He nodded. “I’m not close to my parents or my dad’s parents, but my mom’s parents have always been really loving and supportive. I used to hate it as a kid, but Abuela always said I would win some nice girl over with my cooking.”
“Hasn’t worked yet, though,” Riley joked.
I glared at my husband for being insensitive. Man, he must not like this Stephanie girl. “So what’s the deal with the girlfriend?” I asked.
“Oh no you don’t. Go finish your writing, and then you can play therapist,” Riley warned.
I gave him the finger, and Benny tipped back his head with a loud laugh. “Man, you two are something else. Not much to say, honestly. She wants the whole marriage and family thing, and that’s never been me.”
“You don’t want kids?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. I like being the fun uncle! Kids aren’t for me; it’s hard to find women who are okay with that. Some say they are but end up changing their mind.”
Riley drained the rest of his beer. “So did you finally break up for good this time?”
Benny shrugged. “No idea, but I knew I couldn’t stay there tonight. Thanks, Fi, for putting up with me.”
I shook my head. “If you cook me dinner every time you need to crash here, it’s fine by me.”
Both men laughed, but Benny looked sad, and that made me sad too. “No, really. I know you two are still in the newly-wed phase, and I feel bad being a cock-block,” he apologized.
I averted my gaze and finished eating my tacos. Riley took the empty plates into the kitchen and started doing the dishes. He didn’t say anything either. Benny couldn’t really be a cockblock if we weren’t having sex.
Benny’s brown eyes bored into me. “Fi, you better not break his heart,” he whispered.
“What?” I asked because I had zero idea what he was actually talking about.
“Riley. That man loves you.”
I stared at him for a second and then excused myself to go finish working on my book. Riley rolled into bed around eleven while I was still proofreading, sitting up against the headboard of our bed. I lifted the headphones off of my head and smiled at him. He undressed for bed and slid into the covers next to me.
“Sweetheart,” he sighed. “Send it in.”
I groaned. “I don’t think I’m ready.”
“When’s your deadline?”
“Tomorrow,” I mumbled.
He groaned next to me but reached out a hand to stroke across my thigh exposed from the shorts I wore to bed. “Fi, turn it in. It will be okay.”
Somehow the reassuring words from the man next to me actually worked, and I found myself emailing the first draft over. I closed the lid to my laptop and put it on the bedside table, then started getting ready for bed. When I slid between the sheets next to Riley, he was already passed out. That didn’t stop me from curling up against him as sleep took hold of me.
“It’s Fiona, right?” the thin, blond-haired woman said to me when I sat in my seat right up in front of the glass. “I’m Brianna Girard.”
She reached a hand out to me, and I shook it. “Fi’s fine. You’re the captain’s wife, right?”
She nodded and looked to the ice where the boys were starting warm-ups. I looked over and saw Riley laughing with Benny as they raced across the ice and lobbed practice shots at the goaltender, Seamus Metz. Riley’s normally short-cropped blond hair was starting to grow past his ears. It reminded me of when we were kids, and he had that typical long hockey-flow look. I was kind of a fan of it.
He skated by the glass and tapped it with a smile. I waved at him, and there was something deep inside me that was beaming as if to say, “He’s mine.”
“First hockey game?” Brianna asked.
I shook my head. “Oh, no, Minnesota born and raised. I spent so much time at the rink cheering Riley on.”
“Oh? I didn’t realize you knew each other growing up.”
I laughed. “All our lives. Our moms are best friends; it was unavoidable.”
She looked at me with a curious glance. “Huh,” she finally said noncommittally.
“He’s my best friend,” I explained.
She smiled and pointed to the blond guy wearing the ‘C’ on his jersey and stretching on the ice with TJ Desjardins. “I understand that; I have one of those.”
I smiled back but couldn’t say anything else because I felt the weight of the seat next to me dip in. I turned to see the brunette from yesterday sitting down next to me, Stephanie. Huh. I guessed she and Benny made up. She was holding a half-drunk beer in her hand, and there was a sour look on her face.
Oh okkayyy then.
“So you and Riley, huh?” she asked without any greeting.
I nodded. Although all I could think about was what her boyfriend had said to me last night. And how I felt about it. Of course, Riley loved me; we were best friends. This marriage was a partnership, but that didn’t mean we were in love with each other. I mean, we loved each other. Of course, I loved Riley. He was my best friend, the person I trusted most when I discovered my sexuality, the person I told everything to. That didn’t mean we were madly in love with each other, though. A marriage could just be a partnership; it didn’t have to be for love. Right?
Stephanie drained the rest of the beer and fixed me with a dirty look. I crossed eyes with Brianna, who gave me some sort of warning look. Shit. I had heard that sometimes the WAGs could be toxic, and there could be some drama. I was not a dramatic person! But a lot of people thought I was
