff to retrieve their coats for them was beyond her. She yawned and she recognized Jana’s coat. As she reached for it she heard someone else enter the coat room. Just as she turned around to see who it was, he grabbed her around the waist, breathing beer and wine fumes.

“Get off,” Michele snapped; assuming someone’s drunken husband was getting frisky.

“Did you see em on the couch?” he drawled and Michele recognized Danny’s voice, he wasn’t entirely inebriated, but he was mad.

“Oh it’s innocent enough, even Debbie’s not…” Before she could finish the sentence Danny kissed her. At first hard and closed lipped, and she relaxed a little opening her mouth and he devoured her, drowning her in liquor soaked breath. The boy…knew how… to kiss. Michele felt her knees loosen and she held onto him, pressed her fingers into his shoulders and he made a low sound like a growl and lifted her up in his arms. Michele’s heart raced and she pondered the possibility of reaching down to his fly and releasing him in her hand, and what were the odds of someone walking in on them?

Then he let her go.

“I’m sorry he moaned… I’m a shit… I’m so sorry…”

Michele grinned but she extracted herself from his arms. No it would not be wise to try it here. “Daniel it’s the drink talking yes?” she whispered.

“But I was pissed before!” He moaned and this time his words were a little slurred. “Why did I do this? I was pissed… she pissed me off…he pissed me off more than her… I hate him… he’s trying to take her away… I don’t know why I just did that to you, I’m sorry…”

Michele grinned and she kissed the tip of his nose. “It’s the green eyed dragon talking,” she whispered. “That’s why you did it, Daniel. It isn’t your fault.”

“What’s the green eyed dragon?” Danny asked sounding clear and curious.

“Jealousy,” Michele murmured. “You’re jealous.”

“But what do I do about it?” Danny asked.

Michele yawned, she couldn’t help it, and she was so tired. She turned away from him, felt the heat of his presence, wondering if he would be so bold as to take her from behind. But he just stood there as she gathered the family’s coats. “We deal with it in our own way,” she looked at him and at the doorway she stopped. “It’s all about trusting what you really want, Daniel, and trusting that you know what she wants. Ask yourself that, but not now when you’re so drunk hm? We can talk about this later.”

She turned around and left without waiting for his reply and she couldn’t stop smiling. She knew now, most certainly, that her prize was almost immediately at hand.