Chapter 66 Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways
⚠️ 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 at Sheila Lin's funeral at Hollywood Forever cemetery. Katarina, without any planning, stands and delivers an impromptu speech. She barely remembers what she said, only that she was squinting into the sun and gripping her glasses to steady her shaking hands. Bella initially appears hostile, bracing for a scene, but softens as Katarina speaks and gives her a subtle nod of acknowledgment afterward. Heath remains motionless, like a monument in the cemetery; Katarina can't bring herself to meet his eyes, afraid of what she'd see—loathing, smug satisfaction, or worst of all, total indifference. She leaves without speaking to anyone and changes her flight to depart LA as soon as possible.
Weeks pass in Katarina's solitary Illinois life, each day identical to the last, until a blizzard blankets the landscape overnight. The next morning, Bella Lin appears at Katarina's front door, dressed all in white and resembling her late mother so strongly that Katarina briefly mistakes her for a ghost. Bella claims she was "in the area," though she'd been at the U.S. National Championships in Omaha—at least a six-hour drive away. When pressed, Bella admits she wanted to see Katarina, noting that Katarina left the funeral without saying goodbye. Bella insists the funeral speech was the most honest thing anyone said all day.
Bella joins Katarina on the walk through the woods to her private skating rink—a converted stable where Heath once hid out, transformed about a year into Katarina's exile. The rink features fairy lights strung across the rafters, an east-facing wall of windows overlooking the forest and lakeshore, retractable panes for open-air skating, and a refrigeration system. Katarina maintains the ice herself with a rake-like tool. Bella is awed, declaring she knew Katarina could never give up skating.
Katarina reflects on her early exile: weeks of sleeping, eating, and seething with rage; then a renovation project to fix up the house; cleaning out her brother Lee's room and finally crying over his death and his life. Restless energy drove her to walk in the woods until her feet blistered and to blast her parents' records—Hounds of Love, Private Dancer, Rumours—which only made her want to move, to dance, to skate. She hired a contractor who specialized in home hockey rinks and had never heard of Olympic ice dancer Katarina Shaw. Initially clumsy on her blades, she fell repeatedly, but with no one there to judge, she was skating only for herself for the first time in her life.
Bella insists on music, using her iPhone propped against the boards. She reveals that younger skaters still talk about Katarina—as a cautionary tale, yes, but also as someone they want to emulate. Bella recognizes the stable as the place where Lee made Heath sleep in winter, confirming that Heath confided in her about the childhood trauma he and Katarina shared. The thought stings Katarina like a fresh wound.
Bella explains her relationship with Heath: it began as revenge, a way to wound Katarina after Vancouver. Afterward, Heath choreographed programs for up-and-coming teams at the Academy while Bella assisted her mother, who treated her like just another junior coach. Garrett moved away. Heath and Bella spent time together out of necessity—"All we had was each other." Bella insists they're just friends, with one exception: a single night after an Adele concert at the Palladium, which she describes as purely physical and meaningless.
They skate together, improvising to Taylor Swift's Red, eventually clasping hands in a dance hold and switching lead and follow roles. Bella, winded, notes that Katarina has been secretly training for Sochi. She proposes that Katarina and Heath team up for the Olympics, arguing that the U.S. ice dance program has struggled since they split, and that having Shaw and Rocha on the Academy's roster would help Bella's coaching career—Sheila left the Academy to her, and skaters are already considering leaving for more experienced coaches.
Katarina protests that Heath hates her, but Bella insists he's incapable of hating her and that he misses her, even if he hasn't said so in words. Bella admits she hasn't spoken to Heath about the idea yet, not wanting to get his hopes up. Katarina internally acknowledges she misses competing, skating with a partner, and Heath himself—comparing the absence to the phantom pain of a severed limb. She agrees to dinner, signaling her willingness to consider the proposal.
Key Events
- Katarina delivers an unplanned, honest speech at Sheila Lin's funeral and leaves immediately afterward
- Bella Lin arrives at Katarina's Illinois home during a blizzard, weeks after the funeral
- Bella discovers Katarina's private skating rink in the converted stable
- Bella reveals her relationship with Heath was mostly friendship, with one night together
- Bella proposes a Katarina-Heath reunion for the Sochi Olympics
- Katarina agrees to dinner, leaving the door open to the idea
Character Development
Katarina moves from self-imposed exile and isolation toward tentative openness. Her rink demonstrates that she never truly abandoned skating, even when she tried to bury that part of herself in renovation projects and long walks. She admits, at least internally, that she misses competing, misses skating with a partner, and misses Heath—a confession that would have been unthinkable earlier in her exile. Her decision to have dinner with Bella marks a genuine step out of her hermitage.
Bella emerges as a bridge between Katarina and Heath. She reveals her own grief and guilt, especially about Garrett's breakdown, which she says forced her to rethink her life and choices. Her coaching ambitions are clear: she inherited the Academy from her mother but knows the Lin name alone won't sustain it. Her willingness to reach out to Katarina, despite their complicated history, shows both pragmatism and a desire for reconciliation.
Heath, though absent, is present through Bella's account. His choreography work with younger skaters, his confiding in Bella about Lee's abuse, and Bella's insistence that he misses Katarina all reframe him as someone still connected to the skating world and to Katarina's past.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
The private rink as sanctuary: The converted stable represents Katarina's attempt to preserve the one thing she couldn't give up. It's both a retreat from the world and a space where she can be her authentic self, skating without judgment.
Grief and mourning: The chapter is bookended by death—Sheila's funeral at the start and Katarina's reflections on Lee's death in the middle. Katarina's renovation project and her tears over her brother show how grief has shaped her exile.
Second chances and the pull of competition: Bella's proposal frames the Sochi Olympics as a chance at redemption. Katarina's internal comparison of the comeback to standing at the base of a mountain she once nearly summited captures the allure and risk of trying again.
Friendship vs. romance: Bella's careful explanation of her relationship with Heath—revenge, then friendship, then one meaningless night—recasts the triangle that fractured after Vancouver and opens the door for a possible reunion.
Family legacy: The Lin name, the Academy, and the weight of Sheila's legacy hang over Bella's pitch. Similarly, Katarina's parents' records and Lee's room tie her to her own family history.
Unspoken feelings: Both Katarina and Heath fail to communicate directly; Bella serves as the interpreter of Heath's unspoken longing, noting that words aren't his strong suit.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is the pivot point where Katarina's exile begins to end and the possibility of a comeback takes shape. It reconnects her to the skating world through Bella, sets up the Sochi storyline that will drive the remainder of the novel, and reframes the Heath-Bella relationship as something that doesn't foreclose a Katarina-Heath reunion. The private rink scene also deepens our understanding of Katarina's inner life during her years away from competition, showing that even in isolation, she never stopped being a skater at heart.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Katarina agree to have dinner with Bella?
Katarina agrees because Bella's proposal touches something she's been suppressing: her love of competing and her longing for a partner. She admits to herself that she misses Heath "the way a soldier misses a severed limb," and Bella's insistence that Heath misses her too makes the idea of a reunion feel possible. The dinner is a small, cautious step toward re-entering the world she fled.
2. What does the converted stable rink symbolize for Katarina?
The rink symbolizes both her inability to give up skating and her need for a space free of judgment. It's built in the very place where Heath once hid from Lee's abuse, connecting her sanctuary to their shared trauma. Skating there "only for herself" represents a new relationship with the sport—one not driven by competition or others' expectations, even as it ultimately rekindles her competitive desire.
3. How does Bella's account of her relationship with Heath change Katarina's understanding of what happened after Vancouver?
Bella reveals that her night with Heath was an act of revenge, not the beginning of a romance. Their subsequent closeness grew from shared circumstances—both left behind after Katarina and Garrett departed, both working at the Academy under Sheila's difficult supervision. This reframes the betrayal Katarina felt and suggests that Heath's connection to Bella was never a replacement for his bond with Katarina.