He stands with me and pulls me against his chest. “Good luck this weekend.”
“You too.” I glance at his friends. They’re watching with big grins on their faces. Laughing, I press my lips to his. “I’ll text you later. Bye guys! Take care of him.”
19
Rhett
“Did you find it?” Adam asks, taking a seat next to me in the living room.
“No, nothing.” I’ve been searching for Sienna’s competition all morning. Someone, somewhere has to be streaming it.
“What time does she skate?”
“Two o’clock.”
“Here’s something.” Mav sits up on the couch. “NAU is live.”
I move to sit beside him and look at his screen. “They’re showing their own girls. That makes sense.”
“Maybe they’ll keep it going all day,” Adam says.
I hum in my throat. I doubt they’re going to keep sharing video of the competition all day long.
“Sucks you couldn’t go,” Mav says. “Are you freaking out?”
“Freaking out? Why would I freak out?”
“Yeah, you know, her heart condition.”
“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. She saw the doctor yesterday before she left. Standard thing. No, I just really want to watch. She’s been so great about Carrie and she came to our game.” And I really freaking like her.
Mav drops his phone between his legs. “What do you mean, she’s fine?”
“Just what I said. The doctor cleared her to skate.”
“Rhett, buddy, he might have cleared her, but she’s not fine. Have you seen the video of her fall last year?”
“No. What fall?”
Mav blows out a breath and raises his dark eyebrows. He positions his phone so I can see it again, and this time he pulls up a video of Sienna skating at some competition last season. She’s in a red outfit that sparkles as she moves along the ice.
She has such a smooth, graceful way about her. Even if I weren’t super into her, she’d be hard not to watch.
“Here it is. Here it is,” Mav says, reminding me that we’re watching this for a purpose.
Adam comes over and crowds in to see.
I’m expecting her to jump and not clear the landing, but she’s just gliding across the ice when her body crumbles. She goes down hard on the ice and the audience lets out a collective “Oooo”.
I stop breathing and my pulse speeds up while I watch the medical staff rush out, and then the video cuts off.
“Holy shit.” Adam stands.
“I don’t understand.” My ears ring. “Sienna said she’s fine. This was last year?”
“Yeah, early in the season, I think. She was in the hospital for a few days.”
“How do you know all this?” My tone is accusatory. What I really mean is, Why don’t I?
“She was gone from yoga for about a month. We had this awful teacher instead who—”
“Focus.” I raise my voice. “What else do you know about her heart condition?”
“Woah, dude. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you raise your voice before.” He makes a face at Adam that shows his shock. “That’s pretty much all I know.”
“How could you not tell me? How could she not tell me?” I stand and pace the living room.
It’s quiet. Too quiet. I look to Adam. He’s mostly reasonable.
“That may not be the type of thing that’s so easy to bring up. Have you talked about her heart condition at all?” he asks.
I think back on all our conversations. “Yeah. Kind of. Fuck. I guess not. She told me she takes medication and that she has to be careful and listen to her body. She said she has episodes, but this…” I wave my hand toward Maverick’s phone. “She didn’t tell me that.”
I sit back down. My mind is spinning. “Now what? She’s about to skate. Can that happen again? She has the monitor now, right?”
I feel sick. The image of her slamming into the ice replays over and over. Holy shit.
“I’m going to call her.” I do just that as I walk to my room, slamming the door behind me.
“Pick up. Pick up. Pick up,” I mutter quietly.
She does on the third ring. The background noise of the competition is so loud, I can just barely make out her voice. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. It’s Rhett.”
“I know, silly.”
“Right.” Her happy, bubbly tone is such a contradiction to the picture of her lifeless face in the video that’s now frozen in my head. “You’re okay then?”
“What?”
“You saw the doctor and he cleared you to skate?”
She doesn’t respond right away, but the background noise dims. “Sorry. I moved somewhere quieter so I can hear you. I only have a minute. Olivia is up next. What’s up?”
“I was just calling to make sure you were okay.”
“Yeah, I’m actually not that nervous. It usually doesn’t hit me until right before I step on the ice. Then BAM!”
I flinch and squeeze my eyes shut. There it is again. The image of her slamming into the ice. Fuck.
“How’s the heart? Doctor said it’d be fine, yeah?”
“Yeah, he cleared me. I’m good.”
“You’re sure?”
She laughs. “As sure as I can be, I guess.”
That is not inspiring.
“Oh, they just called Olivia. I have to go. I’ll call you later,” her cheery voice chirps in my ear. I should feel better. She’s fine. The doctor cleared her. He wouldn’t do that if something could happen, right?
“Okay. Stay safe.” Yeah, like that isn’t an awkward send-off.
I hang up and stare at the wall. “Stay safe?”
Real smooth.
The bus leaves Sunday afternoon. I talked to Sienna long enough last night to hear about her day, but she was tired and I still hadn’t figured out what to say about the incident which shall never be watched again. Even still, it’s replaying in my mind every time I think I’m past it.
Uneasy and restless, I oversleep, and then in a rush to get out the door, forget my Nintendo Switch for the ride. I can’t even distract myself with video games while I worry about Sienna skating. She’s taking the ice any time now.
I’m agitated and don’t feel like making small talk. Silent and broody is the general mood on the bus, though, so I fit right in. Regionals is four teams, single elimination. Today we play Icarus State and then, hockey gods willing, the winner of Troy and Stonewell.
Heath is in the seat next to me. “Are you going to bounce your leg like that the whole ride?”
I still. “Sorry, man.”
“It’s cool. Everything all right?”
I stare down at the phone in my hand. “Waiting to hear how Sienna’s final skate went today.”
“I have cards. Wanna play?”
“Definitely.” I’m still kicking myself for not asking more questions about her heart condition. She’s waved it off like it was no big deal, but I should have known. A doctor has to clear her for every competition—that should have been a major red flag. Not to mention all the small ones along the way—checking her heart rate, Elias calling to check in on her every day.