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CHAPTER

EIGHT

Jett

JT,

The stuff to fix the wall is in my office closet on the bottom shelf, by the holiday pucks. I know either my house has a hole in the wall or your office does. Hell, wouldn’t put it past you to hit both.

I know you’re pissed, and you have every right to be. I’m sorry, but you know how I feel about Kitty. You know how much I love her, how I’ve wished for you to find that kind of partnership. I have to do everything I can to make sure she is taken care of since I know that deadbeat son and daughter-in-law of mine won’t. We both know they only care about their careers and the mountains. They can’t even be bothered with the incredible daughter they made. Fable has always had such a special connection with Kitty, and I know she needs her granddaughter.

You probably feel like I’ve betrayed you, but that isn’t my intention at all. You and Fable have always been a great team, and this way, the Ice Thistle grows. You’ll control the hockey side, and she can develop the skating side, show you everything she’s learned over the years, and then you’ll have one hell of a business. I know we’ve done a great job, you and I, but she is the missing piece. I think you know she is—in more ways than one.

I don’t regret much, JT, but that day after Salt Lake is a day that has haunted me for years. I should have stood beside you, not agreed with what my son and his wife wanted. I don’t know if you hate me for how that played out, but I want you to know I’m sorry. I’ve watched you, your failed relationships, and your loneliness, knowing I had a hand in it. I wish I had known what I know now. I wouldn’t have agreed. I truly wouldn’t have. Maybe that’s another reason why I’m asking her to stay, to give you the chance I took away.

I love you, son, and I know it doesn’t seem that way with what I’ve asked of you, but I truly do. I know you’re going to blow this town away and make the Ice Thistle everything I couldn’t. Just like I was in Salt Lake, I’ll be in the front row in heaven, cheering both of you on.

Believe in yourself, JT.

I always have.

Phillip

I can’t help but look back at the fist-sized hole in my wall.

A sad smirk pulls at my lips at how well Phillip knew me. He was the dad I never had. The only male figure in my life that I believed wouldn’t hurt or turn his back on me. Not only did the asshole go and die, but he is also making me wait a year for the Ice Thistle. He’s giving part of my building to someone he’s always wished were running it with him.

If I were a weaker man, I’d let this fuck with me. Let myself think that he did this because he thought I couldn’t run the Ice Thistle, but I know that’s not the case. There is only one love in Phillip Winthrop’s life, and that is Kitty. I understand why he wants Fable to stay, but why did he have to use me to make it happen?

I can’t fucking believe this. All the time we spent talking about what would happen when I took over. All the plans I had and he supported. The only reason he even thought of the ice-skating program was because of me. I suggested it when I saw a video of Fable teaching. With the banners of her and me outside, it only makes sense that our program matches what came out of this building.

I had plans to hire someone. I’ve been looking, but then he went behind my back and planned this? Did I drag my feet too long? I thought I had time. I wasn’t in a hurry, but then, how was I supposed to know he was going to die and then give his granddaughter half my building? I know it’s only a year and I know that’s no time at all, but when she leaves, and the ice-skating program is amazing, this town will say it was she who made it a success. Not the work that I’ve put in for the last fifteen years.

Once more, I’ll be in the shadows.

I lean my head back on my chair and blow out a breath. I thread my hands through my hair, messing it up as I gaze at the ceiling. I reread Phillip’s letter three times, and I still can’t believe his words, but I’m even more shocked by his admission.

I don’t regret much, JT, but that day after Salt Lake is a day that has haunted me for years.

I hadn’t expected that from him. We never talked about that day. When I came back after my time in Ohio, he welcomed me with open arms. He took me under his wing, trained with me, and taught me the ropes of running this business. We never spoke of Fable, not even when she skated in the games in Turin or Vancouver. When he talked about visiting Fable, it was always about whatever city she was in, not her personally. It’s like he knew it hurt me that he was going to see her and he’d had a hand in why I wasn’t with her.

I would have skated with her until my knee blew out.

Nothing ever happened between us, not in the 1460 days we trained together. Of course I touched her and held her in ways that were intimate, but my lips never tasted hers. Not once. I was too scared to cross the line, to take what I wanted, because of her family. They made it clear; we could skate together, and that was it. They’d ruin me if I did anything more with her. I think keeping that line between us was possible because Fable never made me feel like she wanted to be more to me than a partner. She was focused, driven, and only cared about skating.

While I was enamored of her.

It wasn’t until after our free skate that I allowed my lips to press to her nose in an unscripted kiss. Everyone went wild for it. It was the simplest of little kisses because I was so overjoyed. We’d nailed our routine, and I knew we had won. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind, and I was so fucking proud of her. This was what she’d worked for. So, I kissed her nose, hoping she’d kiss my mouth, but she didn’t. Though, her eyes told me that she wanted to. For the first time in all the days we trained, she looked at me as if she wanted me as more than her partner, and I wanted to drown in that look.

In her.

It must have been super obvious, though, because the next day, Phillip and her parents came to me with the offer. Richie’s friend was the coach at Ohio State. He had a spot for me on his team with a full-ride scholarship. When I was done there, if I didn’t make the NHL, then I could have the Ice Thistle. It all sounded so good on paper, but I didn’t want to stop skating with Fable.

“This is about security,” Richie insists. “You’ll never have a name like ours, so she can pursue skating and be taken care of. But you, you need more to give you a cushion. We will not be funding your career anymore. This was for one gold medal in pairs before Fable goes out on her own.”

Elena presses her hand to mine, something she has never done. “Don’t you want more than what your family had? You can give your family the security they need, especially with how your father just left you.”

Phillip said nothing, and I wanted to beg him to tell me what to do. They did this without Kitty, and I know now it’s because she wouldn’t have let me agree. I was an impressionable kid, still hurting from my dad leaving us behind, and I was being offered a full ride to play hockey. If I continued with the pairs skating with Fable, I couldn’t fund it. I didn’t know then that I could have had sponsorships. I thought I needed the Winthrops. I had just won a gold medal in the Olympics; I should have been stoked, but instead, I had these people I thought cared about me pushing me away from their daughter.

From my partner.

I close my eyes as I let my head drop to the desk. To this day, twenty years later, I can still see her with her Goofy Movie blanket as a cape as she soaked her feet in the hot tub. Around her neck was her gold medal, her cheeks rosy. I’m pretty sure she slept with the damn thing. I know I did.

When she sees me in the doorway of the spa, her lips curve slowly, and of course, I fucking beam at her like she’s the shiniest star in the sky.

“Hey,” I say with an awkward wave.

She beckons me to her. “Hey, come join me. This feels amazing.”

I move toward her, toeing out of my sneakers before rolling my athletic pants up to my knees. I sit beside her, her shoulder pressing into my bicep as I drop my feet into the water. I’m so much bigger than her, but somehow we work on the ice.

I let out a sigh of relief when the hot, bubbly water swirls around my feet, and she nods. “See? Told you.”

“Yeah, this is awesome.”

I feel her gaze on me. “You okay?”

We’ve spent so much time together, we know when something isn’t right. I knew when she failed a math test or someone was mean to her at school. While she goes to a pretty prestigious school, kids are still assholes, and she doesn’t mesh well with them. She doesn’t care about hair or makeup or boys; she cares about skating. She can be a bit hyper when she gets excited, and some think she’s annoying. I think it’s endearing, and I love how excited she gets.

I get her, just as she gets me. She always knew when I broke a stick during a game or got into a fistfight with some jackasses because they called me a bastard when my dad left. She’s known to leave me a Payday on the extra-hard days because she knows they’re my favorite. We work, she and I, and damn it, I want more.

So much more.

But I know her family would ruin me if I ever crossed that line.

I swallow hard as I tuck my hands into my pockets. “Your dad’s friend wants me to play for Ohio State next year. Full ride.”

I feel her gaze leave me suddenly, and it’s like the sun is gone from my world. No one in my family has gone to college, so this is a big deal. Yet it feels like a death sentence. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as her head falls, and she nods slowly. “It’s what you want, to play hockey. Professionally. And free school? That’s amazing.”

I nod. “Yeah, they think I can make it.”

“You can,” she whispers. “I know you can.”

Needing to touch her, I grip her hand, and she threads her fingers with mine. Our eyes meet, and I say, “Thanks, ice princess.”

Her lips quirk. “I’ll miss skating with you, pretty boy.”

Her words gut me, and I have to know. “Is that what you want?”

Her brows draw in. “It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s your life, Jett.”

Everyone calls me JT but her. She’s only ever called me Jett, and hearing it on her lips always does me in. I look away, running my thumb along her knuckles. “I’ll stay if you ask.”

I didn’t mean to utter those words, and I know I shouldn’t have.

But I needed to.

I look up, and her eyes search mine as the silence stretches between us. I wait for her to ask me not to go. To continue skating with her. But she doesn’t. Not once does she say the words. Instead, she leans her head on my shoulder, and I close my eyes as the rejection eats me alive.

When I went home, she went out to Colorado. If I had known that would be the last day I saw her, I wouldn’t have kissed her nose.

I would have kissed her lips.

And never stopped.