Page 45 of Salto

“I know you can't.”

A slow smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, like my warning had only strengthened his resolve.

It wasn't the reaction I'd expected, and my heart skipped a beat.

If he was going to be my coach, I really needed to get it through my skull that he was untouchable.

“If there’s anything I’m familiar with, Red, it’s pain.”

That word…it almost made me want to recoil.

“It’s not going away,” I said matter-of-factly.

“Then we manage it.” His brows pulled together. “Physical therapy techniques to help you focus through the pain. You learn to work through it without letting it control you.”

“Is that even possible?”

I was scared to believe my dreams and the pain could possibly coexist. I'd already watched my pain steal this dream once. I didn't know if I could survive believing in it again.

“Yes, but you have to trust me.” His expression softened, the same way it had when I'd turned to him on the bar earlier.

I struggled to keep my heartbeat in check.

“Even though you questioned me today, we talked through it. You knew you could back out if you wanted to. You did the skill you were scared to do anyway and chose to trust me.”

He glanced across the parking lot.

“If you just keep doing that, I know we can do this.”

I didn’t say anything, not even sure how to respond. No one had ever offered me this…no one had ever wanted to try.

“You have the mind for this. Not everyone understands the mechanics the way you do.”

“This is crazy.” I shook my head.

“Maybe a little,” he admitted with a shrug, one corner of his mouth lifting. “But it takes a certain kind of insanity to go compete in the Olympics and win. So would you rather be trained by someone a little out of their mind—or someone like Caldwell who keeps you safe?”

“You already know the answer to that,” I whispered.

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

I couldn't explain the strange feeling settling over me.

For the first time in years, someone actually believed I could still do this.

The realization was almost frightening. Because if he was right...

This might actually work.

When a coach and athlete were on the same page, when they actually understood each other, a very rare reaction could result—one that almost never happened. But when it did, it sometimes led to the once-in-a-lifetime kind of victory that some athletes spent their whole lives chasing.

But that would mean actually agreeing to something like this. I could already picture the pain, the sweat, the tears. My back still throbbed from today's training, begging me to lie down and rest.

It should’ve deterred me, knowing the reality that awaited me if I accepted this invitation.

But it only made me salivate.

“Think about it,” he said before starting back toward the gym, not waiting for my answer.