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"That was one hell of a game," Amber said. She turned to her mother. "Did you enjoy it?"
"It was very exciting."
She resisted rolling her eyes at her mom's lack of enthusiasm. Instead, she pulled out her phone to send a congratulatory text message to Will. Since she wouldn't be able to linger to see him, she let him know how well he'd played. Hopefully, she'd see him later.
"I've gotta run," she said to her friends.
"We'll be there cheering you on tonight," Brandon said.
"Thank you."
"I have to go, Mom," she said.
Her mother gave her a polite nod, then smiled at her friends. "It was nice meeting all of you."
They all said their good-byes.
"I'll walk out with you," her mother said.
"Sure."
They headed down the steps, walking with the crowd.
"Did you enjoy the game, Mom?"
"It was good. A lot of action."
"That it was."
When they got to the bottom of the stairs and cleared the crowd, her mom stopped and turned to face her. "So who's this Will guy?"
"He's a friend. Just like all those people we sat with were my friends. And Drew, the other forward on the team, is my friend. His wife is a New York fashion designer."
Her mother didn't respond, just gave her a look like she didn't believe what she'd told her, then started walking again.
This would generally be the part where Amber would have to try and explain her relationship with Will, but she wasn't going to do that. So she kept in step with her mom.
"I assume you're heading to the village to change, and then right over to the ice arena to prep for your performance."
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."
"Without any time to rest."
She stopped and turned to face her mother. "Mom, I'm not five. I don't need naptime. I'm prepared for this program tonight. And actually, going to the hockey game today took my mind off my own performance. So it's likely I'll be a lot less nervous than I would have been if I'd been pacing the apartment where I would have been not napping."
Her mother stared at her. "I see. Well, I suppose at the ripe old age of twenty-four, you know what's best for your career."
"I don't know that I do. But before you and I started arguing, I was pretty relaxed. Now I'm tense."
"So you're saying I'm causing you tension?"
"At the moment? Yes."
"I'll leave, then."
She sighed. "Mom, I don't want to argue with you or hurt your feelings. I'm just trying to get you to understand my point of view."
"I am trying. Only I . . . don't understand why everything we've worked for all these years is being jeopardized over your desire to have fun."
"Fun? So now I'm not allowed to have fun?" This was getting her nowhere except on the express train to stressland. "I've gotta go, Mom. I'll see you after the performance."
She pulled her mother into a hug, even though her mom was stiff and unyielding. But Amber had done her part. She dashed off, refusing to let her mom hold her back, or stress her out.
Or alter the way she was living her life now.
Because she was having a great time, and she didn't intend for that to change.
TWENTY-TWO
AMBER WAS MORE THAN READY FOR TONIGHT'S SHORT program. She had stretched, she felt limber and, despite her altercation with her mother earlier, she was relaxed. She just had to patiently wait for her turn. Since she was second to last, that meant she'd have to be extremely patient.
She waited with her teammates and watched the other skaters perform.
Tia would be up second, which was both good and bad. For a first-time performer like Tia, it was a good thing to skate early. Once Tia skated, she'd have that first performance out of the way and she could relax.
As Gretchen Bader performed, Tia stretched and got her skates on. Amber didn't bother her or try to give her any pep talks. Amber knew Tia was in her own head, likely mentally playing through her performance.
Tia did glance her way and Amber smiled and nodded, hoping she was giving Tia the confidence she needed.
This was the compulsory round. There were specific elements the international skating organization required of the skaters. Not only did they have to skate beautifully, but they had to meet required jump and technique elements. If you didn't score high enough in this round, you didn't have a chance in the long program.
The German skater had skated decently and received a fair score. She wasn't in contention, though. Tia was up next and she took to the ice with a bright smile and lots of applause. Hopefully that would bolster her confidence.
She took her position and began her program, going through her required elements, starting with a triple axel. Most skaters, Amber included, began with the hardest jumps first, so they could get them out of the way while their legs were still fresh.
Amber held her breath when Tia did the jump. She landed it without a bobble. She skated through and moved on to the next jump, a triple jump with connecting steps. She landed it, her form perfect.
Amber exhaled. Hardest part was over. Now she had to go through the rest of the compulsory steps.
Tia looked beautiful and confident. Her program wasn't the hardest, and she definitely lacked experience, but she should score well enough.
When she finished her performance, Amber clapped wildly for her. She saw the look of utter relief on Tia's face as she came off the ice and knew exactly how she felt. She'd gotten through it, and Amber remembered her own first performance at the international games. It had been a huge deal just to make it through the short program.
All the female skaters came over to hug her, including Amber.
"You were perfect," Amber whispered in her ear. "Well done."
Tia hugged her back. "Thank you."
She sat with her coaches in the scoring area to wait, another nerve-wracking few minutes. When her scores came up, they all cheered again. For a first-timer, they were great scores. Tia was currently in first place. She was certain Tia would enjoy those moments.
They watched a barrage of skaters, some very good, some not so good. Olena Brutka of Ukraine skated a very strong, clean program. She was always technically proficient, but Amber thought her program lacked style and beauty. Nevertheless, she scored very high.
Hua Ping of China had just finished skating and Amber watched her scores go up. Hua was also technically superior, but unlike Brutka, she had some beauty to her skating. Her scores were extremely close to Brutka's, but just above them.
Lacey Davidson from Canada was up next, and then it would be Amber's turn, so she went to limber up again. Lacey was young like Tia, so she kept an eye on her skate while she stretched.
She was very good. She and Tia would be the next generation of amazing skaters to dazzle the figure skating world.
Yegor came up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You will do well."
She looked back at him and smiled. "Yes, I will."
She felt calm, centered and confident. She'd worked so damn hard for this the past four years.
She laced up her skates and took several calming breaths.
She was ready.
When they announced her name, she felt that energizing jolt, the one she always felt when it was performance time. She skated to the center of the ice, got into position and waited for her music. When her music started, she felt the adrenaline rush, the thrill and excitement that it was finally time to showcase her new routine.
She started around the ice, gathering momentum, then launched into her first jump, a triple axel and triple flip.
When she stuck the landing and heard the applause, she used that as momentum to push her forward to the next jump.
The music and the crowd became part of her. This was a short program, only two minutes and forty seconds, so it would go by quickly. Before she knew it, she had completed all of her required elements and was winding into her spin and hearing
the end of her music.
She finished with her arms up, her gaze turned toward the top of the arena, a huge smile on her face.
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. She paused for a few seconds, then bowed to the audience.
That had felt so good. She had done her best, and she thought her best had been pretty perfect.
As she skated off the ice, she could only hope her best was good enough for the judges.
Her teammates surrounded her.
"You were amazing," Tia told her as she hugged her.
"Thank you."
"Your jumps were so high. And your landings were spot on. I think your scores will reflect that."
"We'll see."
As she made her way to the results area, her stomach knotted. Yegor met her there.
"You skated well," he said. "Very well."
She nodded and smiled as they waited. She was never nervous on the ice. But here, waiting for scores? The tension was nearly unbearable. If she didn't score well here, she was done.
When the scores came up, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her scores were damn good. And she was currently in first place, with only Sasha Petrova of Russia left to skate. Which meant the worst she could do after the short program would be to finish in second place.
Sasha was already on the ice warming up. And as her biggest competition, she was the one to watch.
Amber gave a short interview for television, saying she was happy with her performance and looked forward to the long program. Otherwise, her coach moved her along. Fortunately, the media didn't have a lot of access to the athletes until after they had completed their skate.
She tuned out everything except to watch Sasha's performance.
Sasha started out in an elegant pose, her arms elongated above her head. She moved like a snake, slowly slithering across the ice. As always, she was elegant and mesmerizing, falling into her jumps in a way that made the crowd gasp. Even in her short program, she enraptured the audience, and every jump was perfectly executed. Amber looked for even the tiniest flaw either in the entry or exit of her jumps, but didn't find a thing.
Damn, she was amazing.
Sasha had started strong and she finished strong. She'd done every compulsory item, plus performed an intricate dance on her skates that no doubt the judges would love.
She'd score very high on that performance.
Amber sighed. Her own skate had been extremely good.
Sasha had been better.
