After applauding Henry’s attempt, it was my turn. I hadn’t given any thought to working on a particular element—I figured Manon and Bill would tell me what they wanted me to do. But I couldn’t resist tossing off my own quad Lutz, snapping up into the jump with plenty of flow for a triple on the end for good measure. I held my running edge as applause rang out.

“Don’t think you have much to work on with that combo,” Julien said, shaking his head. “Wow.”

Henry turned away, but not before I could see the clench of his jaw and flash of stink eye. He’d always hated me, but I didn’t let myself get riled by my competitors.

Really, the only person who could beat me was me. And Henry would be waiting to pounce, sure. But being rivals on the ice didn’t mean we had to hate each other, at least not in my book.

I was pretty sure Henry disagreed. Strongly.

The younger kids left for a morning of school before coming back in the afternoon. I was ready for a nap, but apparently Henry, Julien, Ivan, and I were doing another session.

While Manon and I discussed the straight-line footwork element in my short program, Henry worked on his quad Lutz with Bill with varying degrees of success.

Though neither of us were tall—he was about five-six to my five-seven—he had long legs that looked great when he held the extension on his landings. After a hard fall that made me wince, he leapt back up, and our eyes met.

“Theo?”

I snapped my attention back to Manon. “Sorry! Jet lag.”

She laughed, dangly gold earrings clinking as she shook her head. “Why do I feel like you’ll be saying that for a month?”

I laughed too. “Because Mr. Webber warned you about me?”

“He did indeed.” Her smile faded. “Did you speak to him on the weekend?”

“Yeah, I called yesterday. He still refuses to text. He sounded good! The same.” He was starting chemo this week, so that would probably change, and I hated it so fucking much.

“Good, good. I know you only arrived Friday night, but are you settling into the condo all right? Giselle got you all set up with your rental car and everything you need?”

“Yep, everything’s great! Thanks.” It was honestly too embarrassing to admit the truth, and I’d figure out the car situation later. I watched Henry’s flying sit spin. Level four for sure.

I said to Manon, “I’m surprised he agreed to let me train here.”

She watched Henry, smiling fondly. “He’s too honorable to refuse.” Her gaze turned to me, sharpening. “Most people think Henry’s cold and that nothing bothers him. That’s not true. Just so you know.”

“Right. Noted. We’ve never had a problem. He’s so quiet I hardly notice he’s there.”

She frowned. “You shouldn’t underestimate him either. All right, time to focus. Jet lag or not.”

At some point, Henry moved on to his long program, which the ISU officially called “free skating.” His short program was to “The Blower’s Daughter.” The long was “Moonlight Sonata,” which was historically a bit cliché and overused in skating, but honestly sounded refreshing these days.