Chapter 17
Blair
I take one look at Jules when she steps onto the pedestal at a Manhattan bridal boutique and burst into tears.
“Stop,” she says with a laugh, meeting my gaze in the mirror. “Now you’ve got me crying.”
“That’s the one.” I sniffle, trying to compose myself, but I just end up crying more. “It’s perfectly you.”
It’s ivory, with a fitted bodice that has a V-neck and cap sleeves made of lace. At the waist, it flows into an airy skirt with a sheer top layer. It’s modern, but vintage-inspired.
“What do you guys think?” Jules turns to face her bridesmaids, all gathered in chairs.
“I’m with Blair,” Talia says. “I wouldn’t change a thing about this dress.
“It’s so lovely,” Suki says. “You look radiant.”
“I love it,” Mara says.
“That’s the one for sure,” Lainey says.
“You guys!” She grins happily. “This is only the third one and we’re done! We’re hitting the town tonight.”
Hudson McClain offered Jules the use of one of his private planes for this trip to New York City for wedding-dress shopping.
He also made a call to a wedding planner who set up appointments for us—one at a boutique yesterday where we settled on bridesmaid dresses, and one today at a boutique that caters to some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world.
Jules told the sales consultant, Will, that she didn’t want to know the prices of anything. She wanted to choose based on what she loved, without price being a factor.
“The designer will tailor this to you,” Will says. “It’s already stunning, but we can have a corset sewn in if you want a snatched look, and we can bring in the bust slightly.”
He gathers some of the bodice behind her back and holds it to show her what those alterations would look like.
“Definitely,” she agrees. “I want the corset.”
“You can do any hairstyle with this one, too,” he says. “It’s timeless.”
“I want an updo and a delicate tiara. Drop earrings.”
“Perfect.”
She deserves to have a mom here with her right now. A loving, joyful mom who tells her how beautiful she looks. We didn’t get that, though. We got each other.
I look at her once more, and I start crying again. They’re happy tears.
Jules’s fairy-tale romance has been a dream come true for me, too, because I wanted this for her. I wanted her to be seen and adored for exactly who she is, and Noel is her perfect match.
I never thought I could have anything like that. But in the two weeks since Magnus and I decided to give a relationship a go, I’ve gone to bed with a huge smile on my face every night.
He’s sent me flowers three times. He got front-row seats to one of his home games for me, Coop, and Eli, and jerseys for all of us with his name on them. Even though he doesn’t have much free time, he spends what he does have with us.
I’ve learned how to cook chicken on the countertop grill that’s been in our kitchen cabinet since we moved into our house. I make that and roasted veggies for dinner when Magnus comes over, because he can’t eat pizza and wings all the time and stay in shape.
We only had the one night for sex, but we maximized it. I got about an hour of sleep and I was sore from the waist down for several days after.
Our bubble is blissful. It feels good to be making the most of every day we have, instead of only thinking about what could go wrong in the future.
“I need an Uber to the Uber, you guys,” Mara says when we’re finishing up at the boutique.
She’s almost thirty-seven weeks pregnant. Leo didn’t want her flying this late in the pregnancy, but he relented when Mara reminded him that Talia knows how to deliver babies.
We’re only here through tomorrow morning, but it’s been a fun trip. We all got facials and pedicures yesterday at the hotel spa, and we had dinner at a very popular restaurant last night that was a fun experience, but the food wasn’t my thing.
Hudson McClain got us the reservation, and I’ve never felt more Midwestern.
The chef apparently knows Hudson and he kept sending us dishes.
Uni crudo, I found out from Googling it, is sea urchin, and it’s not something I ever want to eat again.
Same goes for foraged mushrooms with truffle foam.
I’ll stick with fried mushrooms and Ranch.
We got giant slices of pizza on the way back to our hotel and then watched Bridesmaids in Jules’s room.
“Okay, where can we go that doesn’t involve much walking?” Jules asks when we get outside. “We have four hours until we need to be at the drag show.”
Mara puts a hand on her stomach. “If I’m going to make it through the show, I need to go take a nap. Sorry, guys.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Lainey says. “I could go for a lie-down myself.”
I feel my phone buzzing with a text and I reach into my bag for it. Noel’s daughter Chloe is watching the boys all weekend, and I keep thinking they’ll call or text about how much they miss me.
But the text on my phone is, once again, not from either of my sons.
Magnus: Hey, how’s the big city?
A photo arrives with the text. It’s a selfie he took in the Vancouver locker room, where he’s playing tonight. He’s smiling at the camera, wearing a white T-shirt, a short layer of light-brown stubble showing on his face. His backward baseball hat almost makes me swoon.
But wait. I shouldn’t be able to see him in such detail. His flip phone takes grainy photos that look like surveillance camera stills. I type back a response as we wait for the driver of the black SUV that’s our ride to pull up in front of the boutique.
Blair: Magnus Lundgren, did you get a Smartphone??
Magnus: I was tired of not seeing pics of my beautiful girlfriend in color.
“He got a smartphone,” I murmur, grinning.
“No way!” Talia cries. “I miss one road trip, and Gramps gets a smartphone?”
“It’s so he can text you easier, isn’t it?” Jules asks.
I smile at her, then text Magnus again.
Blair: We can FaceTime now! Coop will be so excited.
Magnus: And I can send videos from the road. Thought I’d take one on the plane so the boys can check it out.
Blair: They’ll love that. How’s Elin today?
Magnus: Her mood is much better. The new medication seems to be helping with that. She’s cooperating with therapy again.
Blair: That’s a good thing.
Magnus: How’s shopping going?
Jules takes my arm and guides me toward the waiting car. I get in and continue texting.
Blair: She found the one. We’re going back to the hotel to rest because poor Mara is carrying around another human, and then we’ll have dinner and the drag show.
Magnus: Have fun. Miss you.
Blair: Miss you too. Good luck tonight.
Magnus: I’ll text you after, but don’t stay up if you’re tired.
Blair: Okay.
I put my phone away, and Talia grins at me from the seat beside mine.
“I’m so happy about you two. He used to be the team grump, and now he’s ... I don’t know, not. He’s not the type to get all excited about anything, but he just seems really at peace. He’s talking to the other guys more and just loosening up.”
“He’s sent her flowers three times in two weeks,” Jules says. “One of the cards said, ‘I can’t wait to get back to you.’”
I shoot her a glare because that’s private. I didn’t even tell her, but she saw the roses on my bedside table and went hunting for the card.
“Carter’s lobbying hard for the team to keep him,” Suki says. “But let’s not talk about that, because I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.”
“You won’t make me uncomfortable,” Jules says.
“I’m not saying Noel and I never talk about the team, but we don’t talk about trades and contracts and all that.
I told him when word got out in the locker room that Magnus and Blair are seeing each other that I specifically don’t want to talk to him about Magnus at all. ”
“That’s for the best,” Mara says. “Most players could get traded to another team; it’s just part of the game. So you’re not alone, Blair, if you feel up in the air about all that. Everyone knows Carter has the only NMC on the entire team.”
I pull my brows together. “What’s that?”
“A no-move clause. That means a player can’t be waived, traded, or demoted. They’re hard to get. Leo has a limited NTC, which is a no-trade clause. He has a list of teams he’d be willing to accept trades to, and he can’t be traded to others. So we could end up moving when his contract is up.”
“Interesting.”
“They can be bargaining chips. But, bottom line, being a hockey player’s partner comes with pros and cons, like all jobs. Leo might not be there when our child is born. We didn’t mean to get pregnant when we did.”
“What’s the hardest part for all of you?” I ask.
Talia answers first. “I’m lucky. I get to travel with Lucien and I grew up with a dad who played and coached, so it’s not unusual to me.”
“I’m lucky, too,” Jules says. “I travel with the team some, but I don’t see a lot of Noel when I do. I like my space, though. I don’t want to be with anyone all the time.”
“It’s hard when you’re raising kids together,” Suki says. “The missed birthdays and holidays. But then I feel like I have no right to be anything but grateful because of the life the money allows our family to have.”
Mara gives her a pointed look. “It doesn’t mean you don’t miss him. Eighty-two games a season is no joke.” She sighs softly. “I just miss my best friend some evenings when he’s gone. He’s the one I want to talk to about my day, but I can’t.”
“I feel that,” Lainey says. “And it’s why I’m so grateful to have all of you in my life.
You’re the only ones who understand. I know it’s statistically unlikely that all our guys will retire from the Crush after long, fully healthy careers, but I hope we can stay friends even through the moves and changes. ”
“I second that,” Suki says. “I’d choose every one of you as a friend even if we didn’t have the hockey connection.”
“Same here,” Talia says. “And Jules, I’d still choose you as my mom.”
Jules cringes and laughs. She’s much closer to Noel’s daughter’s age than she is to his, but they get along great. Jules will never try to be anything other than a supportive friend to Noel’s kids.
“I’m going to nap so hard,” Mara says when the SUV slows to a stop in front of our hotel.
When I get out of the vehicle, I take Jules’s arm and lay my head on her shoulder as we walk into the hotel. Other than each other and my boys, we bombed in the family department. But we’re making up for it with friends who are like family.