So had they caught that? Had they seen Kirby heartbroken for Mara as everyone else moved on to cheering for Lindsey and other skiers?
Kirby’s stomach hurt as the leaders came back into the stadium. A roar went up in the crowd. A young skier from Italy was in the front, and Kirby had never heard such a celebration from a cross-country skiing stadium.
Lindsey was in fifth, but she had momentum on the skiers in front of her. Apollo screamed his head off and lifted his sign. Kirby was shocked he had hidden his feelings for Lindsey for five years. They seemed very, very on display at the moment.
Even more than hers had.
Lindsey gained and passed the skier in front of her, moving into fourth. Then in a burst, she pushed into third.
Kirby started screaming then too. Lindsey was a veteran. This was her second Olympics, but she hadn’t come close to medaling four years ago.
Right before the finish line, Lindsey leveled up with the second-place skier. In a blur of motion, both skiers lunged across the finish line, a skill they all practiced over and over again to get their boot over the line first. But Kirby had no idea who had placed second and who had placed third just from watching the screen.
Lindsey and the skier from Finland both collapsed in the snow after crossing the finish line. As the results popped up on the board, Lindsey covered her face with her hands in shock.
“Oh my God,” Apollo whispered. “I think I’m in love with a silver medalist.”
Kirby laughed, charmed by her best friend.
Soon, Mara crossed the finish line too. She didn’t collapse like so many other racers. She rarely did. The stoic, breathe-through-the-pain princess. Never show vulnerability. Never show anything. She was gasping, though, a small grimace withevery inhale and exhale, her chest heaving. Kirby felt for her so viscerally. To have to build back momentum from a dead stop took a massive physiological toll. After Mara recovered, she and the skier from the Netherlands chatted.
There were lots of cameras pointed in their direction, and Kirby hated that for her. Mara didn’t revel in the limelight. Kirby wanted to take that attention away from her but not for the usual reasons. Not because Kirby naturally wanted attention. No, she just sought to shield Mara from the eyes of the world.
But then Mara smiled—it was the real smile that Kirby coveted but rarely received—and hugged the other woman.
It was a shocking reaction. Kirby hadn’t expected Mara to punch anyone, but she also hadn’t expected warmth. And there was no doubt that interaction had been warm.
From there, Mara found Lindsey and saw she’d won silver. Then they were hugging too.
“Think she’ll hug you when you beat her in the fifty kilometer?” Apollo asked.
“No. Definitely not.”
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
It was late.Too late to be making her way to Kirby’s door, but Mara couldn’t sleep.
She’d forgotten what it was like after a race at the Olympics. The press in the exchange zone. The hoops to jump through.
All Mara wanted to do was hide.
No, that wasn’t quite true. All Mara wanted was to hide in Kirby’s bed.
Not the best impulse in the middle of the most important competition of her life.
But, still, she knocked.
Their hallway had American flag pennant banners taped from wall to wall. She’d seen the ski jumpers decorating yesterday. Kirby’s door had a picture of the Statue of Liberty on it.
Lady Liberty swung inward as Jordan answered. Because of course Jordan answered.
“Oh, Mara!” Then Jordan was hugging her, which was about the nicest thing in the entire world. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
Over Jordan’s shoulder, Mara saw Kirby sit up in bed.
“I’m fine. Can’t sleep.”
