Chapter 42 First public appearance

Chapter 42 First public appearance

Zack's POV

She came downstairs in a dark blue dress with her hair pinned up and I had to look at my phone for three seconds so my face wouldn't do something stupid.

"Ready?" she said.

"Yeah."

She picked up her clutch from the hall table. She checked her reflection in the mirror by the door. She adjusted one pin. She did not look at me while she did any of this and I was grateful because I needed the extra seconds.

The dress was not the problem. The problem was that the dress fit her the way skating fit her. Like it had been waiting for her to show up.

I opened the car door for her. She got in. I went around to the driver's side and started the engine.

"Blair wants us there by seven-thirty," she said.

"I know."

"She said there's a photographer."

"I know."

"Are you going to say anything other than I know."

"I know." I looked at her. She almost smiled. That was enough.

The Glacier Sports event was at the Harrington Hotel downtown. Valet parking. Glass doors. The kind of venue that said money without having to spell it out. Blair Reid was in the lobby when we walked in. She clocked us immediately. She smiled. Not at us. At the picture we made.

"Perfect," she mouthed from across the room.

I put my hand at Mia's back. Low. Light. Professional. She didn't flinch. She'd stopped flinching about a week ago, which I'd noticed, and which I was not going to think about tonight because tonight was about the deal and the deal required my brain to stay exactly where it was.

The room was full. Coaches. Federation people. Sponsors. A handful of skaters I recognized from competitions and a handful I didn't. Music playing low enough to talk over. Waiters with trays. The standard setup.

"Drink?" I said.

"Water."

"Brave."

"One of us has to stay sharp."

I flagged a waiter. Water for her. Nothing for me. I needed my hands free.

We worked the room for twenty minutes. Handshakes. Small talk. The kind of conversation that existed purely so people could see you having it. Mia was good at this. Better than I'd expected. She was warm without being soft. She laughed at the right moments. She kept her body angled toward me in a way that read as natural.

Blair was watching from across the room. Satisfied.

I kept my hand at Mia's back. I kept it there because the deal required it. That was the story. That was the only story I was telling myself tonight.

Then a man I didn't recognize approached us. Mid-fifties. Silver hair. Expensive suit, bad tie. He had the confidence of someone who had been in the skating world long enough to stop caring whether people liked him.

"Mercer." He extended his hand. I took it. "Heard you settled in. Surprising choice, this rink."

"Best ice in the state."

He smiled like I'd told a joke. "Best skater on it, too." He looked at Mia. "Lucky you got the partnership before Harmon could think to ask."

Mia went still under my hand. Not visibly. Not in a way anyone else would catch. But I felt her spine straighten by a fraction and her weight shift onto her back foot like she was bracing.

I kept my face exactly where it was.

"I'm sorry," Mia said. Her voice was polished. Controlled. The voice she used when she was working very hard not to say something else. "Before Harmon could think to ask what."

The man looked between us. He had the expression of someone who had just realized he had said something he should not have said in front of someone who did not know it yet.

"Sorry, dear. I thought everyone knew."

"Knew what," Mia said.

I felt my hand tighten at her back. I made it stop.

The man cleared his throat. "Harmon put his name in for the partnership. Before you signed with Mercer. Word got around the circuit. I assumed you'd been told."

"You assumed wrong," Mia said.

Her voice was ice. Perfect, beautiful ice. The man looked at me like I might help him. I did not help him.

"Well," he said. "Lovely to meet you both." He walked away fast enough that the waiter had to step aside.

Mia's hand found her water glass on the nearest table. She picked it up. She took a sip. She set it down. Everything she did was controlled and precise and none of it fooled me for a second.

"Mia."

"Not here."

"Okay."

"I said not here, Zack."

"I heard you."

She turned to face the room. She put a smile on that would have fooled anyone who didn't know what she looked like three seconds ago. She walked toward the far side of the ballroom. I followed. Not close. Close enough.

Blair appeared at my elbow. "Everything all right?"

"Fine," I said.

"You both look tense."

"We're not tense. We're working."

Blair studied my face for two seconds. She studied Mia's face for two more. Then she nodded and disappeared back into the crowd.

The rest of the event was a performance. We stayed another forty-five minutes. I smiled at the right people. Mia smiled at the right people. She did not bring up what the man had said. She didn't need to. I could feel it sitting between us for the rest of the evening. Heavy. Patient. Waiting for a car ride.

We left at nine-fifteen. The valet brought the car. I opened her door. She got in without looking at me. I went around. I started the engine. I pulled onto the main road.

She sat with her hands in her lap. Her jaw was tight. Her eyes were on the windshield but she was not seeing the road. She was seeing the man's face when he said the word Harmon and she was replaying it on a loop behind her eyes.

I knew because I was doing the same thing.

Four blocks of silence. Five. Six.

Then she said it.

"What did he mean." Her voice was quiet. Flat. Not angry yet. Getting there. "Before Luca could think to ask what."

I kept my eyes on the road.

She turned in her seat to face me. I could feel her looking at the side of my face with the kind of focus she usually saved for the ice.

"Zack."