5. Savannah
FIVE
SAVANNAH
Logan isn’t waiting by the stretching room when I get to the rink today, like he has been the past few days.
Something that feels suspiciously like disappointment settles in my chest, but I quickly push that away because what the hell?
I shouldn’t be disappointed that Mr. Annoying isn’t going to be watching me stretch.
Max arrives late as always, and we jump right into our warmup.
“Where’s Coach?” Max asks. I’m on my back, and he’s pushing my leg as close to my face as he can get it. Unfortunately, my hamstrings are always the tightest muscles in my body.
“No idea,” I manage to say.
We switch legs. “Do you have another day of attitude on deck for him?”
I roll my eyes. “I never plan it. It just comes out.”
The other day, when I brought up his retirement, Logan did everything he could to avoid answering.
I almost felt bad for him. Something obviously happened that he doesn’t want to talk about.
Maybe he got an injury, or someone finally decided to investigate him for something.
Although that doesn’t make much sense because we likely would’ve heard of it by now.
His body seems in tip-top shape (not that I’m looking…
much), so an injury doesn’t make sense either.
But something happened. I just know it. It’s none of my business, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious.
“Maybe you should cut him some slack. I mean, it was years ago. It’s not his fault an investigation was never done.”
I scoff at Max. My best friend is turning on me. I’ve noticed that Max and Logan have been chatting and laughing off to the side recently. It seems Logan is trying to pull him over to the dark side, a.k.a his side. Well, I won’t be so easily convinced.
“It’s his fault he never apologized,” I say back stubbornly. If I weren’t in the middle of a back stretch, I would cross my arms over my chest to make my point.
“Would an apology really fix anything, though, Sav? Maybe it’s time to just let it go.”
An apology would mean that Logan acknowledges what he did to me, that he accepts fault. But he hasn’t even brought up the incident. I’m not going to pretend I’m ok with being walked all over like that. Call me petty all you want.
“You don’t understand, Max.”
“Maybe I don’t. But he seems like a nice guy.”
“Am I not doing everything he’s asked? I’m following his stupid instructions. I got in the damn ice bath. If he can’t handle a little attitude, then maybe he’s not meant to be a coach.”
Max laughs, knowing that he’s not going to get me to change my mind at this point. “Alright, Sav. You’re right. I’m just trying to make our time with him go as smooth as possible.”
I don’t respond as I change my position. I understand why Max wants me to drop my anger toward Logan, but I can’t do it. I’m giving him everything I can at this point.
“Ready to skate?” Max gives me his hand and helps pull me up from the ground.
“Let’s do it.”
We make our way to the ice and find Logan sitting on one of the benches, looking at the other skaters. He has a longing on his face that makes me think he misses being on the ice more than he’s letting on.
Come to think of it, in the week he’s been with us so far, I haven’t seen him in skates once.
He’s walked on the ice a few times but in regular shoes.
For a man who basically lived in skates for most of his life, it’s strange that he hasn’t worn any since he’s been here.
I would’ve expected him to skate at least once.
Even Tati tries to get out on the ice a few times a week.
“Morning, Coach,” Max calls out.
Logan stands and looks around as if he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Morning, guys. Ready to skate?”
“Yep,” Max answers a second before he steps on the ice and glides away.
“Why haven’t you skated yet?” I blurt out, unable to keep my thoughts inside my head. Sometimes that’s a real problem for me.
Logan’s brows furrow. “What?”
“I haven’t seen you skate once since you’ve been with us. Why is that?”
He shrugs and looks away from me. “Maybe I’m taking a break.”
Yeah, I don’t buy that one bit. Especially since he’s avoiding eye contact with me. I put my skate guards down next to him. “You know, it’s going to be hard to build trust when you’re lying to us.”
I don’t give him a chance to respond as I take a step out onto the ice. The next time I look back, he’s watching me with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. He knows I’m right.
We skate for what feels like hours. Logan, unfortunately, spends a lot of one-on-one time with us since the other kids he coaches come in after school.
While we work, he takes videos and then makes us watch to see where we can improve.
I’ll admit that he is finding little things to tweak that we’ve never noticed before.
It is semi-helpful, I guess, but I’ll never admit that out loud.
“You guys break for lunch. You’ve got dance class this afternoon,” Logan tells us after almost two hours of skating. My legs feel like actual Jell-O.
“We’re going out to grab lunch. Wanna come with us?” Max asks Logan as we step off the ice. I send a glare in his direction because what the fuck? Max and I had talked about going down the street to one of our favorite little cafes. We most certainly did not discuss asking our coach to tag along.
Logan’s surprised expression moves in my direction. He wants my approval to accept this invitation, and I really don’t want to give it. But Max elbows me, and I drag my eyes to Logan, who is waiting for my response to Max’s extension of this lunch invite.
“Yeah, fine,” I grit out. “You can come.”
Logan chuckles because he knows I don’t want him to come, but instead of putting me out of my misery, he accepts.
“Sounds good. Go put your skates up, and I’ll meet you guys by the door. I’ll drive.”
I watch him with my mouth open as he heads toward the door. He’s really coming to lunch with us. What the fuck.
“Come on, Sav. Can’t keep Coach waiting.”
“You’ve lost your mind, Max. Like, I’m actually concerned for your sanity.” Why on Earth would he think this is a good idea?
He laughs and grabs my hand, pulling me toward the locker room. “Come on. I think you just need to spend more time with him.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to help.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But let’s just try it. If today doesn’t go well, then I’ll never invite him again.”
“Promise?”
“Pinky promise.”
I sigh and head to the women’s locker room to grab my sneakers and purse. This might end up being the longest lunch of my life.
We follow Logan to his car, and, of course, he heads to the fancy Audi parked all the way in the back of the lot. I guess this is the kind of car an Olympic gold medalist would drive.
God, I’m being so judgmental. I’m not usually this bad. I swear it’s Logan pulling it out of me involuntarily.
Logan heads to the passenger side of the car and opens the door. Then, his eyes look up and meet mine.
Is he opening the door for me? Surely not.
I look around like someone else is standing behind me who might be joining us, but no, it’s just me and Max.
Max nudges me, and I come out of my surprised trance and go toward the open door. “Thank you,” I grumble as I slide onto the leather seat.
Logan shuts the door. I notice he does not open the door for Max before he climbs into the driver’s seat next to me with Max in the back.
Alright, that was strange, but in an attempt to keep the peace, I keep my mouth shut.
Max gives Logan the directions while I look around the car.
It’s clear Logan keeps it in good shape.
Not only does it smell really nice in here, like a new car meets a spicy male scent, but there isn’t any trash.
Like, none. No random papers, no protein bar wrappers, no empty sports drink bottles.
It looks like he could’ve driven it off the lot this morning.
Oh, God. What if he stole it?
No, that’s ridiculous. Just because I don’t like someone doesn’t make them a thief. I hope.
The drive to the cafe doesn’t take long, and before I know it, we’re standing in line to order our food.
“Ah, Savannah. Max. Good to see you! Been a few weeks,” the sweet lady at the counter says when we get up to place our order.
“Yeah, we had a few weeks off at the end of last season, but now we’re back.”
She smiles and nods. “Did you bring a new skater with you?” Her eyes focus on Logan.
“Oh, uh, no. He’s our new coach,” I explain.
She leans in to me and whispers, “He’s very cute, yes?”
I feel my cheeks heat a little as I let out an awkward laugh. Yes, Logan is good-looking. Before ‘The Incident,’ I might’ve even said I had a crush on him, just like every other woman and some men in the skating community. Too bad those feelings were gone in an instant.
This woman is old enough to be my grandmother, and I know she means well, which is why I choose not to tell her what a terrible person Logan is. Instead, I simply nod and give her my order.
When Logan gets up to the counter, I hear her say, “You better lead them to victory.” I choke on a laugh because she makes it sound like we’re headed into battle.
Logan doesn’t miss a beat. “I plan on it.”
Max finds an open table. I make sure to sit on the opposite side of the table from Logan. Which is good and bad. I don’t have to sit next to him, but now I have to look at his stupid face.
“So, Logan, what made you decide on Colorado? You were based out of Chicago, right?” Max asks. Max has always been so good around people. When we’re together, he’s always in charge of small talk. I’m convinced he could talk to anyone about anything.
“Yeah.” He takes a drink of his water, and I try my hardest not to watch his throat work as he swallows, but for some unknown reason, I’m mesmerized. Once he swallows, he continues. “My aunt lives here and my mom wanted to be closer to her, so I came too.”
The correct follow-up question would be to ask if that’s why he retired, but dear sweet little Max doesn’t go that route. “Well, Colorado is great. I’ve lived here my whole life and highly recommend it. I love that we travel all over the world, but I’m always happy to come back home.”
“That’s great. I’m excited to explore the area. I’ve heard there’s a lot of good hiking.”
“Yes!” Max says way too excitedly. “There are tons of great hiking spots. I’d be happy to show you some. I try to get out on the trails at least once a month. Sometimes I can convince Savannah to come with me, but she’s more of an indoor kind of girl. Maybe we can all go together.”
I roll my eyes, but it’s true. I’ll run outside, but only if the temperature is between sixty and seventy degrees. If it’s raining or even a chance of rain, game over. Not doing it.
“That would be great,” Logan says. “What do you think, Savannah?”
“Hmm. Yeah, I’ll have to think about that.”
Max wraps his arms around my shoulder, pulling me in and kissing my forehead. “Come on, Sav. It’ll be fun.”
I wince. I hate being pulled into him like this, and I especially hate being put on the spot. “Ugh, fine.”
Max releases me, satisfied that he got what he wanted. “See, Logan. She’s not so bad.”
Logan smiles and shakes his head. “So, Savannah, are you from Colorado, too?”
“No. I’m from Nebraska.”
“Do you miss it?” he asks. I look up from my food to see if he actually cares or if he’s just asking me to be nice, but he’s giving me his full attention while he waits for my answer.
“Um, not really. My parents and my siblings moved to Colorado with me when I was young. There were more opportunities here for skating. We lived in a really, really small town. I like it better here.”
“What do you do here if you don’t like to hike?”
“I skate,” I state the obvious.
He’s not rattled by my attitude, which kinda pisses me off. “What else?”
“I mean, I just graduated college last semester, so between that and skating, I didn’t have much time for anything else.”
“What’s your degree in?”
“What is this? Twenty fucking questions?” I ask.
Logan chuckles. “Just trying to get to know you.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t,” I say, stabbing my fork into my salad.
“Are you going to spend the next two years hating me? Because I’m not going anywhere. I’m fully committed to getting you two to the Olympics.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Are you going to keep pretending like you didn’t ruin our chances at the last Olympics?”
Max sucks in a breath next to me. Logan leans back in his chair and sighs.
“I’m not pretending anything, Savannah.” God, I hate the way he says my name.
“I had received some bad news the night before that competition. I was not in the right headspace to be skating, but I felt like I owed it to my partner and my coach to be there. I know it’s no excuse.
I didn’t—I didn’t even realize what happened until last week when Tati told me to look it up.
No one said anything to me after the competition.
I vaguely remember hearing about a couple pulling out of the competition, but my mind was elsewhere. ”
“I don’t forgive you,” I say, even though I know he didn’t even apologize. Max squeezes my leg under the table, but I don’t look at him. I keep my eyes glued on Logan. “Do you know how hard it was to come back from that injury?”
“I can’t imagine. And I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’m asking you to give me a chance to help you make your dream come true.”
“I’m. Trying,” I grit out.
“I guess that’s all I can ask for.”
I grab my fork and take a huge bite of my salad, ending this conversation.
“Well,” Logan continues. “I do have some exciting news for you. We’re signed up to compete in the New York International Championship at the end of July.”
My jaw drops, full of food and everything. “What?”
“That’s in like six weeks,” Max says. I’m glad I’m not the only one concerned this time.
“I know,” Logan says calmly. “So we better get to work.”