The vibe near the Village gates made it feel like a carnival. We threaded through the crowds and I kept my head down, hoping to stay anonymous. As much as I enjoyed interacting with fans, I needed to get in the right bitchy headspace for the family dinner to come.
“Why can’t Ben make it?” Mel asked. “I can hold my own but it would be nice to have some backup.”
“He’s covering curling.”
“This late?” She scowled. “Is this a special session or something?”
I’d tried to ignore the odd timing. “Maybe it’s a sit-down interview with the team off-hours?”
The sound of our footsteps filled the silence. I could tell Mel was gearing up forthequestion.
“Are we ever going to talk about what’s going on with him? Because I’m starting to feel a little out of the loop.”
I felt my face going hot as she stared at me. Mel knew everything about me so it was odd that I hadn’t shared the real story with her. But then again, I wasn’t sure what was going on with Ben other than our rapidly shifting agreement.
“Honestly, I don’t know. We have a connection—”
“Which anyone can see,” she interrupted.
“Yeah, but Ben woos every human he comes in contact with,” I said. “You have a connection with him.Frankhas a connection with him. It’s not hard to fall under his spell.”
“True,” she considered it. “But it seems different with you. When you’re around, no one else matters. His focus iscompletelyon you, and not just because you were his subject on the show. And it’s not, like, flirty-horndog-who-wants-to-jump-you vibes. The way he watches you is bodyguard-ish. You know? Like he’s scanning the perimeter with one eye while keeping the other glued to you.”
“Okay, creepy visual,” I replied.
She bumped against me. “You know what I mean. So what’s going to happen next?”
“Not sure. We’re LC until the Games are over.”
But not if I had anything to do with it.
“LC?”
I chuckled. “I guess you’re not on narcissist mom Reddit. It means ‘low contact.’ We’re not reaching out to each other unless it’s critical.” I paused. “Or if something major happens, like, oh I don’t know, coming in first in the short program.”
Mel broke out in a jig on the sidewalk. “You did it, you did it,” she sang.
“Wedid it,” I corrected her. “Anyway, it’s for the best right now. No distractions, just total focus on our goals.”
It had turned into focus with a side of worry on my side of the equation, but I had a plan.
We arrived at Lucia, a small restaurant on a quiet side street that featured a menu sure to piss off my mom since the place had a strict policy of not altering their dishes to suit dietary issues. My mom didn’t have any, but she enjoyed making restaurants jump through hoops to try to please her.
“Let’s get this over with. Showtime,” I said as I pushed the door open.
“Mybaby!”
The shriek echoed through the anteroom and drew every eye to my mom, which was the desired outcome. She jumped off the bench and ran to me with her arms outstretched.
“Hi, Mom,” I said as she wrapped me in a smothering, perfumed hug. No surprise, she looked stunning in her double-breasted camel-colored coat.
My dad was right behind her, smiling his handsome-leading-man smile. Anyone watching would assume that we were a functional family.
She pulled back to study me. “I bet you barely slept last night. It’s so exciting, sweetheart! You’re closer than you’ve ever been. Now we just have to pray you don’t falter in the free skate like last time.” She wiped her thumb along my cheek then leaned in to whisper to me. “You missed some contour blending but I fixed it.”
My dad pushed closer to hug me as well. “You were incredible last night. I’m so proud.”
Somehow the p-word coming from him didn’t have an impact on me. He couldn’t claim an emotional investment in my journey since he’d largely been absent from it.
