บททั้งหมดของ On Thin Ice With You: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

Mia comes home to find Ellie upside down on the sofa, legs hooked over the armrest, phone held above her face. She flips upright the moment the door opens."How was it? How is he?" She's already kneeling on the cushions, chin propped on the backrest."Fine. Professional." Mia hangs her keys. "I also met someone called Lisa—admin staff, very kind. You'd like her."Ellie's expression says she has noted the deflection and will be returning to it. "A week off after this session, right? What are you going to do with yourself?""Probably finish the methodology section I've been ignoring." Mia says goodnight and closes her bedroom door on Ellie's theatrical groan.***Elias is already on the treatment table when Mia arrives, one long leg swinging idly off the edge.He's turning a puck between his fingers, and he glances back at her with studied casualness."Fifteen minutes late.""I spent ten of them reviewing your movement footage with Dr. Anderson." She sets her kit down, the metal clasp s

The seaplane descends over Tofino and Mia presses close to the window.Below, the Pacific wraps around forested islands in impossible shades of blue, white sand curving like a ribbon along the shore, dark rock formations rising from the surf with the drama of something geological and ancient.Mia turns from the window. "Wait—you said the Raiders are also in Tofino?""They do a west coast training week every mid-season break." Ellie's eyes are a little too bright. "Rest, conditioning, that kind of thing. This year it just happens to overlap with ours."She adds, with the casualness of someone deploying information strategically, "Elias surfs, apparently. Very physical sport. Very hands-on."Mia's eyes narrow slightly. "That's quite the coincidence."She'd been off the training center schedule all week, focused entirely on her research project, deliberately not checking team news. It hadn't occurred to her to wonder where they'd gone.Ellie pauses for half a second—she does have sources

Elias hits every ball toward Mia, not with consistent force, but with the particular variability of someone running an experiment. Some arrive hard enough to sting her palms. Others float in slow and deliberate, like an offering.His eyes don't leave her between either kind.Mia's wrists are starting to protest.She doesn't like this—the targeted attention that doesn't ask permission, the assumption that she'll keep showing up for whatever he decides to send her.She steps back and lets Lucas take the next one."Are we invisible?" Lucas calls across the net. "We do exist over here."Elias doesn't respond.He's watching Mia's retreat with the expression of someone who has just heard something he needed to hear and doesn't enjoy it.I made her pull back. The realization lands badly.The score reaches 10-3.The game continues, but Elias has already changed his approach—quietly, without announcement.The balls that come toward Mia now arrive soft and readable, positioned just within her r

The sky outside is still deep blue when Mia slips out of bed, the horizon just beginning to show the first thin line of pale light.Ellie is a complete casualty—buried under her duvet, one arm thrown over a pillow.Mia had forwarded Elias's message to her last night, added a reminder, and then said nothing further.From the looks of it, the time was well spent.Mia checks her phone. Ellie's reply from 1 AM is three exclamation marks and an emoji she's not going to investigate further.She pulls on the lavender swimsuit, knots the yellow sundress over it at the hip, and pins her hair into a bun that leaves her neck bare. Simple. Practical. She's about to leave when—"You're going to see him."Ellie's voice, muffled and knowing, rises from the duvet.Mia nearly drops her sunscreen. "You're awake?""Barely." Ellie surfaces enough to rest her chin on the pillow. "My roommate's first date. You think I'd sleep through that?""It isn't a date.""Mia.""We're going surfing with a group—""The

Walking back along the shoreline, Mia decides privately that she has some natural aptitude for surfing.She's not going to say this out loud. But she thinks it.Elias had been, and this she genuinely didn't expect, an excellent teacher.Patient, clear, never once condescending.If Tyler or Lucas had witnessed it they would have required medical attention.On the walk back, Elias hands Mia a towel.His gaze moves over her wet sundress, and then moves away with a speed."You learned quickly," he says carefully."You taught well." She tucks a strand of wet hair back, not entirely modest about it.He's about to say something when a voice cuts across the beach."Elias. There you are."Claire, yellow bikini, with two friends.Her eyes move over Mia once and settle into a smile. "Teaching a beginner? How sweet of you.""What do you need?""I'd love to learn too." She steps closer. "Would you help me with the board?""There are instructors down the beach," he says, already half-turned away. "