Page 46 of Side By Side

“Yeah?”

“I was just making a joke. But it’s good to know that you’re a nice person and that you know all the servants’ kids’ ages and everything.”

“I don’t really call them or think of them as servants. They’re employees, yes, but they work for my parents.”

“Okay. Well, good to know. This is amazing.”

“Do you want to get a skate in tonight? I don’t know how tired you are. And I don’t mean a real skate with me or with Cat yelling at us. Just you on the ice. I know you’re used to skating at the Ice Park at the end of every day.”

“I don’t have my skates. I guess they’re in my room about now.”

“I have new ones in there for you, too. You can check them out.”

“You bought me new skates?”

“I’ll have my guy check them out once you get them on, too. He’ll make sure they fit right.”

“You have a guy for that?”

“I think you’ll discover that I probably have someone for just about everything. So, if you need something, ask, and we can probably make it happen.”

Belle nodded and said, “I think I’ll skip the night skate tonight, if that’s okay. I’m pretty tired, and I don’t want to risk getting hurt.”

“Of course. I’ll show you to the apartment.”

“I bet it’s bigger than mine back home, too,” Belle joked.

Chandler smiled at her.

CHAPTER 13

Belle woke up after probably the best sleep of her entire life. She pressed the button on her phone, turning off her alarm, and wished she could get just another hour or two of sleep because this bed was amazing. It was a king, not like the full she had at home, and it had the most expensive sheets she’d ever slept on. From the moment her head hit the pillow, she’d been out, and now, it was four in the morning, and she didn’t know why she had to be up so early.

Yes, she was an early riser and always had been, but that meant six or maybe five in the morning, not four. The rink was next to the house, so it wasn’t like they had a long drive to get there, and it was also private, so they weren’t up against a clock or anything when it came to getting ice time they’d paid for.

Still, Belle got up and walked to the bathroom, where she stripped, left her clothes on the floor, and climbed into the shower. She turned it on and yelped when the cold water hit her skin, but she’d learned a long time ago that nothing quite woke her up like a cold shower in the morning. After she was done with that, she went to her suitcase, which she hadn’t yet unpacked, opened it, and pulled out what she wanted to wear for the day. She grabbed her skate bag, leaving the new one with the skates that Chandler had bought her behind to deal with later. Her skates weren’t that old, and they might have looked beaten up, but that didn’t mean they didn’t work. She had them sharpened regularly, and the laces were new. They’d be fine for their practice today, at least.

“Hey,” she said when she walked into the house through the side door Chandler had told her to use.

“Hey,” Chandler replied, looking up from a newspaper and a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. “Sleep okay?”

“I slept great, actually. What is that bed made of? Clouds?”

Chandler laughed silently and said, “Better than a cot, right?”

“I don’t sleep on the cot often. God, let it go.” She laughed and sat down at the table. “So, we’re working out, right?”

“Yeah. But since it’s your first day, I thought we’d go over the schedule. We didn’t last night. Well, Cat did a little, but I’m not sure either of us was paying attention to her. You might want something to eat, too. I’d recommend something small. We can come back in after our workout and have a real breakfast. That’s when Cat will join us. Maybe just have a granola bar or something.” Chandler nodded to the pantry. “There’s a bunch of stuff in there. Grab whatever you want. When you’re ready, leave your grocery list on the counter here. Antonia will have someone pick up everything for you and put it away in the apartment. Just be aware that Cat will judge the list, so if there’s anything unhealthy on it, I wouldn’t risk it.”

“Wow. Okay. Well, I’m not really hungry right now, and I don’t like to work out on a full stomach, so I’m ready when you are.”

“You don’t want coffee?” Chandler held up her own cup.

“Not yet.”

“Okay. Well, we can go. Joe is my trainer. He’ll be here in about thirty minutes, so we can get in a short run as a warm-up and meet him in the gym. He’ll work with both of us since you’re here. My guess is he’ll want to focus on different things for you than he does with me, but he can evaluate where you are now and what we need and get you there. He’s really good. After the run and the workout, we’ll do breakfast. Then, you’ll meet with the nutritionist, and we’ll go over the competition schedule with Cat. We’ll have lunch after that.”

“Uh… When do we skate?”