Page 108 of Off the Edge

Change of foot.

The music dropped.

We almost met, then broke apart. Building the argument.

My attention stayed on Tamsyn’s blade, the angle of her shoulder, the fraction of space she needed for the next turn. She was excellent.

The music built, then dropped away again. Toe picks, spin.

Over to Tamsyn. She led, as the female vocals hit.

The crowd reacted, coming alive around us, but I couldn’t focus on them, just on Tamsyn, on where the next movement was placed.

I threw myself away from her without hesitation, trusting that when I came back in, she’d be there to catch me. She was. Into the hold. Sudden, dramatic. Heated.

I pulled her toward me, she came up, onto my thigh, blade digging in, then dropped, across my body, torso arched away, one leg extended behind me, while I traveled on the deep curve. One beat, two, I let her twist and drop, heard the arena gasp as one, allowing her body to fall further from mine without touching the ice. Three rotations, Tamsyn’s arms extended. On the final beat, I drew her back against my chest and set her down cleanly on the back edge.

No pause, no loss of flow, no recovery. She swept beneath my arm and immediately drove us into the diagonal steps. Rocker, turn, cross step, bracket. A confrontation on ice, played out by two powerful skaters.

Tamsyn came forward and I blocked with my body. Hold. She twisted, shoulder snapping. Changed edge. I followed, close enough that our blades almost crossed. We dove away, and came back together, neither of us escaping the other. And then, for a moment, in time with the music, we were at peace.

The last sequence came up fast, both of us at speed, backwards, across the ice, no longer touching.

She extended one hand. I reached for it. Our fingertips brushed. We came together, spun, and dug into a dramatic stop.

We froze. Ending the story as lovers who had lost each other. The story was over.

The music stopped.

The arena burst into life. Cheers, whistles, flag colors waving.

I breathed hard and fast, chest heaving.

I nodded, and took Tamsyn’s hand. We bowed together, coming up smiling, and skated side by side, off the ice to raucous applause.

Of course, it had been flawless. There had never been any doubt . . . Perhaps only mine. I hadn’t known I was nervous until it had ended. Now the nerves and adrenaline kicked in, trembling through me.

But had it been enough?

“You alright, Hasegawa?” Tamsyn asked, as we were escorted to the kiss and cry. Her flushed face glistened, but the makeup held.

“Yes . . .”

“You look worried,” she teased.

I gave her a small, reassuring smile. “Not for us.”

We had danced to the best of our ability as a partnership. I had danced for me. It had been . . . different. I wasn’t sure what to think of it. I’d expected to feel more relief, but I didn’t feel much of anything.

My heart rate wasn’t coming down. My palms stayed clammy.

Now was not the time for thinking.

No thinking . . . I smiled, letting the memory warm me through and bring something of my softer self back into the room.

We came off the ice and sat with the team coach in the kiss and cry, surrounded by Team GB colors, and waited, breathing fast, coming down off the high of the dance.

Camden and Zoe’s scores had put them within a point of us. Their earlier performance had been exceptional. We were the last to dance. All eyes would be on us and our score. Our score determined the final results. The medals would be decided in seconds. Cam’s fate and my own came down to these next few moments.