“Have you had sex in a canoe?” Sarah challenges her.
“I’ve had three children. I’ll have sex anywhere that doesn’t involve me doing any of the work.”
We all laugh. Book club has become my favorite night of the month—wine, terrible romance novels, and women who’ve somehow become my closest friends over the past year.
A year.
I touch the wind chime necklace at my throat without thinking.It’s become a habit, this small gesture. Grounding myself in the good memories instead of just the hard ones.
This morning I visited Mom’s grave. Told her about work, about Roman, about how I’m actually happy most days now. The grief is still there, it probably always will be, but it’s different. Softer. Something I carry rather than something that drowns me.
“Marnie, are you okay?” Elliot says, waving a hand.
“Yeah. Sorry. Just thinking.”
“About your captain?” Sarah grins. “You’ve got that look.”
“What look?”
“The ‘I’m getting laid on the regular by a professional athlete’ look,” Goldie supplies. “Very specific. We all recognize it.”
My face heats. “That’s not?—”
“It absolutely is,” Elliot says. “Okay, before we get too detailed about everyone’s sex lives, let’s talk about next month’s book.”
“Please tell me it’s better than the kayak disaster,” I say.
“Oh, it’s special.” Elliot exchanges a look with Goldie. “Very special.”
Goldie reaches under a throw pillow and pulls out a book, handing it to me with a strange smile. “This one’s for you.”
I take it, studying the cover. It’s definitely a hockey romance—a black and white image of a shirtless player from the chest down, stick positioned just so, dramatic lighting. The title readsIce Hot Hearts.
But it’s slim. Maybe 150 pages compared to our usual 400-page monsters.
“It’s short,” I observe.
“It’s a novella,” Elliot says. “Very focused story.”
“Read the back cover,” Sarah adds, but she’s grinning at me.
I flip it over and start reading aloud.
“When Seattle Puckaneers’ Captain Roman Varga dislocates his shoulder during practice, he never expects the team’s new physical therapist to be the woman who changes everything. Dr. Marnie Walker is brilliant, stubborn, and completely off-limits. Butover twelve weeks of rehabilitation, stolen moments, and undeniable chemistry, Roman realizes some rules are worth breaking.”
My voice falters. I look up at them.
“What the hell is this?”
“Keep going,” Goldie says softly.
“From heated arguments in training rooms to secret meetings in hotel hallways, from a captain who color-codes romance novels to a PT who thinks she’s broken, this is the story of two people learning that the best plays are the ones you don’t plan. A story about grief and healing, about breaking rules and building futures, about finding love in the place you least expect it.”
My hands are shaking and I glance up at Elliot, “Seriously, Elliot?”
“Open it,” Elliot whispers.
I flip the book open. Scan the first page. It’s us. Our meeting. Me resetting his shoulder on the ice, calling him under-brained in front of the whole team.
