Usamos a expressão “to be within the ace of doing something” como nosso equivalente de “estar ou chegar a um passo de fazer algo”.
within an ace of (doing) something and within a hair(’s breadth) of something:
Very close to doing something. Ex.: I came within an ace of getting into an accident. [Cheguei perto de me acidentar] Ex.: We were within an ace of beating the all-time record. [Estavamos a um passo de quebrar o recorde de todos os tempos.]