Fighting for the Edge (9 page)

Sergei came out of the bathroom, shirtless and wearing his blue checkered pajama pants, and I smiled behind my book. In my daydreams, I couldn’t have conjured up a better husband. Sergei gave me everything I needed, both physically and emotionally. And he wasn’t too bad to look at. I laughed to myself. That was possibly the understatement of all time.

He sat on the queen-sized bed and stretched his long legs over the ivory comforter. Resting one arm behind his head, he turned to look at me. “You’re so far away. I’m used to you reading in bed next to me.”

“I was just enjoying my old spot. When we buy a house, I want a little nook like this.”

“Maybe we can find one with a nook big enough for two.”

I smiled. “That sounds nice.”

I stood and padded across the carpet to flip off the light. Pushing aside the comforter, I climbed onto the bed and cuddled against Sergei’s side.

“Better?” I asked.

“Much.”

He leaned over me and kissed me gently, then longer and fuller with each kiss that followed. His mouth lowered to my throat, and I looked over his shoulder. Through the darkness, I could see the shadowy outline of the vanity set where I’d learned to put on makeup and the shelves that used to hold my stuffed animals. It was all a little bizarre, being in this room like this.

“This feels weird,” I said.

Sergei lifted his head. “Me kissing you feels weird?”

“It’s the room, not you.”

“We’ve stayed here before.”

“I know, but we’ve never…”

Sergei put his weight on his elbow. “Your parents are far away downstairs. It’s totally private up here. Remember that was one of your selling points?” He tickled my stomach.

I giggled and grabbed his wrist. “I think I’m experiencing some delayed teenage awkwardness of having a boy in my room since I never did that when I was actually a teenager.”

“Then you definitely need to go through your rebellious phase now,” Sergei said with a slow grin.

He kissed the tender spot below my ear, and his lips trailed down my neck while his hand skimmed along my thigh, nudging up my nightshirt. I pressed my fingertips into his back, feeling the resistance of his tight muscles. The longer he touched me the easier it was to forget where we were – which room, which house… which planet.

Then a knock sounded on the door.

I stiffened and tore my mouth away from Sergei’s. He dipped his head onto my shoulder.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mumbled.

“Yes?” I called toward the door. My heart was now racing for a different reason.

“I forgot to bring up these extra towels for you earlier,” Mom said.

I smashed my hand to my forehead. Couldn’t her hospitality have waited until morning?

Sergei groaned as I slipped out from the warm cover of his body. I straightened my nightshirt and opened the door just enough to see into the hallway.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the stack of fluffy towels from Mom.

Her eyes darted over me. “I didn’t realize you’d be in bed this early.”

“We have to be at the rink early tomorrow.”

My mussed-up hair and swollen lips surely revealed I hadn’t been sleeping, but that wasn’t anyone’s business except Sergei’s and mine.

Mom continued to peer at me with her chin tilted slightly upward. “Mm… well, get some rest then.”

I shut the door and placed the towels on the chair in the corner of the room. Back under the comforter with Sergei, I sighed and gave him a kiss.

He pulled me closer and smiled. “Almost getting caught in the act by your mom… you’re already embracing your inner teenaged bad girl.”

Chapter Seven

Aubrey climbed onto the bleachers at the Skating Club of Boston and looked down at the crowded rink. With the added skaters from the Cape, over twenty people occupied the ice for the morning practice sessions, jumping and spinning and miraculously avoiding collisions. Em and Chris skated through the crowd hand-in-hand as Barber’s
Adagio for Strings
soared through the airy building, and a number of skaters cleared space and idled near the boards to watch their short program run-through.

Chris pressed Em up into the air, and his blades moved over the ice with swift, secure turns. Aubrey found her gaze staying on Chris as he set Em down gently and they twizzled into their circular footwork. Chris used his whole body to express every note of the passionate music. In his tight black T-shirt and pants, his long body lines showed with each movement. He was in complete control even while flying across the ice and taking Em into his arms. Aubrey had never held any desire to skate pairs, but she suddenly felt a little envious of her best friend.

She pulled her skates from their bag and put them on while watching the end of the run-through. After the music ended and Em cooled down, she hopped off the ice and joined Aubrey on the bleachers.

“How was your first night at Casa Butler?” Aubrey asked.

Em slipped her bright blue guards over her blades. “Well, other than my mom almost interrupting Sergei and me having sex, it was pretty uneventful.”

“Oh, no she didn’t.” Her shoulders shook with laughter.

“Yep, she sure did. The incident didn’t exactly help my argument to Sergei that living with my parents was the best option.”

“You can tell him you wouldn’t have had any more privacy if you were living with me and Chris. Both of the bedrooms are open to the living room, so there’s no hiding anything in our apartment.”

“It’s a good thing neither of you are dating anyone. That would be awkward.” Em snickered. “I hope Chris won’t be bringing home any random girls when he’s out being a swinging single.”

Aubrey stopped laughing and looked to where Chris stood with Sergei along the boards. She’d agreed to go clubbing with him to help him meet women, but that didn’t sound like such a fun idea anymore. What if he did bring someone back to their apartment? The thought made her squirm more than it should.

She bent to tighten her skate laces and decided to change the subject. “Is it okay if I come with Chris to your Christmas Eve dinner? I’m staying here for the holiday.”

“Of course. You’re always welcome.” Em gave her a concerned look. “How come you’re not going home? Have things gotten worse between your parents?”

“I don’t know.” She sat up straight and combed her hair back from her face. “I haven’t been there much lately, and I’d rather not find out. When I told Chris I wasn’t looking forward to spending Christmas with my family, he insisted I stay in Boston. He even made up a story for me to tell my mom.”

“Uh-oh.” Em smiled. “You’re already under his spell.”

“Wh-what?” she stammered. How could Em know she’d been having all those crazy new thoughts about Chris? Was she that transparent?

“His power of persuasion. All his friends fall victim to it. How many things has he talked me into doing?”

“Oh… yeah.” She exhaled. “He can be very convincing.”

“Are you guys coming to church with us before dinner?”

“Chris didn’t mention church. All he talked about was the abundance of food.”

Em laughed. “Figures that’s the most important part of the evening to him. He’s right, though. There will be a ridiculous amount of food, so you might want to skip lunch.”

“Who’s skipping lunch?” Nick asked as he dropped onto the row below them.

“
You
should.” She stuck her tongue out as she patted his stomach. “You’re looking a little paunchy.”

“Am I really?” He looked down and squeezed his narrow waist. “I knew I shouldn’t have had those powdered donuts this morning.”

“I was kidding. You’re skinnier than most girls.”

Em left to talk to an adult skater she knew from her old neighborhood, and Chris soon filled her spot on the bleachers. Aubrey wondered if he remembered her promise to go out to the clubs that night. She hadn’t mentioned it since they’d left Tokyo. It was the last thing she felt like doing, but she was starting to think it might be just what she needed to douse her attraction to Chris. If he became occupied with another girl, he wouldn’t be hanging out with her, flashing that adorable smile and making her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Do you wanna check out the Boston singles market tonight?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

“I know some places where you’d be very popular.” Nick let out a big laugh and hit Chris on the leg.

“While your clubs do provide the best dance music, they don’t exactly have what we’re looking for in the dating prospects department,” Aubrey said.

Chris pulled up the hem of his pants and untied the laces on his boot. “Maybe we can do it another time. I’d rather stay in and veg out tonight.”

She blinked with shock. That wasn’t the response she’d expected. Chris had been so gung-ho about going out when they’d discussed it before the Final and again in Tokyo. She thought he’d be all over her suggestion. Mixed with her surprise and confusion was an undeniable sense of relief, which she didn’t want to admit was the strongest emotion of them all.

“I’m always up for some vegging out,” she said. “Unless you plan on playing more Christmas music. I don’t know how many more versions of ‘Silver Bells’ I can take.”

“You know you’re secretly starting to love it. I saw you bobbing your head last night during ‘Here Comes Santa Claus.’”

“I had a muscle tic,” she said, trying to keep a straight face.

“
Right
. I told you – there will be no Scrooge left when I’m done with you.” He grinned and tugged off his skate. “You might as well not fight it.”

Oh, man. She was in so much trouble.

****

I zipped my skate bag and glanced at the huge clock on the far wall of the rink. Elena would be arriving soon with Liza. Sergei and I had last seen Liza a few weeks earlier at the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships where she’d won the bronze medal in the juvenile girls event. She’d been ecstatic since it was her first trip to junior nationals, but whenever I’d talked to her on the phone over the last two weeks, she hadn’t been her usual chatty self.

Liza appeared at the front of the rink at ten minutes past noon, bundled in her pink puffer jacket and purple beret. Right behind her was Elena in one of her many long fur coats. When the two of them stood together, there was no mistaking they were mother and daughter. They shared the same glossy raven hair, high cheekbones, and porcelain complexion. But Liza’s most striking feature came from Sergei – her big, beautiful blue eyes. And they were full of anxiousness as she scanned the flurry of skaters both on and off the ice.

“Hey, kiddo!” I jogged over and swallowed Liza in a hug. “I’m so happy to see you.”

She squeezed her arms around my waist and clung to me. “I thought Christmas would never get here.”

I peeked up at Elena with furrowed brows, but her eyes were fixed on Liza.

“Where’s my dad?” Liza asked as she finally broke away from our hug.

I turned toward the ice, where Sergei had been teaching Courtney and Mark, one of his other teams. He’d spotted Liza and was securing his guards over his blades. Liza ran to him, and he crouched to embrace her. Her petite size was another feature she got from Elena.

“Is she okay?” I asked Elena. “She’s been kinda quiet lately when I’ve talked to her.”

Elena smoothed her short bob as she watched Sergei beam at Liza. “She have problem at the rink,” she said in her thick Russian accent. “Some girls are jealous she won medal at nationals, and they say nasty things.”

My heart sank. Liza was one of the sweetest kids I’d ever known. How could anyone pick on her?

“That’s awful,” I said. “Kids can be so cruel sometimes.”

Sergei walked behind Liza with his hands on her shoulders as they came toward us. I loved seeing how big Sergei’s smile always got around his daughter. She had him wrapped around all ten fingers.

“Thanks for driving her up here,” Sergei said to Elena. “It’s been crazy today getting everyone settled into our new schedule.”

“Drive is good,” Elena said. “We listen to audio book.”

“Oh yeah? Which book?” Sergei asked Liza.

“
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
. I read it already, but it sounds really cool on CD.”

Sometimes when the four of us were together, I took a moment to appreciate how normal our arrangement was. After all the drama we’d gone through in the beginning – Sergei running into Elena in Russia after ten years apart, learning Liza was his daughter, then almost losing her when Elena tried to manipulate the situation – I thanked God for the amicable relationships we all had with each other.

The cell phone in Elena’s hand chirped, and she smiled as she read the text. “George ask if we make it safe to Boston.”

Elena’s boyfriend of six months was a divorced father of two and an investment banker in New York City. One of the moms at Liza’s rink had set them up. Sergei had been concerned about the impact on Liza, but from everything we’d seen, George treated both Elena and Liza like queens.

“Tell him Merry Christmas from us,” I said.

“I will,” she said, still smiling as she put the phone in her coat pocket. She brought Liza into her arms and pressed her cheek to the top of Liza’s head. “You have fun and you call me any hour. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Liza mumbled into the gray fur.

Elena slowly released her and then motioned behind her to the large red suitcase and matching tote bag. “These all her things.”

“Thanks.” Sergei reached for the suitcase. “Have a safe trip back.”

After one more hug and kisses to both Liza’s cheeks, Elena departed and Sergei turned to me. “Can you show Liza around while I finish up with Court and Mark?”

We wheeled her bags next to the bleachers, and I took Liza through the locker room and the gym before heading upstairs to the lounge. It overlooked the ice just like the lounge at the rink on the Cape did.
Or at least it used to
, I thought sadly.

Liza stopped to look at the display case containing mementos from the club’s storied history. Her eyes traveled from the trophies to the medals to the black and white photos of girls in long skating dresses.