“Oooooooooook. No complaining later when your energy tanks.”
“That won’t happen,” he said smugly.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
She exchanged her trusty Converse for her running shoes. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Frankie and Charlie glided forward on the ice. Their bodies were pressed in close to one another. He gripped her waist firmly and applied just the right amount of pressure to be snug, but not uncomfortable. Frankie pushed down into a deep entry edge and lifted her right leg to initiate a throw double Salchow just as Charlie tossed her into the air.
The jump had become easy. With so much height, she didn’t need to wrap her legs or arms in tightly and easily completed the two rotations before coming down to land. She estimated that she held the edge for six feet.
Charlie clapped. “You had so much hang time on that. That was the best one we’ve ever done.”
Frankie placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. “That made me lose my breath a little.”
“It won’t be long before we’re ready to try a throw triple Sal. We’ll have to start thinking about what jumps we should put in our program.” He skated over to the boards to grab a quick drink of water.
“I used to do loop and Lutz. Right now, I’m thinking Sal and loop.” She shrugged. “I haven’t done any throw Lutzes in a long time. How much time do we have left in the session?”
Charlie glanced at his smartwatch. “Five more minutes.”
Her pulse pounded in her ear. Adrenaline rushed through her veins. “Let’s try a triple Sal.”
“Now? We only started doing throw doubles on the ice this week.” He shook his head. “It’s too soon.”
They’d already done forty minutes of throw double loops, flips, and Salchows. Frankie was tired, but she was also anxious to see if she could still do a throw triple. She and Fernando had talked about doing it on tour, but had faced challenges with getting on the same page on jump technique. As a leftie, Fernando jumped and spun in the opposite direction as her.
With Charlie it was different. His experience as a top-level skater and a coach shined through. She appreciated how much effort he was putting into figuring out how best to meld their two different styles of skating. It was a true partnership in every sense of the word. They were nearing the point where she didn’t need to count out their setups. Charlie intuitively knew when she was ready to rise up into the air.
“You’re giving me more than enough height and power on the jump. Plus, I’ve been doing solo triple Sals without any problems since I started coaching here. I know I can squeeze out another rotation.”
“No.” His hand went to his forehead. Frankie had noticed that Charlie often touched his scar when he was nervous about something. “Remember, we’re running a marathon, not performing sprints. Doubles might be easy, but with triples, there are a lot more things that can go wrong. I don’t want there to be any doubts about you being able to complete the jump. I want us to be able to do the double on autopilot before we think about a triple.”
We can do that almost every time now. What’s the harm in doing a triple?She glanced at her partner. His lips made a thin line. His face was stoic. There was no way she was going to change his mind. It was like throwing a ball against a wall. The wall won every time.
“Then how doyouwant to fill these last five minutes?”
“How about a compromise? We could try side-by-side single Axels.”
Disappointed, she said, “Make it side-by-side double toe loops.”
He wrinkled his nose. “I haven’t tried any double jumps since we started skating together.”
“Charlie, you’re killing me.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Have you done any single Axels?”
He nodded.
“Then would you be willing to go for a double Sal? It’s basically a three-turn into an Axel.”
Out of all the double jumps, double toe loops and double Salchows were the first ones a young skater normally learned after mastering a single Axel.
He licked his lips. “We’ll set up for them in the corner.”
Taking hold of one another’s hands, Frankie and Charlie flew across the rink into powerful back crossovers. Approaching the opposite corner of the ice, they dropped hands, and positioned themselves about eight feet apart.
“Turn,” Frankie called out. She kept her attention on Charlie’s body, trying to match his timing and keep their spacing as close as possible. “Jump.”
