Coyotes Ever After (Colorado Coyotes #7)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ford

Once everyone is gathered in Colby and Mila’s main family room, I approach Mila.

“Okay if I do it?” I ask quietly.

Her eyes widen slightly with surprise. “Sure, of course.”

She moves to stand with the others. I wait for Cam and Rowan to make their way into the room, admiring it even though I’ve been in here many times.

The main family room is a giant-open two story space with a wall of glass doors that open onto an expansive covered patio that overlooks the ocean. The room is painted a crisp white and it has warm bamboo floors. Vibrant, colorful artwork by local artists adorns the walls.

This room has two huge leather L-shaped sectionals that are laid out in a loose square shape. There are also several other chairs in the room, which can easily seat around thirty people. This is where we spend most of our time when we’re here.

“Everyone here?” I ask, looking around the room.

My gaze lands on Elle, who nods slightly. She’s my North Star. The one I always look to when I need guidance or confirmation. The one who always has my back, even when I don’t even realize I need someone there.

I clear my throat, feeling the same slight rush of nervousness I used to feel when giving a speech to my team as their captain. It’s different as a coach; I have to be confident and certain of what I’m saying in those speeches. But with my teammates, I always had the same sense of not knowing what to say, not any better than any of them. We were all the same, just like we are now.

“I just want to echo what Mila said,” I say. “It’s hard to balance everything with kids in school and work and all the other things we have going on, but we always find a way. And I think a lot of that has to do with Mila and Colby.”

Mila looks nothing short of shocked. She was expecting this toast to be just about Colby.

“You’re so much more than just the Coyotes team owner,” I continue. “And I’ve never known a couple that complements each other better than you two. Colby is the calm and Mila is the storm.” That gets low laughter because we all know how true it is.

I turn serious. “Colby, you’re my brother. A brother to all of us. For as long as I live, I’ll never forget seeing how hard you fought to stay around for your family. You never gave up. Never even considered it. You knew how much Mila and the girls needed you and how much you needed them, too.” I meet his eyes and he nods slightly, his eyes shining with tears. “And Mila, sometimes a storm is exactly what’s needed. You fought for more testing, second, third and even fourth opinions on Colby’s treatment. You never backed down and let the doctors tell you to just trust them. You were by his side every step of the way. I know I speak for everyone in this room when I say we admire and love both of you, and we’re grateful for everything you do to keep us all together. To Colby and Mila.”

“To Colby and Mila,” everyone echoes.

Elle approaches and takes my arm, smiling up at me. “Well done, Captain.”

“No! God—no! It’s how you make your Bronco go!” Dom yells an hour later.

None of us are used to day drinking. It’s not even noon and we’re all buzzed and relaxed—with the exception of Dom. He’s very competitive when we play Taboo, especially when we got smoked by the girls last night.

“Drive!” Rowan says helplessly. “Accelerate? Fuel? Gas?”

All the guys are yelling out the most obvious answers on repeat, but Dom just gets more frustrated.

“Skip,” he mutters, setting the card aside. “Steering wheel, morons.”

The timer beeps and he glares at us. “We got three.”

Tess is up for the women. She sets her martini down and stands up, a stack of cards in her hand.

“Okay,” Ben says, resetting the timer. “....go.”

Tess looks directly at Cam. “It’s what we used to make on Saturday nights at the Stonybrook apartment.”

“Pizza!”

“Yep.” Tess puts the card in the point pile and moves on to the next one.

“Great Aunt Gail used to do this every Sunday at her church.”

“Play the organ!”

“Right.” She sets the card down and Dom gets up from his seat, stalking to the other side of the room.

“Um...okay, you can get French tips when you get a...?”

“Manicure!” Stella says.

“Right.”

The women’s turn continues like that, and they’ve scored eight points by the time the timer beeps.

“Must be nice to get words like ‘beach’ and ‘pizza’ when we get shit like ‘spelunking,’” Dom mutters. “I need a gummy.”

“Bring me one, too!” Cam calls after him.

“Me too!” Elle says.

“I’ll just bring the whole damn bag.”

“Why is losing at this game so hard for him?” Elle asks me, amused.

“He’s always hated losing. If our team was in second place, he said we were the first-place losers.”

“Gummies chill him out real quick-like,” Tess says.

“Do you ever have gummies?” Mila asks Elle.

“Yeah, sometimes. If I’m at home or I can’t sleep when I’m traveling.”

Mila furrows her brow. “You never told me that.”

Elle laughs. “It just hasn’t come up, I guess. I’ve got some in my room. Do you want one?”

Mila hesitates. “Maybe. But I don’t want to be passed out on the couch.”

“You won’t be. It just mellows you out a little bit.”

Colby interjects. “Babe, you don’t need a gummy. You’re naturally super mellow.”

Snickers sound around the room and Mila glares at him. “That’s really funny. Maybe you can do your little comedy routine in the guest room tonight.”

Elle pinches her brows together. “So, for example, if you had a gummy, that joke wouldn’t bother you. You’d laugh it off.”

“I am getting a little tired of beating their asses at Taboo,” Mila muses. “I’ll do it if you do.”

An hour later, Colby and I are trying not to burst out laughing. Mila and Elle are on the couch, Mila’s legs in Elle’s lap. Mila is looking intently into Elle’s eyes.

“I mean, like, I really love you. I feel so bad for all the things I called you like...all those years ago.”

A smile plays on Elle’s lips. “I called you lots of things, too. It’s all in the past.”

“What was the worst thing you ever called me?”

Elle’s expression turns uncertain. “I don’t even remember. It was so long ago. You’re my best friend now.”

“Aww...you’re my best friend too!”

“Is it possible to die of amusement?” Colby asks me in a low tone. “Because this shit is hysterical.”

“I called you an opportunistic whore,” Mila confesses. “A lot.”

Colby cringes. “How strong are Dom’s gummies? This could turn bad.”

I wave off his concern. “Elle’s not like that. I promise you she’s as amused by this as we are.”

“Well, you’ve never been one to hide your feelings,” Elle says diplomatically.

“I said you’d fuck the arena janitors to get the inside track on my plans for a new arena. Like all at once. A janitorial gang bang, if you will.”

“Yeah, that tracks. You really hated me back then.”

“But I was so wrong. Now you write stories about things like infant mortality causes in third-world countries. I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m proud of you, too.”

Mila looks over at me and Colby, who are sitting directly across from them.

“I love her so much, Colby. She’s my boo.”

“I can see that.”

“Do you love her, too?”

“I do, yeah.”

Dom comes over and sits down next to Elle. “How’s it going, Mila?”

“I even love you, Dom. Even when you’re a massive pain in my ass, which is pretty much always.”

“Can I be your boo, too?”

She laughs. “No, that’s taking it a step too far. I only have two boos. Colby and Elle are co-boos.”

“That’s fair.” Dom meets my gaze. “What are you guys gonna do with these two?”

“Crazy sex,” Mila says. “Colby and I are definitely having crazy sex later.”

Colby’s leaner than he was before he had cancer, but his hair grew back after his treatment and he’s in great shape. He exercises every day. Sometimes we run together.

“You got it, babe,” he says. “Anytime you want.”

Beau and Shelby walk into the room, both of them wearing a sheen of sweat from playing with the kids. They don’t drink much alcohol, so they’re holding off on day drinking and gummies.

“Time to relive the glory days!” Beau announces.

Colby gets up immediately, and I’m right behind him. We love rewatching old Coyotes games.

The men move to the movie room, which has a massive screen and theater-style seating with two dozen leather chairs. The women stay in the main family room to talk. They never get tired of talking.

As Colby turns on the home theater, I remember the first time I saw him, when I was traded to the Coyotes. He was so young and full of fire. He’s changed a lot over the years. We all have.

But as we start watching one of our first games after I joined the team, I realize these are the glory days, too. It’s just a different kind of glory.

As the years continue to pass, I know we’ll stay close. We’ll remember our time playing hockey together, but the time we spent together by choice—like we are now—will hit differently.

We started as teammates but became so much more. Now we’re family.