Isaac, moved him. He’d spent a lot of time in the past few days thinking about what he’d done and how he’d done it, but he’d felt weak, as if he’d succeeded despite himself. Adam had called him strong; maybe he was. “Yeah. Um, thank you.”
Isaac got off the phone and took a deep breath, trying to keep his emotions in check as he rejoined his friends. Luke and Katie were still chatting with the Swans. Isaac looked around and his gaze settled on the guy Katie thought was Patterson Wood. He seemed to be hovering.
Isaac kept an eye on him as he approached his friends. They seemed to be getting restaurant recommendations. Unfortunately, everything happening made him pine for a beer, so he said to Luke, “Let’s not go somewhere with a noisy bar.”
“Gotcha.” Luke looked up from his phone and asked the Swans, “Is there some quiet spot not far from here you’ve been to? I’m starving, so I don’t really want to go across the city.”
“Oh, there’s this marvelous place we went the other night,” said Mrs. Swan. “Just a few blocks from here, pretty easy walking. Best seafood I’ve ever had. It should be quiet this time of day. You know the Spanish don’t eat dinner until late into the night….”
That all seemed to be in order, so Isaac texted Tim: I want to hold u now.
Tim texted back. If only. I gotta get a medal now, tho. He texted a medal emoji.
Isaac wanted to cash in on that medal but thought better of saying anything now. What a hardship, he said instead. His therapist would probably have something to say about using sarcasm as a defense mechanism.
Tim deserved a far better man than Isaac.
But he had bigger problems because Patterson Wood finally stopped hovering and made his presence known. “Mr. and Mrs. Swan?”
Mrs. Swan looked startled. “Pat,” she said with a wheeze. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Tim dive. Flew out here a few days ago.”
Mrs. Swan shook her head. Her husband stood right behind her, glaring at Pat. It was nice to see where they stood, at least; neither seemed to like Pat much at all. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s very important for Tim to focus. You’ll be a distraction.”
“I want him back,” Pat said.
Isaac opened his mouth to state that wouldn’t be happening, but he realized quickly that letting the Swans and Pat know he was with Tim would only make this situation worse.
Tim had loved Pat once. Could he again? Pat was handsome and had a certain amount of charm. And if he begged Tim enough, Tim might decide someone familiar and close by might be a better bet than the alcoholic who lived on the other side of the country. Isaac had known plenty of Pats in his lifetime, guys who were douchebags but handsome and charming enough to hide it. He could easily appeal to Tim’s sense of nostalgia, to the way their relationship used to be, to the earning potential of merging their collective star power, to being a better bet than the drunk swimmer.
“We should, uh, go,” Luke said, hooking his thumb toward the exit.
Isaac nodded, not realizing he’d stepped toward Pat. “Uh, it was nice meeting you all.”
He followed Luke out of the stands, but not before he heard Pat say, “I made a terrible mistake and I came to Madrid to make up for it.” But Luke pulled him away before he could hear the Swans’ response.
Chapter 22
TIM LET himself into Isaac’s room, completely out of sorts.
It had been one of the worst nights of his life.
He found Isaac lying on the bed, looking cool and casual, flipping through a book.
“I bought this at the America House gift shop tonight,” Isaac said as Tim came in and put his bag down. “It’s a history of the Olympic Games. But it’s, like, the officially sanctioned IOC version, so it’s all spit-shined and sanitized.”
Tim sighed. “No scandals?”
“Well, they talked about the unavoidable scandals. The Nazi Games, the Black Power salute in Mexico City, the terrorism at Munich. There’s one measly paragraph on doping. But take your man Louganis, for example.”
Tim’s heart sank as he sat next to Isaac on the bed. “Did they leave him out?”
“No. There’s even a bit about how he hit his head but still came back to win a medal. Just no mention of homosexuality or HIV.”