Team USA had won the quarterfinals in the very last second.
But when the final buzzer blared, Ari couldn’t help but grin as a wave of joy swept across her whole body. She wanted to skate her way into a dance, sing the words of her favorite song, and hug her best friends. Because they’d made it further than anybody could have ever imagined they would. The American team was high-fiving one another and taking photos to mark their qualification to the semifinals. But the Team GB girls were celebrating as if they’d just won gold.
Ari ripped her helmet off her head and skated straight over to Sienna, Yasmeen, and Izzy. The four of them began to dance, cheer, and celebrate like the Olympic champions they were.
“We did it!” shouted Izzy.
“We gave them hell!” declared Sienna.
“We’re Olympians!” said Yasmeen, her eyes watering up. Soon they were all a mess of laughter and joyful tears. All twenty-three of them skated to the center of the court and embraced each other as if this was the greatest win of their lives. Someone found a bottle of champagne and popped it. And then, before Ari could even figure out what was happening, the girls lifted her up and skated her around the rink, shouting, “Captain! Captain! Captain!” at the top of their voices as she laughed and cheered along.
She felt happier than she ever had before and freer than she could have ever imagined. They hadn’t won the match, but it felt like they had won the Games. She couldn’t imagine any other team being as happy as they were right then. It was the pinnacle of all the years they’d spent in locker rooms, ice rinks, and training fields. Pure euphoria. But as the girls put her down and beganto skate to the locker room to continue their celebrations, she saw one more face in the crowd, scrambling down the stairs with his camera around his neck and a huge smile on his face.
He climbed over the barrier until he was right there, just outside the ice, waiting for her. She got lost in his big brown eyes, savored the sight of his bright, warm smile, and let the moment sink in. Then she skated out of the rink and straight into his arms.
48Drew
THE DAY OF THE CLOSING CEREMONY
“O Canada! O Canada! Our home and native land!” sang Luiz at the top of his lungs as they left the press office and walked out into the snow.
“Don’t sing that when we get there, or theywillkill you.” Drew smiled.
Team USA had won the quarterfinal match and breezed through the semifinals, but Canada won the final. Thandie and Ari had both spent the past few days lamenting how close they’d been to gold, but the experience of getting this far had bonded them. They would always be rivals on the rink, but things seemed to be thawing between them the more time they spent together off the ice. A few of their teammates had been friends for years, so with their competitions over, they’d started hanging out and going to watch games together around the Village. To Drew’s surprise, they’d even gone so far as deciding to celebrate the final night of the Games together.
While most teams made it to the opening ceremony, only a few athletes attended the closing ceremony in person. Unlike the Summer Games, where people lingered in the host city for an extended summer vacation, after two weeks in the snow, most of the winter sports athletes had already gone home. So, Thandie and their remaining teammates had taken over the hot chocolate bar, filled it with their favorite people, and made it the site of their closing ceremony watch party. Drew walked in and smiled at the fairy lights strewn across the room, the cookies iced with world flags, and the big screen playing the winter highlights as they waited for the final broadcast to begin.
“When you said closing ceremony party, I thought you meant a casual hangout,” Luiz said. He pointed to the Zeus branding on the tables, goodie bags, and paper cups.
“Well, that’s all thanks to you, Luiz,” Thandie said as she greeted them at the door wearing a chunky winter sweater and a sparkly silver skirt. “You’re the one that got Harrison banned for—”
“I wasn’t involved, remember,” Luiz said, giving her a firm look as he picked up a drink, but the twinkle in his eyes spoke for itself.
“You’re right. What Imeantto say was Harrison being reckless enough to take drugs at his medal party worked in our favor.” Thandie smiled. It wasn’t kind to celebrate someone’s downfall, but when Drew had explained the entire situation to his sister, she’d happily cut ties with Harrison and decided that she wanted no part in a campaign that included a man who’d been willing to hurt her career to get back at his ex.
And it worked in her favor. Harrison’s drug scandal had put his professional sports career on hold. Ruining his reputation when there were already stories floating around about his misconduct behind the scenes had made it pretty easy for Zeus tobreak their contract with him and award it to Thandie instead. But instead of allowing them to make her the sole ambassador at the heart of their new 2026 campaign, Thandie had called them up and made a deal to split it with several other women who’d been successful at that year’s Games.
The result was an awe-inspiring video that featured various women defying the odds, exceeding expectations, and smashing people’s preconceptions of them by becoming the greatest athletes in their sport. It had gone live the day after Thandie’s silver-medal win and was shaping up to become one of Zeus’s most successful campaigns. So, it was no wonder why they’d sponsored Thandie’s closing ceremony party and made a commitment to investing more money into training, facilities, and equipment for young women in ice hockey across the world.
“So I’m not saying I forgive you for going behind my back. But I guess it worked out pretty well,” Thandie said to her brother as he picked up a cup of hot chocolate and looked out at the party before him, marveling at how his terrible decisions had accidentally worked in his sister’s favor. But he’d learned his lesson.
“No secrets next time,” Drew said.
“No secrets.” His sister nodded, then rattled off a list of images she wanted him to capture. His apology for lying to her was a lifetime of free photographs, so he lifted his camera from his neck and took a picture of Thandie and Luiz against the backdrop of a huge chocolate fountain. The three of them chatted for a while about who else was coming before Thandie made her way out into the crowd to go back to being the social butterfly she was. Drew watched the party unfold, noticing all the people in the room experiencing it from different points of view. The Team GB ice hockey players congregating around the chocolate fountain as they exchanged stories and laughed about something he was too far away to hear. Luiz schmoozing with the socialteam from Zeus Athletics, no doubt plotting out his next career move. The athletes heading over to the makeshift dance floor that had popped up in the middle of the room, and the family members who’d traveled to St. Moritz sitting on the outskirts as they caught up with the people they loved. Drew’s grandparents had invited themselves to the party and were deep in conversation with Thandie’s coach, and Ari’s sister, Anesu, was having a starstruck conversation with a gold medal–winning figure skater.
Drew had never really loved parties. He’d always felt that he was better suited for the sidelines. But being surrounded by people who, like him, had successfully gotten through the Games felt pretty magical. He lifted his camera and took a photo of the scene that lay before him then went to get a drink. But then, right as he was about to turn a corner, he heard a laugh he would have recognized anywhere. He turned around to walk in the direction of it until he saw her. Ari.
She was wearing a long, white knit dress that folded over at the shoulders and hugged her curves in all the right ways. Her hair was tied back, but a few curls fell forward, gently framing her face. She’d been laughing at something one of her friends said while holding a clear glass mug filled with the spiced apple tea they were serving at the bar. But when she saw him, she cut her conversation short and walked straight over. When she kissed him, he could taste the cinnamon and sugar on her lips. When they parted, she placed a gentle hand on his cheek and looked at him, her eyes soft and sparkly in the dim evening light.
“You know we were supposed to break up after the last game, right?”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m bad at sticking to the plan,” Drew said, pulling her into his arms and leaning in to kiss her again. “Want to get out of here?” he asked, pointing over to the balcony on the other side of the room. When she nodded, he took herhand and led her out, feeling all warm inside. As if they’d just met.
When they walked out onto the balcony, they were met by a dark night sky, lit up by a dozen constellations and a curved half-moon. The mountains were coated with snow and the air was chillier than ever. But the balcony was lined with outdoor heaters and blanket-covered outdoor seats, so they found an empty bench and snuggled beside each other.
“I applied for the job with Hans,” he said after a while. She was the first person to know.
“Did you get it?” she asked, looking up, her expression full of hope.
