Page 65 of Mistletoe Face Off

“Do you want me to tell you the whole story?”

She nods, and I force myself to dredge up a dark time of my life, a time I've worked so hard to forget.

“I was a pretty good figure skater back then. I started learning when I was young and I showed promise, as they say. Garth Gluckman became my coach when I started getting good at about twelve. He was demanding, but he got the best out of me. On the ice anyway. When we were at a regional competition where I was competing, he told me I needed to improve my skills to win. I thought he meant working harder, which I was prepared to do. It turns out he wanted that, but he also wanted me to take some performance enhancers to ensure I won.”

“So, it was your coach?” she asks, her eyes wide with astonishment.

“Garth’s not entirely to blame. At first, I agreed to taking them. I figured he was my coach, he knew best. If I wanted to progress from regionals to nationals, I needed that extra push.”

Holly pulls her hand from mine, recoiling from me. “You took the drugs?” she asks, aghast.

I shake my head. “I went home and told my mom about what he wanted me to do. She insisted on me having a blood test, which I did. Of course they found nothing, and Mom and I met with Garth. He seemed reasonable about it, telling me it was my choice not to take anything. But Mom was spooked, and she fired him as my coach.”

“I do not blame her.”

“Then the story came out that Garth had discovered I’d been taking performance enhancers without his knowledge, and that he couldn't work with me anymore because of it. He said I was using a designer drug that went undetected by testing practices at the time. That was the story he sold to the press, like he had these strong morals, and I had gone against what he believed in.” Bitterness rises in me, quick and sharp, leaving a sour taste in my mouth as I think of the man who tried to destroy me when I was just a teenager.

Holly holds her hand over her mouth. “Oh, my gosh, Harry. He lied about you!”

“Yup. He made out I was the one who had the idea, not him.”

“But you were only a kid!”

“Which made me a pretty easy target.”

“Harry, you've got to know that this is absolutely despicable. Why did your mom not go to the press herself to put the record straight? She could have gone to the police, too, you know. What your coach did is against the law.”

“I guess my mom knew the odds were stacked against us at the time. For whatever reason, he decided to flip the script on me. He was the great Garth Gluckman. She was just a singlemom trying to do the best for her son. Sometimes it's easier to leave things behind and start afresh somewhere else. Not for a minute have I questioned how she handled it back then. She did what she did because she thought it was the best thing for us.”

“But she could have told the truth. She could have cleared your name.”

“She was a single mom in a world she knew very little about. She hadn’t been a figure skater herself. She had no connections, no way to stand up to this powerful, celebrated coach. She did what she could at the time, Holly. I don’t blame her for any of this.”

“Is that when you moved to Chicago and changed your last name?”

I nod, memories of what it was like to arrive in the city as a scared kid, knowing no one, and having to start at a new school. “My dad wasn't on the scene much. His parenting style since they divorced had become a lot like your ex-husband’s is with Macy. My mom was the one in my corner. When we moved to Chicago it was so she could be near her sister. It was my idea to take her name instead of my father’s. I figured I would leave both his name and figure skating behind.”

“That's when you turned up at school.”

“It was the fresh start I needed, and I will be forever grateful to my mom for bringing me here.”

“She sounds like a great mom.”

I smile as I think of the brave, loving, fiercely protective woman I get to call Mom. “She is. I'm lucky to have her.”

“That's why you're so loyal and kind and compassionate. You had that example in your life from your mom, from what she did for you.”

As hard as this conversation is, it feels good to finally get to talk about this thing that I've been carrying around with me allthese years. The thing that haunts me. And talking with Holly about it is extra special.

“I went along to hockey trials and made the team. It felt great being able to use some of the skills I had learned in a new sport, a sport that I fell in love with from the very first game.”

She smiles. “I remember how great you were back then. Half the girls in Senior Year were in love with you.”

“Only half?” I reply in an attempt to lighten my mood.

She collects her phone from the coffee table. “I found this.” She passes it to me and I skim the words on the screen, my chest tightening.

“That's the original article from back then.”

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