Mark rolled his eyes. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
“You’re welcome.” David pointed at me while backing away. “Win gold tonight. I met your mom in the hotel lobby last night, and I always forget she is one scary lady. I’d like to stay in her good graces.”
I snorted. “That’s the teacher in her. She scares everyone.”
David headed toward the doors, and suddenly the silence that followed felt awkward.
I stared at my skate guards.
“I’m guessing ‘partly’ means this isn’t just about your dad.”
“Nope.”
Mark stayed quiet, waiting me out.
Finally I dropped my shoulders. “It’s Luka.” Then I snuck a glance at him.
Mark simply nodded. “Okay.”
I laughed under my breath. “Jesus Christ, does literallyeverybodyknow except me?”
Mark’s lips twitched. “Know what?”
I opened my mouth, then stopped, because saying it out loud still felt enormous.
Life-altering.
But if anyone would get where I was coming from, it would be Mark.
“I’m in love with him,” I admitted, my voice low and a little uneven.
Okay,nowit was irreversible.
Mark looked at me for a long moment. “Yeah. I figured.” He spoke calmly, almost a matter-of-fact kinda tone.
I gaped at him. “Youfigured?”
“Dean.” His eyebrows shot upward again. “You don’t have any idea how you look at him, do you?”
“Oh my God.”Am I that obvious?
“But you know what? He looks at you the same way, although I suspect he’sreallytrying to hide it, for obvious reasons.”
My chest grew tight, my breathing labored.
Hearing somebody else say it felt strangely different. Not because I hadn’t known, but
because suddenly it existed outside my own head.
Mark had seen it. Apparently, everybody else had too.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “This is such a disaster.”
Mark’s expression shifted in a heartbeat. “No, thesituationmight be a disaster, but the feelings aren’t.”
I swallowed hard, then looked away toward the ice where another skater launched into a quad attempt, watched by their coach.
“He came to see me yesterday. He said he wanted to end it. End… us.” The words came out as a croak.
