I sympathized, but what could really be said about it? She needed to go higher. If she persisted in completing more than a quarter rotation of a jump on the ice as she landed, the jumps would be downgraded. It had to be corrected, and better to do it now while she was still relatively young.

But Theodore could apparently find quite a bit to say about it. He gesticulated and smiled encouragingly and talked and talked. June sniffled and nodded and eventually gave him tentative smiles. He wrapped an arm around her slim shoulders, giving her a squeeze.

A shiver rippled through me as I imagined what it would feel like.

When I finished fifty ankle circles in both directions, I stood to do some shaking, starting with my hands, then my arms, then bouncing into my knees as well, waking up my body. I was used to jet lag, but some days it was harder than others. I’d won NHK in Japan with a clean short and one major mistake in the long—a fall on my quad toe combination. The quad Lutz had been my best yet, though.

Of course it bothered me not to go clean in both, but there was the Grand Prix Final here in Torino, Nationals, and of course the Olympics, plus Worlds a few weeks after that. There was danger in peaking too early in the season.

As I sat again, listening to the muffled music playing in the rink for the pairs’ short program—some terribly dreary old song about chasing cars—Theodore plopped down on the floor at my feet and huffed with his phone in hand.

“I swear to God, if my mom annoys Mr. Webber one more time… He’s not even coaching me right now! And I’m an adult!”

It truly was inappropriate. I was fortunate that while my parents had always supported my very expensive skating career, they would have been just as happy for me to quit.

They had jobs and interests and had always deferred to my coaches. But there were many parents in the sport who were far, far too invested in their children’s skating.

“Does she contact Manon and Bill too?”

“She tried, but they blocked her. Mr. Webber still uses an old landline, so he’s just hanging up on her now. He’s got too much to deal with right now without her piling on.” He shook his head, lips pressing into a thin line. “As if it’s his fault I was second in the short? You were clean, and I popped my Axel. Of course you’re in first place.”

I was, though it was difficult to be too happy about it in the face of Theo’s anxious discontent. Missing his triple Axel was very unusual for him, but he’d lost focus.

He added, “As if chemo isn’t bad enough without my mother asking him if he’ll be able to make it to the Olympics to make sure I do better.”

I murmured softly in agreement and said, “That’s unacceptable.”