CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Lexi glared at Mik, trying to keep her temper under control. However, the man was making it exceedingly difficult. After so many years together, he knew what buttons to push with her, and it was infuriating.
But they’d never fought as much as they had in the past few weeks. She tried to keep things calm, but the only time Mik stopped trying to antagonize her was when they were at a competition.
“I agreed to the Olympics,” Lexi told him. “You’re just lucky that I also decided to go to Nationals and Worlds. But that’s it. Once Worlds is done, we’re finished.”
It seemed no matter how many times she told him that, he just wasn’t hearing her. Well, he probably did hear her. He was just choosing to ignore what she was saying because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear from her.
Mik crossed his arms and returned her glare. “You owe me.”
“I what?” She mirrored his position, crossing her arms as they faced off. “You dropped me. How can you say I owe you anything?”
“If it weren’t for your father stealing all of our money, we wouldn’t have lost so much.”
Lexi’s stomach twisted at his words. She knew in her mind that she didn’t bear the responsibility for what her father had done, and yet… the guilt was still there.
For a moment, she considered giving in to his demands. Maybe she did owe him. But how much did she owe him? Would he use this manipulation to gain control over her and her life for as long as it served his purposes?
She couldn’t allow herself to be caught in that situation. Over the past few weeks, she’d come to understand what she did and didn’t want in her life, and Mik and competitive skating were landing firmly in the “didn’t” column.
“I don’t owe you anything, Mikhail,” she told him, keeping her voice as calm as possible. “I am not responsible for my father’s actions. He—and he alone—bears that.”
“If it weren’t for your father, my family would be in a much better position.”
“You benefited from what he did as much as I did,” Lexi reminded him. “You didn’t have to pay for ice time, the coaches, or the costumes. If you hadn’t been partnered with me, you would have had to lay out money for all of that stuff. You were happy enough to take all those freebies along the way.”
Mik spat a curse in her direction. “I probably would have been better off without you as a partner.”
That statement was laughable, but Lexi knew that if she laughed, it would make the situation worse. There was no way he could have found a better partner. They had been a perfect pair, and they had the gold medals to prove it.
“I should have found someone else and paid for all those things. At least my family would have something.”
Lexi didn’t believe that they were quite as destitute as Mik was making them out to be. His parents were highly sought after research scientists who—according to Mik—the US government had helped escape from Russia in order for them to work for the States.
Had they lost money to her dad? Undoubtedly, but from what Mik had said over the years, they’d been well compensated for the information and skills they brought to the government lab where they both worked. They’d had a gorgeous home, several cars, a big boat, and always took expensive vacations.
“So your family had to move?” she asked. “Did they sell the boat and the cars?”
Mik’s expression hardened, and when he didn’t answer her questions, she figured none of that had happened. Meanwhile, she and her mom had lost their home in Maine and their vacation home in Colorado.
And Mik had still had his reputation. Meanwhile, Lexi had been blackballed, and she was done with it all. She’d shown the world that she still had the ability to skate and win, so she had nothing left to prove.
“I’m done skating competitively,” Lexi reiterated. “It was always the plan for us to retire after this Olympics anyway, even before everything happened with my dad.”
“But we were supposed to have started up a skating school. That’s not going to happen now that we don’t have the rink.”
Even if they still had the rink, there was no way Lexi would work alongside Mik. They’d managed to keep the cracks from showing while they’d competed, but it wasn’t sustainable long-term.
Mik clearly disliked her, and Lexi couldn’t say that she held any fondness for the man she’d once planned to marry. If they continued to work together, it would be far from an ideal arrangement.
“You wanted one more Olympic medal so you could end your career on a high note instead of the low note it would have been with Amberlyn,” Lexi reminded him. “You got what you wanted, so just let it go. If you keep pushing, we can just go ahead and pull out of Worlds, because I can’t see skating together with so much tension and anger between us.”
“We are not canceling Worlds,” Mik said with a shake of his finger in her face.
“Enough,” Irina exclaimed with a clap of her hands. “Get to work.”
The fact that the woman had stood silent until the moment Lexi threatened to pull out of Worlds told her that Irina was hoping that Mik might succeed in convincing her to reconsider her retirement. All of it irked Lexi and made her not want to set one blade on the ice.
But still, she jerked off her guards and stepped onto the ice, moving away from the boards with long smooth strokes. She took off, heading for the far end of the ice, eager to work out some of her tension.
It was no surprise when the practice was an abysmal failure. Her individual jumps were wobbly, with her even falling on a couple of them. The pairs elements were outright disastrous.
Lexi wasn’t on board for doing throw jumps, but she also knew better than to voice that objection to Irina. But as Mik flung her into the air, Lexi realized she was in for a rough landing and tried to not tense up too much. Still, after falling on the landing, she slid backward into the boards, knocking the wind out of her.
She sat there for a moment, taking deep breaths. It wasn’t the first time she’d experienced such a fall, but it had been awhile since it had last happened. With an inward groan, she got to her feet, refusing to allow Mik or Irina to see how much it had jarred her. She was going to have some bruises after this practice.
When their training time finally came to an end, Lexi couldn’t have been happier.
“Same time tomorrow,” Irina said, as if Lexi would forget.
Or maybe she was making sure that Lexi didn’t change her mind about Worlds.
“I’m retiring after Worlds, Irina. You and Mik need to understand that.”
Irina gave a single nod of her head, then sailed out of the arena, wrapped in her precious fur coat. Mik wasn’t far behind her.
Lexi let out a long breath, her cheeks puffing with the effort. Since the rink was still quiet, she slumped down on the bench but didn’t remove her skates right away.
She was exhausted. Between the training, the flights, jetlag, and competing, her body had taken a beating. Previously, she hadn’t had as hard a time dealing with all of that, but this time, it was a struggle.
Was it because her body and her mind weren’t in sync? Before, she’d been totally focused on training and competing. Her mind had been committed, and so had her body.
This time around, however, her mind wasn’t one hundred percent on board with the training and competitions. While she’d been at the Olympics, she’d been thinking a lot about her mom, about Wilder and Serenity, about the life she wanted to build outside of competitive skating.
She missed her mom and the hugs she always gave her. She missed coaching the girls. She missed seeing Wilder walk through the door of the rink, his eyes twinkling as he smiled.
She hadn’t wanted to be so far away from everyone. Now she was back in Serenity, and it still wasn’t enough. She hadn’t seen Wilder since her return, and she wondered when she might. It was possible it wouldn’t be until she went to church.
They’d shared a few messages, which had been nice, but it wasn’t the same as talking to him face to face. But it was her own fault that wasn’t happening. She’d pushed him away.
Training had been a convenient excuse. In reality, there had still been time for her to spend with him and the others if she’d allowed herself to.
“Everything okay?”
Lexi straightened and looked up to see Talya standing beside the bench.
“Yep.” Lexi gave her a smile. “How’ve things been here?”
“We’ve had some busy days, but not like we had over the holidays.”
“That’s good.”
“Congrats on winning gold at the Olympics. It was a beautiful free skate.”
Lexi had to force her smile. Her competitions were still a touchy subject, given the argument she and Mik had just had.
“Thanks.”
“Are you going to Worlds?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I hope you get gold again.”
“We’re certainly going to try for it.” Lexi leaned over and unlaced her skates. “But one never knows how it’s going to go.”
Thankfully, Luke arrived then and distracted Talya from their conversation. Lexi finished taking off her skates, then got up and went to the office to get her boots and jacket. She planned to head home and take a long hot bath before falling into bed for a nap.
Somehow, she needed to get her mind and body back on the same track. Hopefully, pampering her body a bit might help.
The ringing of her phone woke Lexi later that night. Though she’d had a nap, she had still gone to bed at her normal time, knowing that she needed all the rest she could get. But apparently, someone was determined to keep her from sleeping undisturbed.
Blinking, she squinted at the phone, then frowned when she saw Irina’s name on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Alexandra, Mikhail has been in a car accident.”
The words hit her hard in her half-dazed state. “What?”
“He was in a car accident and is in the hospital.”
“Is he okay?”
“I don’t know yet. They won’t tell me anything because I’m not family. His parents are on their way. They phoned them but couldn’t give them much information either. Just that he’d been taken to the hospital.”
Lexi sat up, running a hand through her hair and dragging the elastic out. Leaning forward, she said, “Are you at the hospital?”
“No. There’s no hospital here.”
“He’s in Coeur d’Alene?”
“Yes.”
Lexi wanted to pepper her with questions, but it seemed pretty clear that the woman didn’t know anything. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“ Nyet .”
“Well, call me as soon as you have an update, please.”
“I will.” She paused, then said, “You made him very upset with your conversation earlier today.”
Irina’s words left her speechless. For a moment. “Are you telling me it’s my fault that Mik had an accident?”
The non-committal noise Irina made said more than any words could have what the woman thought.
“No, Irina,” Lexi said, coming wide awake. “I done taking responsibility for the actions of others. Not my father and not Mik. If Mik was upset, he had no one but himself to blame. He knew what we agreed to and shouldn’t have tried to convince me to change my mind.”
Rather than respond, Irina hung up, leaving Lexi to deal with a mixture of anger, frustration, and worry. She might not be getting along with Mik, but she didn’t wish him any ill will.
Lexi looked at the time on her phone. 11:04 She’d only been asleep for about an hour, but now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to fall back to sleep.
The urge to call Wilder was strong, and she knew without a doubt that he’d answer her, even though it was late. Just talking to him would make her feel better, she was sure of it.
She didn’t really know how she felt about the situation with Mik beyond worry, especially when she had no details. Was it a concussion? A broken arm? Bumps and bruises? Something worse? How had it happened?
Lexi hated questions with no answers.
She tapped the screen to bring up Wilder’s contact information. Taking a deep breath, she made the call.
“Hello?” His voice was rough, like he’d been asleep already.
“Wilder, it’s me. Lexi.”
“Lexi?” She could hear movement, and then he cleared his throat. “Is something wrong?”
How she wished that she could just call him because she wanted to talk to him. But they didn’t have that sort of relationship, so of course he’d know that her calling him meant something was wrong.
“Lexi?” he prompted.
“Sorry. Irina just called to let me know that Mik has been in a car accident.”
“Really? Is he okay?”
“I don’t know. No one will give us details because we’re not his family.”
“Did they take him to the hospital in Coeur d’Alene?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I know my brother has contacts there and could probably find out how he is, but I don’t think he’d do it because he’s constrained by privacy laws. Is Mik’s family coming?”
“Irina said they were on their way, which makes me think it might be serious.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I probably shouldn’t have called,” she said with a sigh. “I’m just worried and needed to talk to someone.”
“I’m glad you decided that someone was me,” Wilder assured her, his voice gentle. “I told you if you ever needed something to call me.”
“I thought that was for things like a flat tire or getting stuck in a snowbank.”
“Well, it was definitely for those things, but also for other things too. Like this situation.”
Lexi sighed. “Mik and I had a fight earlier today.”
“What about?”
“He doesn’t want to retire after Worlds, and he’s trying to get me to continue competing next season.”
“And you don’t want to?” Wilder asked. “You did so well at the Olympics. I thought you might want to.”
“It’s different now.” Lexi plucked at the fabric of her comforter where it was bunched in her lap. “Whatever connection Mik and I had that made skating with him easy, is now gone. There’s a lot of anger and tension between us.”
“It’s not showing when you skate.”
“That’s good. I work hard to not let it show, and I’m sure Mik does as well.”
“So he didn’t want to take no for an answer?”
Lexi shook her head, even though he couldn’t see the movement. “He said that I owed him.”
“What?” The outrage in Wilder’s voice validated Lexi’s own feelings about Mik’s assumption. “That is ridiculous.”
“His family lost a good chunk of their savings because of my dad,” Lexi told him. “So he says I owe him and need to continue to skate with him because of that.”
“Like I said… ridiculous.”
“I know what my dad did to them wasn’t right, but for the majority of our skating career, my dad covered all the expenses. We had a private rink. Devoted coaches. Tutors, so we didn’t have to attend school. So, in their case at least, the money my dad took was actually going to support their son’s career.”
“So you told him no, and he got mad?”
“Yeah. He was really ticked off at me. I think Irina was hoping that he’d succeed in convincing me because she didn’t tell him to back off.”
“It might all be a moot point now,” Wilder said.
“That’s true. Depending on how injured he is, he might not be able to skate at Worlds.”
“I hope that’s not the case.”
“You think I should skate at Worlds?”
“The thing is, Lexi, I think you belong on the ice. Your skating is absolutely breathtaking. So if you want to go to Worlds, and Mik is okay to skate, then I think you should. Beyond that? I think you should choreograph a singles program and let me video it and put it up on your YouTube channel.”
“I don’t have a YouTube channel,” she said.
“Not yet, you don’t. But you could, and it would be a way for you to continue to share the beauty of your skating without having to travel or compete. You could also do some coaching videos.”
“You’ve thought this through,” Lexi said, pleased that he’d been thinking about her even though they hadn’t been talking.
“I have,” he agreed. “You have a talent that you should share with the world, and I have the ability to help you make that happen.”
Lexi slid down against her pillow, pulling her comforter up over her shoulders. All the strain of the day—of the past few weeks, actually—slid away. She couldn’t do anything for Mik right then, but maybe she could figure out a piece of her future.
“So you’re proposing we collaborate on YouTube?” she asked.
“Yep. I think we’d make a great team.”
She wondered what he meant exactly. Was he strictly talking about doing videos together? Or was there something more? Could there be something more?
“How would you video me if you’re not here?” she asked. “Would I have to find someone to take the videos, and then you’d edit them?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Wilder said, “Actually, I’m probably going to be spending more time here now.”
“You’re going to quit traveling?” Her heart leapt at the thought of him being around more than just the winter months.
“Not entirely. I’m still going to try to spend three or four weeks at the orphanages during the summer, but I think maybe it’s time to scale back on my traveling around the world for the other months.”
“Wow. I didn’t think you’d want to do that.”
“I think it’s what God wants me to do,” Wilder said. “It’s funny how something that was once so important to a person can fade when something of more importance comes along.”
“I sort of understand that,” Lexi said. “That’s how I feel about competing. It was once my world. My total focus. But I just don’t want to do it anymore. I’ve reached the pinnacle, so I don’t have anything more to prove. I still want to skate, but competing is just not that important now.”
“Are you going to coach?”
“I’d like to continue to coach the girls, if they want that, and possibly pick up a few more students. Right now, I’m not looking for anything too intense. Maybe I’ll see if Kayleigh will give me my job back.”
Wilder chuckled. “I’m sure she will if that’s really what you want to do.”
“To be honest, it’s not my favorite thing, but it gives me access to good ice, and it pays the bills.”
“That it does.”
Silence stretched between them, but Lexi didn’t find it awkward. She was just happy to know that there was someone who cared on the other end of the line.
“I hope Mik isn’t too badly injured,” she said as her thoughts circled back around to him. “He’s been so upset and angry since we started skating together again.”
“Given how his programs were going with his previous partner, I’d wager a guess that he was already upset and angry. He brought his bad attitude with him into your partnership.”
“If he’s not able to skate at Worlds, he’s going to be livid.”
“If that’s what happens, I guess it puts to rest the question of whether you should continue to skate or not.”
Lexi didn’t think that Mik would give up on trying to convince her to go another season, especially if they didn’t make Worlds because of his accident. He’d say he had time to recover from his injuries and would be ready to go by the next season.
Lexi just couldn’t see it working out for the two of them, and if he was badly injured, he would need to focus on recovery rather than on her. Because she knew with confidence and peace that her path was leading her away from competition.