Chapter 35 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with Katerina changing out of her costume into party clothes—a long velvet dress and snakeskin stilettos gifted by a designer—still vibrating with adrenaline from the performance. She reflects that she and Garrett are peaking at exactly the right time: their free dance finally feels like a cohesive program rather than a series of elements strung together. If they skate at Nationals the way they skated that night, she believes the title and their ticket to Torino are inevitable.

She dismisses Bella's nostalgic routine—Bella wore her mother's old costume in what Katerina sees as a sentimental show for an audience that doesn't understand skating. Katerina reasons that Bella and Heath must have spent weeks learning that choreography, time they could have devoted to their competition programs. She suspects Sheila knows better but has chosen to spotlight Bella and Heath anyway. Still, Katerina insists to herself that she and Garrett remain the ones to beat.

In the elevator, the car is empty and the operator has gone for the evening. Katerina is examining the control panel when Heath boards, changed into a slim-cut black suit and leather brogues. She refuses his offer of help, mashing buttons until the elevator descends. He steps close behind her, and the heat of his body radiates across her spine. She spins to face him, her shoulders hitting the metal bars. There's nowhere to go—and worse, she admits, she doesn't want to go anywhere. Heath moves toward her, gripping the bars, hips flush against hers, and it feels more natural than anything she's ever done with Garrett. Her body remembers everything she's tried to forget.

The elevator stops. No one is waiting. Their breathing syncs the way it used to before they took the ice together. He winds her hair around his knuckle, making it wilder rather than taming it. She considers taking him to her room, to her bed, and pretending the past three and a half years were nothing but a bad dream. But she recognizes that's what he wants—for her to forget herself and everything she's worked for. So she pushes him away, grapples with the gate, and snaps a nail in her rush to escape. He calls her name like a prayer, like a promise, like he still loves her. She refuses to turn around, telling herself this is another act, a part of the show, and she won't stay for an encore.

She stumbles out of the elevator, runs through the lobby, and pauses at the party only long enough to seize a bottle of champagne from a half-melted ice sculpture shaped like a sea creature. She keeps running until her heels sink into sand. The hotel faces open ocean rather than downtown San Diego. In daylight it was beautiful, but now all she can see is darkness—the moon is barely a sliver. She leaves her shoes by an Adirondack chair and wades into the water, clutching the champagne bottle. When cold water surges over her feet, soaking her dress, she closes her eyes and tries to pretend she's back home by the lake. It doesn't work: the sand is too smooth, the wind too warm, the spray tastes of salt.

She opens her eyes. Her vision has adjusted enough to see the waves crashing against the breakwater—and enough to see two figures intertwined in the cove: Garrett and Ellis Dean.

Key Events

Katerina reflects on her and Garrett's peak form before Nationals
She dismisses Bella's nostalgic exhibition routine
Heath boards the elevator; a charged, near-intimate encounter follows
Katerina pushes Heath away and flees, snapping a nail
She grabs champagne from an ice sculpture and runs to the beach
She wades into the ocean, trying and failing to escape her thoughts
She spots Garrett and Ellis Dean intertwined in the cove

Character Development

Katerina demonstrates hard-won discipline in this chapter. She resists Heath even though she admits the physical pull feels more natural than anything with Garrett. Her internal monologue reveals the cost of that resistance—she has to actively tell herself that Heath's behavior is another act to keep from turning around. The chapter also shows her vulnerability: her attempt to pretend she's home by the lake fails, and the final image of Garrett with Ellis Dean suggests her sacrifices may not have been rewarded.

Heath is presented as persistent and still emotionally invested. His suit, a contrast to his old ripped jeans and sneakers, shows how much he's changed—or how much Bella has shaped him. His gesture of winding her hair around his knuckle is intimate and possessive, and his call of her name like a prayer suggests his feelings remain unresolved.

Garrett is revealed in the final moment as potentially unfaithful, intertwined with Ellis Dean in the cove. This undercuts everything Katerina believed about their partnership and their chances.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Performance vs. reality: The chapter is saturated with performance imagery. Katerina literally changes out of a costume, but the metaphor extends further—she tells herself Heath's advances are another act, and the elevator scene is framed as a show she refuses to stay for. The final reveal suggests her entire partnership with Garrett may have been a performance too.

Memory and forgetting: Katerina's body remembers everything she tried to forget. Heath wants her to forget herself and her ambitions. The beach scene is an attempt to forget—to pretend she's home by the lake—but the salt spray and warm wind refuse to cooperate.

Nostalgia vs. progress: Bella's nostalgic routine is dismissed by Katerina as a distraction from real competition. Yet the chapter complicates this: Katerina's own nostalgia for Heath is a powerful pull she must resist.

Escapism: The champagne bottle, the ocean, the attempt to imagine home—all are forms of escape that fail.

Betrayal: The final image of Garrett with Ellis Dean is a betrayal that recontextualizes everything that came before.

Symbols: The elevator is a confined space between floors, mirroring Katerina's liminal state between past and present. The broken nail is a small physical cost of her escape. The Adirondack chair and abandoned shoes suggest shedding identity. The half-melted ice sculpture—a sea creature—is a decaying party decoration, hinting at the fragility of celebration.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point. Katerina makes a deliberate choice to resist Heath, sacrificing a moment of genuine connection for the sake of her ambitions. The final reveal—Garrett with Ellis Dean—immediately undermines that choice. The chapter sets up the central conflict for the remainder of the book: Katerina's commitment to her skating partnership may have been misplaced, and the cost of her discipline may be higher than she imagined. It also deepens the Heath-Katerina-Garrett triangle and introduces Ellis Dean as a significant figure in the story's romantic and competitive dynamics.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Katerina push Heath away in the elevator, despite admitting the moment feels more natural than anything with Garrett?

Katerina recognizes that giving in to Heath would mean forgetting everything she's worked for. She frames his advances as an attempt to make her forget herself and her ambitions. Her resistance is a deliberate act of self-preservation—she chooses her skating career over a moment of physical and emotional connection, even though the pull is strong.

2. What does the beach scene reveal about Katerina's emotional state?

The beach scene shows Katerina trying and failing to escape her own thoughts. She grabs champagne, wades into the ocean, and tries to pretend she's home by the lake, but the details are all wrong—the sand too smooth, the wind too warm, the spray salty. The darkness and the sliver of moon mirror her isolation. Her attempt at escapism fails, leaving her exposed to the revelation of Garrett and Ellis Dean.

3. How does the final reveal of Garrett with Ellis Dean change the meaning of the chapter's opening reflections?

At the start of the chapter, Katerina believes she and Garrett are peaking at the right time and that their Nationals performance will secure their Torino spot. She dismisses Bella's nostalgic routine and trusts in her partnership. The final image of Garrett intertwined with Ellis Dean in the cove reveals that this confidence was misplaced. It suggests that while Katerina was resisting Heath to protect her partnership, Garrett may not have been equally committed—recontextualizing her sacrifice as potentially futile.