Authors: Jennifer Comeaux
Mark followed and joined me on the steps down the aisle. “Like what?”
Again I didn’t answer him as I concentrated on searching for two empty seats. We didn’t have tickets, but our credential badges let us squat anywhere we could find an open spot. I scooted past a few spectators chomping on pizza and nachos and headed for two seats in the middle of the row. Mark sat beside me and continued his line of questioning.
“What possible justification could they have for doing this?”
I stared blankly at the Zamboni circling the ice. “Maybe the federation pressured them into it. The Tuckers could’ve thrown some money at the fed and set it all in motion.”
I didn’t want to believe that Em and Sergei would voluntarily split their loyalties between us and another team. They weren’t just my coaches; they were family. When Dad had lost his job on the Cape and he and Mom had to relocate to Boston for his new one, Em and Sergei had given me a place to live. I’d been staying with them and their two-year-old twins for almost a year.
“We should text them to see if they’re here.” Mark pulled his phone from the back pocket of his khakis.
I covered his hand with mine. “We can find them tomorrow. I need to put all my focus on sending good vibes to Kyle.”
His forehead creased, but he put the phone away. “I don’t know how you guys can even say you’re dating when you never see each other.”
“We video chat and text and email…”
“That’s not the same as hanging out with someone in person.”
“Well, I can’t help that he lives in California. I don’t exactly have the money or the time to fly out here whenever I want.”
“I’m just saying… you got together at Worlds last year and you’ve only seen each other what, twice since then?”
“Three times.” I corrected. “But you don’t have to physically be with someone all the time to have a connection with them.”
The wrinkle in Mark’s brow deepened, but he didn’t say any more about my relationship with Kyle. I gratefully accepted his silence and turned my attention to the stream of people filing into the seats below us.
The first group of men took the ice, and competitor after competitor performed his four-and-a-half minute program. As the time inched closer to Kyle’s free skate, my nerves began to twitch, and I chewed on my thumbnail. Kyle had never won a World medal, so standing on the podium would be a huge deal for him.
He stepped onto the ice as the last skater of the event, and the building shook with cheers, my screams among them. Mark plugged his ears and I swatted his arm, to which he laughed and yelled with his deep voice, “Let’s go, Kyle!”
I resumed gnawing on my thumbnail as Kyle circled the rink, taking his time in getting to his starting spot. His burgundy shirt clung to his slim torso, and his tight black pants did the same on his even slimmer hips. He was the definition of a California boy with shaggy blond hair, blue eyes, and the perfect tan that I wished I could attain. His looks had definitely attracted me first, but it was his gentle nature that had made me fall for him. I loved the sweet texts he’d send me like
Wishing I could give you a hug, Beautiful
and
I miss your gorgeous green eyes
.
Kyle settled into his opening pose with one arm stretched toward the audience, and the music of Bach filled the arena. His deft strokes took him across the ice in a blaze, and I held my breath as he approached each jump and exhaled deeper every time he landed cleanly.
The minutes raced by, and I edged forward in my seat, anticipating the final few energetic moments of the program. Kyle finished with a dizzying scratch spin, and I jumped up, hands slapping together. The crowd joined me with a thunderous standing ovation, so loud I could barely hear the announcer booming Kyle’s name.
The atmosphere turned tense as we waited for the scores to be announced. The current leader had skated lights-out and was the reigning World champion, so I didn’t expect Kyle to surpass him, but there was always a small chance. I folded my hands and stared at the spot on the video board where the numbers would appear.
A victory wasn’t meant to be as Kyle’s marks came up just short of first. I hoped he’d still feel good about his awesome skate. I had to wait over an hour to see him since he had numerous obligations at the arena, but as soon as we were reunited in the hotel lobby, I threw my arms around him and didn’t let go.
“You were amazing!” I cried.
He hugged me back and then slowly worked himself out of my embrace. “I think that was the best I’ve ever skated.”
Two tipsy fan-girls raced over and asked Kyle for a photo, which I took while they cozied up to him. As they walked away giggling, I grabbed one of Kyle’s two huge bags full of stuffies and other gifts thrown by the fans.
“I’ll help you bring all this to your room,” I said.
“You don’t have to do that.”
Does he not want me to go up to his room with him?
We hadn’t spent much time alone together that week because of our busy schedules, but I’d hoped this would finally be our chance. Maybe he just didn’t want me to carry his stuff.
“I’ve got it.” I smiled and slung the bag over my shoulder.
Kyle hesitated before following me up the escalator to the elevators. His silence on the way upstairs unnerved me even more, but I rationalized that he was probably still decompressing from the frenzy at the arena.
Once we reached his room, I set down the bag and took a peek at the bed. Kyle and I hadn’t gotten that far in our relationship (I hadn’t gotten that far with
anyone
), but I felt like I was ready. I’d thought about this for a while, and I wanted him to be my first.
Surely, he wants it too, right?
I walked over to where he stood in front of the desk, and I slipped my arms around his narrow waist. Softly touching my lips to his, I waited for him to respond and pull me close. Instead he stiffened and unwound my grip.
“Court, don’t…” He raked his hand through his hair.
I took a rocky step backward and shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“I wanted to wait until after we competed to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” I asked shakily.
He stared at the carpet for what seemed like an hour before he finally answered, “I met someone.”
My stomach flipped upside down, and anger quickly chased the hurt.
“Have you been dating her behind my back?” I demanded. “Who is she?”
“She works at my gym. We started talking one day, and then we kept talking longer—”
“Is that all you’ve been doing? Talking? Or did you hook up with her?”
He took a tight swallow as he avoided the furious burn I felt in my gaze. “We’ve been seeing each other.”
I balled my hands into fists at my sides and inhaled and exhaled a deep breath. “So that’s a yes, then.”
“I didn’t want to break things off with you over the phone. I thought the right thing to do would be to wait until after the competition and tell you—”
“The right thing!” I shrieked. “The right thing would’ve been to not sleep with some other girl while still acting like my boyfriend.”
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to hurt you.”
I choked out a bitter laugh. “Well, it’s too late for that. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think you were worth…”
I glanced again at the bed, and a sickening sensation swirled in my gut. I stormed away from Kyle and then spun around, stopping just before the door.
“You’re not worth a second more of my time.”
Chapter Two
“He cheated on you?” Mark paused with his sandwich aimed at his mouth. “That little prick.”
I poked and prodded my chicken Caesar salad but didn’t know if I could stomach actually eating it. My insides had been twisted since the previous night when Kyle had dropped his bomb on me and exploded all my hopes for us to smithereens. I’d thought soaking up some L.A. sunshine at an outdoor café might make me feel better, but there was apparently no quick cure for heartbreak.
“I hope you told him off,” Mark said.
“I don’t even remember what I said. I was just so blindsided.”
I put down my fork and pressed my fingers to my temples. To think I’d been ready to lose my virginity to Kyle. My eyes misted from both the hurt and stupidity I felt, and I pushed my sunglasses higher on my nose. The sidewalk next to our table had heavy traffic of skaters and fans walking from the hotel to Staples Center. This wasn’t the ideal place to start crying.
“Coco!” a little girl’s voice squeaked behind me.
I turned to see Em, Sergei, Em’s Aunt Debbie, and the twins approaching us. Neither Quinn nor her brother Alex could say my name when they’d first started talking, so I’d been Coco to them ever since. I took a deep breath to push down the ache in my chest before I reached over the low railing and ruffled Quinn’s curly blond hair.
“Hey, Cutie.”
She and Alex were the two most adorable toddlers I’d ever seen with their matching golden locks and big blue eyes. But I’d expected no less with the gorgeous parents they had.
“Court, why aren’t you at the men’s small medal ceremony?” Em asked as she shifted Alex on her hip. “Isn’t it going on outside Staples?”
The ache flared again, and I lowered my head. “Oh… um… Kyle and I broke up,” I mumbled.
“Oh no. What happened?” she asked.
“I don’t really wanna talk about it right now.”
“He screwed around on her,” Mark announced.
Em covered Alex’s ears, albeit too late. I gaped at Mark and kicked his shin under the table.
“Ow! I was just trying to save you from telling the story again.”
“Screwed around.” Quinn giggled.
I cringed while Sergei just shook his head.
“I’m so sorry, Court,” Em said. “If you want to talk later, call me. We can go do something, just you and me.”
I gave her a little smile. “Thanks.”
“Scre-e-e-wed!” Quinn continued to laugh as she arched her neck to look up at Sergei. “What screwed, Daddy?”
Sergei crouched to her level. “When we get to the arena, would you rather have ice cream or a chocolate chip cookie?”
Her eyes grew even bigger, and her smile did the same. “Cookie!”
Oh, to be a kid
again and be so easily distracted.
Life was so much simpler then.
“There’s actually something else we need to talk to you guys about,” Mark said. “We ran into the Tuckers last night.”
The weight on my chest grew even heavier. I’d pushed the issue of our new training mates to the back of my mind after the other earth-shattering news I’d received.
Em and Sergei exchanged concerned glances, and Sergei turned to Em’s aunt. “Can you take the kids ahead? We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Sure. We’ll go look for those cookies.” She took Quinn’s hand and did the same with Alex once Em set his little sneaker-clad feet on the sidewalk. She traveled with them to almost every competition to help out with the twins, so she was used to babysitting in a pinch.
“Thanks, Aunt Deb.” Em bent and kissed the tops of the twins’ heads. “Be good.”
She and Sergei came around the railing and borrowed two empty chairs from a nearby table. They both looked nervous about starting the conversation.
“So, Stephanie said she and Josh are moving to the Cape,” Mark said.
Em sighed and pushed a few strands of dark blond hair from her face. “We asked them not to tell anyone before we had a chance to talk to you next week.”
“I don’t think Stephanie really cares about our feelings,” I said.
Sergei’s mouth pressed into a line. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way.”
“How’d they talk you into coaching them? Are they paying double your rates?” Mark asked.
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Em said. “When they asked us, our first instinct was of course to say no. We value our relationship with you so much, and we don’t want you to ever question your trust in us. You guys are so special to me — you were the first team I ever coached.”
I flashed back to our first lesson with Em, when Sergei told us he’d asked his then-student to help him coach us. Working together was one of the things that had brought them closer off the ice and had led to their romantic relationship. I’d wanted them to be a couple from the very beginning, so I always loved that I was a small part of the reason they’d gotten together.
“We weren’t going to say yes to coaching the Tuckers, but then we talked about it, and we think this will be good for you,” Sergei said.
“How’s that?” I asked.
Em leaned forward and folded her hands on the table. “Having one of your biggest competitors training alongside you can only make you better. And honestly, I think you need a little kick in the butt. You need to see what your competition is doing, how hard they’re working. We think it’ll inspire you to work that much harder so you can make a strong push for the Olympic team.”
“You don’t think we’re working hard enough?” Mark asked.
“To get to the Olympics, you have to step it up another gear,” Sergei said. “I know you both have the competitiveness and the talent to get there. You just need to train every day with that fire in your belly, and having the Tuckers there will fuel that fire.”
I understood what they were saying, but I still couldn’t grasp how we could all be one big happy family. The issue of loyalty hadn’t been addressed.
“There are only two spots on the team, and since Rebekah and Evan have won nationals two years in a row, they have one of them almost locked up,” I said. “So we’ll be going against Stephanie and Josh for the one remaining spot. How can you fully support both of us?”
“Because we want you both on the team and we believe it can happen.” Em’s voice took on its “coach pep talk” tone. “Nothing is guaranteed for Rebekah and Evan. If you all put in the work, you can be in those top two spots.”
“You have to believe it, too,” Sergei added. “You can’t go into next season narrowing your odds.”
It was easy for Em and Sergei to have confidence. They’d been on top of the world at the last Olympics with Sergei coaching Em and her partner Chris to the gold medal. But as much as Mark and I had tried to emulate them, we didn’t have their superstar talent. We’d had to set more modest goals.