Page 116 of The Game

“For pedophilia. Apparently, the Russian Tennis Federation is in uproar.”

“How did that happen? I thought Fabian said the group of newspapers weren’t ready yet, and …” She stares down at her screen. “Oh my God!”

“What is it?”

“All the messages on my phone! I didn’t look at it because I just wanted to celebrate. I thought I could deal with all the congratulations tomorrow, but there’s so many messages about the academy!”

I step forward and slide her phone out of her hand, pulling her back into me and wrapping my arms around her. “Perhaps we should look at it later, hmm? I wasn’t sure whether I should tell you now but then I thought someone might say something tonight, or ask you for a comment, and I didn’t want you to be blindsided. I don’t want to spoil tonight with …”

She squeezes my waist. “Spoil it? This is amazing!” Her eyes are bright when she looks at me. “Perhaps I really will get out from under it.”

And I laugh. If I could give Anna this … this freedom, it would be everything.

“Goddammit, nothing could make this day better. Except …” She tips her head back and looks at me. “I want to ask you something.”

I grin at her. “What is it?”

She goes up on her toes so her mouth is next to my ear. “Will you do this with me?” she whispers.

“Do what?”

She sinks back down, biting her lip as a shot of vulnerability crosses her face.

“What, Anna?” I say, frowning.

“Travel with me? Come to tournaments? I mean not all of them, of course. I know you’ve got a business to run and …”

We talked about me coming out to Europe with her for these two months, but not how this would work longer-term.

“Try and stop me,” I growl.

Her lips part as her eyes roam from one of mine to the other. Then, as I watch, her eyes fill with tears and my throat tightens as I shake my head. “No, no, no,” I say, stretching out to pull her back into me. “Don’t spoil that amazing makeup.”

“I never thought I’d find this,” she whispers, pressing her mouth into my neck.

“Find what?”

She hiccups through a laugh. “Findyou.”

“I’m all in with this. You know that, right?” I whisper into the hair by her ear. She smells of the sea and pinecones.

“Oh God,” she says, wiping a finger under her eye and tipping her head back.

“You won’t be traveling and competing forever, Anna. It’s not a downside. I have an amazing opportunity to do this very special thing, to sit in a competitor’s box and watch you play. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Maybe I can’t come every time, but the guys are competent, and the business is doing well now. They like being in charge of it, and I can work happily from anywhere.”

“I’ve been on my own for so long,” she says quietly.

And I think back to my silent father and my condemning mother and how I escaped my lonely life with them to a solitary life in New York. I had Fabian and Janus, and they’re great friends, but it was never like this. I’ve always wanted somebody to share my life with. Dinner on our knees in front of a TV show about dogs. A set of shared goals. I think that’s what cut me up so much about Celine: I got a taste of what it was like having someone on your side, and it was all a mirage. It turned into dust in my hands, and then I didn’t trust myself.

Anna lowers her head and nods and nods. “I’m all in, too, Adam.”

I tip her chin up as my gaze roams across hers. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she says, then she laughs, “and now I want to take you back to bed.”

Over her shoulder, the usher is waving at us to come forward, and I can hear the MC announcing Anna’s name.

Maybe you never know. Maybe you just have to keep getting up off the floor. Maybe the only risk you take is staying down for too long.

THE END

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