“Aw, that’s so sweet, J!” Mara said.
“Violet, wine or weed? Or I think Dylan’s got a few beers in the garage.”
“Wine’s great,” I said. “Thank you.”
Jeanine got all our glasses filled and raised hers. “To surviving seven kids under eight.”
We all laughed as we clinked our glasses.
I examined the label as Jeanine set it down. “This is really good. Wendlock Wineries, where’s that?”
“It’s my family’s winery in Temecula. Between LA and San Diego.”
“That’s cool,” I said.
She lifted a shoulder. “It kinda is. Dyl and I are considering taking over when he’s done with hockey and my parents retire.”
Mara stuck her lip out. “You didn’t tell me that. What a perfect retirement that would be.”
Jeanine got a soft smile. “Yeah. It was a good place to grow up. It’ll all depend on when Dylan decides to retire. I don’t think we’re close to done yet.”
“How did he like being captain?” I asked.
Jeanine’s look was wistful. “He loved it. He’s a natural leader. Thrived on it. He struggled finding his footing here after he got it all taken away though. We both did. It was a weird transition.”
Mara turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “How does Colt like being captain?”
“Similar, but I think he’s pretty insecure about it. He’s hard on himself. Always thinks he’s doing it wrong.”
“Come on, Vi. You gotta gas him up!” Mara said with a playful shove to my shoulder.
I blew air out my lips. “I try, but he has to believe it. He’s great at pumping other people up, but he’s always so down on himself.”
Jeanine stuck her lip out. “A sexy picture never hurt anybody. You know. Let him know you’re the captain of his team.”
“If you are,” Mara said, glaring at Jeanine. “It’s not her job to validate him. Violet’s a PhD smarty-pants. She’s busy curing cancer.”
“Well, sure, have your own life. We exist outside these men. I volunteer at the food pantry when the kids are in school. I take ice dancing lessons.”
“Fun!” I said. “I want to try it!”
“I’ll get you the details. They’re about to start a new session. I’d love to have you there too!”
I was excited to tell my therapist that I was trying a new hobby with other people that didn’t involve random orgasms in public parks. How’s that for progress?
“But back to the picture point, everybody needs to know they’re loved and wanted. If Dyl and I learned anything from our rough patch, it’s that you have to actively advocate for each other, and for yourself. We got to be bad at both. You have to go out of your way to compliment each other and not just assume they know.”
Colt was notoriously terrible at advocating for himself, being everyone else’s advocate to his own detriment. “And sexy pictures will fix that?” I asked.
“Not all sexy pictures are created alike,” Mara said. “Sometimes they’re of me. Sometimes they’re potential punishments.”
“Wait, you were serious about dominating him?” I asked, my cheeks warming. I flashed back to ordering Colton around in that hotel room in West Virginia. He’d looked really good crawling after me.
“Hell yeah,” Mara said. “Jack loves it. He loves being a brat then getting to be a good boy again.”
“I’m not as serious about it as Mara, but it’s fun to switch it up once in a while,” Jeanine shrugged. “I threaten Dyl with pegging sometimes just to keep him on his toes. I think he’s secretly curious.”
“They’re all secretly curious, at least a little bit,” Mara said, waving her hand. “They’re all macho men on the ice, and then they can come home and get their guts rearranged by a five-foot-nothing leather mama.”
