As one might expect, the house seems typical for most professional athletes. It’s in a gated community with over five-thousand-square-feet of room and the finest appointments. Brooke took us on a fabulous tour once we arrived and Regan, who has had no luck in finding something for her and Dax, asked a million questions as she’s a frustrated potential home buyer. It’s not like there aren’t homes available to choose from, but she can’t seem to pick one out without Dax’s approval and he simply doesn’t have the time to look at anything while the playoffs are going on. He has repetitively told Regan, “Just go buy something you love and I will be happy with it,” but my brother is a relative moron to think she wouldn’t have a problem with doing that. Of course, she wants to make sure he loves their home, too, so she decided to hold off on house-hunting until after the playoffs.
We ended up in the kitchen where Brooke has a Mexican feast laid out for us. Fish tacos, a spicy black bean salad, and sopapillas.
Best of all, there are margaritas.
She starts fixing up a large pitcher as we take seats around the massive kitchen island that seats eight.
There are only six of us—Brooke, Blue, Pepper, Regan, Nora, and me. The respective men to these women are out doing a guy’s night.
After filling glasses crusted with salt on the edge with the mixed drink, Brooke passes them out to us.
Holding hers up, she says, “First toast is to the Arizona Vengeance for taking game one against the L.A. Demons last night.”
The conference finals have indeed commenced, and the Vengeance went up 1-0 over the Demons in the race for the Pacific Conference title. It went into overtime, which adds an extra twenty-minute period. In playoff hockey, there are no shootouts and the teams keep playing twenty-minute periods until someone scores. Tacker ended it quickly last night, whipping the winning goal in just a little over two minutes into the overtime period.
We raise our glasses, giving cheers to our team. I take a deep sip of the margarita, my taste buds dancing around with joy.
“Ladies,” Brooke says as she waves her hand at the platters of food on the granite countertop. “Dishes and silverware are all right there. Help yourself.”
We pass around plates, load them with food, and sip at our margaritas as we chitchat. I was happy for the invitation because Dominik had wanted to invite my family over to his house for dinner this evening. Although he hasn’t mentioned it again, I wasn’t sure if he would spring another request on me. So when Regan told me to leave tonight free for a planned girls’ night out, I jumped on it despite the fact I’ve never had a lot of girlfriends before. My career makes it so friends are hard to come by. Frankly, it’s just too hard to make a lasting bond when I travel so much. Not having a home is also an impediment, as I normally just stay with my parents in between my travels. I’ve never really put down my own roots anywhere, which is sort of a requirement when building a community of friends.
Regan has become extremely close to these women since she moved to Phoenix to marry my brother. And since I’m now her legitimate and lawful sister-in-law, she pulled me into this group whether I wanted it or not.
The great thing about it, though, is that these women are pretty amazing and thus I count myself in good company. Brooke has a degree in fashion merchandising, which translates well into her position on the Vengeance commercial sales team. She’s also the coach’s daughter, so it has been somewhat of a delicate balance with falling in love with one of the team’s star players. Blue is a flight attendant for the team, but she also takes care of her adult disabled brother, Billy. She has an incredibly hectic schedule, but still manages to devote a lot of time to him. Bonus points to her, too, for scoring the team’s biggest playboy when Erik fell in love with her.
Pepper may have the craziest story of all. She fell for our goalie, Legend, in the midst of him finding out he had a secret baby daughter from a woman he had dated in the past. That woman actually dumped little Charlie—when she was just a newborn—on his porch steps one evening with a note. Said baby mama turned out to be nutty as hell and she’d actually shot Pepper, who is recovered now. Pepper and Legend didn’t waste any time in starting their life together afterward. They ran off to the courthouse and got married, and now they are a ready-made family. And, of course, the most recent addition besides me is Nora, the therapist who got Tacker to engage in life again after he had spiraled following the death of his fiancée in a plane crash.
Like I said… it’s an amazing group of women. I feel a little dull compared to them.
But hey—fish tacos and margaritas. Not a bad way to spend the evening, especially considering I’m not at Dominik’s house entertaining my family and realizing how very serious this thing between us has turned out to be.
“Why aren’t you drinking?” Pepper asks Blue, and we collectively turn our heads to focus on her.
Sure enough, Blue’s glass is filled to the brim and untouched. A pink flush creeps into her cheeks, and her voice pitches high. “Oh, no reason. Just don’t feel like it.”
“But you love margaritas,” Brooke points out, her brows knitting together.
Blue’s blush turns from pink to red, and it hits me. Her expression is one of excitement, yet she seems a bit uneasy, too.
“Oh my God,” I exclaim, giving her a knowing look.
Blue’s eyes snap to mine, her face slightly panicked.
“You’re pregnant,” I say, taking a wild guess that’s why she hasn’t touched her drink.
“No,” she squeaks, waving me off.
Brooke puts her hands on her hips, leaning toward Blue with a suspicious glare. “Something is definitely going on.”
Blue lets out a sigh that lifts her hair slightly away from her face. She throws her hands out. “Fine. I’m pregnant. We just found out yesterday and I wasn’t going to tell y’all because Erik and I haven’t discussed when and who to tell. And then when you served up the margaritas, I was totally caught off guard and didn’t know if I should speak up. But you know what…I’m glad it’s out. I’m glad you all know. That’s way too big a secret to keep.”
We jump from our stools in excitement of her admission, crowding around to give her hugs of congratulations.
“Were you trying to get pregnant?” Brooke asks as she moves back around the island. Ever the gracious hostess, she’s been eating while standing so she can continue to serve us if we need anything. Everyone else returns to their seats.
Blue shakes her head. “No. It was an accident, though we’ve obviously talked about having kids after we get married. But Erik is totally psyched about it and well, so am I, to be honest.”
I pick up my fish taco but before taking a bite, I ask, “What does it do to your wedding plans?”
Blue and Eric got engaged a few months ago.
Blue shrugs, a silly smile on her face. “I really don’t care if we have a wedding or not. I’d be happy going to the courthouse the way Regan and Dax and Legend and Pepper did. I never imagined any of this would ever happen. I never considered I would have a marriage or a baby because of Billy, but Erik is just so damn supportive of everything. He makes me believe that all things are possible. I can do life on my own, but Erik makes it so much happier and easier. He’s a true partner in every sense of the word, and I’m so excited about having a baby together. I think the wedding is mostly moot at this point.”