Courtney Rogers was furious.

"How the hell could he do this to me?" she ranted to her mother. "What the hell does he think he’s going to do now? Skate with his stupid girlfriend, who doesn’t skate? What an idiot!"

"He’ll be back," Mrs. Rogers said.

"I don’t think so. He’s disconnected his cel phone. I can’t get in touch with him at all. And he’s not at his apartment—I think he’s in Boston, with that bitch!"

"Once he finds out he can’t get another partner, he’ll be back. Meantime, I think we should set some tryouts for you. Maybe you’ll find someone better to skate with."

"Fine."

Of course, Ryan wasn’t having any trouble finding a new partner. In fact, after the first week, he couldn’t believe how well it had gone. Amy was enthusiastic, upbeat, hard-working, and a damn fine skater. They got along well from the start.

Jessie, who sometimes watched them, was bemused. Amy treated Ryan like an older brother that she absolutely idolized. Jess found that very amusing.

She wasn’t there all the time, though—she had other things to take care of. The Friday at the end of the week that Ryan and Amy had started skating together, Jessie marched into the rink in the middle of their session.

"Hey, guess what?" she announced. "I got the job!"

"Great!" Ryan said. "The one in the Emergency Room at Oceanview Hospital?"

"That’s the one. I also looked at an apartment this morning. You have to come see it, but I think it’s perfect."

"Jess, you’re amazing," Ryan grinned.

"I am, ain’t I?"

"Jobs. Apartments," Amy sniffed. "You two are so old."

"Oh THANKS!" Ryan roared, laughing.

"I know, 22 is so ancient," Jess laughed.

"Well. You know," Amy said sheepishly. "It can be strange spending so much time with someone who’s 22 when you’re only 16."

"Vice versa, too," Ryan teased her. Then he got serious. "Actually, I thought the age difference would be a problem. But, Amy, it’s really not. Except for you teasing me about my advanced age, that is."

Amy giggled. "No, it’s really not. And it’ll be better for me when I go to school in September. I have no friends my own age. Except for Eric."

"Friends?" Jessie teased.

"Well, OK," Amy laughed. "More than friends."

"Glad to hear you say that," Jess said. "If you were just thinking of him as a friend, he’d be heartbroken." She grinned. "I think poor Eric is still trying to figure out just exactly how a truck named Amy completely flattened him."

"Oh, I know," Ryan agreed with a chuckle. "He was here the other afternoon when we were working, and he had this completely lovesick expression on his face the whole time. I swear, if an earthquake had torn the building in half, he would’ve still been sitting there, gazing at her."

"Really?" Amy asked hesitantly.

"You hadn’t noticed?" Jess laughed.

"I didn’t know if I was noticing or making it up in my head." Amy stepped off the ice, and sat down in the stands next to Jess. "I really, really like Eric. And that scares me like you wouldn’t believe."

"Why?" Jess asked gently.

Amy took a breath. "Two years ago, at Junior Worlds. There was a Russian pairs skater there, Nikolai Vryazkov. I was 14, he was 17. He was charming, worldly, gorgeous—he swept me off my feet. We spent most of the two weeks we were there together. He was my, you know, first.

"And come to find out he had a serious girlfriend back in Russia. They’re engaged now. It was horrible.

"I learned two things from that. One was that I was never going to let a guy do that to me ever again. Unfortunately, the other one was that I really like sex. And I haven’t had any since then, because I don’t trust guys. So, here I am, lonely, horny, and looking for Prince Charming, who I no longer believe in. And suddenly, here comes Eric."

"And you’re not sure you believe he even exists," Jess said.

"Right," Amy said. "He’s so sweet. I mean, can a guy really be that sweet?"

"I am," Ryan said, looking smug.

"Most of the time," Jess laughed.

"But you’re older," Amy said. "I bet you weren’t that sweet when you were 16 or 18."

"You’re right, I wasn’t," Ryan admitted.

"But Warren was, and Ryan’s seen Warren with Sophie since he was eight," Jess pointed out. "And there’s more. Eric’s parents split up because his dad cheated on his mother. He very much resents that—Sophie’s told me that." She looked at Amy. "One other thing. Before I met Ryan, I was in a three-way relationship with Warren and Sophie."

"You’re kidding," Amy said.

"Nope," Jess grinned. "It was very mutual, and—I won’t lie—a lot of fun. However, the point of me telling you this is that when Eric found out, I got a grilling that you wouldn’t believe. He was only 14, but he pulled me aside to make sure I wasn’t ruining Sophie and Warren by convincing Warren to cheat." She laughed. "It took the poor guy a while to understand exactly what menage a trois means. You know, he didn’t grasp that Sophie was there with us." She cracked up. "And when he did, he blushed purple. Anyway, the point is, he’s horrified by cheating. It’s affected his life to a very negative degree. Because his father couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, Eric’s family was broken up. When it comes to Eric, it’s the last thing you have to worry about."

"Wow," Amy said. "That’s good to know."

"I’ve known Eric his whole life. He really is that sweet," Jess said. "Well, most of the time, just like Ryan. I know he’s been putting Ellen through hell lately. Though I guess that abruptly stopped the minute he met you."

"He’s so good to me," Amy enthused. "I know it hasn’t been long, but still. I just need him to get less shy around me," she giggled.

"Is he?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, some. At least he can talk to me now."

"But you still don’t trust him," Jess said.

"That’ll take a bit," Amy said, "though I do, more and more, every day. I guess I’m waiting for the moment that I trust him enough to rip his clothes off."

Jess cracked up. "Poor Eric. He’s about to get steamrolled again."

"Nah. I’ll let him think it’s all his idea," Amy grinned.

"That’s the way to handle it. I think Ryan still thinks he seduced me, the silly boy."

"HEY!" Ryan said. "And, you forget, you didn’t. I knew right along who was seducing who, and I happily went along with it."

"That’s not how I remember it."

"Who said, ‘I want you’? I do believe that was you, dear," Ryan smirked.

"Yeah, after I very subtly led you into asking me to your apartment."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Are you two done now?" Amy laughed. "We still have to go skate, Seduction King."

"You know, I think as long as I skate with you and go out with her, I’m gonna be outnumbered."

"You bet your ass!" Jess agreed, with a wink at Amy.

The following Monday, Courtney was on the internet, scanning the USFSA site. That’s where she saw it: the press release, announcing the new ice dance pairing of Ryan Killen and Amy Lowell.

"WHAT?" Courtney screamed. "That son of a bitch!!!"

Her mother came running into the room. "What?" she asked.

"Ryan found a new partner!"

"Who?"

"Someone I never heard of! She’s sixteen and just passed her senior test! And she hasn’t competed in two years—she was second at junior nationals two years ago. She’s a nobody! Ryan leaves me for this?" She read further. "Oh, isn’t this just special. ‘The new team will be based out of Oceanview, will be coached blah blah blah—and choreographed by Warren and Sophia Kelleher. Oh, of course! That’s a nice little arrangement, isn’t it?" Courtney punched the off button to her computer in disgust.

"You’ll show them," her mother said. "We’ll find you a perfect partner, and you’ll kick their ass."

"Yeah," Courtney said, but she had her doubts. The partner search wasn’t going well at all.

Warren and Sophie had, indeed, agreed to choreograph for Ryan and Amy. They hadn’t ever choreographed for other dancers—but they figured it would only be one year that they were competitors, and Ryan and Amy were really no threat this year. They were shooting for the future.

Warren and Sophie would also have their other usual glut of choreographic clients. But, before they started flooding in when the tour ended, the duo wanted their own programs set and ready to go.

There would be a lot of them. First of all, they were skating in two pro-ams in the fall, the American Open and the Canadian Open. They’d need two programs for those. The first was a ‘rhythmic’ dance—the guidelines were rather vague, which wasn’t uncommon for a pro-am, but it had to be something with a prominent beat. They decided to skate that to a little Beach Boys, and found rocking live versions of Catch A Wave and Fun Fun Fun. They came up with a fun, rocking, lighthearted dance that was still very technically difficult—and Sophie was delighted to discover that Catch A Wave "gives me the perfect opportunity to shake my ass during the ‘ooh-wahs’."

The other program for the pro-ams was to be an ‘interpretive’ one, meant to be more artistic and less technical. For that, they delved into the world of Celtic-based New Age music. They cobbled together two selections. The first was by Lisa Lynne, called Circle of Joy, from one of the Windham Hill "Celtic Christmas" collections. The second was Enya’s Book Of Days. Their program to that was light and airy, showing off their long edges.

Then, there were the shows. Former British skater Roger Courier had become a skating entrepreneur, and he was putting on some ‘theme’ shows this year. Warren and Sophie would be taking part in two of them. For the first one, celebrating the music of Elvis Presley, the duo had worked up a goofy, fun routine to Burning Love. The second one they were really excited about—it was a celebration of the music of the Beatles. Since they were both fervent Beatlemaniacs, they were very glad to take part in that one. They’d been given the opportunity to skate two programs for that one. The first, to Drive My Car, was their ‘rocking’ Beatles number. The second was to Don’t Let Me Down, a slower and more passionate number.

After all that, there were the most important programs—the competitive programs for the Grand Prix, Nationals, and, of course, the Olympics.

The rhythms for the Original Dances this year were Quickstep and Rock And Roll. Warren and Sophie decided to go out on a limb for both. And they got help from a friend for one of them.

They decided they wanted to skate the Quickstep to Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag. Now, that was not typical quickstep music—but quickstep was a dance, not a musical style, and a quickstep could be done to Maple Leaf Rag without a problem. So, they decided to do it. And the help was from Tom Bellamy. Being a major ragtime fan and an excellent pianist, they asked him to record a version of Maple Leaf Rag for them to skate to. He was thrilled to do it.

The Rock and Roll OD was even more extreme. Warren looked at the beats-per-minute requirements of the dance, and decided to push it as far as it could go. These people wanted rock? Well, Warren and Sophie were going to rock, as fast and furious as it gets. That was their strength, and they knew it. Warren had said, "If they’re going to give us the gift of a Rock and Roll OD, I want one that gets sixes on the technical mark. Push it, right to the limit. I want to do the most technically difficult original dance ever done." So, their choice for music was the legendary punk band The Ramones. They’d lead off with the first verse of Rockaway Beach, then into Rock And Roll High School. It was fast, furious, and never stopped. It was also guaranteed, if they hit it right, to get the folks in the arena right off their seats. They even choreographed, during a fast and demanding side-by-side step sequence, the hand jive. It was non-stop, it was fun, and it was hard.

With that in mind, they decided they wanted their free dance in the Olympic year to be something more elegant. They were looking back to the days when they skated to Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra, but a little different. So, they decided that they’d be skating their Olympic free dance to the music from the soundtrack to Singing In The Rain. They opened with the beginning of the song Singing In The Rain: into the slow section skated to You Were Meant For Me; the fast footwork done to Moses Supposes; then into a final section which went back to the last couple minutes of Singing In The Rain. They were thrilled when they were done.

With the gaggle of clients due to start arriving in mid-July, they took the end of May, all of June, and the first part of July to do work on their own programs, since there were so many of them. They determined that they’d pick any exhibitions they needed from the pro-am or Elvis or Beatles programs. Except, they had already decided, that for their last exhibition at the Olympics, they'd re-skate Romeo and Juliet.

It was a lot of work, but they felt the programs put them in good stead for the most important season—and last—of their skating career.

While things were rolling right along in Oceanview; things in their old haunt, Madison, weren’t good at all.

Courtney Rogers was depressed. It was finally starting to sink in to her exactly what she had done to herself. She’d had the second-best male ice dancer in the US as her partner—only Warren Kelleher was better—and she’d blown it. All because she wanted to control everything about him. And, the thing of it is, she wasn’t quite sure why she wanted to do that.

And the new partner search was not going well. Every single guy her mother brought in to skate with her was inadequate. Has-beens, never-weres, kids that couldn’t keep up to save their lives. The worst part was that her mother was actually enthusiastic about some of these guy. All for the same reason, of course. "He’ll do anything you say." "I like him, he’s nice and docile." Control, it was all about control.

Of course, Courtney realized, that meant her, too. If her mother could control her partner—well, she could control Courtney, too. And Courtney had had it. She wanted to say, "Yeah, we thought Ryan was docile, too—and look how that turned out." She’d finally won a National Championship—yes, by default, but still—and her partner had walked out on her.

Her skating career was slipping away, and she knew it.

There was an alternative—but her mother wouldn’t hear of it. The more she suggested, the more adamant her mother got. But Courtney was fed up. She remembered the last time she let her mother browbeat her—it was her mother’s insistence that she give Ryan the "Jessie or me" ultimatum. It was stupid. And it had backfired.

After another tryout with another hopeless skater, Courtney snapped. She made a decision—and then made a phone call.

And, the next morning, long before her mother had woken—she snuck out of the house, got in her car, drove to the airport, and boarded a plane.