Epilogue-New Lives in New Jersey

Alice Parker sat in Newark International Airport, but she didn’t feel the usual warm, bubbly feeling that came with being home. Sure, everyone said “cawfee” and nobody would think she sounded funny, but as she sat on the bench waiting for her luggage to come around on the carousel, Alice’s heart was aching. It had been almost two months since breaking things off with Sidney, but things weren’t getting much easier as the time went on. When she packed up her things in her office, she had hardly been able to tear the shitty penguin picture Sidney had drawn for her off of the wall. She cried as she dumped the tuque, CD, and jerseys he had gotten her into the trash. She felt naked as she slowly took off each and every single piece of jewelry he had given her, and put it in a small lock box so that she could pawn it later. So as she sat in the airport, she wasn’t surprised that a tear rolled down her cheek to rest on the hands which Sidney had so often held. She knew that in a way, it was her fault that they were done. Sidney had tried to apologize. He had tried to get her back….but she was too stubborn to accept his apology, and she didn’t know if she could ever face him again to admit that she too had messed things up. A light hand clasped her shoulder, and she looked up into the chocolate brown eyes of Marc-Andre Fleury.

“Marc, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be,” she whispered, and Marc nodded in agreement. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. While everything about New Jersey was familiar to her, it was all new to him. The most he ever saw of Jersey, as he had admitted to Alice on the plane, was what he saw when he was playing at the Prudential Center. It was mid-July, and Marc and Alice were ready to head into the sweltering Jersey sun to start their new lives.

Marc had been approached and asked to drop his no-trade clause in his contract. After a lot of thought, he said that he would drop it if a deal could be made with the Islanders, Rangers, Devils, or Flyers. Alice didn’t know it, but he wanted to stay close to her. He knew that she was having a rough time dealing with the breakup, and he wanted her to know that he was going to be there for her no matter what. The Devils, suffering with the retirement of Martin Brodeur, had jumped on the opportunity to sign Marc, and they quickly agreed on a seven year, 49 million dollar contract with a no-trade clause. Marc found an apartment much like the one that him and Alice had in Pittsburgh, and rented it immediately. Alice was the first person to know about the trade, and so they decided that they would stick together in Jersey.

Their luggage finally came rolling by on the carousel, and Marc grabbed it quickly. Alice took her bags from him, and they headed out into the oppressive humidity of a typical July afternoon in New Jersey.