Chapter Eleven

The van arrived at Natalie’s hotel when it was still pitch-black outside. She’d set three alarms in her room to ensure she got up, but that didn’t mean she was fully awake, even standing in the cheery light of the hotel lobby. The cup of coffee in her hand was nowhere near enough to keep her going but it was a start. Hopefully they’d stop somewhere for more before they put her on camera.

Sliding into one of the seats, Natalie couldn’t believe this was where her life had taken her. Instead of getting sleep to recover from hard workouts and exhausting practices, she was up in the middle of the night to try out for a job she’d never considered. Then again, she thought she was going to be flying to the opening ceremonies with her teammates, not with a camera crew.

She hated being on the sidelines. The few times she’d been injured in her career, it had been torture to watch her teammates play without her. Being part of a team was essential, like it was part of her DNA. Some people reveled in being solo, being the only one, but Natalie came alive in a locker room or on the bench, looking around at her teammates and knowing they were all pulling for the same goal.

Hockey took that kind of trust. It wasn’t like soccer where you played the entire game. In hockey you played for a minute at a time before turning the ice over to your teammates. You had to trust that when you hopped over the boards your teammates would pick up where you left off. She loved that sense of trust, that sense of team.

But that was gone now.

Now she was sitting in a van winding its way out of New York City before the sun even considered coming up. She sipped her coffee and stared out the window.

The van stopped at the studio and one of the crew members hopped out. “I have to grab a couple things from inside. Be right back.”

Natalie let her eyes close, and her head fell forward for a few blissful seconds before she heard the sliding door open.

“Good morning,” Darcy’s voice filled the van. She dropped a bag on the floor behind Natalie’s seat.

Natalie looked up. “Were you in the studio already?”

Darcy shook her head and climbed into the front seat. “I’ve been here all night.”

“Why?” Natalie asked, horrified at the prospect of spending the night at work.

Darcy turned in the seat while they waited for the crew member to finish loading supplies into the back of the van. “I had work to do to prepare for today.” She faced the front. “I can sleep on the way up.”

“Lucky you,” Natalie grumbled. “How come you get to ride in the front?”

“Because I’m a goddamned princess.”

Natalie laughed but tried to cover for it by pretending she was coughing.

Darcy turned around. “I get really bad motion sickness. Usually, I take Dramamine but if I take it this morning, I’ll sleep through our segment. But if you would rather have me puke in the van, we can trade seats.”

In the dim light of the streetlights, Natalie could tell Darcy wasn’t lying. A flicker of memory, long-ago bus rides, a reminder that Darcy always had to sit in the front with the coaches, even when all the fun was happening farther back. Even that tiny reminder sent Natalie’s mind rocketing back to those road trips, back when Natalie would have done anything to be nearer her captain, would have done anything to make Darcy feel better. But that was a long time ago.

Darcy added, seemingly oblivious to Natalie’s college memories, “I’ll take the medicine on the way home so you can have the front seat then if you want. I’ll be asleep before we hit the highway so it won’t matter what seat I have.”‘

Natalie shrugged. “It’s fine. I can sleep anywhere.”

Darcy turned around and settled into her seat. A crew member slid into the driver’s seat and the other took the seat next to Natalie.

“Manny, what are you doing letting Josh drive?” Darcy asked, looking back at the guy next to Natalie.

Manny smiled. “I’m fine with him driving if it means I get to sleep.”

Josh turned the ignition. “You don’t even have cars in Canada, do you?”

Darcy cracked up. “You’re right. Only dogsleds and the occasional snowmobile. Sometimes we just ride our moose to Tim Hortons.”

The guys laughed. Natalie smiled. This felt good. The banter—talking shit—felt like being on a team again. It didn’t matter that she was on the outside of the jokes right now, it was the best she’d felt in a while.

Josh steered the van into the road and they made it out of the city before Natalie finished her coffee. There was no hint that the sun existed, let alone planned to rise anytime soon. Outside the city, everything was darker, the sky blacker, the flickering lights of the few passing cars on the road the only sources of light on the highway. Between the dark and the steady rhythm of the van zipping along the road, Natalie started to lose the battle to stay awake. Manny and Darcy had already given up trying to stay awake when her eyes got harder to open.

“You okay if I fall asleep, Josh?”

He caught her eye in the rearview mirror for a second. “No problem. But thanks for asking.”

She turned to try to find a comfortable position, but it didn’t matter. A decade of riding buses and planes to and from games had made her a champion sleeper.

A little over five hours later, they pulled into the parking lot for the bobsledding experience at Lake Placid. The van rolling to a stop woke everyone. She immediately wiped at her face, hoping she didn’t drool during the trip. She didn’t need to give Darcy any more reasons to be insufferable. The Canadian princess would never drool.

Darcy was out of the van before Natalie had her seat belt unbuckled. “Jesus, what’s the rush?” she muttered but laughed when she saw Darcy practically sprinting to the bathrooms. The sliding door rumbled in its track as Natalie hopped out into the chilly, but blissfully fresh, air. A few breaths and the gross feeling of being in a car for too long evaporated. She stretched her arms over her head, hoping it would undo the damage of six hours in a van. It didn’t fix everything but between the cold air and being able to move, she felt more human than she had since she got up in the middle of the night.

A middle-aged woman with a tight ponytail and a severe expression strode toward the van. “Morning. You’re the folks here to learn how to sled?”

Natalie nodded, unsure she was the best person to talk to out of the group, but not willing to risk a stern glare from this woman.

“Liz Burton-Wu. Nice to meet you.” Her voice didn’t give the impression she was asking a question, but Natalie hurried to say something anyway.

“Natalie Carpenter. Thank you for meeting us.”

Liz smiled, changing her entire demeanor. “My pleasure. I’m a huge hockey fan. My wife gives me shit for it, but I’ve watched the gold medal game like three times.”

Natalie laughed. “Tell your wife to give you a break. It’s a hell of a game.” She looked over Liz’s head to where Darcy was marching back to the van. “Unless you’re Canadian, of course.”

Darcy heard her and narrowed her eyes. “That’s a lot of yapping from someone who only has a single gold.”

Liz cracked up. “Oh shit. I didn’t realize I was teaching rivals to sled. This should be fun.”

“Single gold.”

Fuck you, LaCroix. But the thought needled at her. She had hoped to add a second this time around. Instead, she’d be spending the day shoved into a tiny sled next to Darcy. What a terrible fucking consolation prize.