Page 58 of Off the Edge

She had me there. I smiled, and Zoe nudged my arm playfully. Clearly, I was not getting anything past her. And maybe I didn’t want to. I was so damn tired of walking on thin ice when it came to talking about Ren.

“We better get back,” Zoe said. “Casey and Jen are on soon.”

“Alright . . .”

We headed toward the doors, our shoes crunching on packed snow.

“He’s got a good friend in you, Cam.”

“What makes you think Hasegawa and I are friends?” I asked, genuinely surprised she’d say that.

“Cam, I’ve danced with you every day for months. You’re body language isn’t as subtle when you’re around him as you think it is.”

“What?” I pulled a face, like I had no idea what she was talking about.

“You also started calling him by his first name a while ago. The others haven’t noticed, but I see it. You care what Hasegawa thinks. You guys hang out. It’s okay. It’s not a crime.”

Damn. And I thought I’d been pretty good at hiding everything.

“Tell that to the press,” I chuckled.

“Will Hasegawa watch us dance?” she asked.

“No.” He’d made that clear right before kicking me out after fucking me.

“You can talk to me,” she offered, probably after seeing my smile struggle. “I’m not goin’ to tell anyone.”

I wanted to. Saga wasn’t answering my calls and there wasn’t anyone else I could talk to about Ren without blowing the whole thing wide open. “Thanks, but there’s nothing to talk about.”

We could hear the music now, and the crowd.

“Here we go,” she said, eyes widening and her grin lighting up.

“We’ve got this.”

TWENTY-THREE

COMMENTATOR

And welcome viewers, to the fifth and final group of today’s ice-dance competition, and the final program, featuring Canada’s Camden Navarro and Zoe Phillipps. There they are now, a beautiful pair, skating to the center ice. Phillipps, as a skater, has taken the more traditional route to the Olympic Games, beginning ballet at four years old. She took her first skating lessons at six and entered Canada’s national development program before she was twelve. A junior national champion, a junior Grand Prix medalist and by every account one of the most technically dependable young dancers Canada has produced in recent years.

Her partner’s route to Sapporo has been considerably less conventional. Camden Navarro worked at local rinks, taught weekend skating classes, and built an online following before the international skating establishment knew what to make of him. Navarro has also attracted his share of controversy. Some of it self-inflicted, certainly, and some amplified by attention that’s followed him since the Meridian Cup, where a collapse due to injury took him out of contention for the final.

And judging by his expression as they take up their starting poses, he’s ready to perform his comeback from that.

The music begins.

Phillipps strikes backward onto a deep outside edge. Navarro follows half a beat later and draws her immediately into a closed hold. This is a very strong opening from the Canadians.

Three clean progressives to generate speed. Excellent knee action from Phillipps, and Navarro matching the curve beautifully.

They move now into the required pattern.

This will be the first major technical test. The panel will be examining depth and clarity of every edge, along with the timing of the required elements, including rockers, brackets, and Choctaws.

Phillipps onto the left forward outside edge. Navarro matching nicely. Clean change of lobe. Very good Choctaw. No scrape from either blade, and no loss of speed. I have to say, this is considerably stronger than many expected. The first key point box is green. All key points awarded. They release the hold on the musical accent and move into the sequential twizzles.

This is an element where the smallest loss of balance can be extremely costly.