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“Things for my career.”
“Is that why you know the names and ages of all the employees’ kids?”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t really have any friends outside of skating, do you?”
“Going for the jugular on day one, Belle? Really?”
“I’m curious. I read a few articles about pairs skating on the flight here, and they all said it was like any other team sport, but that it’s just the two of you out there, so you need to know that you can trust the other person.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I don’t know you.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I thought I did. I thought we were friends. But then, we weren’t. I never would have expected you to be like the rest of them, and I got that wrong. Now, I’m here, and I guess I want to make sure I know who I’m dealing with. If I’m going to put my body through what it’s about to go through and give up months to this thing for you, I want to make sure you’re the right person to do that for.”
“I’m not the same person I was when I was fourteen years old, but no, I don’t have friends outside of skating. I’m not sure I have many friends inside skating. Walker is one, I suppose, but that’s about it.”
“Walker? You’re friends?”
“Yeah. He’s been texting me, making sure I’m looking for a new partner. I check in on him to see how he’s doing. And not just because I need him back, but because I genuinely care about him.”
“Did you two date?”
Chandler laughed and said, “What?”
“Just curious.”
“No, Walker is gay. He had a boyfriend of two years up until recently. Another skater. They broke up. He cried on my shoulder.”
“I didn’t know,” Belle replied.
“Walker is a friend. I’m not the same asshole I was when I was barely a teenager. My parents give me everything I need, except for their physical presence, and I have a sister who’s more of a coach than a sister these days. I spend more time with the staff here than with anyone else, so, yes, I know their kids, and I get them birthday and holiday presents. Most of them celebrate Christmas, but there’s a Jewish groundskeeper with three kids, so they all get Hannukah gifts instead. I know I pay them, so I can’t exactly call them friends, but they’re the closest things I have these days, okay?”
“Sounds lonely, Chandler.” She picked up Chandler’s coffee cup again and took another drink.
“It’s all for the greater good, right? Me on the Olympic Team, like my silver medalist mother, who was robbed for the gold, as she’d love to tell you one day if she ever came home, and my older sister, who wanted my career and might have been good enough to have it, but I was better at a much younger age, so Mom put all her eggs in my basket. Then, Cat–” Chandler stopped.
“What?”
“She got hurt.”
“When?”
“Look, she had some rough years in her teens. Mom started paying a lot of attention to me and not much to her. We didn’t have loving parents how you did; people who genuinely cared about you as a person and not for how you made them look. She made some bad choices and got in a car with a drunk guy, who ran them into a tree. He was fine. She was, too, for the most part, but she hurt her knee, and that was pretty much it for her career. So, all eyes were on me then, and Cat has been making penance to my mother for her terrible sin ever since. So, that’s the story. Anything else I need to tell you in order to gain your trust?”
“No,” Belle said. “Not now, anyway.”
“Good. Now, are you ready to go for our run? I usually do two miles to get moving before the gym.”
“You run two miles before you hit the gym?” she asked, causing Chandler to laugh and shake her head. “Okay. Well, I don’t run much these days unless it’s from the back office to the ice, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”
“Regretting not getting your own cup of coffee now?”
“You mean a cup of coffee.” She pointed to the cup on the table. “Because that’s not coffee.”
