LITMIR.BIZ

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out. Doors locked, don’t leave your equipment out in the open.”

      “Don’t take candy from strangers?”

      “It’s not funny,” he snapped.

      She cocked her head, mouth quirked in that way that showed the one small dimple in her cheek. “It looks bad, but really, I’m sure there’s no one after me. Why would there be? I’m just not that important.”

      “I don’t know, but I think someone damaged your skate and tried to cover it up.”

      She laughed. “That sounds like a bad TV movie. Who would bother?”

      “Laney, for every gold medalist there are plenty of losers who would have done absolutely anything to win.”

      Her eyes widened. “You didn’t used to be so cynical. When you lost, it was one race, one day. You didn’t let it define you.”

      He shoved his fingers into his wet pockets, fingers automatically feeling for the scissors that weren’t there, the ones he’d used to cut out little paper animals of every description, a hobby he’d acquired at seven years of age. “I didn’t even get the chance to lose, and I’m angry about that. You should nurse a little anger, too. It will fuel you to the finish line.”

      “Then I don’t want to be there.” She trailed fingers along his arm. “I’m going to win because I’ve trained hard and I love the sport and I want it. But if I don’t, I won’t consider myself a loser.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And I don’t consider you one, either. Never have.”

      “It’s not about me anymore, as you said. It’s about you. You’re going to get your chance to win that medal.”

      “And if I don’t?” He could see the troubled curve to her lips, the heavy lashes that framed her eyes. “Will you see me as a loser, too?”

      “No,” he said, throat suddenly tight. “I would never think of you like that. Ever.” Laney, you could never be anything but amazing to me, said the tender part inside him, the only part left that was any good.

      “Then why don’t you extend yourself the same courtesy?”

      The words hung between them, and he could not think of a single proper way to put the twist of feelings in his gut into words. He reached out and took her by the shoulders. “Listen, this isn’t a joke. You have to be careful.”

      “Because I’m your athlete, and you don’t want me to get knocked out of competition again?”

      He could not stand that hazel gaze, the unspoiled sweetness that he had no right to enjoy anymore. Swallowing hard, he nodded. “Yes. That’s right.”

      She gave him a puzzled look. “Max, sometimes I think you forget that what we do isn’t all that important in the scheme of things.”

      His stomach tensed. She was losing her motivation, the drive to win. Maybe he could have a buddy of his, a sports psychologist talk to her. “You’ve got...”

      Now it was Laney who held up a calming hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to win that spot on the team more than anyone else in this building, and I’m going to do that. I’m chasing that medal with everything in my possession, every ounce of talent and hard work that I can bring to bear. But what I do is skate fast. I’m not changing the world. They’re just races. And, yes, I’m going to skate the fastest short-track races in history because that’s what God made me to do, but racing is just one thing, one small part of who I am.”

      He could not understand why she looked happy, uncertainly poised as she was on the greatest competition threshold of her life, with someone trying to make sure she did not get there. All she did was skate fast? Just races? He blinked. “I don’t get you sometimes. It wasn’t a small part of my life when I had it. It was my whole life.” And it should be yours, too.

      “That’s where you made your miscalculation, Mr. Blanco. You skated fast because that’s what God made you to do, but that was just one heat.”

      He felt a flash of pain. “You can say that because you can still race.” Suddenly he wanted to cut down her joy, to diminish that incomprehensible happiness from her face. “What will you do when it’s over?”

      She smiled, a big wide grin that seemed to light a candle in the depths of her pupils and ignite the shame deep down in his own gut.

      “Then I’ll find out what He wants me to do next.”

      He stood, agog, until she lifted on tiptoe and aimed a clumsy kiss that landed at the corner of his mouth. “I’m so relieved that you’re all right. You are more to me than the man who will help me stand on top of the podium.” Then, with the gentlest of caresses to his cheek, she moved away to greet her father.

      He realized he was staring at her, so he gathered up his wits and joined Mr. Thompson, who listened to the whole story again, his face grave as the police finished their interviews and promised to check in the next day.

      Laney reached a finger out and wiped at a grease stain from her father’s chin. “What did you get into, Dad? Were you working on the cabs?”

      He swiped as the smudge. “Yeah. Got a loose belt that needed attention.”

      “I thought Mike handled that for you.”

      Mr. Thompson rolled his shoulders. “We all pitch in.”

      Tanya emerged in the hallway, wrapped in a bathrobe, long brown hair neatly braided into two plaits. “What’s all the noise? I was going to get a snack from the kitchen.”

      “In your track shoes?” Laney said.

      Tanya looked down at her expensive trainers. “Since I stepped on a nail last season, I don’t go anywhere in bare feet.”

      Beth and Jackie joined them and filled Tanya in on the events. Tanya poked a finger at Beth’s shoulder. “How’d you get involved in this? And where’d you go? Thought we were going to watch a movie.”

      Max registered for the first time that Jackie and Beth were both dressed for going outside.

      Beth waved a hand. “I wanted to talk to my boyfriend, Cy.” Her eyes narrowed, shifting slightly to Jackie. “There’s no privacy anywhere around here, so I went outside.”

      Jackie’s lips thinned. “Arranging a meeting?”

      “No,” Beth shot back. “I don’t want to get grounded again for sneaking out,” she snapped, words rich with sarcasm. “But I’m going to be twenty next week, and technically I’m a legal adult, and you’re not my mother.”

      “You’re far from an adult,” Jackie said smoothly.

      Beth flushed. Tanya took her by the arm. “Come back to the room and tell me what Cy said. I’ve got to live vicariously through you, you know, and the other girls are going to want to hear all about the skate-in-the-pond adventure.”

      “Ten o’clock lights out,” Jackie said to their retreating backs. Neither girl turned to acknowledge the remark.

      “Ten o’clock curfew,” Jackie called again.

      “I know, I know,” Beth snapped.

      “Then stop testing,” Jackie said, matching Beth’s volume and then some. “And don’t forget what you’re here for.”

      “Doesn’t matter if I forget. You’ll remind me,” the girl said with bitterness before she allowed Tanya to lead her away.

      Max could read nothing from Jackie’s expression. “Were you checking up on her?”

      Jackie gave him a blank look. “What?”

      “You were outside, too, during the pond incident. Were you checking up on her?”

      Jackie sighed, shadows of fatigue darkening her skin. “She’s impulsive, immature. She needs a mother as much as a coach.

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