Page 62 of Taking The Shot

“This is going to be okay, right?”

“According to Keith—yes.”

“Dustin said the same,” Laurel added.

“Barrett did, too,” Irene smirked. “And then he made the attorney put it in writing.”

A beat of silence passed between them, the weight of the past ten years pressing down.

“I can’t believe this,” Constance finally said, her voice laced with awe and disbelief.

“I can’t either,” Irene agreed.

“It’s been ten years…”

“Dustin knew he wasn’t playing much longer.”

“Keith too—but they managed to squeak it out, didn’t they?”

“And now we’re on the other side of the fence…”

Irene’s gaze turned distant, her fingers tightening slightly where they rested on her arms. “It’s a whole new world.”

Constance grinned, nudging Laurel with her elbow. “Feel free to break out in song now.”

Laurel, never one to resist an opportunity for mischief, dramatically lifted her arm and opened her mouth, ready to belt out the infamous Disney tune.

Constance barely managed to grab her wrist in time, laughing. “Hang on, they’re taking photos.”

Almost on instinct, the three women linked arms, standing side by side as if they belonged here—as if they weren’t inwardly terrified by the weight of what their husbands had just done. They smiled like they didn’t have a care in the world, like their lives hadn’t just shifted into something new and uncertain.

But they knew the truth.

This wasn’t just a change. This was a legacy being built beneath their feet.

“How’s it feel to be the upper crust?” Laurel muttered between her teeth, her expression frozen in a picture-perfect smile.

“Petrifying,” Irene hissed, her lips barely moving.

“I’ve had diarrhea for three days,” Constance confessed in the same whispered manner, maintaining her flawless, camera-ready expression.

And that was it.

That was the moment they lost it.

Their carefully composed smiles shattered into wild laughter, full and unrestrained, doubling over as the cameras flashed. It was real, raw, and perfectly them.

Thatwas the photo that made it intoSports Illustrated.Alongside that photo is a shot of three legendary hockey players holding the Stanley Cup from a decade ago when the Wolverines won their precious trophy at the end of their first season.

And now, another image—one of those same men standing on the red carpet on the ice, the team they once played for now in their hands.

Family wasn’t always blood.

Sometimes, it was friendship.

The article that accompanied the photo said it best:

Here, we have a candid moment of three friends brought together by a common bond—hockey. Their husbands, Barrett Coeur, Dustin Lafrenière, and Keith Boucher, have just purchased the Dragons, resurrecting the team name once owned by the Detroit Dragons.

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