by Olivia West
“Sorry, I’m just tired. I’ll be over soon, please say you have some of the picnic left over from last night? I feel like I need to comfort-eat right now.”
“I’ve got the remains of our feast, yes! I was kind of hoping to save them for after rehearsal though?”
“No, no, I’m eating them as soon as I get through the door and that’s decided. If you want some I suggest you save a portion now, and then stand away from me. I’m so hungry from stress I feel like I would eat you if it meant forgetting about my woes.”
Andrew guffawed and in that confident tone replied, “You’re so funny, Han. See ya soon.”
“Yeah, see you soon.”
Sighing, she put down the phone. Still being no closer to getting another coach, on the verge of losing her job, and having to deal with a somewhat clingy friend-who-is-a-boy or whatever the hell he was, Hannah was certainly not in the mood to do anything other than climb into bed and hibernate there until summer.
When she got to the rink, Andrew was there waiting for her, a big grin on his face. He looked like he had just found out he’d won the lottery.
“You ready to start?”
Hannah sat down on the bench to put on her skates, tying the laces as slowly as possible. “I need to talk to you first.”
The smile vanished from Andrew’s face and he jumped off the ice, taking his place next to her on the stiff wooden bench.
“Okay…”
Hannah sighed. “I think we need to talk.”
“That is pretty much the most overused sentence,” he said, trying to keep the mood light, but a rising feeling of dread pooling in his stomach.
Trying not to make eye contact, she surreptitiously shifted away from him on the bench and fumbled with her laces some more.
“About last night, I–”
“I knew you didn’t like it. You could have just told me!” Andrew said, trying not to raise his voice.
“No! Please don’t get that idea. I really liked it, honestly. It was unexpected in a really nice way.”
The smile returned to Andrew’s face, a bit smaller this time.
“It’s just that you’re kind of making me put you first… which means I don’t get that much sleep when I get home… and then I’m late for work the next day…”
“So you want to stop skating with me? Is that it?” Andrew’s brow furrowed.
“No! Gosh, let me speak, will you? I just mean that I can’t be having these crazy late-night restaurant adventures with you as often. Skating is my priority, but my job is also kind of high up on the list right now. I can’t lose it. I might not have any other options but to work there for the rest of my life!”
Andrew scooted closer to Hannah on the bench and his tone of voice put her at ease. “I’m so sorry, Hannah. I had no idea how much it was all getting to you… how much I was getting to you. I promise I’ll think before I plan any more restaurant trips.”
“Thank you.”
“And if I’m overwhelming you, please tell me. I never want you to feel uncomfortable to say no with me.”
A gush of admiration came over Hannah and she rested her head on Andrew’s shoulder, not without planting a kiss on his cheek first.
“Can we skate now?” she whispered into his jacket.
He let out a small laugh and placed his head on top of hers. “Of course.” Then he slipped out of the position and waddled onto the ice with his skates. “The last one to complete ten laps around the rink is a loser!”
Feeling so much better about the situation after that talk, Hannah couldn’t help smiling and getting up to join him. He’s not so bad, she decided. Not so bad at all.
***
A couple more weeks passed, and everything was going well. Andrew had not kept her late after practice, he was improving massively, and she had not had any more warnings from the law firm.
Until one day, when Hannah had finished work, a familiar figure was outside to greet her at the door.
“Andrew, how did you know where the law firm was?”
“I looked it up!”
“But I’m on my way over to the rink now, like I do every day straight after work. Why are you here?”
Andrew cleared his throat and held out his hand, which Hannah resisted to take until she knew what was going on. “I cordially invite you to join me for some dinner, Miss Avery.”
Though she found the posh accent he used to ask her out hilarious, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of feeling proud of his idea. “I thought I’d told you no more dinner dates!”
“Well, I thought since it had been a couple of weeks since we last went out, that maybe it had been enough time and you wouldn’t be as angry at me for taking you somewhere?”
“You’ve already booked the reservations, haven’t you?”
Andrew pursed his lips like a guilty child. “Maybe?”
Hannah freaked out. “Oh my God!”
“Don’t stress! I’m going to treat you tonight, as an extra special thank-you for working so hard to teach me more advanced stuff on the ice.”
“And what about practice today?”
“We’ll blow it off!” He cupped her red cheeks (partly from the cold, partly from being angry with Andrew) with both of his hands. “You need a break. Plus, didn’t you say I’d just about mastered the death spiral!”
That is true, Hannah thought. “Okay, I suppose one night can’t hurt. Where were you thinking of going?”
“You’ll see.” And with that, he took her hand and started running and pulling her along with him.
Chapter 11
Andrew led her up to the door of a mysterious building. Through the windows she could see chandeliers bouncing light onto each and every person’s face, and flickering candles on tables along with the flames from a roaring fire in a fireplace. The restaurant was decorated like a cross between a palace in the countryside and a wooden chalet on the snow-covered mountains of France where couples usually go for skiing vacations.
And as the security man took Andrew’s name at the door, they were greeted inside the cozy building with a warm smile from all of the waiters, which gave Hannah goose bumps on her arms in the most comforting way. It relaxed her to know that they were welcome here.
“I know the head chef here,” Andrew said. “He’ll let us order anything and everything for free. No charge, we just sit and enjoy the meal and the atmosphere.”
“Whoa, really?”
“Of course! This is your chance to be looked after by me for a change. I feel like you’re always the one helping me out – picking me up from falls when I get so tired I can’t get back up, being patient with the many mistakes I have made, and always being there to talk to me if I feel overwhelmed. I owe this to you.”
They were taken to their table by a friendly face in a bow tie and they had pride of place at the biggest window in the restaurant, slightly further away from the hustle and bustle of the other tables.
“Would you like a menu, sir? And one for your lovely young lady too?”
“Of course, Michael, I always love to hear what new dishes Sal is preparing.”
“I will be over in one moment with your menus and a list of today’s specials.”
“Thank you, Michael. I appreciate it.”
“Oh, and don’t forget, Andrew, tonight the restaurant is open until the early hours of the morning, which means that a night of piano music and taking to the dance floor is required!”
“Perfect.”
“NO! NOT PERFECT NOT PERFECT NOT PERFECT!”
Hannah woke up hyperventilating, because she knew that wasn’t a dream. That was simply a recall of what had happened last night. Or did she mean this morning?
Unfortunately for Hannah, it wasn’t even still the morning. A record-breaking three and a half hours late, she could either not show up for work at all and chicken out of facing her consequences, or take her punishment the brave way.
As Hannah rushed to get ready, she couldn’t help but let
her thoughts drift back to last night.
“Come on, dance with me!”
The grand piano in the corner of the room was tinkling a beautiful melodic tune. She didn’t recognize the name of the songs that were playing, but they were all songs that you could easily skate to. Hannah and Andrew had already eaten three courses of food and retired to a private lounge in another room for an hour to let their food digest. That room alone was beautiful, with thick gingham-patterned armchairs and another fireplace. There wasn’t anyone else in there, and so they could put their feet up and enjoy the silence.
Hannah and Andrew could have talked about the next skating jump they were going to try out the next day, but instead decided to breathe in the quiet and lean back on the chairs, moving only to hold each other’s hands. Hannah found that she didn’t have to talk all the time when she was with Andrew. And he didn’t have any dire need to talk about skating all the time, like Francis did. If it was Francis who had taken her out to dinner, he would have thrown the chairs out of the window if it meant clearing a space for them to practice routines for an extra hour that day. He always used to say that time was of the essence, and so you should never waste time by doing nothing.
What person denies another person some relaxation time? That was part of the reason why Hannah had taken such a liking to Andrew. He cared about spending time with her – not about spending time with her skating abilities.
Then they were escorted back into the main restaurant area where they were given a sorbet to cleanse their palate, and the piano was joined by a double bass, a trumpet, and a trombone. The music’s genre changed to jazz and other restaurant goers were taking to the dance floor, and she felt the dancing buzz.
Once Hannah and Andrew were on that dance floor, they took center stage, and applied all of their paired twists and turns that they would normally do on the ice to the wooden surface. The other people at the restaurant could not keep their eyes off them, and it felt amazing. Performing for an audience gave her such a massive sense of achievement.
Above all of the music, and while still moving in time to the rhythm, she leaned close to Andrew’s ear and tried to shout over the noise. “I’ve been thinking. I think you’re ready to dance in front of people professionally. Why don’t we sign up to the U.S. Championships?”
Andrew looked at her for a moment before drawing her in for a long and passionate kiss, lips just grazing each other and noses bumping cutely. When he retreated, he said one thing only.
“Let’s do it.”
Hannah couldn’t get dressed quickly enough. There was no time for breakfast, brunch, lunch… she knew she wouldn’t be long in the law firm today anyway. Just enough time for her to pack her things and leave.
The inevitable happened when she finally arrived. All of her co-workers stared at her, fear in their eyes, especially for her. The boss had gotten their assistant to leave a Post-it note on her desk, saying, “My office, as soon as you bother to show up.”
And with that she was officially released from her job. The law firm job that Anya had been so kind to get her into, and now she had ruined the chance of having a stable career if figure skating didn’t work out.
Anya wasn’t pleased either. As Hannah was putting her things that cluttered her desk into a cardboard box, Anya came around the corner.
“How the hell did you manage to get fired?” she said, trying to keep her voice low but it wasn’t really working. “Do you know how tough it was for me to get you this job in the first place? And this is how you repay me? By staying out late with that idiotic boyfriend of yours and not bothering to come to work because you’re so busy being in love with him?”
Hannah was shocked that these words were even coming out of Anya’s mouth. All of the employees sat silently around them, eavesdropping into the drama that was unfolding before their eyes.
“He’s not my boyfriend! And for your information, I did care about this job! But do you know what I care about more? Figure skating. This job was only meant to be temporary anyway!” Hannah was hurt, and her words reflected it.
“Temporary! I only said that because I wanted you to give it a try, and I prayed that you’d like it enough to stay because you can’t keep kidding yourself with this crazy dream that you’re going to be a world-famous skater!” Anya exclaimed, before immediately covering her mouth with her hands and retreating backwards, regretting her words.
Hannah stood with her fists balled up and angry tears threatening to break loose. “What?”
“Hannah, I’m sorry. Things just got a bit out of hand. I didn’t mean it!”
“Of course you meant it! Some friend you are,” Hannah snapped, picking up her box of possessions and striding over to the door. “I’m off to the ice rink now to do what I’m meant to do – skating. Don’t bother calling tonight, because I’ll be training late. That’s what professionals do.”
And with that she walked out of the door, leaving mouths wide open and her best friend behind her.
***
It had been a few days since she got fired, and getting up in the morning was becoming an increasingly difficult task. She had lost her job, her best friend, and her dignity. Anya hadn’t called her, and she was mad at Andrew, who got the brunt of her anger when she shouted at him during practice.
“Andrew! Straighten your back and get that left leg at a ninety-degree angle like the real skaters do it!”
“I am a real skater! I’ve got skates on, haven’t I?”
“Shut up, and stop disrespecting me like that! Straighten that leg and then you’ll be a real skater.”
There was some kind of internal weight holding her down, where the heart was meant to be. It stopped the muscles on her face from smiling and stopped her brain from filtering mean words. Her life was even worse than while she was in the hospital.
Just as she was about to clamp her eyes shut again and go to sleep, her phone rang.
“Who’s that?” she said to nobody. No one wanted to speak to her, so who was calling her? She picked up her phone anyway and prepared for some kind of argument. “Hello? Who’s calling?”
A familiar voice greeted her at the other end of the phone. “Hannah? It’s Erica.”
Erica Summers. “Hi, Erica.”
“I heard your leg was feeling better!”
Something was weird about this. “Yes, it’s fine, thanks. In fact, I’ve improved my skating a lot.”
Erica gave a small cough. “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’d heard that your skating has vastly improved despite your accident. I wonder if you want to come back and skate for me again.”
So that was why she was calling.
There were two sides to this situation. On the one hand, Hannah could be getting the proper training with the best woman in the business. On the other hand, she would be signing a deal with the devil – well – the woman who abandoned her because she was no longer useful to her.
But a second chance was being handed to her on a plate. Her pride could not play a part in this decision.
“I’ll come back… But I’d like to bring my own partner, Andrew.” That was Hannah’s one condition. She wasn’t going to sell out completely.
“Who is Andrew?”
“This guy that I’ve been training with. He is a great skater and a perfect partner for me.”
“Oh! How long has he been professional for?”
That was the only problem. “He’s not a pro, actually. He’s a guy that I met at the rink, but we want to enter the U.S. Championships together.”
“An amateur! I can’t deal with amateurs, Hannah, and you know it. We’ll find you another partner when you get back to your home turf.”
Hannah was not backing down. “I’m not coming back unless Andrew comes back with me.”
There were a few seconds of silence before Erica gave in. “Okay. He gets one chance to show me what he can do on the ice. If I decide I can’t train him, he goes. Got it?”
“Got it.
”
“I’ll see you this afternoon, honey. Welcome back on the team!”
“See you later!” And they mutually hung up the phone.
Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Hannah felt some of the heavy weight lifted immediately. Her phone pinged with the notification of a text, just minutes after she had spoken to Erica.
“Congratulations on going pro again. Love you loads.–A”
Anya! So it was she who called Erica and persuaded her to put Hannah back on the professional team. Now she knew where Erica had heard that she had improved so much. Hannah had thought it was strange that Erica called her out of the blue.