Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“W hy is it so damn cold?” Bella complained as we closed the short distance between the car and the restaurant entrance. “It’s almost cherry blossom season, for God’s sake.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The temperature had dropped since our spa outing, but it wasn’t even cold enough to snow. Moisture hung in the air, caught somewhere between rain and mist. It made me think of early spring mornings on Lake Michigan—sitting cross-legged on the shore with Heath, watching the whitecaps through a scrim of fog.

He’d gone back to the hotel to sulk, I assumed. Garrett had opted for a room service dinner, so Bella and I were on our own again.

The restaurant was cozy and welcoming, with multicolored paper lanterns strung above low wooden tables. A Japanese skater had recommended it, and most of the patrons looked to be locals—though the place was still accustomed enough to tourists that the waiter laid a fork and spoon beside my place setting without asking. For Bella, he brought ebony chopsticks with delicate gold designs inlaid on the handles.

She kept her coat on and huddled close to me for warmth as we perused the menu. I could feel every knot in the floorboards through the thin cushion, and my hips ached so much I couldn’t believe I’d had a massage that morning. How much could change in a single day.

Heath and I had never fought like that before. I had no idea what a breakup felt like; I’d never experienced one.

Bella ordered for both of us in overly confident Japanese. Thanks to their globetrotting childhood, she and Garrett spoke fragments of about a dozen languages.

I had no idea what we were eating until the plates started to arrive, heaped with noodles, pickled root vegetables soaked in savory miso broth, and delicately folded dumplings with fresh wasabi root grated over the top. I should have been starving after the competition, but I felt too queasy to do more than push the food around my plate.

Between bites, Bella dissected the results of the free dance, speculating about biased judges and backroom dealings that kept her and Garrett in third place.

“I mean, I know we screwed up our twizzles. But Nikita did a major balance check during the last choreographic sequence—like, are the judges blind?”

By the time the dessert course arrived—a chestnut cream cake frosted to look like a snow-topped mountain—I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You’re only seventeen,” I pointed out.

“So?” Bella took a big bite of cake.

“You’re seventeen, and the third best in the world. You know that’s good, right?”

“We could have won. We should have at least gotten silver.”

“But Heath and I would have been so lucky to get the bronze, right?” I stabbed my fork through the frosting, triggering an avalanche of candied chestnuts.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Bella laid her hand over mine before I could do any more damage to our dessert. “What happened between you two tonight anyway? That couldn’t have all been about the stupid billboard.”

“He thinks there’s something going on between me and your brother.”

Bella arched a brow. “Is there?”

I knew Bella wasn’t Heath’s biggest fan, but her question sounded a little too hopeful.

“Of course not. Heath and I—”

“Have been dating for like half your lives. This isn’t Victorian times; you’re allowed to speak to other guys.” She took another bite and smiled, icing stuck between her teeth. “He’s right, though. Garrett likes you.”

“Garrett likes everyone.”

“He doesn’t. Trust me.” She balanced her chopsticks on the edge of the plate. “Can I tell you something?”

“Okay.”

“You have to swear not to tell anyone else.”

With Heath and me hardly on speaking terms, I had no one to tell. “I swear.”

Bella leaned in and lowered her voice, even though the only people close enough to overhear were two old Japanese women with wispy gray hair and owlish glasses.

“My mother’s finally going to let me and Garrett switch partners next season.”

“What?” I said. “Why?”

I’d always been jealous Bella was born with a skating partner. Garrett wasn’t showy like some male ice dance stars, but he was solid, a steady backdrop against which Bella could glitter.

But it was never enough for her. That’s why we were friends: nothing was ever enough for either of us.

“Did you know,” she said, “a sibling ice dance team has never won Olympic gold?”

“So you two could be the first. You’re amazing together.”

“Sure, I mean, we have the technical skills. But we’re so limited in the choreo we can do without it looking creepy. And the height difference has been a problem ever since he had that insane growth spurt.”

“Who are you going to skate with?”

Male skaters were a rare commodity in the ice dance world. Ones of Garrett’s caliber were even rarer. Since Ellis’s revelation that the Hayworths were paying him to skate with Josie, I’d heard far wilder stories of the lengths women went to in order to find partners. Bribes, blackmail, under-the-table deals with other figure skating federations that bordered on human trafficking.

Bella wouldn’t have to resort to such unseemly methods. She’d have them lining up like dating show contestants, willing to renounce their citizenships, abandon their current partners, do whatever it took for the chance to skate with Sheila Lin’s only daughter.

“I’m considering my options,” she said. “Zack Branwell has expressed interest.”

“Isn’t he still with Paige Reed?”

Reed and Branwell finished in the top ten in Salt Lake but had to sit out Worlds due to some unspecified injury. Everyone expected them to return for the next Olympic quad, though, and to try for the Torino Games in 2006.

“You didn’t hear this from me, but…” Bella leaned closer, eyes gleaming in the lantern light. “Paige isn’t injured. She’s pregnant. ”

That explained a lot. Though her parents must have had her on serious lockdown in their Minnesota hometown to avoid that rumor churning through the mill.

“Is it his?” I asked.

Bella shrugged. “Not my problem. But she’ll be out all next season, at least. And once he’s skated with me, no way is he going back. Paige is mediocre at best.”

Though his self-consciously masculine skating style wasn’t my cup of tea, Zack had always been the star of the pair. He was several inches shorter than Garrett too, which would make him a better physical match for Bella. For all his flyover country blandness, on the ice the guy came across like an honest-to-God Tiger Beat pinup, golden hair and a strong jawline and full, kissable lips. Bella was beautiful on her own; with Zack at her side, she’d look like a princess and a movie star, all rolled into one.

“And what about Garrett?” I said. “Who’s he going to skate with?”

He’d have his pick, that was for sure. Every female ice dancer in the world would crawl across shattered glass to skate with a partner like Garrett Lin.

“That’s the best part.” Bella reached across the table and took my hands in hers. “ You can skate with Garrett.”