“Thank you,” I told him, I looked away, suddenly embarrassed. My heart was faltering at the unexpected compliment. I was suddenly fighting tears, it was what Greg had always told me, back when Greg still thought that I was attractive. Greg had always loved my smile and my eyes, somehow it hadn’t been enough, though.
“I guess you don’t have much to smile about, getting me as your athlete. I guess if you were lucky you would have gotten a hockey star, then at least the guy knows how to skate,” said Ron, flashing me a sly smile.
“I’m sorry if I seem moody, really, it’s not your fault. I guess I haven’t had much to smile about lately,” I told him ruefully.
“I probably wouldn’t be smiling either, if I had just been informed that I had to teach a guy with my abilities to ice skate. I mean hell, I never even put on skates before,” he told me with a little laugh.
“Actually, getting you as my athlete was the luckiest thing to happen to me in a long time,” I told him.
“How do you figure?” he asked, giving me a quizzical look.
“Well, when the show airs and everyone sees the clips of all our practices and you falling down on your butt today, they are going to be completely amazed with my coaching talent when you and Elena actually win the competition!” I told him, giving him a coy smile.
“Well at least you have big ambitions. Either that or you’re completely delusional,” said Ron, laughing.
“Everyone has a dream right? It’s not any different than when you played football, just keep looking ahead to the Super Bowl,” I told him with a smile. I was smiling because he was attractive and for some reason, I couldn’t wipe the sappy smile off my face, not because I actually thought we had a chance to win this competition.
He laughed and smiled back me. I struggled, almost uselessly to focus, I had to admit, I was completely mesmerized by his charm. I could definitely see why Jorge thought that Ron Brannon would grab female viewers for the network, he was completely adorable!
I had almost completely forgotten about Elena. In a few moments, Elena skated over to us and looked at me expectantly. Of course, she was bored. She had essentially been skating by herself the entire time, while I struggled to keep Ron upright on his skates. I gave her a wry smile, as I was feeling bad for ignoring her.
“I can go? We are done?” she asked, peering at me expectantly.
“We are done, go on,” I told her, waving her away.
“Okay, bye bye,” she said, stepping off the ice and putting her skate guards on. Before I realized it, she was gone.
“So what now?” asked Ron, looking at me expectantly.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you back here tomorrow,” I told him with a little shrug. I wasn’t sure what to tell him. I thought it was best if I got him off the ice now, before he got hurt. Besides, the network was supposed to get us access to a gym with mats and weights, but as of yet, that hadn’t happened. Not that it would do my team any good at the moment anyway.
“So that’s it, we’re not going to skate any more today?” he asked, he seemed to be completely perplexed by the fact that I was ending practice for the day.
“No, it’s your first day. It would be easy for you to overdo it, that would be completely counterproductive,” I told him, with a little shrug.
“What can I do? You know, to help learn to skate?” he asked, he seemed lost.
“Well, since you have no previous experience, it’s just going to take time. It’s not as easy as it might seem, professionals work for years to learn the moves you see on TV. It doesn’t all happen overnight. You need to strengthen your ankles I guess, and in time, with practice, you will learn,” I told him with a little shrug.
“If I need practice, then why are we quitting for the day?” he cried in exasperation.
“Ron, you’ve never even been on skates before, your body needs to adjust to being on these thin little blades, there’s a risk of overdoing it. Besides, your skates aren’t broken in, that in itself, can take weeks. If your feet get all blistered up, you’re going to be feeling some serious pain. There is only so much abuse your body can take, your muscles need a break, and your feet need a break from the skates,” I told him.
“Listen here. You don’t know what I can endure. I was a football player, you think I don’t know pain? I’m used to working through the pain, I’ve played with broken ribs, and a broken hand. I’m not a sissy little girl and I’m not ready to give it up yet today,” he snapped, eyeing me seriously. I bit my lip and resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“Ron please, I’m not trying to insult your masculinity. I’m sure you have enough testosterone for yourself and everyone in this arena. But this is not football. I’m just afraid you might overdo it and injure yourself. You need to take it slow, go home and rest tonight, tomorrow is another day. If we try to do too much today, you might end up being worthless tomorrow,” I said, giving him a little shrug.
“You let me worry about that. I’m not done. I want you to teach me more. Are you too tired to help me?” he asked, eyeing me arrogantly.
“No I’m not too tired to help you. Ron, I’m simply trying to protect you. Your body is not used to being on skates for long periods of time. I’m just worried that...”
“Are you going to help me, or not?” he cried, staring me down angrily.
I rolled my eyes, then I skated over to where I was standing just a foot in front of him. I stared him down arrogantly. If nothing else, he had determination, but I was not going to surrender to him simply because he was a muscle bound, testosterone loaded, god.
“I will help you, but I will listen to no whining tomorrow, if your feet hurt,” I snapped.
“I promise, no whining!” he said, giving me that smile again, my heart seemed to accelerate almost automatically.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said, taking his right arm and placing it around my waist, then I linked my left hand with his and soon we were gliding around the rink together.
We were far from graceful and he stumbled often, a result of leaning too far forward and having his toe picks suddenly grab the ice. He was good natured about it all, if he fell, he would get up and go right back to work. I was pleased for the most part, we had actually spent more time on our skates, than we had on our butts!
Ron and I skated together for another hour and soon I was feeling like he wasn’t totally a lost cause. If nothing else, he had the drive to make this work. I was actually very proud of him!
We were laughing as we sat side by side on a bench in the lobby and took our skates off. I had to admit, he was a very funny guy and I was enjoying my time with him. I was a little self conscious about our developing friendship, it seemed that the cameras were always there to catch our every move.
“I will see you tomorrow,” I told him, as I finished packing my skates in my bag.
“Okay boss,” he said, giving me a mock salute as he stood up to leave. “Oh crap, I can’t walk,” he cried, almost falling over, then comically hobbling around the bench a couple of times.
I shot him a worried look, then I realized he was mugging for the cameras. I giggled as I watched him hamming it up. I had to admit, Jorge was definitely a genius. I had no doubt now, that Ron Brannon was destined to bring in big ratings for the network, he was obviously quite a character!
I shook my head in amusement, I was sure he was going to be pretty sore tonight. It was later, when your body relaxed, that you started to feel the pain. I still felt that way sometimes after long sessions, and I skated all the time. Those first few minutes you actually have to walk after getting off the ice are always tricky, you kind of have to learn how to walk all over again.
Our cameraman began packing up his things and Ron walked out of the ice rink with me. I had showed him some exercises he could do to help strengthen his ankles. As we walked across the parking lot, I expected him to head straight to his car, instead he followed me to mine.
“Hey Lane, I’m sorry I was a bit of an ass earlier. Can I
make it up to you? Do you want to go get some lunch or something?” he asked. I turned to look at him, I wasn’t really sure if he was pulling my leg, or what.
I knew that he was close to my age, but I wasn’t really sure how old he was. He was completely gorgeous, but I was almost certain that he must be married. Guys like Ron just didn’t stay single for long.
“Ummm, I don’t know...”
“I just thought we could talk, you know, get to know each other better. We’re going to be working together for the next four months,” he said, giving me a smile.
“Uh...well, okay,” I finally stammered.
In a matter of minutes I found myself seated at a table for two with him, in one of Hollywood’s most exclusive restaurants. I was a little self conscious, he was attractive and famous, and I was...well...me. He was apparently quite recognizable, because from the time we arrived at the restaurant, everyone was looking in our direction pointing and whispering.
“So tell me, how is it that the most incredible figure skating choreographer of all time, ends up doing a reality TV series?” he asked, looking into my eyes with a smile. I had to stifle a little giggle, my heart was suddenly pounding nervously and I wasn’t sure why.
It was probably because Ron was so attractive and he was a little bit of a charmer. I hadn’t been alone in restaurant with a man that wasn’t my husband for more than twenty years! I felt like a teenager who was out on her first date, even though I knew this wasn’t really a date.
“I don’t believe for one minute that you know the first thing about figure skating. I’ll bet you’ve never even heard of me,” I exclaimed, staring him down haughtily.
He started laughing, then he shook his head in amusement and smiled at me.
“Okay, you got me there. I never even heard of you. It was Jorge who told me you were the greatest choreographer of all time. But really, if you are the greatest choreographer of all time, which I totally believe that you are, what are you doing on this lame show?”
I sighed miserably. I hated to admit defeat, but my life had been falling apart as of late. I hated to talk about it.
“It’s a long story, I recently had a few unpleasant surprises in my life. I guess I just needed a change. I was depressed, not really myself, and my partner Justin told me I needed to do something outside my comfort zone, so I did!” I told him with a laugh.
“Your partner?” asked Ron, looking at me puzzled.
“Okay, ex-partner, best friend, whatever you want to call him. Justin was my skating partner years ago when I skated professionally. The two of us were paired when we were basically just kids, we have been best friends since I was twelve and he was sixteen. He still lives in Chicago. I really miss not having him around,” I told him.
“When did you skate professionally? Were you like an Olympic Gold medalist? Sorry, I never really followed figure skating,” said Ron, giving me another smile, my heart seemed to melt. I took a deep breath and struggled to focus.
“It was years ago, Justin and I went to the Olympics, but it was a bit of a disaster, so we didn’t medal. We did get the bronze medal at the world championships the following year, then we skated with the European Theater Company for three years and toured all over Europe,” I told him.
“That sounds like a blast,” said Ron.
“It was, those were great times,” I told him, smiling at the memories.
“Did you know you have a beautiful smile?” said Ron, once again flashing me a stunning smile of his own.
My heart accelerated crazily. I could feel the heat of my cheeks blushing. “Thank you,” I said, I was too embarrassed to even look at him. I felt like a silly school girl.
“So tell me about yourself, are you married? Do you have kids?” asked Ron, taking a sip of his drink.
“I am currently going through a divorce after more than twenty years of marriage to my husband Greg, and I have two children, a son Ramsey, and a daughter Baylee.
They are both away at college,” I told him with a sigh.
“I’m sorry, that’s pretty rough,” he said, giving me a wry smile.
“It’s okay,” I told him with a sigh. “That’s why I’m doing something new, moving on. How about you, are you married?” I asked.
“Yep, I have two beautiful daughters, eight and ten years old. I guess that’s how they were able to coerce me into doing this show. I guess you could say, I’m really in it for the money,” he said, taking another sip of his drink.
“Oh?” I wasn’t really sure what to say.
“My wife hasn’t been very happy since I retired from football. I was ready to retire, I wasn’t sure how long my body could take the abuse, playing football. Now that I’m a commentator, the paychecks aren’t as big, yet my wife just keeps spending money, like I’m still pulling in the big bucks. She rides me all the time about my retirement, if it were up to her, I guess I’d be back on the football field,” he said, shaking his head ruefully.
“She doesn’t care that you might be hurt?” I asked, incredulously.
“She was the one that pushed me to do this show. I wasn’t so sure when Jorge approached me. I thought I was too old to learn to skate, besides, I have a bit of a bad hip. Jorge really didn’t care if I could skate or not, he just wanted my name in the credits. Jenae didn’t care if I felt comfortable doing it or not, think of the money, she said.”
I frowned when he said that. I hated to be judgmental, I didn’t know her at all, but she sounded incredibly shallow to me.
“I guess she doesn’t care that you could hurt yourself skating, since you’ve never done this before,” I was frowning, I had never met the woman, but I didn’t like her at all.
“She cares I guess, she just worries about the girls, she wants them to have a good life,” he said, shrugging.
I nodded at him half heartedly. He loved her, he obviously couldn’t see her for the gold digger that she was.
“What about your soon to be ex-husband? What does he think about you jetting off to L.A. to be in some silly reality TV show?” asked Ron.
“He really doesn’t care what I do. When I came home from the Cup of China months ago, he was already gone. He was already shacking up with his twenty seven year old secretary,” I told him with a little shrug.
“Holy crap! That totally blows!” he exclaimed, staring at me in shock.
“It was a shock, I thought that Greg and I would be together forever, like my grandparents, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. That’s why I’m trying something different, moving on with my life,” I told him.
“Here’s to your new life,” he said, raising his glass to me and flashing me another stunning smile. I tried to ignore the way it seemed to make my heart race nervously.
“To my new life, and your new career,” I said, raising my glass to him.
Ron and I had a nice lunch, we spent a lot of time talking and laughing. We had a lot in common, so we ended up spending more than three hours there at the restaurant, having lunch. I really hadn’t given it a second thought. Ron was a nice guy and the two of us seemed to get along well enough. We had mostly talked about skating and the show, I thought I might as well get to know him. The two of us were going to be working quite closely together over the next several months. How was I to know that having what appeared to be an intimate lunch with Ron, would be a serious error in judgement that would change Hollywood’s view of me forever?
Chapter 7
I returned to my fully furnished luxury condo on North Vista street that afternoon, completely unaware of how ridiculously naive I was. I had already stirred up a huge scandal and I didn’t even know it!
At quarter after five the next morning, I stepped out of the shower to the sound of my cell phone ringing urgently from the bedroom. It was Jorge. He told me that I needed to meet with him urgently, but he wouldn’t elaborate as to why. I made coffee, poured it into a to-go cup and drove to his office, so I could meet with him before my seven a.m. ice time with Ron and Elena. Wh
en I walked into Jorge’s office I was slightly taken aback by the icy glare he flashed at me. He was obviously furious with me, and I had no idea why.
“Would you like to explain this to me?” he asked, slapping a newspaper down on the desk in front of me.
I picked up the paper and stared at it blankly. The front page had a large color picture of Ron and I at the restaurant, our glasses raised, mid toast. The headlines shouted out the nasty rumor, like unexpected kick in the gut. Sports commentator Ron Brannon runs wild in Hollywood with reality TV Co Star Lane Jensen, the headline screamed out.
I cringed in shock, I felt incredibly stupid that I had so quickly forgotten everything I had learned about Hollywood from my own mother. Someone was always watching...I knew that. I dropped the newspaper back on his desk, distastefully. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to read the accompanying article, it was obviously nothing but speculation.
Laying Low In Hollywood Page 5