Page 16 of The Fall
“Yeah, kinda,” she admits.
“Well, it is my job to help you, Savannah.”
“Yeah, I know.” She grabs her water bottle and takes a long sip. My eyes fall to her throat and then her chest and down her stomach. It’s inappropriate for me to look at her like this. I’m her coach. But there’s no denying how beautiful she is. Even after hours of hard work when she’s covered in sweat, she’s easily one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid eyes on.
I look away quickly, because it doesn’t matter how beautiful she is; I can’t be looking at her like that.
“Can I ask you a question?” Her voice startles me out of my head, and my eyes snap to hers.
“Yeah. Anything,” I say quickly. Jesus, don’t sound so desperate, man.
“Do you think we have a chance?” she asks.
“At what?”
“Going to the Olympics. And I want your honest answer. Not some bullshit motivational coach answer.”
I chuckle. Lucky for her, I don’t have many motivational quotes under my belt. The best I have is “get out there and fucking do it.” Which, for some reason, I feel might actually work for her.
“No bullshit? Yeah, I think you have a chance. You guys are good. There are obviously some high contenders going up against you so that’s why we need to make sure you stand out. We have to take a chance on the difficult moves, like this lift. We’ve got to show Team USA that you’re the best. So, yeah, I believe you guys can do it.”
Her shoulders relax like that was exactly what she needed to hear. Not gonna lie, that makes me feel pretty damn good.
She nods. “Ok.”
Savannah hasn’t been quite as hostile since we had lunch the other day, but I still wouldn’t say she’s friendly toward me. Sometimes I feel like I’m grasping for crumbs with her, watching to see if her lips move up in any semblance of a smile or that her shoulders aren’t squared off like she’s ready to attack me when we talk.
Baby steps, but we’re getting there. Her allowing me to help with this lift today was huge.
“I’m going to go find Max and get his ass to dance class.”
“Alright. I’ll see you both back on the ice in a few hours.”
Their schedule is intense, especially with an upcoming competition. This is one thing I loved about skating. It’s all day, every day. You push your body to its limit. It’s hard to not be doing that anymore. I’ve been using the rink’s gym to work out, but I still haven’t stepped out onto the ice.
Savannah leaves the room, and I gather my things before making my way to the ice. Technically, I’ve got some downtime right now and could be doing admin stuff, but that’s the worst part of this job.
I’m stopped in my tracks, though, when I see my mom sitting on one of the benches outside the rink.
“Mom? What are you doing here? Is everything ok?” I ask, rushing up to her. She looks fine. Surely she would’ve called me if something was wrong. I didn’t have any missed calls the last time I checked.
“I’m fine. I was bored and thought it might be fun to have a skate.” I know she goes a little stir crazy sitting in the house, but her immune system is not great at the moment, so it’s safer if she stays home.
“Fun to have a skate?” I repeat slowly.
“Yeah.” She holds up both her skates and… my skates.
“Is this a ploy to get me back on the ice?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted to skate with my son. Logan, I don’t know why you won’t let yourself put these on again, but just because you retired, doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the sport you fell in love with.”
I don’t say anything, so she continues. “And if that’s not enough to convince you, how about that your mom really wants to see you skate again. And I want to skate again. Will you give me this one thing?”
“If I do it today, will you stop pushing me on this?” I ask.
“I promise. Just today.”
“Fine.” I snatch my skates from her hand. She must have been rummaging around in my boxes to find these because I know I hadn’t unpacked them yet. But we’ll have that conversation later.
