Worth the Drive (29 page)

The toddler switched his hold from his mother’s loose
flowing skirt to the pants of
his father. Only his father had moved – to kiss his mother – and the pants the young boy had grabbed were
Darío
’s. The little boy tugged and
Darío
looked away from the autograph he was signing to peer down at the boy. The child seemed startled that it was not his father’s face he saw when he looked up from the pants he was covering with some substance from his hands.

Angel and his wife were transferring the
baby to Angel’s arms and didn’
t notice that their son was about to shriek in fright at the man whom he
had mistaken as
his father.

Katie was just about to intervene, to scoop the boy up so he could be on face-to-face level with his parents, when
Darío
bent down and did just that. The little boy’s eyes – chocolate brown, just like
Darío
’s – grew wide and his mouth opened. But
Darío
beat him to any words, speaking softly and low in Spanish to the boy. “Something, something, Alejandro,” was all Katie could make out.

Darío
turned the boy – Alejandro, apparently – so he could see that his mother and father stood next to him. Angel’s wife started to take the boy, but the boy put his arms around
Darío
’s neck – to everyone’s surprise, it seemed – and
Darío
motioned to the mother that it was okay.

Darío
and the other players continued to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans. Practice round days were the only days spectators were allowed to bring cameras onto the grounds.

Katie watched as
Darío
rubbed Alejandro’s back in small, soothing circles. At that moment she felt the slightest fluttering in her belly.

It was the first time she’d felt movement. She was just at her four-month mark. She wasn’t showing at all, yet, not even tightness in her waistband. It could have been anything. Gas. The heat. Not enough fluids. But Katie knew it was the baby. It wasn’t a kick, not yet. But it was movement.

She looked over at
Darío
, laughing at
something shared with little Alejandro. She put her hand on her belly and cursed herself for tearing up. But she couldn’t help it.

Darío
looked at her at that moment and handed Alejandro back to his mother, moving quickly to Katie’s side. “
Gata
? Katie? What is it? What’s
wrong?”

Katie cleared her throat to speak. She smiled at
Darío
. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. I’m just happy,” she said.

Hormones. Curious little things,
Darío
thought, as he put
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
down on the bedside table next to him. He turned off the light and turned over to his side. He should be thinking of the tournament tomorrow. Of his strategy. Of his swing.

All he could think of was Katie’s beautiful blue eyes filled with tears.

It was an odd situation. He really hadn’t known Katie well enough before she’d become pregnant to know what in her behavior was Katie and what was pregnancy-induced. It didn’t matter, he supposed. She was what she was.

And what she was was alone in her own bed, just as
Darío
was.

He’d thought that maybe sharing a suite would raise the stakes, make it easier for them to act on their wishes. Or at least
Darío
’s wishes. Katie had begged off from his dinner with Binky, saying she wanted to work on some ideas for a new piece and that she’d order room service. By the time
Darío
had returned, she’d turned in, the door to her bedroom closed.

Maybe she did want to get some work done.
Darío
had read all the pieces she’d submitted since they’d been traveling together. They were good. Really good. And it seemed to
Darío
that their being together lon
g-
term could be not only good for them and the child, but for Katie’s career as well. He’d certainly been playing better since he’d met her.

And maybe she didn’t want to interfere with his and Binky’s discussion of strategy for tomorrow. Although she’d joined them for W
ednesday night dinners before, k
eeping quiet most times during strategy talks. Sometimes adding a point or two that
Darío
always listened to. Most times she was right.

And maybe she was just tired after walking the course today. Practice rounds were much longer than competition rounds because players often times took two or three shots from each position. So much
more
time was spent on each green, reading it from every angle.

And maybe she just didn’t want to sleep with him.

His body once again in knots, th
at
thought stayed with
him
as he drifted off to sleep.

Something was off with
Darío
’s game. Nobody else would notice it. But Katie did. And Binky could too, Katie could tell, because he shot her questioning looks every so often in the gallery. She shrugged, having no clue what could make
Darío
’s approach shots – which had been like lasers the last few weeks – land on the opposite side of the green from every pin.

It wasn’t disastrous. He would still make the cut, and if he had a good weekend perhaps a top twenty finish. But by the end of the round on Friday, Katie could see the frustration on
Darío
’s face as he struggled to make par on hole after hole.

They ate dinner in silence at a chain steakhouse and returned to their suite. They stood awkwardly in the living room, each ready to go to their respective corners – their own rooms – yet both hesitating to do so.

Finally, Katie broke the silence. “
Darío
, you’re going to have to help me out here. What do you need from me in a situation like this?”

He turned to her, surprise on his face. “What…what do I need from you?”

“Yes. When you’ve had a bad round.” She saw his shoulders sag. “Not that you had a bad round. Anytime you can shoot par in major you’re in great shape.”

He snorted. “Unless forty players shot well under par.”

She didn’t concede his point, but knew it was true. He’d be in the one of the first pairings tomorrow. An early tee time on a Saturday and Sunday was not a good thing. It meant you were way down on the leaderboard.

“What can I do for you? Do you want me to leave you alone when this happens? Do you want me to be a sounding board? Let you vent about the round? Can I pep talk you or would that just tick you off?

“Pep talk me?”

“You know. ‘It wasn’t you, it was those crazy greens. You’ll get ‘em tomorrow. Shoot a sixty-five and you’re right back in this thing’. Stuff like that?”

He shook his head. “No. I
don’t
think I’d
like that.”

She smiled. “No, I didn’t think that would be your style. Maybe you’d just like to forget a bad round.” She looked around the room, saw the TV, her laptop, the small pile of books they were both reading. “Can I do something to distract you?”

He cleared his throat. Then it turned to a cough. After a moment Katie was afraid he was choking and stepped forward to slap him on the back or to do something, but he waved his hands up at her and stepped back.

“I’m sorry, Katie. This is new for me. When I have a bad day on the course, normally I am alone with my thoughts.”

“Is that what you’d like? To be left alone? I can just go to my room. We do have an early start tomorrow.”

He opened his mouth to respond but she held up her hand, stopping him. “It’s okay, you’re not hurting my feelings. This…us…it’s a lot more togetherness than you’re used to. I know it’s not me.” A flash of insecurity – not something she normally felt with men – came over her. “It’s not me, is it? You’d let me know if you wanted our situation to change, right?”

He cleared his throat. “Wanted our situation to change?”

She nodded. “If you didn’t want me to travel with you anymore.”

He exhaled loudly. Katie wasn’t sure what that meant.

“Katie,
yes, I’m
used to being alone. But please know
that I am very happy that you’
re with me.
I’m sorry if I haven’t said that
.”

He hadn’t, and she was happy to hear it. She felt the same way. She was just about to tell hi
m that when he continued. “We’
ll just have to find our way. To figure out what works best when traveling like this. Between your changing hormones and my always changing game, there will be plenty of mood swings to learn to deal with.” He chuckled and the warmth in his voice soothed Katie.

“Well…” she said.

“Well…” he said.

“Good night, then.”

“Good night.”

They both walked to their sides of the suite. She had her hand on the door handle when she turned around. “
Darío
?”

He turned, his eyes questioning. Was he asking the same thing she was? She couldn’t be sure, and so she didn’t take the chance. Instead, she smiled. “You shoot a sixty-five tomorrow and you’re right back in this thing.”

Did he look disappointed? He gave her a small smile. “Thanks for the pep talk, Coach,” he said as he entered his room.

He didn’t shoot a sixty-five. And he didn’t get back into contention. Saturday night was basically a repeat of Friday night and Sunday’s final round was not much better. He had a late round surge that ended up putting him right around the middle of the field. He’d gone another season without winning a major. Katie knew that majors were the measurement that the truly great golfers lived by.
Darío
had three. A career to be proud of. Still, she felt his disappointment.
And felt helpless to comfort him.

When they were checking out on Monday, as
Darío
was getting the bags to the car and checking on the tickets to Akron – their next stop – Katie was summoned by the hotel clerk.

“Are you Katie Maki?”

“Yes.” She was taken back. They’d always checked in under
Darío
’s name whether she’d had her own room or not. She’d never had to give her own name at any of the places they’d stayed.

“Ah, good, good,” the man said. “The package said you’d be care of Mr.
Luna
.” He pulled a Fed-Ex envelope out from behind the counter. “This arrived for you this morning.” Katie showed the man her ID, signed for the envelope and looked at the return address. Alison.

She tucked the envelope into a side pocket of her laptop case as
Darío
approached her. “We’
re all set,” he said. He pointed to her laptop case. “Problems?”

She shook her head and started walking to the hotel entrance. “No. Just something from Alison. Probably clippings of my stuff for the
Ingot
.”

But that wasn’t what was in the envelope. Katie knew it then, and had it confirmed when she snuck the package out while
Darío
dozed
on their flight, his back turned to her. The first class seats were spacious and she didn’t worry about jarring or waking him.

Inside the Fed-Ex envelope was another envelope, this one in legal office brown. She
handed
the Fed-Ex wrappings to a passing flight attendant and stared at the heavy envelope sitting on her lap. Finally she placed the envelope – unopened – back into her laptop case.

A hand written note from Alison had accompanied the envelope and Katie held it in her hands, her fingers tracing over Al’s precise script. “Finally. Now you can dump the fucker once and for all and get on with your life.”

That was Alison. No
“
miss you
”
, no
“I’m sure this is hard for you”
. It was always so cut and dried for Alison. Black and white. Yes or no.

Dump the fucker.

Alison knew Katie hated profanity. That, of course, is why she’d written it. Katie quietly chuckled at her friend’s message. She wasn’t sure what part of the
Midwest
they were flying over when her chuckles turned to quiet tears.

Chapter
Sixteen

Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at
them
.

- Jimmy Demaret
, professional golfer

“Is there any possibility of another room being available?”
Darío
asked. “We’ve become a larger party than expected when the reservation was
first
made.”