Chaper 4

Right on time, 0900 and Mario’s Porsche pulls up outside. The sun is shining and it is very warm so the top is down on the car and the black paint shines like it has just been polished.

For my first day I have chose to wear a just above the knee pale yellow skirt with a white fitted tee and white sandals, smart but casual.

I spent most of my journey to the office thanking Mario for arranging my kitchen to be fully stocked. It only took about 20 minutes to get to the office and it was easy to find.

The Melon Arena is huge and not at all what it looked like on the TV although it really does look like a big igloo.

Once inside Mario gave me a tour of the arena, he explained all the drawings for the new arena and finally took me to my office to meet some of the staff.

My office was huge, at one side of it I looked out onto the main ice rink where all the Penguins home NHL games take place along with most of their on ice training. On the other main wall was a window the full length of the room that looks out onto the river and a park – it is gorgeous. The 2 smaller walls were connecting me to the rest of the staff.

Just as I got settled in to my office Mario appeared again asking if I would like to go down to meet the team who were about to go on the ice, he handed me a pair of ice skates and off down the stairs we went.

We sat in the stands to put our boots on and watched the team warm up. Once they had finished we went onto the ice and I skated about while Mario gave the players a team talk. He shouted me over when he was ready and introduced me. I could not believe that standing in front of me was the Stanley cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins team. I was in awe.

One by one they all came and said hello and shook my hand – last of all was Sidney Crosby, the team captain. He shook my hand and I felt so small compared to his huge stature, I had seen pictures of him and always thought he was a good looking young lad but the pictures did not do him justice – he has to be the most gorgeous man I have ever seen…! Those piercing brown eyes were just mesmerising. My stomach was in knots and as he shook my hand I tingled all over, why was I feeling this way?

That afternoon I went with Mario to collect my new car – it was a silver BMW convertible, amazing car to drive. I would have to sit my US driving test but I did not see that being a problem and in the meantime I could drive with my UK licence for a month.

I asked Mario that afternoon if I would be able to use the ice rink when the boys were not training to keep my fitness up, it was agreed that I could get use of it from 0800 – 0900 every morning.

I passed my driving test the very next day.