Dear Anamária,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, I cannot provide any more clarity around Adonis’s potential future with Team USA than I have already provided when we spoke in Colorado Springs. To do so would not be fair to the other athletes. I am sure you understand this.
Adonis will hear updates along with the rest of the prospective athletes in early January. Until then, it is my professional recommendation to all athletes that they continue to train.
I will admit, Anamária, that I do not appreciate the subtle implications of your final paragraphs. While I am grateful for the connections you made for Zane, I have no problem saying that the networking you assisted him in and what you are implicitly asking me to do are very different things. Because of our long friendship, I will leave it at that and not press the issue further. For Adonis’s sake, I hope that you trust his skating abilities enough not to meddle.
Sincerely,
Connie Zielstra
Connie: Hey, love. Sorry for texting at such a late hour. I wanted to discuss something with you.
Damien: Connie! Good to hear from you. I’m at one of Markoz’s gallery openings, so I can’t step away to make a phone call, but what’s up?
Connie: I had the strangest email from Anamária Costa earlier today. You’re one of her son’s coaches.
Damien: I am. What was the email?
Connie: She was asking if he’d be on Team USA or not.
Damien: Well, that’s what we’re all wondering, darling.
Connie: I understand. But the way she worded the email, especially at the end, made it sound like she was almost threatening to expose how she’d helped connect my son Zane to private coaches in Connecticut when he was in high school.
Damien: Oh, that? You didn’t do anything wrong there.
Connie: I know, and she knows that, too. It’s like she was equating what I’d asked her to do with what she was asking me to do. Ridiculous. She’s lucky I respect Adonis as an athlete, and that I’m a professional. Her whole message left a bad taste in my mouth, but I won’t let it affect how I evaluate Adonis.
Damien: ….so, will he be on Team USA?
Connie: Bye, Damien.
Interlude 3
Cort
Cort: Hey. Can you meet at 11 tonight?
PIZZA: 11 is too late. I can do 10.
Cort: Bet. Usual place?
PIZZA: *thumbs up emoji*
PIZZA: What are you ordering?
Cort: The usual stuff, but I want to get double this time. Do you offer a deal for that?
PIZZA: Nah, man. And prices went up.
Cort: WTF? Why?
PIZZA: Inflation and shit
Cort: That’s bullshit. You told me the price wouldn’t change. Do you know who my dad is?
PIZZA: Yes. You told me when we first met. You know that was very stupid, right?
