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

Tom Alan picked up his copy of TheRed Badge of Courage. Angrily, he chucked the Civil War novel with all its dog-eared pages across the room. He picked up one of his Ani and Otouto comics and went to chuck it as well. The little brother…the little boy who makes himself believe he’s big so he can fix all the bad stuff he’s really too small to do anything about. He belly flopped onto the bed and cried into his pillow some. Brown-corduroy-covered legs bent upward, thick gray-and-orange-socked feet, soles pointing to the ceiling, Tom Alan took a little-boy tantrum pose. He was big, though. A supposed adult. But he had no more insight into how to make up for things now, how to change his karma, than he’d had when he was a boy. If anything, being big made life more confusing! Ugh!


Chapter 59