Ripped - Cassia Leo Page 0,42
up after me, and once again I go blank.
After a brief pause, I reply, “Learn how to fail gracefully, then get up and try again.”
An hour-long photo shoot follows the interview. I cringe inside when the photographer asks me to take a bunch of cheesy photos in the backyard and in the workshop standing next to Ripped. After the shoot, the crew packs away their gear into the two vans they showed up in.
Effie meets me at the front door to say good-bye. “Sorry if any of that made you uncomfortable. We were just trying to ask what the fans want to know. They’re gonna miss you, you know, if you do retire.” She smiles and pats my arm. “Take care, Adam.”
As I watch her get into the van, I think of the suspension hearing where Brad Wilson came to my aid as a character witness when the disciplinary committee was conducting their investigation into the incident with Carlos at the hotel in Peniche. I didn’t fight my way to the top all year to get suspended before the final event. And I sure as fuck didn’t train for twenty years just to retire when I’m at the top of my game. All I can think as I watch Effie’s van drive off is how much I want to get high.
* * *
I knock on Yuri’s door and I’m not surprised when Lena answers, but I am surprised to see her in a bikini. “Are you going to the beach?” I ask.
She looks at me like I’m crazy. “At six o’clock in the evening in December? Do you think I want to get bit by another shark?”
I laugh, stepping inside as she holds the door open for me. “So you just walk around the house in a bikini all day, or what?”
“I’m trying on some new suits.” She closes the door behind me. “Go ahead and have a seat. I’ll go get some clothes on.”
“Where’s Yuri?” I call out as she disappears into the hallway.
“He’s still at the shop!” she shouts back. “Doing inventory. He’ll be back late tonight.”
I take a seat on the brown leather sofa in their living room, smiling when I see the grinder and Lena’s vape pen on the coffee table. She’s way ahead of me.
She walks in wearing a Billabong T-shirt and some gray leggings. “How’d the interview go?” she asks, grabbing the TV remote as she takes a seat next to me on the sofa.
I lean back and run my hand through the four-inch mop of hair on my head. “Terrible. I had to ask them to change the subject twice because of the retirement questions.”
She waves this off as she reaches for her vape pen. “Every surfer over the age of thirty deals with the same questions when they hit top ten. Don’t let it get to you. Just keep shutting them up by winning titles.”
I shake my head. “No, you don’t get it. The rumors are true. Lindsay asked me to quit after this tour.”
Lena cocks an eyebrow as she tucks a nugget into the end of the vaporizer. “You’re retiring?”
I lean forward so I can look her straight in the eye. She’s my trainer and, technically, she works for me. I can’t be a prick. I have to be honest with her.
“I don’t want to retire, but I don’t see any other way. I can’t leave Lindsay for weeks at a time while I’m on tour.” I glance at the vape pen in her hand, then back up at her. “And Kaia’s doing so well at this new school. She won this contest a few weeks ago. She had to draw a picture of what she wanted to be when she grew up.”
Lena smiles. “Aw… what did my girl draw?”
“She drew a picture of me surfing, and under the description she wrote that when she grows up she wants to be famous for doing something she loves, just like me.” I look Lena in the eye and her face softens when she hears this story. “I can’t retire, Lena. I can’t let my little girl down. I can’t let myself down. Especially if I come in second this year. If I quit right after that, I’ll always wonder, ‘What if?’”
Lena nods. “You have to tell Lindsay. You two have to come to a compromise. Like, maybe you can take a year or two off, or maybe you’ll quit in a few years. There’s gotta be a way for you both to