She fist pumped. “That’s what I’d hoped you’d say.”
“With any luck, when management receives my report on your injury, it’ll help them see that there’s no reason for them to have put you on probation. It’s insulting. They’ve never done it with any other skaters before. What was the excuse they gave you again?”
Gemma suppressed a grimace. “The head of HR said DOI is looking to implement new policies to ensure that any skater returning from injury is fully fit. They’ll pick a date to watch me skate in the show to assess if I can, as they said, ‘do the job as stated in my contract.’”
“It’s a load of legal nonsense, if you ask me.”
“Oh, Mel, it was so frustrating. Management only gave me five minutes of their time. They were in the middle of some tense discussions when they called me in.” Gemma sighed. “I don’t care what the policy is or even that I’m on probation. All I want is for them to give me a direct answer on my next contract. It should be simple—yes or no. I can’t make any decisions about the future until this is all sorted out.”
“Did they give you any time frame on when they’d do the assessment?”
“It’s supposed to be sometime this week.”
“What a waste. Like I said earlier, the season is over in three weeks.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, let me know if you want me to light any fires under their butts. I have a couple friends I could call in favors with to try and speed things along,” Mel promised.
“Thanks, Mel. I appreciate you.” Gathering up her mobile, earbuds, and water bottle, Gemma waved goodbye to her and headed to Fernando’s dressing room to meet her skating partner.
The door was propped open a crack. As she peeked through it, she could see Fernando curled up, fast asleep on the couch. His snoring was loud, reminding her of a roaring bear. She giggled. He let out an even louder snore.
Discreetly taking out her mobile, she pushed the door open a little wider and angled the device so she was in the frame, and snapped a photo. She’d use it for something fun later on.
“Hola, Fernando. Time to wakey wakey,” Gemma gently shook his body.
He let out a loud groan. “Dos minutos más. Two more minutes.”
“No two more minutes.” He burrowed under the cover. Gemma giggled and tugged it away. “Up now. We’re on a schedule, Señor Fernando.”
“Fine,” he muttered. A puff of dark-brown hair appeared at the top of the blanket. “I’m up.”
“I’ll be in my dressing room getting a start on my makeup. When you’re ready to warm up our lifts, come find me.”
Fernando stood, yawned, and waved her off. The blanket remained draped around his shoulders like a cape. It reminded her of Tim. Her face fell.
“Gemma, what’s that look?”
She quickly glanced away from her skating partner. “Nothing.”
He frowned. “You’re thinking about him again.”
“Maybe?” She couldn’t hide it from him. Her shoulders hunched. “He’s in Scottsdale this week. I’ve gotten a couple photos and texts from him showing and telling me about the different parts of the city. He’s so excited.”
“Why don’t you tell him the truth—that you don’t want to move to Arizona.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.”
“That’s not a valid answer.”
Gemma unlocked her mobile screen and swiped through her messages with Tim until she found an image of him posing next to the Sloth mascot with a flaming bat. “Look at the goofy grin on his face.”
“He reminds me of a cartoon character. You don’t want to spoil it for him, do you?”
“No.”
“You’re too nice, Gem.” Fernando folded the blanket and crossed his arms. “This is why I’m happy being a bachelor. All I have to worry about is me, myself, and I.”
