Page 153 of Some Like It Hot

It’s been fun getting to know these guys better and figuring out how the four of us all work together, and separately. I never in a million years would have imagined I’d be willing to share my wife with two other men, but it’s working damn well. When I’m on the road, I know Elise has one or both of them looking out for her, and I don’t have to worry when she inevitably loses her phone for an entire day.

She gets all the love she needs and I get the camaraderie of best friends that I know I would have missed after retirement. As much as I wanted to live alone, it never really occurred to me that I’ve spent my entire life in the sport of hockey, surrounded by teammates. It would have left a void in my life.

Now I don’t have to miss anything.

I’ve got everything I want, right here.

Plus, I have every intention of winning the championship this season and retiring in style.

“We’re lucky the weather cooperated,” I say.

The trees are covered in snow, but the skies are crisp and clear right now. No snow predicted for the entire weekend.

“I’m prepared to rusticate either way,” Simon says, lifting up his foot and pointing to his brand-new expensive snow boots.

He looks like he’s going skiing in Vail.

That makes me snort. “What, for the twenty foot walk from the truck to the house?”

“Precisely.”

“Landing,” Aidan says with relief as we descend over the trees.

A minute later, we’re on the ground and Elise releases her death grip on my arm.

There are only ten houses on this island and the airstrip is owned by distant relatives of my grandmother’s, and they always give anyone arriving a ride to their house. We pile into two different trucks and after another five minutes, we’re pulling up to the cabin.

From the back, which faces the woods, it’s not that impressive architecturally. The lakeside is the front of the house.

“Oh, this is so cute,” Elise says. “Look at how peaceful.”

“So peaceful,” Simon says skeptically. Then he jumps. “What the fuck was that? I think I saw a bear.”

He is pointing off to the right.

I turn and then burst out laughing as I see a familiar animal running back into the woods. “That is the neighbor’s dog, Henley. She likes to come over and say hi.”

Aidan is laughing too. “Tough guy, huh, babe?” He reaches for Simon’s hand. “Here, let me protect you.”

“Fuck you,” Simon grumbles.

“Promise?”

They exchange heated looks.

“Hey, hey, let’s at least get inside,” Elise says. “Before we all freeze to death. Blake, there is heat, right?”

“Oh, dear God, there had better be,” Simon exclaims in horror. “We’re practically in the tundra.”

I roll my eyes. “There is heat.” I turn the key in the door and shove it open. “Enter and tell me what you think.”

I hang back and let them crowd past me. There is a moment of stunned silence and then I hear lots of “wows” and “holy shit” and “now this is a cabin.”

It makes me grin as I toe off my boots in the mudroom by the back door.

The cabin isn’t really so much of a cabin as, well, a palatial lakefront estate with floor to ceiling glass, a massive modern kitchen with an island for seating ten and a twenty-five foot tall stone fireplace. It’s still rustic, but rustic in the sense that my Gran is fond of buffalo check print on upholstery. Not rustic as in we-have-to-rough-it.

Elise has kicked off her boots and is hopping up and down in the living room. “Blake, this is amazing! I love this house and this view, it’s gorgeous. I feel like I’m in a painting.”

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