On his way to realizing his Olympic dream, Tom Alan Baranowski finds himself in the midst of a dilemma. His traditional Japanese coach is insisting upon an arranged marriage between his biological daughter Erika and adopted son Tom Alan, who are partners on the ice. Tom Alan loves Erika, and his coach literally saved his life, rescuing him from an abusive home. How can he say no?<br><br>Somewhat resigned to his “not so bad” fate, everything changes when Tom Alan meets British ice dancer Milo Fisher. The spark between them is almost hot enough to melt the ice beneath their blades, and the two fall into an affair.<br><br>What about Erika? What about loyalty? What about gold? For Tom Alan, the impossible throw quadruple jump is suddenly the least difficult thing in his life.

Quadruple Flip

As just Ben and Tom Alan drove back to the Mischens’, they had another deep, meaningful, orange-Jeep conversation. This time it was Tom Alan’s turn, and he found Ben as easy to confide in as Ben had found him. When Ben asked him, quite innocently, about his childhood, about how he’d first gotten into skating, Tom Alan opened with what must have seemed like a rather odd introduction. “You know that book TheRed Badge of Courage?” he asked.


“Yeah,” Ben answered. “A little. Read it in school…I think.”


“Well, it really took on a deeper meaning for me somewhere along the way. See, this guy, Henry, he goes off to war, and is afraid, of course. None of the other guys’ll admit they are, and that makes Henry feel like a coward.”


Chapter 43