Page 59 of My Husband Problem

“We’realwaysgoing for funnier,” Beckett says firmly.

“Are you talking about a hockey game?” I ask.

Beckett nods. “Yeah. Friday night.”

“It’s off-season,” I point out.

“Well, it’s really a big scrimmage. We’re continuing to practice once a week, and then once a month, we’re doing a scrimmage for people to come watch.” He grins. “We decided to make them theme nights. Last month we did otters for World Otter Day. This month it’s knights. Next month it’s pirates. And August will be princesses.”

“Princesses?” I ask.

“Yeah. We each come dressed as a kick-ass princess,” Zeke Landry interjects. “Real or fiction. We figured that would be fun for some of our little girl fans.”

“And maybe some boys,” Wes says.

“And good for boys to see you all not afraid to represent women that way,” Quinn Trahan, one of the two female players for Astrid’s league, pipes up.

“Absolutely,” Zeke says.

The way he smiles makes me ask, “Do you have a daughter?”

“Two of them,” he says proudly. “Twins.”

“And they’re into princesses?” I guess.

He laughs. “No. Not at all. They’re very into hockey, though. It was their idea to make it princess night so some of their friends, who think hockey is boring, would be more excited about coming to watch.”

“And then we can show them how fun hockey is once they’re there.” Quinn fist-bumps Zeke.

I look at my wife. “These two teams play each other, and only each other, all season long. Doesn’t that make all of your games scrimmages?”

She rolls her eyes. “Well, we have guest players come play during the scrimmages. We had kids play with the guys for World Otter Day. For the pirate night, we’re going to pull fans who have the best costumes out of the stands and have them play a few minutes.”

I should have known that somehow the scrimmages would be even more bonkers. “Got it.”

Astrid leans in and asks Beckett, “Horses?”

“Fake horses, of course,” Beckett says. “Like those horse heads on a stick. What do they call those?”

“Hobby horses,” Zeke offers.

“Right!” Beckett says. “Those.”

“So, we’ll have those in one hand and our jousting poles in the other,” Lawson says.

“Well, they’re not real jousting poles. They’re still hockey sticks,” Beckett says.

“Sounds like a good way for some people to end up on their asses,” Alex says.

“You’re saying you can’t skate with something big between your legs?” Beckett asks him.

Alex narrows his eyes. “I saidsome people.”

“If you’re not good at multitasking, just say so,” Beckett says. “And my condolences to Nora.”

“Fuck off,” Alex says calmly, lifting his glass, clearly unbothered.

Beckett grins. “This will be hilarious.” He focuses on me. “So we should back up. Like we gotta know your skill level. What you’re really capable of. Teddy was supposed to start things off, but we can switch that around if we need to.”