He slowed to an easy glide. “I’m in love with her.”
“What? You tried to get me to sleep with you like two days ago.”
“It was longer than two days ago.” He smiled. “I’ve been shooting my shot with Lindsey for five years. She rarely gives me the time of day. Except when she does.”
“Wait, go back to the beginning.”
“It’s not all my story to tell.”
“Apollo, stop being cagey. Just tell me what is yours to tell. And why is this the first I’m hearing about it? I tell you everything.”
“You tell everyone everything, including TV viewers. That’s your thing. I’m not special in that regard.”
If she hadn’t been worried about injuring him, she would have shoved him into the snow.
He smiled when he caught the dirty look she was giving him. “We went on a few dates five years ago. We hook up every couple months. Once a year maybe. But she lives in Park City and trains in Anchorage, and I split time between Vermont and Norway. She doesn’t want to do long distance. I don’t want to live in fucking Utah or Alaska. She gets boyfriends or starts dating other people, and I respect that and give her space. Then when they break up, we see each other, and fireworks,bang.”
“You bang?”
He laughed, his beautiful, booming laugh. “No, I meant, likebang, we reconnect, and it’s, I don’t know, electric. Bang was for emphasis. Not an active verb.”
“Okay, nerd. And you’re in a bang cycle right now.”
“Please don’t ever say bang cycle.”
“Lindsey seems so normal. I would not have expected her to be your type.”
“What do you think my type is?”
“Well,wefool around occasionally, and I’m?—”
“A drama queen.”
Kirby ignored that. “And you slept with Tommi Korhonen, who is like a hot older ski daddy, last season.”
Apollo picked up the pace. His cheeks were rosy, and Kirby didn’t know if it was because he was wind chapped or embarrassed.
“Moral of the story, I don’t have a type,” he said. “Except Lindsey.She’smy type.”
Kirby was a little miffed that this was the first time Apollo had shared his feelings for Lindsey McGrath. But everyone had secrets.
“Your turn,” Apollo said as they climbed a steady slope.
Kirby took a deep breath. “I decided I want to win.”
“That’s new?”
“Kind of. There’s this narrative that I can never top Beijing. That it was a fluke.”
“KB, you’ve won or hit the podium in the thirty kilometer multiple times since then.”
“I’ve only beaten Mara three times. Plus, I’m not racing thirty kilometers this time. It’s fifty.”
“Okay, wait, wait. I’m not going to argue with you about whether you, a gold fucking medalist, are a good skier. Why did you decide you ‘want to win’? Which, I’m going to ignore how insane that sounds, but all right.”
“Mara pissed me off.”
Apollo slowed again. His variable speeds were starting to annoy her.
