Chapter Two: See You on the Ice

Aurora's POV

I froze when I heard him. A little hesitantly, I pointed at the car broken down across the street, my voice thin, carrying a tremor I couldn’t blame on either the cold or my nerves. “My car broke down.”

The man lifted his eyelids and glanced across the road with no interest at all. “So? You want me to fix it?”

I shook my head at once, embarrassed. “It’s just—I can’t find a number for a tow truck.”

“And if you can’t find one either, could you call a car for me? I can pay you something for the trouble.”

He paused, studying me. “Are you an adult?”

My face went hot. I nodded.

He gave a short, cold laugh. “An adult who hits a problem should think first about getting herself out of it. Not put herself in the position of the weak and wait to be saved.”

He dropped his gaze to the phone in my hand. “Is that thing connected to the internet?”

“It is,” I said, nodding again.

“Then search for what you need. Don’t put your hopes on a stranger.”

I opened the browser and typed tow truck company into the search bar. Numbers came up—pages of them. I picked one nearby and called.

Once the dispatcher confirmed they’d be there soon, I let out a breath and looked up to thank the man. He was already walking away.

I watched his back and found myself gripping my phone tighter.

For ten years I had lived under Liam’s wing. One phone call and he would come to me from a thousand miles away. Beside him I never had to think about these small, tedious things—I only had to stay home, look after Ethan, and wait for him to come back.

But before I married Liam, I had been completely independent. Someone who could do everything on her own.

Now I was thirty, and a broken-down car had left me standing there with no idea what to do.

This isn’t who I should be.

I wrung the water out of my clothes as hard as I could and rubbed my numb arms with both hands.

When the tow crew arrived, I explained the problem clearly, start to finish, and signed the work order: Aurora.

After the car was hauled away, I searched the web again and found the Uber app. I set my location, entered the address of the house, and cars appeared all over the screen. I tapped the one closest to me and watched the distance between us tick down.

Remarkable.

It wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined.

Half an hour later I was finally sunk in the bathtub, warm water seeping into every joint, and I let out a long, satisfied sigh.

Liam didn’t come home.

Any other night, if he hadn’t come home by now, I would have called him the first minute—where are you, why aren’t you back. Tonight I didn’t call.

I knew exactly what he was doing. There was no need to humiliate myself.

I gave a bitter smile. So ten years was all it took to turn a prodigy, the queen of the ice, into a useless thing—a pitiful creature who made a man the center of her world.

After my bath I called my son. Ethan had been dropped at Mabel’s that morning.

He picked up bright and cheerful. “Mom, Mabel made apple pie. It’s really good.”

“This time do I have to stay at Mabel’s a whole week? Can you come get me sooner? I like your bedtime stories better.”

My hand tightened on the phone.

Liam’s betrayal was fact. I would not stay in this marriage a day longer than I had to.

But I couldn’t bear to lose Ethan. I had to have custody.

And right now I was a housewife with nothing—no income, no career. Taking custody from Liam would be a fantasy.

So I had to find a way back onto the ice. Even as a bench player. Even a substitute’s salary would be steady income, and steady income would give me a case for custody.

Guilt came with the thought, and my voice softened. “For now, yes. But I’ll come get you soon.”

Ethan hummed, dissatisfied. “Okay. I’ll be good.”

I hung up, ate a little of the dinner the housekeeper had left out, then went straight to my room and pulled up the game footage Julia had sent me. I started studying it from the beginning.

According to Julia, these teams were Vincent’s favorites. Their systems differed, but the speed and power of every one of them was close to perfect. Vincent, it seemed, liked power—the aesthetics of violent impact.

When I’d watched all of them through, I let out a heavy sigh.

The thing I lacked most was power.

Ten years of ordinary life had worn away the muscles I was once proud of. My figure hadn’t gone soft or heavy, but against an athlete the gap was still enormous.

I stared up at the ceiling in something close to despair, not knowing whether I could survive tomorrow’s evaluation.

I didn’t sleep all night. When the seven o’clock alarm went off I was up, dressed, and on my way to the club.

Coming down the stairs, I found Liam at breakfast.

I have no idea when he’d gotten in. He was in his home clothes, his face placid—no guilt at all about the night away, no sign he intended to explain it.

He looked me up and down with a sharp eye, his tone edged with displeasure. “Where are you going this early?”

I stepped past him and put on my shoes at the door. “A tryout.”

He gave a cold little laugh. “Aurora, you should listen to me and stay home and take care of me and Ethan. Stop overreaching, all right?”

“You think finding that woman Julia gets you into BKL? She’s lying to you. She just wants to watch you make a fool of yourself. I’m the only one looking out for you.”

He glanced at his watch. “I have to be at a meeting at two in the suit you pressed. That’s what you’re good at.”

I looked at Liam standing there so far above me, and I stamped my shoe down hard on the floor. The ugly words jammed at the back of my throat and came out as: “Whether I’m overreaching—we’ll see.”

Then I left without looking back.

Yesterday’s car had gone to the shop, so I took one of the cars Liam rarely drove.

By the time I reached the club’s underground garage it was eight.

Julia couldn’t come with me today, so I followed the message she’d sent that morning straight up to the seventeenth floor.

The door plate read LAND TESTING. I stepped up and was about to knock when a woman in workout clothes beat me to it.

“Come in,” a low voice said from inside.

She shot me a smug look, pushed the door open, and didn’t close it behind her.

I stood in the doorway and looked through the half-open door.

The man with a fitness coach’s badge on his chest was Daniel Miller. He would be the one running today’s land test.

Vincent—the head coach Julia and Erik had talked about yesterday—I probably wouldn’t meet until I’d passed everything else.

As if he felt my eyes on him, Daniel looked up and met them. Something mocking flickered through his expression.

Nerves jolted through me. I dropped my head at once and stepped back a pace.

What was that look?

Did he know about Erik’s recommendation? Did he dislike players who came in through the back door?

When I looked up again, Daniel was out of view, and the training room filled with the sound of a woman and the equipment.

Her face was flushed red, her head down, small panting breaths escaping her. It was only the basic land test, and she was clearly struggling.

When the last item was done she looked at Daniel, uneasy.

He raised his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temple. “Do you know what a substitute is for?”

Her mouth moved; he cut her off.

“A substitute has to be ready to go on at any moment. You’re supposed to have the same capacity as a starting player—not be half dead from a basic fitness test.”

“You didn’t pass. Please leave.”

Her face collapsed. She turned and rushed out, wounded.

Seeing me, she sneered. “If I can’t do it, an old woman like you has no prayer.”

And she shoved past me, furious.

I frowned at her back.

I didn’t know her. Why would failing her own test turn her hostility on me? Unreasonable.

I didn’t get far with the thought before Daniel’s voice pulled me back.

“Aurora.”

I straightened my workout clothes and walked in carefully.

After I’d introduced myself briefly, I began the basic land fitness test.

The report Julia had handed in listed height, weight, body fat percentage, and muscle mass, so today’s testing centered on explosiveness, strength, speed, agility, and aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

Forty-five minutes later the last item was finished and I let out a small breath.

Daniel bent over his notebook, ticking and marking, and didn’t look up for a while.

“This is only the basic land test,” he said at last. “The ice evaluation is much harder than anything in here. If you’re this strained by these, I don’t think you can handle a substitute’s spot.”

My chest tightened. My palms went damp.

Was I cut? Thrown out before I’d even met the head coach...

Daniel folded his arms across his chest. “How long has it been since you trained at high intensity?”

“You heard what I said to the one before you. A substitute goes in at any moment.”

“Your level isn’t good enough.”

I lowered my eyes, nodded that I understood, and turned to leave.

Then Daniel spoke again.

“But since Erik and Julia vouched for you, and you’re a former Olympic champion...”

“I’ll give you a chance. Train with me for a month, then test again. If you still can’t—”

I broke in, excited. “I can. I can definitely do it.”

Daniel looked at me, that mockery flickering behind his eyes again. “Then I’ll see you on the training ground.”