Chapter 108: A Tour Visit

Warren walked into Sophia's house, grabbing the mail on the way in. It was a warm sunny day towards the end of June. He found Sophia and Ellen in the kitchen.

"Hi, folks. Here's your mail. Champions on Ice tickets came, Pookie."

"Good ol Ted," Sophia commented. Ted Kantor was a former show skater who ran the COI tour. "He came through."

"Yup," Warren agreed. "Six tickets for the Boston show next week."

"Who are you going to take?" Ellen asked them.

"Jessie and Crash, for sure," Sophia supplied.

"Yeah, we've turned them into quite the skating fans. Even Crash," Warren joked.

"I'm sure Kate would like to go," Sophia commented.

"Yeah," Warren agreed. Just then, Kate walked in the door.

"Hey, Kate! We got tickets for Champions on Ice. Next Thursday. You and Dave want to go?"

Kate gave Sophia a rueful look. "I'd love to go. However, there won't be any Dave."

"Huh?" Sophia asked.

"We broke up last night."

"WHAT?" Sophia was incredulous.

"Yeah," Kate said. "It just wasn't working. It wasn't going to work. We've both changed so much in the couple of years we've been going out, and we just don't want the same things anymore."

"That's rough. You OK?" Warren asked her.

"Yeah, I'm OK. It's for the best, it really is." She looked up with a sad little half-smile. "I'm just not looking forward to going through the summer lonely."

"Oh, Kate," Ellen sighed.

"No, really, Ellen. I'm OK. It had to end. Neither of us have been happy for some time." She brightened up, and looked at Sophia. "I'd still love to go to COI, though. Does that leave you with an uneven number of tickets?"

"Yeah," Sophia said. "We've got one left, if Jessie and Crash go."

"Can I make a suggestion, honey?" Ellen asked.

"Sure."

"Tara would love to go."

"Good idea," Sophia grinned. "She would. We're going back stage and everything. OK with you, Snugglebear?"

"Absolutely," Warren agreed.

"I'll go tell her." Sophia ran up to Tara's bedroom upstairs. A few minutes later, the folks downstairs heard a delighted scream.

A week later, they were at the Fleet Center in Boston, trying to get back stage.

"Look, we have backstage passes, right here," Warren said.

"That's not good enough," the guard at the door said. "You have to be on the list. One of the skaters had to put you on the list. Which skaters are you friends with?"

" All of them!" Sophia shouted. "These tickets didn't come from a skater, they came from Ted Kantor."

"Who's he?" the guard asked.

"The guy who runs the tour! We know every skater in this show. We are skaters! We're the Olympic silver medallists in ice dance, and we'd be in this show if I wasn't pregnant!"

"That's a good story," said the guard.

"JESUS!" Sophia was really working herself into a snit.

"Hold on, Pookie." Warren picked up his cell phone. "I hope she has hers with her... it's ringing... Liz! It's Warren. Not only are we coming, we're here, but some dunderhead guard won't let us in. Yes, we have back stage passes, but, evidently, we were supposed to be on some kind of list, too. OK." He looked at Sophia and the guard. "Liz is on her way." When she arrived a few minutes later, it was with Ted Kantor.

"What the hell is going on here? Why aren't you letting my guests in?"

"They're not on the list," the guard said stubbornly.

"Jesus, I sent them backstage passes. Now, let them in."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the boss. I'm Ted Kantor, I run the tour. Now let them in."

They finally got in, got wrapped in a hug by Liz. They thanked Ted, as he walked off to go back to organizing the show.

"How are you doing?" Liz asked.

"Great," Sophia said. "You know these guys, right?"

"I've met Jessie and Crash, and your sister Kate..."

"Ah. You've never met my other sister, Tara."

"Cool! Hi, Tara!" Liz shook her hand. Tara was awestruck.

"Hey, Liz, we have something to tell you, but we need to tell you and Olga. Is she around?"

"Olga Bradochkina? Yeah, she's in the locker room." Liz led them to the door, and then went in and got Olga.