CHAPTER FIVE

Somewhere in the five hour morning practice, Hannah and James finally started to skate like a team. They would never be what James and Alexandra had been; there was no substitute for the emotional connection those two had. Nevertheless, this new pairing still had a lot of potential to really make a showing come Nationals. Jackie called practice to a close after the pair had an impressive run. It's always easier to start the next practice on a positive note when the previous had ended that way. She reminded the two to be back in four hours for evening practice and dismissed them. As Hannah took off to meet Zach at his office and James left to go take Alexandra to her appointment, Jackie walked off to her office.

All the years spent in the rink, either practicing or coaching, it had never crossed Jackie's mind that one day it would all be hers. When she and Alex had gotten married, her parents informed them that they would soon be handing the rink over to them. A divorce and two funerals later, she was running it on her own. Alex would have been so much better at this, and knowing that is probably what made Jackie refuse to hire someone to handle to business end of the rink. It basically just served as a practice rink for her team and the local hockey group. She knew she should really get it up and running again, but she just didn't have it in her yet.

Hannah had a few minutes before she was scheduled to meet Zach, so she bypassed his suite and headed straight to see Alex. The minute he saw her coming, he was quick to end his call. He hadn't seen her since Doug's funeral, and despite their constant emails, had really missed her. And he was very curious as to why she was no longer in Minnesota with that douche bag Jackson. He had met him when they had first started dating and he was near the campus for business. Seeing him at the funerals since had not made him like the guy any better. The last time he saw the couple, it had left such a bad impression that Alex had even considered calling Jackie to voice his concern. He couldn't muster up the courage, though, when he remembered how she treated him like any other random person that had shown up at her parents' funerals.

Luckily, Alex and Hannah had stayed close after the divorce. She never mentioned it to Jackie, but she knew that it was known. It crushed her when the marriage started to fall apart. She had always thought of Jackie as a sister and Alex was like the brother she had never had. She couldn't comprehend how two people that had been so in love couldn't make it. Hannah had always hoped to grow up and find a love just like theirs. They just fit together. Thinking about it made Hannah's eyes sting a little when they hugged.

Hannah kept trying to make small take, asking about the business, discussing getting back on the ice, anything to avoid the topic she knew Alex wanted to get to. Finally, she had to take a breath and Alex was able to ask why she had left Minnesota and shown up here.

"Things with Jackson just weren't what I thought they were, and I no longer had a reason to stay. I had just seen the competition and figured it would be nice for Jackie to have someone to celebrate with."

The fact that Jackie normally had to celebrate alone or with strangers hurt Alex more than a little, which did not go unnoticed by Hannah. It was so frustrating to know that two people she cared so deeply about belonged back together and would never admit it!

"Hannah, I've known you long enough to decipher there's more to the story than that. But if that's what you're selling, I'll pretend to buy it."

"Well, it's so moot now that it's not even worth discussing. I probably need to go meet with Zach now, let's try and get together soon." She hugged Alex again and took off down the hall to see Zach.

Across town, James was dropping Alexandra back off at their condo. The hardest part about what was going on was how distant Alexandra seemed to be becoming. If anything, he should be the one acting distant. She went to Jackie before him. Anything that affected her affected him, yet he wasn't the first to know what was going on. He understood that she was upset and confused, and he needed her to talk to him about it. Once she shut down, there was no getting her to have a conversation, though. He needed her to need him, to lean on him. They went through the motions like everything was the same, but he knew it wasn't. They didn't touch and talk like they had done until a couple of days ago.

Alexandra accepted the tea that James brought her. He had been so sweet during all of this and she knew she needed to talk to him about everything. What if he didn't say the right things, though? Did she really want to push them to the end before it got here?