Page 15 of Icy Pucking Play

I show Cynthia the message, panic rising. "He saved my number?"

"Focus, Sophie. Text him back so he doesn't think you're ignoring him."

Me:Got it! No problem! See you at 7! ??

"Was the emoji too much?"

"For the Ice Man? Definitely." She hands me the golf bag. "But maybe that's not a bad thing. Now, back to the living room. We need to work on your swing before you accidentally decapitate someone tomorrow."

The next hour is a blur of golf terminology and basic mechanics.

I learn that "fore" means "incoming death ball" and that yelling it might save me from a lawsuit.

I discover that golf has more rules than any sport has a right to have, and that most of them seem designed to make me look stupid.

"Keep your head down," Cynthia instructs as I practice with the wooden spoon. "Arms straight but relaxed. Stop closing your eyes!"

"I can't help it! What if I hit something?"

"That's kind of the point of golf, Soph."

"I mean something that's not the ball. Like a bird. Or a person. Or, God forbid, Evan."

"Definitely try not to hit Evan. I don't think assaulting Chicago's star goalie is going to help your cause."

Around two a.m., Cynthia finally forces me to go to bed. "You need at least a few hours of sleep if you're going to operate heavy machinery."

"They're golf clubs, not heavy machinery."

"In your hands? Same difference."

I lay in bed, staring at my ceiling and running through my mental checklist:

Golf terms to remember:

- Birdie = good

- Bogey = bad

- Eagle = very good

- Fore = incoming death ball

- Mulligan = do-over (but don't actually say this out loud?)

- Par = normal/expected score

- Slice = bad thing ball does

- Hook = other bad thing ball does

- Drive = hitting ball far

- Putt = hitting ball not far

Golf rules:

1. Don't talk during someone's swing

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