Page 11 of The Fall

My former partner, on the other hand, was pissed and rightfully so. I completely blindsided her. We had worked so well together and were close, but not as close as she wanted to be.

My thoughts drift back to Max and Savannah, and I wonder if the two of them are closer than simply being partners. I’ve seen the way he touches her, holds her hand, kisses her forehead. It would make sense if they were together.

What doesn’t make sense is why it bothers me so much thinking about the two of them together. That’s something I don’t bother unpacking before I finally fall asleep.

FIVE

SAVANNAH

Logan isn’t waiting by the stretching room when I get to the rink today, like he has been the past few days. Something that feels suspiciously like disappointment settles in my chest, but I quickly push that away because what the hell? I shouldn’t be disappointed that Mr. Annoying isn’t going to be watching me stretch.

Max arrives late as always, and we jump right into our warmup.

“Where’s Coach?” Max asks. I’m on my back, and he’s pushing my leg as close to my face as he can get it. Unfortunately, my hamstrings are always the tightest muscles in my body.

“No idea,” I manage to say.

We switch legs. “Do you have another day of attitude on deck for him?”

I roll my eyes. “I never plan it. It just comes out.”

The other day, when I brought up his retirement, Logan did everything he could to avoid answering. I almost felt bad for him. Something obviously happened that he doesn’t want to talk about. Maybe he got an injury, or someone finally decided to investigate him for something. Although that doesn’t make much sense because we likely would’ve heard of it by now. His body seems in tip-top shape (not that I’m looking… much), so an injury doesn’t make sense either.

But something happened. I just know it. It’s none of my business, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious.

“Maybe you should cut him some slack. I mean, it was years ago. It’s not his fault an investigation was never done.”

I scoff at Max. My best friend is turning on me. I’ve noticed that Max and Logan have been chatting and laughing off to the side recently. It seems Logan is trying to pull him over to the dark side, a.k.a his side. Well, I won’t be so easily convinced.

“It’s his fault he never apologized,” I say back stubbornly. If I weren’t in the middle of a back stretch, I would cross my arms over my chest to make my point.

“Would an apology really fix anything, though, Sav? Maybe it’s time to just let it go.”

An apology would mean that Logan acknowledges what he did to me, that he accepts fault. But he hasn’t even brought up the incident. I’m not going to pretend I’m ok with being walked all over like that. Call me petty all you want.

“You don’t understand, Max.”

“Maybe I don’t. But he seems like a nice guy.”

“Am I not doing everything he’s asked? I’m following his stupid instructions. I got in the damn ice bath. If he can’t handle a little attitude, then maybe he’s not meant to be a coach.”

Max laughs, knowing that he’s not going to get me to change my mind at this point. “Alright, Sav. You’re right. I’m just trying to make our time with him go as smooth as possible.”

I don’t respond as I change my position. I understand why Max wants me to drop my anger toward Logan, but I can’t do it. I’m giving him everything I can at this point.

“Ready to skate?” Max gives me his hand and helps pull me up from the ground.

“Let’s do it.”

We make our way to the ice and find Logan sitting on one of the benches, looking at the other skaters. He has a longing on his face that makes me think he misses being on the ice more than he’s letting on.

Come to think of it, in the week he’s been with us so far, I haven’t seen him in skates once. He’s walked on the ice a few times but in regular shoes. For a man who basically lived in skates for most of his life, it’s strange that he hasn’t worn any since he’s been here. I would’ve expected him to skate at least once. Even Tati tries to get out on the ice a few times a week.

“Morning, Coach,” Max calls out.

Logan stands and looks around as if he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Morning, guys. Ready to skate?”

“Yep,” Max answers a second before he steps on the ice and glides away.