Chapter 1
"C'mon Trisha-one more time!" Kimberly Hart cupped her hands around her mouth as she called to the young gymnast near the uneven bars.
The girl groaned, but obeyed her coach and jumped up to grab the high bar. Swinging in a circle around the bar, she released at the perfect time and did a double back flip dismount, landing squarely on her feet before throwing her arms in the air. The girl jumped in the air and pumped her fist. "Finally!"
"Atta girl. You'll have that dismount ready for the state meet in no time." Kimberly turned to the rest of her competitive team. "Hit the locker room, girls. Your parents will be here soon." The athletes, mostly young teenagers, did as they were told, giving Kimberly a moment to reflect on the practice.
Trisha was good, but one gymnast had stood out in particular. Casey Trueheart had joined the team only three weeks earlier, but she was already on her way to quickly becoming a standout. The girl had moved to Reefside that year to live with her uncle, who was a local high school teacher, mainly because of the opportunity to train with Pan Global Games triple gold medalist Kimberly Hart. Kim was flattered, of course, but she hadn't realized that the fame of her small gym had grown so quickly.
She'd opened the gym only two years earlier after working under her mentor and former coach Gunter Schmidt for four years after finishing college. The first six months had been a struggle financially, but now the number of students was steadily increasing to the point that Kimberly didn't worry about having the lights turned off toward the end of the month.
Kim wandered toward the lobby of the gym. Normally, her office manager kept track of the girls as they departed with their parents, but a sick child meant Kim was the only adult in the building. Her gym had attracted a fair amount of attention after Casey's success at the regional meet two weeks earlier, and she wanted to make sure nothing happened to one of her girls. The instinct to protect others was one of several things Kim had never gotten over from her Power Ranger days. As for the others, she didn't care to think about them just now.
Then minutes had passed and no girls had emerged from the locker room. Kim was on the verge of opening the door to encourage them to get a move on when the first parent arrived. She had to bite back a grimace when she saw that it was Trisha's mother. The woman was the gymnastics equivalent to a stage mother and a new girl on the team who was supplanting Trisha's role as the top athlete in the gym had not gone over well. Kimberly hadn't announced the lineups for the state meet yet, but she knew the older woman would not be happy when she learned that her daughter would not be going last on three of the four events has she had the previous season.
Steeling herself, Kim prepared for a litany of Trisha's accomplishments. Instead, the gymnast's mother surprised the young coach. "Have you see Casey Trueheart's uncle? Whew." She dramatically wiped her brow.
"Sorry, can't say that I have-I'm usually cleaning up the gym when he gets here," Kim admitted.
"Oh, honey, you've got to stay out here this afternoon and get a look at him. I think he's about your age, and he's quite easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean."
Before Kim could protest, the girls emerged from the locker room en masse, chattering fifteen to the dozen in a register so high the coach was tempted to cover her ears. More parents were arriving by this point, and Kim was able to gracefully extract herself from the company of Trisha's mother as she made sure the girls claimed backpacks and jackets before bidding them farewell.
Another parent had a question regarding an injury that took a bit of discussion to answer, so it was several minutes before Kimberly realized that Casey was still seated on the bench, craning her neck toward the door.
"Your uncle not here yet, kiddo?" Kim reached over to ruffle the girl's black ponytail.
Casey hesitated. "Sometimes he forgets things."
If Trisha's mother hadn't mentioned that the uncle in question was a young man, Kim would have thought Casey's uncle was possibly going senile. How could he forget to pick up a young girl who depended on him? "We'll give him five more minutes, and then we'll give his cell phone a call," she assured the gymnast.
"No need for that-I'm here. Casey, sorry I'm-Kimberly.
Kim's head jerked up. "No. No, this is not possible." "Tommy?"
