Page 104 of The Husband Game

But when it came to construction, Charlie had learned to plan for it taking significantly longer than anticipated. Thank goodness Dustin was handy with the grill.

As long as they were done before the snow flew, they’d be fine.

Dustin smiled. “I know. You warned me about the dust and the noise. If it gets bad enough, we’ll stay in a hotel through the worst of it. But I’m excited about your plans. And I think the idea of keeping as much of the already existing stuff as we could was genius.”

Charlie shrugged. “I mean, your future kitchen may not make it into Architectural Digest or anything but it seems so wasteful to demolish perfectly workable stuff. With enough money, it’s easy to create a gorgeous kitchen if you tear it down to the studs. But I find it a much more interesting challenge to work with what you have and make it the best possible version of itself.”

“Through hard work, anything can be achieved,” Dustin said with a smile.

“Exactly.”

“You’re happy with this space though?” Dustin asked as they stepped out onto the patio.

“Yes. This is great. I want to add a few potted plants, string lights, and pretty cushions but the bones are very good.”

“That sounds nice.” Dustin set down the tray and went over to the grill, firing it up. “So, tell me about your day at work. You met with Natasha and Jordan?”

Charlie took a seat at the patio table nearby and told Dustin about the walkthrough. He wrapped it up saying, “It’s another place with great bones and a desperate need for a refresh. It’ll be more space planning and décor than any kind of construction, although I am designing some built-ins for the living room I’m rather excited about.”

Dustin lifted the lid and laid the chicken on the grill. “I think it’s amazing the way you can take this blank slate and come up with all of these ideas of how to make it look good.”

“I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” he admitted. “When I was, oh, maybe eight or ten, I spent weeks building an entire house out of paper.”

Dustin laughed. “I’m surprised you became a skater instead of an architect or something.”

Charlie smiled, though it was a touch sad. He’d wanted to but his mom was determined he follow in her footsteps. And he’d tried very hard to be a good son. “Um, well, my mom was a skater, so …”

“Ahh. Yeah, I followed in my dad’s footsteps too.”

“Did you ever want to do anything else but hockey?”

“Oh God no,” Dustin said with a laugh. “I was crazy about it from the very beginning. They had to pull me off the ice or I’d never leave the rink.”

“So you weren’t doing it to make your dad happy then?”

“Nope. He was actually worried I had no balance in my life. Which, uh, is probably fair. And until you came along, I didn’t.”

Charlie bit his lip. He’d heard a lot from Dustin’s teammates about how hard-working he was. About his work ethic and that he and Matty were always the last people off the ice. But he hadn’t realized how far that went.

But before Charlie could say anything, Dustin glanced up with a rueful grin. “Actually, that came up on the podcast today.”

“Oh right. How did that go?”

“I got a little snippy with them actually,” he said with a laugh.

Charlie listened intently as he described it.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you any problems.”

“Kitten, no,” Dustin said firmly. He strode over and crouched down, looking Charlie in the eye, taking his hands. “You did nothing wrong. I mean, yes, our marriage has complicated some things for me, but that goes both ways, right? And I can definitely say that my life is better now that you’re in it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. For sure. I—I can’t say I was lonely before. I wasn’t. I had my team and there was always someone I could spend my time with if I wanted. But it was different. And I had no idea how good it would feel to wake up with someone every morning and look forward to seeing them at the end of the day and … It’s better with you. That’s all. Every media hassle is worth that, no question.”

“Good,” Charlie said with a little smile, squeezing Dustin’s fingers. “But you probably should check the chicken before we have a repeat of earlier.”

“Shit.” Dustin sprang to his feet and jogged over. He lifted the lid and flipped the meat, frowning.

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