“You can do this,” I whisper in Mia’s ear at the top of the pipe.

She nods, not making direct eye contact with me.

Her board slides to the starting position and I watch from the top, other snowboarders starting to wake-up and test out the course we’ll be on next week. A line is starting to form, which means we have limited time. Which sucks.

She dips down, her motions fluid as always. Coming up the one side she grabs huge air.

“Man, is that Mia Salter?” the girl behind me asks. Based on her coat and her accent, I’m fairly sure she’s from Italy.

“It is.” My tone that of a proud boyfriend.

“She looks great.”

Mia’s onto her last trick and this is where she needs to land what her and her coach have been working on. Without any hesitation, her board leaves the edge of the pipe with more air than I’ve seen her get on the final trick.

“Shit,” the Italian girl’s defeated voice says behind me.

“Way to go, baby,” I say mostly to myself as I prepare to get to the edge to congratulate her.

She raises her hands from the bottom of the pipe, her head turned in my direction. All I want to do is race down there and pick her up and tell her how amazing she is.

I slide down to the starting spot, placing my earbuds in. Like it has every time this week, Brandon’s voice rings out in my head. ‘You remember the accident.’ Brandon’s limp body falling down to the middle of the halfpipe flashes in my head.

I shake the trepidation off, my eyes on Mia at the bottom. In seconds, she’ll be in my arms.

I slide down, straightening my board to drop in, mixing it up so that any competitors hovering around won’t know the combos I’ll be doing come competition. I twist, my hand reaching to grab my board and the feeling that something’s off hits me too late. Too late to land properly and I fly forward, and slide down to the middle of the halfpipe.

My music is blaring in my ears, and I roll over, staring up at the blue sky. Fuck.

“Grady!” Mia falls to her knees at my side a minute later, her hands moving over my body, her eyes scrutinizing every inch.

“I’m fine.” I unstrap my board and take the walk of shame to the end.

Mia plucks the earbuds out of my ears. “I told you, you’re training too hard.”

“That’s not it.”

“You’re going to get hurt.”

The crack in her voice has me turning to give her all my attention. “Hey.” I take off my glove, my hand cradling her cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good.”

I tamp down the asshole within whose pride has me wanting to lash out, so I can ease her mind. She’s been through too much for me to worry her.

Her hand lands on mine and I catch a few other people coming by, including a medic.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks.

“Promise.”

“Grady,” a medic comes by. “Second fall in two days, come get checked out.”

“Second?” Mia asks, her eyes widening. “You didn’t say anything about another fall.”

“Because it’s nothing.” I follow the medic over to the station, Mia’s boots crunching in the snow behind us.

I’m not sure what she expects from me. She’s a snowboarder, she knows the risks.

We head to the first aid station, sitting down as they shine a flashlight into my eyes. Ask me to look up, down, sideways. Mia stands quietly behind them, her arms crossed, unsaid words heavy on her tongue. I will change nothing about my training, this is me and if I want to be the best, I have to be out there as much as possible. Only near perfection wins gold.

“You’re good, but be careful out there.” The medic slaps me on the back.

Mia and I walk out of the building together, but it suddenly feels like we’re miles apart. To make matters worse, Matt Peterson drops in right as we pass the end of the pipe.

“Let’s go get coffee,” Mia suggests.

“No, I want to see him.”

Matt isn’t doing anything different than I do down the pipe, but he’s got style that I lack lately. I pressure Mia so much to find her love of the sport because it will shine through in her performance, but somehow, I’ve lost my own. Matt reaches the bottom and like every time I’ve seen him lately, he tries the new trick he’s named after himself. It’s a wobbly landing, but his board hits midway down and he manages to stick the landing.

“Fuck,” I mumble.

“He’s got nothing on you.” Mia tries to make me feel better. “Come on, let’s get some coffee.”

“I thought you preferred tea?”

She smiles.

“Come on, you need to rest a little.”

My eyes stay focused on Matt and a few of his friends congratulating him at the bottom of the pipe. Our eyes meet and neither one of us looks away. There’s no challenge present in either of our gazes, but we both know we’re each other’s biggest competition.

“How about we go back to my place?” Mia whispers in my ear, her breath tickling the skin on my neck.

I turn toward her, dipping her and kissing her. When I have her thinking of anything else but my training, I stand her back up.

“Coffee and then back to training.” I swing my arm over her shoulders, grabbing our boards under my other arm and walking toward the little hut they have set up.

“Grady,” she sighs.

I don’t respond and she doesn’t say anything more. She should know by now, training always comes first. How else do I make sure I’m not second best?