Page 67 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
"Thanks." Charlotte picked at the wrapper.
"Did you do your stretches?"
She nodded.
"Breathing exercises?"
"Yes, Mom."
Her mom chuckled. "I'm sorry, Charlotte. You've been in more competitions than I can remember. Of course, you know what to do."
"I never see you smile at these things." Charlotte looked to her mom. "What has gotten into you?"
"This isn't the only thing you love, is it?"
Charlotte didn't hesitate to shake her head.
"That's the difference between me and you. When I was younger, skating was my everything. Winning was all I had. But it's different for you. I see that now."
"And that makes you smile?" Her mom must have been abducted by aliens.
"No, but it makes me less nervous for you, and that allows me to enjoy it more. The smell of the ice. The crowds. The TV cameras."
"Mom... those TV cameras are just for local channels no one watches." There might be a short clip on the news, and the competition would run on some obscure sports channel that didn't get as many viewers as online streaming did.
"Does it matter?"
Charlotte's lips twitched. It wasn't like her mom to be the one calming her nerves. She usually only made them worse.
As her mom went off on some tangent about her days as a figure skater, Charlotte pulled her phone from the pocket of her zip up sweatshirt. No messages. Not from Hadley or Jesse or her dad.
No "good luck." No "we're rooting for you."
A sigh rattled through her chest as she slid it back into her pocket.
"I'm sorry, honey." Her mom put a hand on her knee and stilled it's shaking. "I know you like this boy."
A boy she'd forbidden her from seeing.
A boy who couldn't break her dad's rule for the team.
No, her parents didn't know how much she liked Jesse. They didn't know how just being around him made her feel normal for the first time in her life, how he thawed the ice she'd always kept frozen around her heart.
He hadn't been wrong before. She had been an ice princess, a robot who never let her feelings show. Other than irritation, of course.
But now... now she didn't know what she was.
The competitor on the ice finished and sat waiting for her score as they cleared the ice.
"Time to go, Charlotte." Her mom gripped her hand.
Charlotte squeezed back. "Mom... if I don't place... will you still believe in me?"
A finger pressed under her chin, tilting her face up. "I will never stop believing in you."
Charlotte blinked away her tears. Jesse might be away at his hockey game, forgetting about her completely, her dad might have chosen his team over his daughter again... but at least her mom was there.
"I've never thanked you for everything you’ve done to get me here." It wasn't until that moment as she prepared to skate in the biggest competition of her high school career she realized just how much her mom had given up for her. They didn't always agree on what was best, but that had to count for something.
