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Then tomorrow, I offer Penelope the only thing I can to attempt to make up for what I cost her. It won't be the Olympic-level partner she deserves, but it's the best I can do.
A practice partner.
Chapter Thirteen
Penelope
It’s six am, and I love the sound of the silence in the rink with the lights dimmed around the stadium and only lighting on the ice.
I sent my phone down, pairing the phone to the Bluetooth speaker system that our sound tech taught me how to use, and hit play.
The music starts to play through the speakers, and just as I’m about to push off, imagining Toby next to me, starting our program, an arm reaches around me where Toby’s should be, and the other hand takes mine that should be outstretching into Toby’s.
My head whips around to find Slade pushing us through the ice in the exact position my partner used to be in.
What is happening?
Slade’s powerful movement pushes us through the ice, giving me the moment I’ll need for the spin ahead.
I’m in shock as I stare back at him, my body going into autopilot to skate the same routine that Toby and I created so many years ago.
How does he know the routine?
We get to the part of the routine where he spins me twice and then releases me to finish out the spin on my own.
The second my spin ends, I don’t rejoin him like I’m supposed to— skating in tandem with some synchronized footwork. I just stop dead in my tracks and stare back at him with his hand outstretched towards me, waiting for me to take it to continue the routine.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Skating with you. You need a partner.”
“You’re not my partner. I don’t have one because of you.”
“I know. That’s what I’m trying to make up for.”
I stare back at him blankly.
"I retired from competitive skating. I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish here."
"Why did you retire? Why didn't you try skating singles?" he asks, staring back at me in a t-shirt and Hawkeyes warmup pants.
I retired because I gave up trying to find someone to skate with in the same circles that knew about the rumors about Slade. And trying to find someone living states away who didn't know about Slade would have taken too long. The Olympics were only weeks away, and even if I had found someone who already knew the routine, which only Toby and my coach knew, it takes years to skate in perfect harmony with a partner.
Now he wants to have a conversation about why I didn't skate singles.
How about because I was heartbroken over losing Toby as my partner due to injury, having not a single male ice skater willing to compete with me because of him, and then watching my Olympic dreams slip through my fingers with no way to stop it?
I couldn't even look at an ice rink for three months, let alone skate on one.
The only thing that got me back out here was that I got a job with the Hawkeyes right after and I was forced back into proximity of a rink. I owe Phil Carlton so much for offering me this job.
This job saved me from letting my love for ice skating die. And since Phil and Coach Bex let me use the ice, as long as the players don’t need it, it feels like the best consolation prize I could hope for.
Is that what he wants to hear? That I almost gave up ice skating for life because of what he did?
"I lost my chance Slade, and starting over in the singles world at twenty-one years old wasn't exactly all that appealing. Is that a good enough answer for you?" I ask.
The figure skating world is highly competitive, with new talent coming up the ranks every year.
