Two and a half years later, Jake is working at the Adlon Center for the Creative Arts. The narrator recaps how Jake arrived at this point. Shortly after the 2013 summer course where Jake met Evan, Ripley laid off its instructors, and only rehired some for lower-paid online teaching gigs. To supplement his small new income, Jake had to find work outside of academia, so he became a freelance editor. This combination of jobs still didn’t cover the expenses of living in New York City, so Jake also got yet another job as program coordinator at Adlon, an upstate New York artist colony in a converted hotel. 

At the Aldon Center for Creative Arts, Jake meets with an unhappy, rude, and disrespectful Californian who reminds him of Evan. Jake contrasts himself with Evan. Jake’s hard work doing all the things a writer should do did not lead to success. Jake is ashamed of being a failed writer despite attending a prestigious MFA program (again alluding to, but not naming, the University of Iowa) and getting acclaim for his first novel.