Chapter Twenty-Three

“Here’s your problem,” Darcy said, showing Natalie the tiny bit of plastic that had scratched at her back and kept the suit from sitting right. She pulled her hands out of Natalie’s suit, ignoring the way her hands wanted to keep touching Natalie’s skin. It was only because her hands were cold.

That was definitely it.

Natalie turned around and took the piece of plastic. “That’s it?”

“What were you expecting, a kraken?”

Natalie narrowed her eyes. “Thank you for saving me from the tag thingy. How can I ever repay you?”

“You could stop being such a gigantic smart-ass.”

Natalie shook her head. “Never going to happen.”

Darcy laughed and rotated her finger to indicate that Natalie should turn around. She zipped the suit all the way up. “You ready to learn how to ski?”

Natalie shrugged. “I know how to ski. I’m originally from New Hampshire, remember? I used to cross-country ski in gym class. The more important question is, are you ready to get your ass kicked?”

Darcy shook her head. “Carpenter, if you played half as well as you talk shit you would’ve had more than that one gold medal.”

Natalie’s face flushed a vibrant red. “Fuck you, Darcy. Not all of us got where we are thanks to our famous last name. Some of us had to work for it.”

She was going to kill her. Darcy LaCroix was going to ruin her chance at doing this job that she’d worked years to get by doing murder right there on the cross-country ski track. She walked after her, her eyes boring into the spot between Nat’s shoulder blades. Who the fuck did she think she was? This was her gig. She worked her ass off to get here. Her dad had nothing to do with it.

Fucking Natalie Carpenter.

When they got to the tent at the front of the building, their equipment person handed them boots to try on. “You’ll put them on when we’re shooting but we need to make sure you have the right size.”

Darcy slipped the boots on only to realize halfway through lacing them up that they were too big. “Do you have a half size smaller? These are way too loose.”

The guy grabbed another pair out of a box and handed them to her. “What about yours?”

Natalie pulled the laces tight. “They feel fine to me. I’m not as picky as Cinderella over there.”

It took every ounce of Darcy’s restraint not to scream at Natalie. Instead, she ground her teeth together hard enough she was afraid she might break a molar and finished tying her boots. It took another ten minutes to get them the right skis and poles and finish outfitting them with hats and gloves.

“We have one with a Canada flag for you, and USA for you.” He looked unreasonably proud of himself as he handed them the pom-pom hats. On the front they had the Wake Up, USA logo and on the back their country flags and their last names.

“Nice touch,” Natalie said. She popped the hat on and fiddled with her gloves. “Wait, does this mean we’re not going to have to get our hair done before we shoot, or did I just screw this all up?”

The guy shook his head. “Nah, I think you can have the hats on. It’s freezing out here. I’m sure they’re going to want to give you both makeup touch-ups before we shoot but you can wear the hats.”

Another half an hour later, they were shaking hands with the Team USA skiers who had agreed to give them a tutorial. One was a white woman, shorter than both Natalie and Darcy and skinny as a marathoner. Even in her parka it was clear she was tiny in comparison. The white guy who came with her was tall, but also built like a greyhound.

He seemed really enthusiastic to meet them. “Oh gosh, I’m a huge hockey fan. My little sister loved watching you both play and got me hooked, too.”

Darcy smiled. “Nolan, that’s so nice of you to say. How old’s your sister?”

He pulled out his phone to show her a picture. “She’s seventeen.” The picture showed him with his arm around a girl with his same deep brown eyes.

Natalie looked over his shoulder. “We can send her a message or sign something for her if you think she’d like that from a couple of has-beens.”

“Really? I didn’t want to bother you but she would love that.” He stepped next to Darcy and waved for Natalie to get into the picture, too. He handed the phone to the other skier and she took a series of pictures.

“One of those has to be halfway decent.” Karin handed the phone back to Nolan. He flicked through the pictures.

The camera operator walked over to the group, her camera balanced on her shoulder. “Are you all ready?”

Darcy and Natalie moved to the side so Karin and Nolan would both be in the shot. The camerawoman gave them a thumbs-up.

“Good morning. We are coming to you from the home of the cross-country ski competition. We’re lucky to have with us this morning two members of Team USA who are going to help a couple of hockey players learn how to ski.” Darcy turned to Nolan and Karin to tell a little about themselves and how they got into the sport.

“You two are obviously pros at this, but how can beginners like us get started?” Natalie asked, transitioning the conversation to the part of the segment where she and Darcy made asses out of themselves.

Nolan handed them each a set of poles and walked them through how they would use their arms to help propel them forward as well as use them for balance. Then, Karin helped them put on their skis.

“Okay, now that you’re all ready,” Karin said, “I want you to practice moving your feet back and forth, just to feel the way the skis slide on the snow.”

Darcy and Natalie moved their feet and looked more like penguins on dry land than graceful skiers. Darcy planted one pole in the snow to save her from toppling over.

Nolan chuckled. “Okay, some of this shouldn’t be too hard for you. The other way we move through the snow is by using a skating technique. You’re going to turn your skis out and push like you would on the ice.”

Both Darcy and Natalie gave that a try and made it about three steps before Natalie’s ski ran over the back of Darcy’s and they both took a tumble into the snow.

Nolan and Karin glided over and helped both Darcy and Natalie to their feet.

Darcy looked into the camera. “You can see it’s not as easy as it looks when these two do it.”

Karin laughed. “Maybe it would be better if you went one at a time?”

“I’ll go first,” Natalie and Darcy said at the same time.

Nolan and Karin smiled. “Okay, why don’t you go that way, Natalie, and then, Darcy, you can start a few seconds after her.”

The camera operator took a few steps closer and gave them the thumbs-up to start. Natalie dug her poles into the snow before looking over her shoulder at Darcy. “Eat my dust, Canada!”

She took off, her arms and legs flailing as she found a rhythm. For all the motion, she wasn’t moving forward very quickly. Darcy caught the eye of Nolan, who covered his mouth with his gloved hand.

Karin waved to Darcy. “I think you can start now. Try not to run her over.”

Darcy jabbed her poles into the snow and surged forward, nearly toppling over. But being a world-class athlete, even a retired one, had excellent side effects. She recovered quickly and surged forward. “You ski about as well as you skate, Carpenter!” she yelled into the wind.

Natalie dug her skis into the snow faster and pushed as hard as she could with her poles. Darcy smiled as she gained ground. She came up behind Natalie and had to cut to the outside to try to pass. Natalie dug in harder, her strides improving as she got the hang of the movements. Sweat beaded up on Darcy’s forehead, she could almost hear the producers freaking out about their makeup being ruined, but she didn’t care. She was going to crush that cocky smile off Natalie’s face, no matter how she looked doing it.