Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CATALINA
"I should be there with you." Dad's regretful voice came down the line.
I adjusted the phone against my ear. "I'd be lying if I said I don't wish you were, but I can handle this. You're needed up there in Opal Springs for your patients."
"As your father, and as your coach, I should be there," he said. "But I'm there in spirit. I know you'll keep me posted every step of the way."
"Of course I will," I said. "I'll call you again in a few hours."
"I'll be here, waiting impatiently." He chuckled. "I love you, honey."
"I love you too, Dad." I hung up and sent him a GIF of a hug before sliding the phone into my pocket. I wheeled my suitcase out of Melbourne airport and over to the waiting car I'd booked ahead.
The morning air was colder here than in Opal Springs.
Brisk, with a cutting breeze. Judging by the people around me, wrapped in jackets and scarves, I was the only one who enjoyed the refreshing, biting cold.
Still, I was happy to climb into the warmth of a car and sit back for the drive to Docklands.
I asked the driver to drop me off near the stadium, and walked the rest of the way to the training centre.
Pulling my suitcase through the door felt like coming home. I'd spent hours practising on the rink in here, racing against other skaters and learning how to be the best.
At the same time, this homecoming was bittersweet. It was here I injured my knee. For a while, I thought I'd never race again, but here I was. Determined to prove to the coaches that I was well enough and strong enough to qualify for the Olympics.
The actual qualifiers were in a few weeks, but they wanted to see me back here to test me out in person.
I was more than happy to prove myself.
"Hey!" Footsteps caught up to me and I found myself enveloped in a hug. "It's about time you showed up here!"
I laughed. "I missed you too, Eiko." A good friend of mine for years, she was tiny compared to me, but made up for it in enthusiasm.
I waited for her to let me go so I could turn around and hug her back.
"I told them you'd return," she said. "I said, Cat loves us too much to stay away."
"I do. I was never here for the skating. I just wanted to hang out with you and the others."
She laughed. "You suck at lying, but thank you. My ego could always use the boost."
I didn't think there was too much wrong with her ego, but compared to the Ghouls, she was as humble as they came. As refreshing as the winter breeze.
"Is Felicia around?" As far as I could tell, nothing had changed. It was like I hadn't left at all. People bustled past here and there, but through a set of glass doors, the rink was empty and in darkness.
To some, it might have looked ominous, but a thrill of excitement passed through me. I'd worked hard for this moment and it was finally here. Once I got through this, the trials would be the final hurdle.
My dream was so close I could almost reach out and touch it. I wanted to curl my fingers around it, grab hold of it, and never let it go.
"She's waiting in her office for you. Do you remember the way?" Eiko grinned teasingly.
"I think I might," I replied. "I'll shout for you if I get lost." I could find my way to the coaches' office in my sleep. Or anywhere else in the building.
"You do that, but you better shout loud, because I have to get to work." Another hug followed a cheeky grin before she was hurrying away toward the front doors.
I shook my head at her back and wheeled my suitcase towards the offices at the other end of the building.
Felicia's door was open, but I tapped anyway, not wanting to startle her or be rude. Getting on the wrong side of the short haired woman was always a bad idea.
She glanced up from her desk. "Catalina. You're looking well. How's the knee?" Her eyes dipped to my leg. Of course that would be the first thing she'd ask. That was a priority and my reason for being here today. She'd want to be sure I wasn't going to waste her time.
"Back to strength," I said. "I'm ready to show you." At the same time, I was trying really hard to keep myself from throwing up the meal I ate on the plane.
"Excellent." She looked up at my face, her brown eyes shrewd, assessing. She missed nothing that went on around her. She nodded. "Go and get changed and I'll meet you on the ice."
"Yes, Coach." I backed out the door and hurried to do as she asked. A shiver of nerves passed through me, but I pushed it away. I had to focus on what I was here to do. If I screwed this up, then I'd come all the way to Melbourne for nothing.
Don't fuck it up, I told myself.
The ice felt good under my skates. Right. I could have slid across the surface for hours, enjoying the way I moved across it faster, then slow, taking the bends gently while I warmed up.
Yeah, it was also nice to skate somewhere I didn't have a hostile audience.
The rivalries here were mostly friendly ones.
No one trying to tear me down or make my body respond to them.
No one videoing me, ready to post it online if I failed.
No eyes following like they wanted to eat me up. No temptation for me to let them.
"Looking good so far," Felicia said.
I wasn't sure if her scrutiny had risen any higher than my knee.
Fair enough. It was easy for me to claim I was fine and another thing for her to see for herself.
I couldn't come back and train if I wasn't in shape.
I'd already had to undergo an intensive physical from a doctor who wasn't related to me.
If at any point they decided I wasn't up to it, that would be that.
"Are you ready to show me what you've got?" She pulled out a stopwatch and held it in her hand. "Three laps."
"More than ready," I agreed. I was itching to get up to speed, like the ice was calling my name. Telling me to go faster, faster, faster.
I skated over to the starting line. An actual line here, not a traffic cone. For some reason, I almost missed our makeshift racetrack. Dad and I did the best we could, but it wasn't much in comparison to the real thing. Everything suddenly felt so much more real and serious.
I leaned forward, head down, arms by my side, ready. I rolled my shoulders to loosen my muscles. Too much tension wasn't a good thing. So was too little.
"Go," Felicia said. She didn't need to shout. That one word was enough to reach to the far side of the rink, much less to me who stood a few metres away.
Smooth, like I'd done a million times before, I started to skate. Like always, the rest of the world disappeared and all that was left was me, the ice and the wind that brushed past my face.
I smiled to myself as I dipped into the first bend, the knuckles of my glove brushing across the cold, hard surface.
I straightened up and flew faster, maybe faster than I'd ever gone before.
In the back of my mind, I remembered crashing out in front of the whole hockey team.
Even though they weren't here to see it, I took the second bend with practised ease.
I wasn't going to hit the padded edge of the rink, not today.
Felicia was a blur as I passed her to finish the first lap and the second. On the third, she called out, "Time."
I gradually slowed before skating in a wide circle, and skidded to a stop beside her. I'd barely broken a sweat.
Until I looked at her face.
She was one of those people who were almost impossible to read. Her expression made my heart race faster. Sweat sprung up under my arms and under my gloves.
Was she about to tell me she didn't think I was up to competing in the trials? I could go back to Opal Springs and settle down to life as a vet, but the whole hockey team was going to have a good laugh at my expense.
Fuck.
Finally, she nodded. "It's good to see you back to where you were. I wish there was enough money to lure your father back here to coach. He clearly knows what he's doing."
"Thank you," I said tentatively. "I guess it doesn't hurt that he's a doctor. He knows my limits better than I do."
She chuckled. "That wouldn't surprise me one bit. People as competitive as us tend to like pushing those limits as hard as possible."
"We like to win," I said unapologetically. "It's in our blood."
"That it is," she agreed. "You recorded a passable time.
I noticed no tightness or weakness in your knee.
According to the doctor, you passed the physical.
I need to consult with the committee, but I see no reason why you can't compete in the trials.
We'd welcome you back here to resume training.
" She dropped the stopwatch into the pocket of her hoodie.
A pile of weight was immediately lifted from my chest. I could breathe again.
"I'd like that," I said. "I have a few things I need to sort out in Opal Springs, like time off, but I look forward to getting back to things here."
"I have to speak to the committee first," she warned. "I'll put in a good word. They usually have the sense to listen to me."
I grinned. "I'm sure they will this time too."
"When I tell them I think you're our best hope for a women's short track medal, they will," she said. "Things like that tend to sway people's minds."
I could happily have skated a hundred laps around the rink after her words. Coming back from injury was difficult, but to hear she believed in me like that… It meant everything. I would have given her a hug but I knew she didn't like them. Not even a handshake. I respected that and I respected her.
She wasn't the easiest person in the world to deal with, but she was honest. If she told you something, you could take it as gospel.
Sometimes her words came across as harsh, but there was no malice in them.
I doubted she had a mean bone in her body.
Still, a person had to have thick skin around her.
Some people didn't want to hear her blunt honesty.
Personally, I preferred it to bullshit and pretence.
What was the point of sugarcoating something if doing so led to damage in the long run?
If a skater wasn't good enough, that was something they should be told. How else would they get better?
"I appreciate your faith in me," I said instead. "I'll do my best not to let you down."
She snorted slightly. "Be more concerned about letting yourself down. We are, after all, our own worst enemies."
I couldn't argue with that, although I could think of a couple of guys who were almost as shitty to me as I was to myself.
"Yeah, we are," I said softly. I'd miss my father while I was back in Melbourne, but I was already finding it difficult to get those guys out of my head.