front of them. Then Carl gave a little wave and took off.
“That’s good,” Isaac said as he observed the calorie-fest before him. There seemed to be half a chicken on his plate as well as a shit-ton of vegetables, piled high in colorful mounds, and then a baked potato, probably because Carl knew Isaac loved a baked potato and would eat them all day long if he didn’t burn off starch so fast.
Luke tilted his head. “I’ve never seen you so mellow at a competition.”
“It’s prelims, bro.”
“I know, but you used to get really tense. Like, the minute we entered the arena for a meet, you’d be all business.”
“Well, part of that is something I worked on in rehab. You gotta take each day at a time, right, so I approach swimming as each event at a time. I can’t focus on the whole meet or I’ll get overwhelmed and want to drink.”
“You want to drink now?”
“I always want to drink. I know, for example, that the walk-in fridge behind you is full of bottled beer, and all I’d have to do is walk in there and take one. I won’t, but it’s distracting me.”
Luke glanced back at the fridge. “Should we move?”
“No. I’m all right. I’m just saying.”
“Is it true you used to swim drunk?”
Isaac tilted his head. Had they never had this conversation? Luke had taken plenty of drinks out of Isaac’s hand and had encouraged him to go to rehab, but maybe they’d never really talked all this out before. “No. Never drunk. Hungover? Yeah. Many times.”
“And you still won?”
“I won a silver medal four years ago while hungover. Although I lost some races too.”
“So basically, had you been sober four years ago, we’d be having conversations about how you’re the greatest swimmer of all time.”
“Probably not of all time. I’d take ‘of this generation,’ though.”
Luke nodded. “You get drug tested today?”
“Yep.” Every athlete at the Olympics was subject to random drug testing, especially because the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IOC were cracking down hard. Isaac suspected the high-profile athletes got tested more often, though he couldn’t prove it. “Adam makes them take my blood alcohol too.”
Luke’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”
“Adam thinks it’s a deterrent. I actually don’t mind. If anything, I can say, hey, here’s incontrovertible proof I’m sober now.”
“This is apparently how it is now. Those Russian athletes got caught doping, and now we all have to get tested more often.”
“Doping never interested me. I don’t need drugs to win.”
“Plus, I’ve heard some of those drugs kill your sex drive and shrink your balls. Who needs that?” Luke winked.
“Exactly. I have a reputation to maintain.”
A laugh burst out of Luke. “Of course you do.” He shook his head. “You know, the worst part is that the swimmers who got caught this time? They all swim far slower than you do on your worst days.”
“Maybe everyone should take up drinking.” Isaac dug into the meal. Carl sure could cook a chicken; it was juicy and well-seasoned.
“Hey, don’t knock it. Best baseball player of all time was Babe Ruth, right? He didn’t need PEDs. His whole career was fueled by booze, hot dogs, and women.”
“There you go.”
Luke ate a few bites, then said, “Speaking of sex, how are things going with Tim?”
Isaac didn’t feel ready to talk about it, but since this was Luke and there was no one else around, he said, “Good, I think. I mean, for what it is. We both know it doesn’t have a future past the Closing Ceremony.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He lives in Colorado. He trains there. He’d never move.”
“Why can’t you move?”
“And leave Raleigh?”
Luke tilted his head. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.”
Isaac shrugged. “Leave Adam, I mean. And my mother. And you, dumbass. Raleigh is… whatever. The place I live. Also, it’s the place where the best swim coach in the world trains world-class swimmers and all my family lives.”
Luke leveled his gaze at Isaac. “Listen. I love you, you know that, right? You’re like a brother to me. We’ve trained together a long time. I think you’ve still got a few more world championship swims left in you. But how long do you really see this happening? You’ve made your big comeback. You proved your naysayers wrong. So maybe it’s time to think about the future. I don’t know if Tim is the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with, but you know as well as anyone that life