Laurent Fortin wasn’t talking, but anyone with a shred of intelligence could deduce that Martin Bernier had withdrawn his support and kicked the guy out. So much for all that shit about being the next best thing to family.

When Bernier acquired Laurent -- Jason couldn’t help thinking of it that way now—he was too young himself to really understand what was going on. By the time he and Jenny were moving up the juniors ranks, the arrangement no longer incited jokes about that old movie, The Cutting Edge. It wasn’t uncommon for one pairs partner to be more or less adopted by the other partner’s family when one of them was underage. In this case, Bernier had taken formal guardianship because Laurent’s mother had cancer. He’d been about to say goodbye to skating altogether, because the family couldn’t afford it anymore, when Bernier made his offer.

Jason had no idea where Laurent’s father was in all this. Maybe he was never in the picture. Another reason to be grateful for the Huangs, Gold Medal Skating Stage Parents. Between their enthusiasm and the generosity of their enormous extended family, Jason and Jenny never had to make a choice between school or skating. Never had to juggle part-time jobs, never went hungry, never missed a dental cleaning or a vaccine or a physical therapy session.

Had Bernier covered all that for Laurent, or did he do the bare minimum? Jason couldn’t help digging a little deeper. He found things like the scholarship underwriting Laurent’s university degree, but didn’t find much about the man himself.

They’d been friendly over the years, in the casual-acquaintance kind of way you develop with someone you see fairly often but never in private. Even when they’d been up against each other in an event, there was no hostility or aggression. No trash-talking, no shade. Laurent seemed to be a genuinely nice guy who loved skating, cared about his partner, and had almost nothing else in his life.

And look at him now. Skating future in question, no partner, nothing else in his life. “Jesus.”

Jenny looked up. “What?”

“Laurent Fortin is kind of fucked.”

“Yeah, kinda.” After a second, staring at him, she said, “You guys get along, right?”

Jason said, “I think he gets along with everybody. Even the bitchiest bitches never had anything bad to say about him.”

“You should call him up. See how he’s doing.”

He examined that from several angles, wondering what his sister was up to. Laurent was really good-looking. Maybe Jenny had a crush? Jason wasn’t sure why the idea annoyed him.

* * * *

The new job was an administrative assistant position with the city’s Parks and Recreation department, in the office handling all things skating, thanks to a staffer going out on maternity leave. The new place was a rental cabin owned by a friend of a friend of the family, conveniently located midway between two rinks. With all the paperwork signed and the parents resigned, Jason tugged on the skating grapevine to get Laurent’s phone number. He wouldn’t be answering unknown numbers himself in this situation, so he was prepared to leave a message. The actual live human voice saying, “Hello?” was such a surprise Jason almost forgot to speak.

Then he rushed to say, “Hi! Laurent, this is Jason Huang.”

“Jason? Um, hello.”

“I’ll bet you’re wondering why the hell I’m calling.”

A soft laugh. “Yeah, a little. Nice to hear from you though.”

“I hope so. I, uh, I’ve seen some troubling stuff online about your situation right now. How are you holding up?”

“I’ve had some moments,” Laurent said. “Hard choices. I decided to go back to school for my master’s.”

“Hey, that’s awesome. Up in Montreal?”

After a pause, Laurent said, “Actually I’ve applied to a program in your city.”

“No way! Living on campus?”

“Suzanne’s helping me look for a place right now.”

Jason completely lost his head. “You probably heard about me and Jenny calling it quits so she can focus on school. Well, I’ve got a job and I’m moving into a two-bedroom cabin within the next few days. There’s room for you if you want to share.” He heard himself say it, had no idea where it came from, didn’t backpedal.

Another pause, then a faint, “What?”

“I know this is out of nowhere and, considering we’ve never had a personal conversation, way over the top. But it seems like we’re both at a career turning point, and we can understand the other person’s position.” Nervous about the silence on the other end, Jason added, “This wouldn’t have to be long-term. Just to kind of help you get settled. I’ve always lived at home, never with a roommate. Might be really bad at it.”

“Mmm.”

Jason couldn’t tell if Laurent was even remotely interested. “So, uh, are you remotely interested?”

There was a huff of a laugh, then a shaky voice. “This would solve so many problems. Thank you so much for thinking of me.”

“So, you want to? Whenever you can get here is fine. And you don’t need to worry about paying rent. If you’re coming on a student visa, you can’t hold a job here.”

“I know, yes. Marie and Suzanne would help with the rent, though. I’ve been helping them for years.”

“You certainly have. Listen, talk it over with them and give me a call back. Or text, whatever works. I’ll text you my email address, too.”

“Jason. Thank you so much.”

“It’ll be wild getting to know each other off the ice. Take care of yourself.” Jason disconnected, because it sounded as though Laurent might have gotten emotional, and they didn’t know each other well enough to be comfortable with that, because guys. He sent the promised text, receiving a prompt acknowledgement. Then he went to find Jenny. “I accidentally invited Laurent to come and stay with me for a while.”

She blinked at him. “What did he say?”

“I think he’ll go for it.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

How did he feel? Nervous. Boggled. Excited. What he said was, “I hope he knows how to cook, because I sure as shit don’t.”