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“I don’t eat candy or chips, but thank you,” Chandler replied, still hoping for some kind of recognition to flash on the woman’s face. When none came, she lifted the bottle and added, “Thanks. We won’t be long. I don’t want to keep you here.”
“It’s okay. You paid for the time.”
“Right,” Chandler said. “Well, thanks.” She turned to go.
“Hey, do you hum?”
“Sorry?” she asked, turning back around.
“When your music isn’t playing, do you hum it?”
“Um… No. I hear it in my head.”
Belle nodded and looked out at the ice.
“I don’t know. It helps, I think.”
“To hum it?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“I don’t think anything’s going to help me skate this, but… thanks.”
“Sure,” Belle said.
Chandler turned to go again and decided to sit down and make a show of drinking her water since Belle had given it to her.
‘So, this is where Belle has ended up,’ she thought to herself.
She hadn’t seen anything online about her after Belle had left the program, and she hadn’t seen her at any of the competitions, either, so she’d always assumed Belle had quit figure skating; at least, at the level they’d both once been on. Now, though, she knew that Belle had moved here with her family, and they’d bought a skating rink called the Ice Park. The parking lot outside was paved only part of the way and had gravel toward the back. The paint on the walls looked mostly new, but there were some spots that could use a fresh coat. There were several rows of stadium bleachers on one side, while on the other side, there were only six rows of bleachers that looked like they’d been brought into the place as opposed to being built in. The place looked like it had once been really run down but that a little TLC had been given to it over the years to attempt to bring it back to life, and this was where Belle, one of the most promising skaters that Chandler had ever seen, had ended up.
“Are we practicing, or are you licking your wounds now?” Catalina asked as she sat down next to her on the bleachers.
“We’re taking a break.” Chandler took a long drink from her water. “I’ll run through it once, and then, we’re going to the hotel. I’m tired, Cat.”
“I know you are. I know it’s been busy, with us flying around trying to find you a new partner. I have some more videos for you to watch, and maybe if you like one of them, we can have him meet us at home instead of us going to him.”
“Why am I competing in this thing again?” she asked. “It doesn’t even matter.”
“Because if you can’t find a partner, you might have a shot as an individual. The team’s not stacked this cycle like it has been in the past. There’s time to get you ready for the major competitions. This one is a low-stress practice round for you. No one’s going to be paying attention to it, but you get on the ice solo, with people around, and we see how you do.”
Chandler nodded and passed her sister the bottle of water.
“She gave this to me.”
“Why?”
“They were closed, but she was nice, so tomorrow, can we pay for two instead of one or something?”
“You really want to make sure they get paid for this water after they didn’t clean the ice for you?”
“Yes,” she replied and stood up. “I’m going to run through it again.”
“Okay.”
“You stay there off my ice, Cat.” She pointed to her sister before she took the ice.
“Fine.” Catalina laughed a little.
