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his earlier gift.
After she had finished changing out of her skates and skat-
ing clothes in the dressing room, she found Jason waiting for
her in his usual spot by the front doors of the arena.
As he held the door open for her and they made their way
to his van, he said, I was wondering if you wanted to come to
my place and spend what s left of tonight and all day tomor-
row there. Then we could leave together for skating tomor-
row night from there.
Don t you have clients to see later today though? And
what about Canskate? That s a long time for me to sit around
waiting for Senior ice time. I don t want to stiffen up before
we start.
Actually, I only have one client that I have to see at one
this afternoon, so we could catch a few hours sleep together
and then I ll make you a late breakfast before I have to leave.
I d be back by three o clock at the latest, which would give
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you just enough time to do your modified workout while I m
gone. I even have a treadmill in my spare room, so you
wouldn t have to leave the apartment. Then I could make you
dinner before we left for the rink. I had Sue Stanton take over
my Canskate and Junior skaters until February so I could de-
vote myself to you completely until after Nationals, so we
wouldn t have to leave for the rink until six-thirty in the even-
ing.
It sounds like you have everything planned, and I d love
to see your apartment. It s amazing that in all the time we ve
known each other, I ve never even been there. Maybe I ll find
out all your secrets finally, she said with a laugh.
Mi Casa is su Casa, he said good-naturedly.
Approximately three minutes after leaving the arena,
they were pulling into a parking garage attached to a fourteen-
story building on Lawrence Avenue.
Do you mean to tell me you ve lived this close to the
arena since you started coaching me and you drive your van to
get there? It s only a six-minute walk in bad weather, for cry-
ing out loud. That s crazy, she observed as he ran a card over
the security box that controlled the door to the garage.
I didn t start driving my van until we started doing late
night sessions, he said mildly as he drove the car down the
steep incline and entered the underground space.
But when we started doing our late nights, we were still
skating at Westmount. It wasn t until a few months later that
we moved to the arena at Eglinton and Bayview.
Jason could tell from her tone of voice that she wasn t
going to give up on this until she had the whole story. As he
pulled the van into his designated parking spot, he put the
gearshift in park, turned off the ignition and pulled the keys
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Heart of a Champion
out, looking at them lying in his palm with great interest.
I guess there s no use hiding it from you. I started fol-
lowing you home from the rink from the first time we skated
in the middle of the night. As she started to sputter, he put
his hands up in surrender. Now look, you can get your pan-
ties in a twist if it makes you feel better. I just couldn t stand
the thought of something bad happening to you. I don t give a
rat s ass how independent you are. I know that you can take
care of yourself, but it made me feel better knowing you were
safe and sound in your home when I left you. So there you
have it, go ahead and yell at me and get it over with, I m sure
I deserve it.
Christy could hardly believe he had gone to such lengths
because he was concerned about her. Instead of feeling angry
with him, she felt an incredible tenderness toward him. No
one had cared about her that much since before she was eigh-
teen years old, and it made her feel safe and protected, the
same way she felt when she was wrapped in Jason s arms.
Christy was on him in seconds, kissing him all over his
face and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
Does this mean you re not mad? he asked, coming up
for air with a chuckle.
Pulling her head back so she could see him in the dim
light from the garage, she said, This means that if it were an-
yone but you undermining my independence, I d have freaked
out, but I love you so much, I just can t bring myself to get
mad at you for caring about me.
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