Chapter 48 Drew
Drew
THE DAY OF THE CLOSING CEREMONY
“O Canada! O Canada! Our home and native land!” sang Luiz at the top of his lungs as they left the press office and walked out into the snow.
“Don’t sing that when we get there, or they will kill you.” Drew smiled.
Team USA had won the quarterfinal match and breezed through the semifinals, but Canada won the final.
Thandie and Ari had both spent the past few days lamenting how close they’d been to gold, but the experience of getting this far had bonded them.
They would always be rivals on the rink, but things seemed to be thawing between them the more time they spent together off the ice.
A few of their teammates had been friends for years, so with their competitions over, they’d started hanging out and going to watch games together around the Village.
To Drew’s surprise, they’d even gone so far as deciding to celebrate the final night of the Games together.
While most teams made it to the opening ceremony, only a few athletes attended the closing ceremony in person.
Unlike the Summer Games, where people lingered in the host city for an extended summer vacation, after two weeks in the snow, most of the winter sports athletes had already gone home.
So, Thandie and their remaining teammates had taken over the hot chocolate bar, filled it with their favorite people, and made it the site of their closing ceremony watch party.
Drew walked in and smiled at the fairy lights strewn across the room, the cookies iced with world flags, and the big screen playing the winter highlights as they waited for the final broadcast to begin.
“When you said closing ceremony party, I thought you meant a casual hangout,” Luiz said. He pointed to the Zeus branding on the tables, goodie bags, and paper cups.
“Well, that’s all thanks to you, Luiz,” Thandie said as she greeted them at the door wearing a chunky winter sweater and a sparkly silver skirt. “You’re the one that got Harrison banned for—”
“I wasn’t involved, remember,” Luiz said, giving her a firm look as he picked up a drink, but the twinkle in his eyes spoke for itself.
“You’re right. What I meant to say was Harrison being reckless enough to take drugs at his medal party worked in our favor.
” Thandie smiled. It wasn’t kind to celebrate someone’s downfall, but when Drew had explained the entire situation to his sister, she’d happily cut ties with Harrison and decided that she wanted no part in a campaign that included a man who’d been willing to hurt her career to get back at his ex.
And it worked in her favor. Harrison’s drug scandal had put his professional sports career on hold.
Ruining his reputation when there were already stories floating around about his misconduct behind the scenes had made it pretty easy for Zeus to break their contract with him and award it to Thandie instead.
But instead of allowing them to make her the sole ambassador at the heart of their new 2026 campaign, Thandie had called them up and made a deal to split it with several other women who’d been successful at that year’s Games.
The result was an awe-inspiring video that featured various women defying the odds, exceeding expectations, and smashing people’s preconceptions of them by becoming the greatest athletes in their sport.
It had gone live the day after Thandie’s silver-medal win and was shaping up to become one of Zeus’s most successful campaigns.
So, it was no wonder why they’d sponsored Thandie’s closing ceremony party and made a commitment to investing more money into training, facilities, and equipment for young women in ice hockey across the world.
“So I’m not saying I forgive you for going behind my back.
But I guess it worked out pretty well,” Thandie said to her brother as he picked up a cup of hot chocolate and looked out at the party before him, marveling at how his terrible decisions had accidentally worked in his sister’s favor. But he’d learned his lesson.
“No secrets next time,” Drew said.
“No secrets.” His sister nodded, then rattled off a list of images she wanted him to capture.
His apology for lying to her was a lifetime of free photographs, so he lifted his camera from his neck and took a picture of Thandie and Luiz against the backdrop of a huge chocolate fountain.
The three of them chatted for a while about who else was coming before Thandie made her way out into the crowd to go back to being the social butterfly she was.
Drew watched the party unfold, noticing all the people in the room experiencing it from different points of view.
The Team GB ice hockey players congregating around the chocolate fountain as they exchanged stories and laughed about something he was too far away to hear.
Luiz schmoozing with the social team from Zeus Athletics, no doubt plotting out his next career move.
The athletes heading over to the makeshift dance floor that had popped up in the middle of the room, and the family members who’d traveled to St. Moritz sitting on the outskirts as they caught up with the people they loved.
Drew’s grandparents had invited themselves to the party and were deep in conversation with Thandie’s coach, and Ari’s sister, Anesu, was having a starstruck conversation with a gold medal–winning figure skater.
Drew had never really loved parties. He’d always felt that he was better suited for the sidelines.
But being surrounded by people who, like him, had successfully gotten through the Games felt pretty magical.
He lifted his camera and took a photo of the scene that lay before him then went to get a drink.
But then, right as he was about to turn a corner, he heard a laugh he would have recognized anywhere.
He turned around to walk in the direction of it until he saw her. Ari.
She was wearing a long, white knit dress that folded over at the shoulders and hugged her curves in all the right ways.
Her hair was tied back, but a few curls fell forward, gently framing her face.
She’d been laughing at something one of her friends said while holding a clear glass mug filled with the spiced apple tea they were serving at the bar.
But when she saw him, she cut her conversation short and walked straight over.
When she kissed him, he could taste the cinnamon and sugar on her lips.
When they parted, she placed a gentle hand on his cheek and looked at him, her eyes soft and sparkly in the dim evening light.
“You know we were supposed to break up after the last game, right?”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m bad at sticking to the plan,” Drew said, pulling her into his arms and leaning in to kiss her again.
“Want to get out of here?” he asked, pointing over to the balcony on the other side of the room.
When she nodded, he took her hand and led her out, feeling all warm inside. As if they’d just met.
When they walked out onto the balcony, they were met by a dark night sky, lit up by a dozen constellations and a curved half-moon.
The mountains were coated with snow and the air was chillier than ever.
But the balcony was lined with outdoor heaters and blanket-covered outdoor seats, so they found an empty bench and snuggled beside each other.
“I applied for the job with Hans,” he said after a while. She was the first person to know.
“Did you get it?” she asked, looking up, her expression full of hope.
Since deciding not to return to USC, he’d opened himself up to the possibility of taking a year to chase opportunities around the world, as long as he could spend most of that year in Wisconsin.
His grandparents still disagreed with his choices, but he knew he was doing what felt right for him.
He’d sent in his application for the job with Hans only a few days ago, so he still had no idea if it would work out.
The logistics of potentially traveling for six weeks put everything up in the air, and he didn’t know whether he’d be able to do a good enough job if he did get the position.
But Drew had decided it was better to apply than spend the rest of his life wondering what might have happened if he’d been brave enough to take the risk.
“I won’t know for a few more weeks. But if I do get it, I’ll be in London in April,” he said. Her eyes lit up.
“And I’m going to be flying to your side of the ocean to watch the North American playoffs in May,” she said, telling him how an eBay bidding war for the vintage Cartier watch she owned had paid for her flights and hotel. “I’ll be in Chicago for two weeks.”
“Which is practically next door to Wisconsin.”
“Really? It doesn’t look close on the map.”
“It’s just a three-hour drive,” he said, reaching for one of the blankets and wrapping it around them. Despite the outdoor heaters, it was still pretty chilly outside. When he looked back at her, Ari had a puzzled expression on her face.
“Only an American would say a three-hour drive is just next door,” she laughed. But the possibility of extending their time together into the spring was more than enough to keep his hopes up.
“And then after that?” he asked, reaching for her hand and kissing the back of it.
“Well, the last time we parted ways, we found each other, right? I get the feeling it will happen again. Plus, I’ve been speaking to Thandie.…”
“I can’t believe you’re friends now.” He smiled.
“She’s a riot, and we should have become friends sooner.
Me and the girls went to lunch with her the other day and we got to talking.
I love London, but all of the best ice hockey teams are on the other side of the world.
So she put me in touch with a few coaches, and who knows, I might be on your side of the pond by the summer,” she said.
“Are you serious?” Drew asked, sitting up in excitement and looking at her, seeing the hopeful expression in her eyes.
“It’s too soon to know, they might not even want me.”
“They’d be fools not to. But what about your family?” He turned around to look through the window and back inside at the party where her mom and sister were tearing it up on the dance floor.
“They’ll figure out how to manage without me.” She shrugged. Drew heard a bit of guilt in her voice, but they’d talked enough about the push and pull she felt. Detaching a little bit was the best thing she could do for their relationship.
“So, winter in St. Moritz and summer…” she said, unsure.
Drew had given up on certainty, but he knew exactly where he wanted to be that night.
“In the summer, we’ll be wherever we’re meant to be. But tonight? Let’s dance.” He took her hand, then led her back inside to the dance floor—right in the heart of a room filled with the people they loved.
Maybe Ari and Drew would be in the same part of the world again by the summertime.
Or maybe they’d take their flights back home in a few days and spend the rest of the year apart.
It could all click into place, or fall apart before it even had the chance to begin.
A lot could happen in the days they had left together in the mountains.
But who knew if they’d be able to cultivate something strong enough to withstand the realities of life beyond the Village?
It was all up in the air, but for once, Drew wasn’t worried about all the ways it could end.
Because there was no worst-case scenario that could eclipse the hope of falling in love.
As an old love song played out of the speakers, she put her hands on his shoulders, and he wrapped his hands around her waist.
“I didn’t know you could dance.” She smiled.
“I don’t skate, but I can definitely dance,” he said, holding her close and then spinning her out into a twirl that ended with them face-to-face.
The room was packed, but he didn’t notice.
Outside, snowflakes had begun to dance their way down from the sky.
Soon the night would be lit up with fireworks, just like the night they’d first met.
It was as if they were figurines in a snow globe, looking into each other’s eyes as the world spun around.
Everything else faded away until it was just them.
Drew realized he wasn’t just forming a memory.
That thought was a glimpse into a potential future, a whisper of what lay ahead.
He would gravitate toward her at every party.
And she would reach for his hand at the edge of every dance floor.
They wouldn’t need to escape to be themselves, because they could make midnight rooftops of train carriages, bookshop aisles, and kitchen floors.
Spend miniature lifetimes telling each other their secrets and making stories of their own.
It could last eighty years, seven months, six days, or just a few more hours.
But as long as they stayed in each other’s arms until the end of the song, this would be more than enough.