Natalie’s bright smile turned wicked, her eyes bouncing between him and Chase. “And Chase is helping you train?”
“Um, yeah, and he’s also been, uh…” Tobias floundered, unsure of the right way to phrase what was happening between them, his gaze snapping to Chase for help.
Chase’s arm settled across Tobias’ shoulders, and he smiled at Natalie.
“What Tobias is trying to say is he has a huge crush on me. It’s embarrassing, really, but I’ve decided to give him a chance.”
A snort sounded through the phone.
“I like him already,” Natalie said.Me too, Nat. Me too.
Tobias huffed in mock annoyance. “Yeah, yeah, Chase is right. He might be around a lot more. And he’s great with Madison. You should see how fascinated she is by him already,” Tobias said, pausing from practically gushing.
Natalie gave him a look that said Madison wasn’t the only one wild about Chase.
“Chase, Tobias told me a little about the kids’ classes you’re gonna start. I’m so excited to take Madison onceI’m home.”
“Great! The first one went better than we could have expected and we plan on adding more,” Chase said with a wide smile. “But now I’m dying to hear more about Italy. How is it going over there so far?”
Natalie beamed and filled them in on everything she’d seen and done so far, as well as her competition schedule. The finals for women’s singles figure skating was the next day and Tobias could tell she called to get her mind off the pressure.
Chase and Natalie fell into easy conversation, like they were long lost best friends who needed to catch up on everything, and Tobias hung on their every word.
Tobias took a full breath for the first time in years, a stack of weight plates he didn’t even know were crushing his lungs sliding off his chest. He’d work hard to keep them off for good.
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There was something surreal about watching his sister compete on the Olympic stage.
Pride didn’t cover what he felt as he watched her complete a triple axel, the crowd in Milan going wild as she landed perfectly.
“Go, Mommy, go!” Madison shouted from her spot on the couch between Tobias and Grace. Tobias invitedChase to watch with them, but he had to work at Cherrywood Boulders. It was okay, though, because Tobias would see him the next day for their Valentine’s date with Madison.
Watching his sister in the Olympics was the best distraction from his growing nerves.
The U.S. already won gold in the team event, which meant his sister was coming home with a gold medal no matter what. But they all hoped she could earn another in the singles event. Tobias could admit he wasn’t an expert on figure skating and he couldn’t tell the difference between a gold medal performance and a silver medal performance, but the commentators seemed as blown away by his sister as he was.
“She looks so fierce,” Grace said, as Natalie tore around the rink. As bright and bubbly as Natalie was, she had what others calledresting bitch face. It wasn’t usually noticeable since she so rarely wasn’t smiling, but when she wasn’t? She looked ready to fight the entire world—and win. Their shared genetics left him with the same problem, except he rarely smiled. Hence his reputation for being a stoic grump.
Natalie finished her skate, and Tobias couldn’t understand how her score wasn’t perfect. Nobody’s was, but he couldn’t explain why to Madison.
As Natalie sat waiting for her score, she held onto thebracelet Madison gave her while she was home for Christmas. She mouthed, “Hi, Maddie,” at the camera as she waited, earning cheers and shouts from Madison as she bounced on the couch. Natalie’s score put her in the second-place spot, but there were still two skaters left to go.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe she’s about to win a medal,” Grace cried.
“Mom, don’t jinx it,” Tobias said as he kept his gaze on the screen.
“Yeah, Gigi, don’t jinx it,” Madison echoed. Tobias would normally laugh, but he was far too tense waiting to see if his sister could hold on to her spot.
Tobias, Grace and Madison sat holding each other on the couch, crossing their fingers, legs, arms and toes in order to harness some good luck for Natalie.
It must have worked, because the next skater fell on her ass when attempting an intricate jump. They gasped, knowing this could clinch Natalie’s victory. They were too afraid to cheer before it was official, until Natalie was guaranteed a medal.
Tobias wanted to pull out his knitting to calm his nerves, but he was frozen solid as he watched.
The final skater performed perfectly and earned herself the gold, making Natalie slip to third to win a bronze medal. With the noise in the Moyer household, anyone would have thought Natalie won six gold medalsinstead of one bronze. Madison ran around the room throwing around her stuffed animals like confetti while Grace and Tobias sat on the couch with watery eyes. As the bronze medal slipped around Natalie’s neck, her eyes filled with tears, and Tobias wondered if he could be as brave as her when he finally retook the ice.
21
