Page 98 of Unbreakable
“I was just trying to point out, ‘HA! Pickles fucked up!’” Lindberg whined. “And all Christine heard was, ‘he’s sweeping Jeanine off her feet.’”
“He’s been doing good,” I said, patting his shoulder. “It’s penance for making me move to the Midwest.”
“I didn’t get penance,” Mara said, smiling at Jack. He whispered something in her ear that made her cheeks go pink.
“Hey! The Midwest is best!” Greer cut in.
I grimaced. “Sorry. Forgot you’re from here.”
“I’m kidding. You’ll have to take us all to your parents’ winery as part of The Plan. Ohio wine just isn’t the same,” Greer said. “Dyl can fly us all out there, right?”
“I’m in,” Christine said, raising her hand, causing all the other female hands around the table to shoot up.
It felt good to laugh with a big group, and I was reminded that there are great people everywhere in the hockey community. Not everyone’s a winner, but there are a lot of good eggs. It’s still the same mix of transplants and people who have to start over far from home, taking whatever hand the league deals them. I’d been giving Dylan a hard time for picking hockey over my happiness, but seeing him so happy among his teammates reminded me that his happiness just as important. Hockey wouldn’t be forever for him, so making the best of these dwindling years made sense.
And fundamentally, I loved him and wanted him to be happy.
After breakfast, all the guys drove us to the spa, a really cute place with a homey but minimalist design.
Our group got robed up and sat in the lounge area.
“Okay, so really. What did Dyl do?” Greer asked once a quiet settled over us.
I swallowed hard and drew in a half-breath. “Nothing specific. He’s still a great guy.”
“He didn’t cheat?” Erica asked.
My stomach turned. “Not that I . . . know of?” I looked around at them. “Unless someone else has something to share?”
Lacey threw a hand. “Stop making Jeanine freak out. She doesn’t have to tell us anything.” She turned to me. “I’ve never heard of him being anything but obsessed with you and freaking out because you left.”
A lump rose in my throat. “Yeah. I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Mara leaned toward me, extending her hand with her soft smile. “You did what you had to do.”
I ran my fingers along the bottom of my robe, the plush terrycloth soft and soothing to the touch. “It wasn’t one thing. It’s just the stuff that builds up over eight years of being together. His mom has always been awful to me and he just let it go. He acted like this move was no big deal when we were both actually really depressed about it. He always tells me I’ll figure stuff out instead of just hearing me and being with me.”
“He’s not the only one with that,” Christine grumbled.
“But none of those things make him a bad person or a bad husband,” I said.
“No, of course not,” Mara said. “It’s the stuff that slips by when you’re living life.”
“Especially with little kids,” Erica added.
I nodded. “But if everyone’s dealing with the same problems, how are you all not losing your minds over it?”
“Maybe we are,” Lacey said quietly to everyone’s sigh. “This life’s just hard. We need each other to get through it.”
Tears heated my eyes. This moment was what I’d been missing in Ohio. I was so stuck in my own head that I couldn’t accept that Ohio WAGs had the same issues as California WAGs, just with a different set of people.
“And the sun shines like way less here,” Mara added to everyone’s laugh. “Seasonal affective disorder and all that.”
“Sitting in cold hockey rinks all the time, no sunshine, partners who are gone all the time,” Greer said. “It’s enough for anyone to lose their shit.”
I wanted to say some words of gratitude, but I wasn’t ready to cry in front of this group of women. Thankfully, my massage therapist came around the corner and called my name, giving me an excuse to go. But I was going with a much lighter heart than when I walked in.
I went backto my locker to grab a purse snack because spa water alone was not carrying me through the day. I quickly checked my phone, and I had a text from an unsaved number.
