“Way to go!” Gemma shouted.
Charlie and Frankie took several extended bows.
Gemma dry-swallowed, her body trembling with nervous energy.
Slipping her jacket over her tank top, Frankie swapped places with her. “Your turn. Go get ’em Gemma-rella.” She gave Gemma a fist bump.
Stepping onto the center of the ice, she rolled her shoulder a few times and pounded her legs.Keep it clean and simple. Show off your spins and footwork. You don’t need to do any jumps.
Assuming her opening pose from her normal DOI program, she exhaled. The music, “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” began to play.
Plastering a smile onto her face as she did every night, she bent her knees and gathered speed into a set of crossovers and her opening footwork sequence.
It’s so strange not to have props and the ensemble skaters that play the mice and birds around me. I’m so used to having them to interact with. I’ll have to fill the empty music and choreography with something.
Thinking fast as she performed a layback spin, Gemma made a spur-of-the-moment decision to add in a double toe loop-double toe loop combination. It was a jump she’d been able to do since she was seven.
Exiting her spin, she picked up speed into a series of fast crossovers. Bending her knees, she turned and tapped her left skate into the ice, vaulting herself into the air. Rotating twice around, she landed, then picked in once more for the second jump in the sequence, landing just fine.
Okay, that wasn’t bad. Maybe one more jump to close it out. A double Axel? Why not?
Gliding out of an Ina Bauer, Gemma picked up one final bust of speed. But just as she was about to swing her leg into the jump’s entry, the same burning sensation she’d experienced the last time she was at the rink shot up her leg. It was as if someone had taken a hammer and whacked it across her pelvis. She bailed, turning the jump into a single Axel.
Fighting to maintain her composure, only experience and adrenaline helped her through the remaining thirty seconds. Gemma completed a spiral and one final forward scratch spin, all while battling the stabbing ache. Each move became a struggle, but she refused to stop.
As the final notes of the music echoed through the rink, Gemma tried to mask the discomfort she was feeling. She struck her closing pose, a forced smile on her face, and took her bow.
As she came off the ice, Frankie gave her a big hug. “Gorgeous, but what happened on the last jump? It looks like you slipped off your edge.”
Gemma laughed nervously. “That’s exactly what happened. I slipped. You know how unpredictable Axel takeoffs can be every now and again.” Her pulse raced wildly in her ears.
Frankie shared a knowing glance. “We’ve all done that once or twice.” She elbowed Charlie. “Haven’t we.”
Oh no. I forgot Charlie is a technical mastermind. He’ll know it was intentional. I hope he just doesn’t ask any questions about it.
“We have.” He frowned. “But it almost looked like—”
He never finished his question, however, as Leslie burst her way into their small circle. Grabbing her brother’s and Frankie’s forearms, she gently pulled them toward the rink doors. “Frankie, Charlie, you guys are wanted in the lobby for a group photo.”
Gemma managed a weak smile. “Go on. I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.”
As her friends disappeared, she made her way to a quiet corner of the rink, taking a moment to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. Bracing her hands against the cold concrete wall, she dropped her chin to her chest.
This can’t be happening to me. Not now. I’m about to go back on tour.She didn’t understand. She’d been pain free for months, and then all of a sudden it was back with a vengeance? The medical team said it was tendonitis, but this didn’t feel like an overuse injury. What was she going to do?
Chapter 5
It was around ten when Leslie dropped Gemma off at Frankie and Charlie’s cabin. “Thanks for staying to help clean up. I really appreciate it. It probably saved me about an hour or two of work in the morning.”
“It wasn’t any trouble at all.”
“My boyfriend is going to be excited I’m home before midnight.”
“Oh, is he in town?”
“Yeah, but it’s only a quick stopover. His hockey team is playing a series against the Jasper Ridge Jaguars. He’ll be off to Seattle after this.”
Gemma nodded, sympathizing with Leslie. “It must be hard to be apart for long periods at a time.”
