Page 19 of The Game

8

ADAM

Later that day, a text appears on my phone:

So, we’re dating now?

I laugh. I like Anna. We live in very different worlds, and I thought we wouldn’t have a lot in common, but it’s scary how much everything she said last night resonated with me. And who wouldn’t be flattered? She’s clearly amazing.

Apparently.

Is all this okay? Some guys don’t like the scrutiny.

Some guys, huh?Interesting.

Something about being confronted with Anna’s drive and determination last night forced me to do more work on my spreadsheet, despite how late I got back. Once I dove into more of the detail, I could see that things were even worse than I thought. There is no stringing it out: If I can’t make the figures improve, I’ll have to give the business up. Ten years of my life down the drain. My mind keeps shying away from the reality of that, and thesheer effort of pretending everything is fine is making me nauseous. I look down at my phone again and tap out a reply to Anna:

I’ve had a few calls from journalists wanting to interview me about my company, so it’s all positive from my end.

That’s great!

Thanks, Anna. I really appreciate the invite and I had a wonderful night.

A picture drops into the chat, followed by another message:

Thank you for my beautiful flowers.

My pleasure.

I’m happy to go to some more events together if it’s useful for you. It was useful for me, too. Sponsors like the publicity and that’s less pressure for me.

Huh, that’s an amazing offer. The dots are still appearing though, so she’s still typing:

If I’m seen out and about, the speculation about my tennis reduces and there’s fewer questions about my game, if you can believe that. God that sounds terrible.

No, no it doesn’t. I totally get that.

I don’t want to think too long about this. This could help the both of us. Where’s the harm if we’re both on board? All Susie’s efforts with the new account and posting a reel seem positive—surely the extra publicity would be good for the business? At least I’d be going out to things with someone whosecompany I enjoy, and that’s been a rarity over the last … well … I don’t want to think about how many years it’s been. It’ll have the added bonus of keeping Janus off my back, too.

I’d love to meet up again, Anna.

Then I type:

My marketing manager, Susie, is talking to your marketing people about social media. She’s clearing content with them that we might want to post to my personal account.

I saw your video! It was great.

If there’s anything you don’t like or want to take down, let me know.

I think you’re a TikTok ninja.

I’m not sure how to respond to that apart from with hysterical laughter. I start typing again:

I’ll tell Susie to send you a picture of me in my normal nerd gear.

Nerd gear? Is that code for some dubious accessories?

*Code* for something?

---