he thought Isaac was hot. In trying to hold back the laugh, he snorted. Then he gave up and laughed easily.
Isaac laughed too. “I just heard what I said.”
“It’s such a burden, being attractive.”
Isaac giggled—actually giggled!—and then said, “Yeah, well. I haven’t seen a lot of action since I got sober.”
The laughter died then. Tim had never been much of a drinker, but he could imagine craving the kind of oblivion that would come with consuming too much. He’d almost canceled the trip to Madrid on several occasions, not wanting to face the media, not wanting to be “that gay diver,” not wanting to think about Pat or any of the mess that had been their breakup. If there was some elixir, some pill he could swallow to make it all go away… well, he wouldn’t because he loved diving too much, but he could certainly see the temptation.
“How long have you been sober?” Tim asked quietly. Because of course everyone knew about Isaac Flood and his DUI and his comeback.
“Eighteen months, six days.”
“That’s good.”
Isaac grimaced.
“What?” asked Tim.
“Usually when I say that, people are skeptical.”
“Really? They don’t believe you’re sober?”
“I fell off the wagon once after rehab. Honestly, just that one time. At New Year’s I was feeling sorry for myself, and I let a friend talk me into a party at a bar. The mere presence of alcohol proved to be too much of a temptation. It was awful. It was a mistake. But now it’s like everyone is waiting for me to do it again.”
“Do you still want to drink?”
Isaac did not look amused by this question. “I’m an alcoholic. I want to drink all the time. But I want to swim more.”
A woman with long, wavy hair suddenly jogged over. “Isaac!” Then she deepened her voice and said, “Here. Comes. The Flood!”
“Hi, Melissa.”
“Buenos días. Who’s your friend? Oh, wait, you’re Tim Swan, aren’t you?”
Dammit. “Yeah. That’s me.”
“Melissa Murphy, at your service. Once and future Olympic gold medalist.” She threw her hand at Tim.
Tim shook it. “Swimmer?”
“Did you not see all puff pieces they did about me at the last Olympics?”
Oh, this girl annoyed him now. He’d been enjoying talking to Isaac, even if the topics were heavy. Then this Melissa barged in, intruding on what had been a nice postbreakfast walk. “Sorry,” he said. “Too busy winning diving medals.”
She huffed. “Of course. Well, look out for me Monday. That’s my first race.”
“Okay,” Tim said, not wanting to argue about it.
“Melissa is kind of the swim team’s one-woman pep rally. She was the mastermind behind that karaoke video we all did.”
Tim had seen it. He nodded.
“You know a thing or two about viral videos too, huh?” Melissa said. “I mean, ours didn’t get as many hits as yours, but it was still pretty good.”
“What video did you do?” Isaac asked.
“I assume she means the one I made when I came out.” And if there was a single thing in his life that Tim had the most mixed feelings about, that was it. It was important to come out publicly, but he hadn’t anticipated how much attention he would attract.
How much attention Pat brought to them.
It had been Pat’s idea to do that video, and Tim had been so deliriously in love, he’d gone along with it. But now everyone knew his business. Tim would bet no one in the media even knew if Melissa was dating anyone. But everyone knew that Tim was gay and that he’d recently ended an engagement.
Well, except Isaac, who didn’t seem to know about any of it.
Isaac was squinting when Tim brought his attention back to the conversation. “Yeah, I guess I remember that. The coming-out-video thing.”
“It sucks about your breakup with Patterson,” said Melissa. “Was it, like, a fame thing?”
Tim’s pulse kicked up and his stomach flopped. “A what?”
“Melissa…,” Isaac said, a warning in his voice.
Which she apparently didn’t hear. “It’s, like, how Hollywood marriages never last? One partner gets more famous than the other, and then there’s all this jealousy and drama and blah-blah.”
“I’m not an actor.” Tim looked at Isaac for help, but Isaac seemed engrossed by something on the ground.
“No, but you’re a household name.”
“No, that wasn’t—fame had nothing to do with the breakup.” At least, not in the way Melissa implied. Pat hadn’t resented or been jealous of Tim’s fame; he’d thought Tim was his ticket to more fame. Pat wanted the pair of them to make headlines in the tabloids, which Tim had no interest in. Pat