“I didn’t know your dad was an engineer.” I realize that though Mack knows my family inside and out, I barely know hers. “Maybe you could go back to school when Fiona is a little older? You could still be an engineer.”
“Who said I want to be an engineer?” Mack’s voice turns frosty again. “I just said I was freakishly good at physics.”
“And English.” Jonah digs a tiny envelope out of his cooler. “Mom said to give this to you for editing my English paper. I got a ninety-five. She almost cried.”
“Ninety-five? How’d you manage that? It was perfect.”
“Exactly. Too perfect. So I misspelled ‘lightning’ and threw in a couple of typos. I wanted Mr. Balducci to believe I actually wrote it.”
“You did write it.”
“Kinda, sorta, not really.” Jonah pulls at the collar of his skinsuit. “It was my idea, but you improved it. A lot. Whatever. Who cares?”
Mack throws up her hands in disgust.
“Here.” Jonah holds the envelope toward Mack, but she pushes it away. Jonah pushes it back. “Take it. Seriously, my mom was thrilled with the ninety-five.”
“I can’t.”
“It’s gas money, then. For driving Olivia and me to bouts.” Jonah opens up Mack’s palm and presses the envelope into it. “If Mom asks, though, it was for the editing.”
Mack slides the decorative envelope into the back pocket of her jeans.
“So, now will you show me the lift?” Jonah is not going to let this go. “My feet are freezing.”
“No.” Egg crosses his arms. “Because I don’t trust you. You drop her on the ice, and she could get seriously hurt like Midori did.”
“That’s what happened to your mom?” Jonah turns to me. “I thought she’d been in a car accident or something.”
My stomach clenches. I was three then and out on the Olympians on Ice tour with my parents. I’m not sure if I remember the accident or just remember Dad telling me about it later, but I was definitely there the night my mom’s fall stopped the entire show. I remember being backstage with my nanny, twirling around in my fabulous faux cheetah fur hat and boots.
“No. My dad dropped her.” My throat tightens. “It was a few years after the Olympics, and my parents were out on tour. They’d had a fight about something right before the show. It threw them off-balance, and Mom hit the ice. Her back has never been the same since.”
I don’t remember seeing Mom hit the ice. Whether I’ve blocked it out of my memory or was too distracted by the sparkles on my skirt that night, I don’t know. I do remember the collective gasp of the crowd, though, and the music coming to an abrupt halt. I remember the lights coming up and my nanny saying, “Oh my God,” over and over as she shuffled me away somewhere.
“One moment of lost trust is all it takes.” Egg’s arm around my shoulders brings me back from the dark place I haven’t been to in a long time. “One moment and everything can go horribly wrong. Coach Michael Kennedy’s Rule Number One—always look out for your partner. It took me two years as Olivia’s partner before her dad would even teach me the easiest of lifts.” Egg looks down his nose at Jonah. “So it ain’t gonna happen with you, dude. Sorry.”
I duck out from under Egg’s arm and lace my fingers through Jonah’s.
“I can do lifts with Jonah if I want to. I trust him. He won’t hurt me.” I look up at Jonah and smile. “Plus, I’m a free agent now, since you ditched me for the Trout Triplets Freak Show at Tech.”
“And how’s that going for you?”
“Great.”
“Are you sure about that? The tea is that you’ve quit skating for good.”
I stumble over my words. “I’m still looking for a partner.”
Egg gives Jonah a hard stare. “So, are you going all Cutting Edge now and auditioning for Olivia’s new partner?”
Jonah scoffs. “What? No. I just like skating with Olivia.”
“Me too. Therefore,” Egg says, sticking out his hand for me to shake, “I’m ready to restart our partnership.”
I grab Egg’s hand with my other hand and shake it. “Me too.”
“Are you two dating or skating?” Mack waves the scraper at us. “Shut up and get on the ice.”
“I still have twenty minutes of ice time left,” Jonah says.
“Yes, you do, mister.” Mack yanks Jonah away from me. “I promised your dad I wouldn’t let you screw around this afternoon while he was at his job interview. He said he’d be back as close to five as he could.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.” Jonah pulls away from Mack’s grasp.
“Honey, I saw what you and Olivia did to my supply closet the other day. You most certainly do.”
“You have twenty minutes, and then the ice is mine,” Egg calls after Jonah, who ignores him. “Go warm up, Livy. I need you in fifteen.”
I watch Jonah from the mirrors in the barre area. He laces his skates back up and steps out onto the ice. As he nears the barre area, he breaks off his normal path.
“And plié … 2 … 3 … 4.” I take Egg through the first section of our barre routine.
Jonah stops at the boards and reaches his hand over the side. “Come warm up with me, Livy.”
My heart melts. Egg clears his throat.
“We have barre warm-up to do, Livy.”
“You have barre warm-up to do. I’m going to warm up on the ice.”
“Suit yourself.” Egg shrugs, but I know he’s annoyed with me.
I get my skates on in record time and intersect Jonah on the ice. “Don’t call me Livy. I am not twelve.”
Jonah looks me up and down. I forget that he’s used to seeing me in street clothes, not skating attire. “No, you most certainly are not.”
I lace my fingers through Jonah’s and push off the ice. On the straightaway, I flip around in front of him and take both of Jonah’s gloved hands in mine. The in-sync slicing of our blades on the ice sounds like a metronome.
“I can’t wait to see you all dressed up on Saturday.” I stare into Jonah’s deep brown eyes. “I’ve never seen you in anything but a skinsuit or jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.”
“Oh! That reminds me. According to my mother, I am supposed to ask what color your dress is so that I can purchase the appropriate flower to match.”
“Fuchsia. Mack found the perfect dress for me.”
“Fuchsia. Do fuchsia flowers exist?” Jonah says, and I shrug. “I’ll ask Mom.”
“Hey, wanna show Egg our tricks?”
“Will it make him want to kick my ass even more?”
“Why is everything a competition with guys?”
“So, you’re saying that if Stuart was laughing and goofing off around the rink with whoever this Britney person is Stuart and Mack were gossiping about before you came out of the locker room, that wouldn’t bother you at all?”
Hell, yes! “No. Not at all.”
“Tick-tock, tick-tock,” Egg says as we pass the barre area. Jonah scratches his temple with his middle finger in response.