Laying Low in Hollywood (22 page)

                         
CHAPTER 26

  
After a trip to the ER and an MRI, Ron was diagnosed with an acute lumbar strain.  I was glad that it was nothing more serious, but still, I wondered if Ron would be up to skating.  We didn’t have the luxury of giving him time off to heal.  We had a new program to learn.  I was worried, muscular strains could take weeks to heal.

   In the morning, Ron was back on the ice, he wasn’t himself, but he was determined to go as far as his body would take him.  As I watched him struggle through our practice, I had the sneaky feeling that this would be our last week on the show.  Unfortunately, the will to succeed can only take you so far!

   I had just begun my campaign to convince myself that getting eliminated next week, might be for the best.  I was getting tired of playing this game, not to mention that the constant scrutiny of my private life was about to drive me bonkers.  It hadn’t seemed all that bad at first, but as the number of couples in the competition dropped, that only meant that the show could spend more time hovering over and picking apart the few remaining couples.

   Each week, as the number of couples dwindled, speculation about my relationship with Ron seemed to be the big topic.  Of course, the sneaky camera men had captured every emotional moment between Ron and I and paraded it across the TV screen for everyone to gawk at and speculate about. 

                 I had worried that Jenae would watch the show and use my relationship with Ron as a weapon against him, but it turns out that she wasn’t taking any chances of loosing her new beau, Roman.  She was done with Ron, and she was working hard to expedite her uncontested divorce before Roman could get away.  She was salivating in anticipation of his multi million dollar contract, and she expected to have her divorce finalized before the end of the month.

   It was now week ten in the grand scheme of things.  It was time to go big, or go home.  I knew I needed to step up our program, but I was worried about Ron.  I wasn’t sure what his back could handle.  I was already feeling guilty about his injury, I felt I was to blame, maybe I had pushed him too hard, though the only one who pushed Ron harder than I did, was Ron himself!             

   The theme for this week’s show was disappointing to me, it was Elvis week. Once again, I was not happy about the theme that the show’s writers had come up with.  I know it sounds un-American, but I had never been a big Elvis fan.  I could never really put my finger on why. 

   My mother had completely worshipped Elvis, which could possibly be why I loathed the very idea.  I guess maybe I had been overloaded with Elvis-mania as a child.  Anyway, at least this week my decision for the music would be easy.  There was really only one song I would consider in the first place, it was “Jailhouse Rock”.

   I had my ideas, what I wanted to do with our program, unfortunately, I would just have to wait and see how Ron’s back held out, so far he wasn’t moving very well.

   That night I sat by the pool as a light breeze barely rippled the surface of the water.  I was deep in thought, trying to devise a program that would minimize the strain on Ron’s back, yet still blow everyone away.  Ron’s pain seemed worst anytime he was forced to twist, so minimizing the amount of twisting he was required to do in our program, was foremost in my mind.  The throw jump and the pairs spin were going to be the hardest things for him to execute, at least that is what I had decided.

   Suddenly, I had an idea.  My partner Justin had suffered through a lumbar strain right before we had to perform in the world championships, he would know what to do. I called him on his cell, since I was never really sure where he would be at any given time.

   “Hello?”

   “Justin, it’s me, Lane.”

   “Hey Lane, how’s life in Hollywood?” he asked playfully.  Justin still loved me and he knew me well, and he knew that Hollywood was definitely not my style.

   “It’s definitely Hollywood,” I told him, I could barely disguise the disgust in my voice.

   “I’ve been pretty busy, but I’ve been watching the show whenever I can.  You’ve been doing a great job.  I was worried for you when I saw the first episode, it didn’t seem like they gave you a lot to work with,” he said.

   “Thanks, my team was a little bit raw when I first got a hold of them!” I told him with a little laugh.  It seemed like that first episode had been a long time ago, but it also seemed like time had flown by.

   “All right, now tell me the truth.  Are you really getting involved with Ron Brannon, or is that just a bunch of reality TV hype?” asked Justin.  I sighed miserably, of course, he would ask me that, why wouldn’t he?

   “Officially the word is no, unofficially, the whole ordeal has been awful.  The moment our producer saw that the two of us had the tiniest attraction to each other, he freaked out!  I’m not even sure what I feel right now.  I have basically been forbidden to have any contact with him, except on the ice.  He’s still married, and you know...my luck with the media.  It just seemed like it would be best for us to wait until the show was over to see where things led.” I sighed, in that respect, time seemed to be moving in slow motion.

   “So are things going to work out between the two of you?  Is he a nice guy?” asked Justin, he was always concerned about my welfare.

   “He’s a great guy.  Whether things will work out or not, it’s hard to say.  I mean, I’m hoping that once the show is over, Ron and I will be free to live our lives however we see fit.  It’s been hard, having a camera in my face almost every moment of the day.  It’s not something you can ever get used to,” I told him, shaking my head miserably.

  “If anyone can do it, it’s you.  You are the most amazing woman I know.  Besides, I’ve heard the network is already planning a sequel,” said Justin, with a little laugh.

   I laughed too, I missed having Justin around.  He was my best friend and I hardly ever got to see him anymore.

  “Where are you?” I asked.  He kept himself busy traveling the world, he claimed to not have time for romance.  I worried about him being alone. 

   “London...Lane are you doing okay?” he asked, his voice was quiet, serious.

   “Sure, I’m fine, why?” I asked.

   “You never called me, when the divorce was final, I was worried about you.  I mean you and Greg, you were together more than twenty years, I know he hurt you.  I just thought you might want to talk about it,” said Justin, he almost sounded hurt.  Justin always felt the need to share my pain, he had been there for nearly every tear I had shed since I was twelve years old. 

   Justin had always been my best friend, from the day I met him, and I had never kept anything from him in my life, even when we had been married and I had inadvertently fallen in love with our mutual acquaintance, Andre’ Dumonde, I had told Justin. 

   I had never planned for my marriage to Justin to end, even though I’d had no say in the marriage in the first place.  I was committed to stay, it was like a contract I felt I couldn’t violate.  My life as Justin’s young bride, was much better than the life I would have endured, if I had stayed with my parents.

   It had been pure chance that I had been seated next to Andre’ Dumonde at dinner that evening.  How was I to know that our seemingly innocent conversation would cause my entire world to come crashing down? 

   Though I felt an undeniable attraction to Andre’, I had never planned to pursue my feelings for him, I was happy enough with Justin.  Andre’ had fallen in love with me, and he had been appalled when he realized what my own parents had done to me.  An arranged marriage in this day and age was hardly heard of.  Andre’, of course, felt the need to “save me” from the arranged marriage I had been entered into.

   Andre’ was only doing what he felt was right, of course there was a lack of passion in my marriage to Justin, it was a marriage of convenience.  Justin and I had always loved each other, but marrying Justin had come at a price.  I entered into the marriage knowing that he could never give me children.  It was a condition I was not quite certain about.  I had dreamed about being a mom since I was old enough to have my own doll.  It was a dream that didn’t fade away easily for me.

   It was the media, that had taken my affection for Andre’ and paraded it across newspapers and TV screens all across the world.  It had hurt Justin terribly, and to this very day, I still felt incredibly guilty about it.  It was that guilt that caused me to abandon whatever feelings I had for Andre’ and send him away, even though my arranged marriage was clearly over.

   It was only later, after my entire life was in shambles, that I returned to the states and met Greg.  Greg was perfect for me, it seemed.  He knew nothing of the scandal I had endured in Europe, he didn’t follow figure skating at all, so he’d never even heard of me!

   Maybe that was why I had kept my pain over my divorce with Greg to myself.  Maybe I felt that I had hurt Justin enough, maybe I was still in denial?  I only knew that I really couldn’t talk about it.  I had given Greg the best years of my life and he had cruelly cut my heart out and stomped on it!

   “Sorry Justin, I guess I really had no desire to talk about it.  I’ve been so busy with the show, it was just easier for me to immerse myself in my work,” I told him.

   “I get the feeling you’re not calling to talk to me about it now,” he said, still sounding hurt.

   “Justin I’m sorry.  You know I love you, but I can’t share this pain with you.  It hurts too bad.  Maybe I deserved it, after what I did to you, maybe it was just karma, giving me a little kick in the ass,” I told him.

   “You know I’ve never faulted you for our breakup.  We were both young, we were doing as we were told.  Think how bored you would be with me right now, if we had stayed married,” said Justin, with a laugh.

   I smiled.  He was right, he never faulted me, never tried to hurt me, he was the best friend ever!  “I probably would have never cried all these tears, if I had stayed married to you,” I told him ruefully.  I had hurt him and he had taken it, he had never tried to retaliate, we had stayed just as close as ever.

   “You wouldn’t have those two gorgeous kids if we had stayed married,” said Justin.

   “I know, but I do miss you,” I told him.

   “But that’s not the main reason you called me, is it?” he asked.

   “Actually, I have a technical question, I hope you don’t mind.  Ron has strained his back and I need your advice on what we can use in our program, variations on the required elements that will be easier on his back.”

   Justin still seemed hurt that I refused to pour my heart out to him, but I just couldn’t.  Luckily, he had a whole host of ideas for me to help Ron through this week’s program.  All I needed to do was get busy and implement them into our routine.

   I now had a modified pairs spin, a balanced lift, that would use Ron’s thighs, more than his back and pointers to help him with the throw jump.

   Ron was loading up on anti inflamatories, so he seemed to be doing a bit better.  We worked hard all week and before I knew it, it was Wednesday again.  Ron was doing better, but he was obviously still not one hundred percent.

   We were now down to the last three teams, all three teams had been consistently at the top, we would be slated against team Muramsatsu and team Evans.

   Our final practice had gone well and I felt like our “Jailhouse Rock” program was definitely good enough to put us in the top two, if only Ron’s back could hold out.

   That evening we were back in the ice arena.  Ron and Elena were to perform first tonight.  A lot of the program was going to revolve around Elena’s spinning and jumping abilities, Ron was a bit limited on what he could do.

   The lights dimmed and Ron and Elena skated out onto the darkened ice.  When the music started, the spotlights illuminated them as they skated one of the most perfect routines I had seen.  Elena’s spin sequence solo was sheer perfection, but I was hard pressed to find any sort of fault with either of their performances.  They had poured their hearts and souls into this performance and it was completely obvious.  When the music ended they bowed to a standing ovation from the crowd.  I was completely blown away!