Page 114 of My Last Dance

I paused as the realization dawned on me.

The vision I had for my life always ended when I stood on that top podium. When I thought of the future, that was as far as I could see. But now, I was starting to carefully construct an after. An after with Richard, whatever that looked like.

Our friends continued chatting, but Kappy’s features creased with concern. “You good?”

“Huh?”

“You froze up, you good?” he repeated.

My heart warmed. “I’m good. Thank you.”

A worried line appeared between his brows. “For what?”

“Noticing me,” I whispered. No matter how hard we tried to hide it, we saw the truth in each other, and I was grateful for that every day.

His face softened, and it looked like he was going to tell me something, but then the doorbell rang, distracting him.

“Hans is here!” Lucy hollered, running to the front door.

Standing in the hallway threshold, Hans brushed off the snow coating his hat and jacket. “Happy New Years, little one,” he said, petting Lucy’s head. His bright blue eyes drifted over the group, then landed on us. “Ah, finally.” A satisfied smile spread on his weathered face as he peeled off his jacket and handed it to Colt. “And now it can finally come out in the open.” His eyes narrowed on us. “It was you two who crashed my zam back at Centre Ice, wasn’t it?”

I went to speak, but Kappy covered my mouth. “We admit nothing,” he said firmly, making me laugh against his hand.

24. NATIONALS

We arrived in Missouri a couple days before the start of Nationals so we could take advantage of the practice sessions offered on the stadium ice.

The Nationals competition was usually a big deal in the figure skating community, but during an Olympic year, it was a spectacle for the entire country.

The competition was hosted in a massive stadium with seats going all the way up to the rafters. Huge LED walls lined the hallway leading to the ice, lighting up with our pictures each time we walked out for a practice session. Our walk-out was “dope” according to Kappy, because it included some of his best hockey clips and then transitioned to him skating with me.

The day before the week-long competition started, skaters were strongly encouraged to attend the media day.

Unfortunately, the morning of media day, I overslept my alarm.

“Kappy.” I patted his scruffy cheek to wake him.

“Huh? What?” He woke up with a start.

“It’s already eight.” My eyes widened with panic. “You have to go. We have to get ready.”

“Go? Huh?” He rubbed his sleepy eyes. “No.” He grabbed my hips and tried to cuddle me again.

“No!” I smacked his chest. “We have to get up! We’re gonna be late!” I scrambled out of bed, then tried to pull the bed sheet to cover myself. Unfortunately, Richard was wrapped up with the sheets and covers, so when I pulled, he unraveled and fell out of bed, hitting the wall on his way to the ground.

My mouth dropped open in shock.

“Ow,” he groaned from the floor. “Why would you do that?” he asked, sounding hurt and betrayed.

I rolled my lips together to keep from laughing. “Sorry, but we have to get ready. I need to shower.”

“I’ll shower with you,” he said, sounding still half-asleep. He slowly got to his feet, then almost toppled over again.

I grabbed up his pants from the floor and threw them at him. “Nope, go to your own room and get ready.”

“But why?” he asked glumly. His hair was cocked up in a bunch of different directions and his eyes were still bleary with sleep as he slowly pulled on his sweatpants. He looked so lost I almost laughed in his face again.

“You’ll just distract me.” I grabbed his big shoulders and guided him to the door. “So, you have to go.”

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