Free Walk on Water by Laura Peyton Roberts Page B

meant that Lexa wouldn’t be skating them either—at least, not in the way she was used to. “I like other spins too.”
    “Your sit spin could be lower. A lot lower.”
    “I can get lower. I’m still kind of tight.”
    “All right, then. Let’s see your long.”
    Lexa was still breathing hard from her short. As she took her second opening position, she thanked Blake’s relentlessness for her ability to skate back-to-back programs.
    She nearly lost the triple loop, but saved herself with a hand to the ice and nailed the rest of her jumps. Without the music to force her along she eased off in the spirals and footwork, catching her breath there. She made sure her sit spin was extra low and finished off with a blur of a scratch spin. Considering that she’d done all that in traffic without falling or injuring anyone, Lexa was satisfied with her performance as she skated back to her new coach.
    “You skate with a lot of speed,” Candace said. “Your jumps could be higher, but they look pretty solid. That’s a relief because, quite frankly, we’re going to have to work on everything else.”
    Lexa’s heart sank. Everything else?
    “I know I had a few sloppy elements, but that long has eight triples and I landed them all. And in not exactly the best conditions,” she added, gesturing to the other skaters.
    Candace laughed. “I do have other students. Blake has spoiled you with private ice if you think these are bad conditions. And as far as sloppy goes, sloppy’s not what I’m worried about. What’s missing out there is soul. I don’t see who you are when you skate.”
    “Soul?” Lexa repeated, stunned.
    “Technical difficulty is only half the mark. We need to see some passion out of you. Some sense of purpose. Tell me the truth: Is skating pairs really your dream? Or are you doing this to spite your father?”
    “No, it is my dream!” Lexa said, feeling panic rise. Was Candace saying she wasn’t good enough? “I have plenty of soul,” she added, wincing at how pathetic that sounded.
    “Of course. I didn’t mean . . . I just say what I see.”
    Lexa nodded, tightening her jaw to keep her chin from wobbling. She’s only being honest, she told herself. She’s trying to make you better.
    Candace’s observations hurt, though, and her bluntness in the first thirty minutes wasn’t making for the happiest possible introduction.
    “Oh, here’s Boyd!” Candace exclaimed.
    The boy skating toward them was tall and wiry, but the smoothness of his cheeks made him look fourteen. His boots were broken in, but flashy new six-hundred-dollar-blades glinted beneath them. Lexa could barely pull her eyes off that bling as he glided to a gentle T-stop.
    “There’s my star!” Candace said. “Boyd, meet Lexa. Lexa, Boyd Patrick.”
    “Nice to meet you,” they both mumbled.
    Lexa had never even heard of Boyd until the previous evening, when Beth had taken a call in the middle of dinner and triumphantly announced that she’d snagged him as Lexa’s new partner. “He doesn’t have any titles yet, but he did well enough in juniors that he’s decided to move up to seniors and commit to exclusively pairs. Candace says his technique is excellent—she’s expecting big things for him. This is so exciting!”
    Lexa had been excited too. “How old is he?”
    Beth’s expression had turned cagey. “I’m not exactly sure. Sixteen?”
    “Sixteen! We said someone older than I am!”
    “You’re going to skate with the boy, not marry him.” A shadow had crossed Beth’s face. “God forbid.”
    “I just thought . . . I mean, we discussed—”
    “Someone older would have been nice. I won’t deny that. But the only way to snag an experienced partner is if his former partner quits or gets knocked up or . . .” Beth shuddered off another bad memory. “On the bright side, you won’t have to worry about Boyd getting too old while you’re still at your peak. In fact, the way Candace tells it, you’ll