Page 100 of Playmaker

And that was thanks to Cooper. How was I supposed to repay him for that?

Chapter29

Cooper’s glitter

Callie

Cooper had sparkledglitter on me and everyone wanted some of it. I’d expected to take my turns on the course, making polite conversation as necessary. Instead, people wanted my opinion on their swing, or club choice, or other things I had no knowledge of. I insisted I didn’t know much, but they watched and tried to emulate me. Well, until it became obvious I really didn’t know how to golf well. But they still wanted to talk to me

No, they wanted to talk to the woman who knew #57, Cooper. I was only popular by proxy. I was sure they hoped that somehow they’d be part of Cooper’s exalted orbit if they were part of mine. I didn’t have an orbit, but they wanted to be part of it anyway.

The partners were playing with important clients, while we lowly non-partners were grouped together. But when we finished the last hole, Mr. Chan came over to ask how I’d done.

“Maybe Cooper is better teaching hockey,” he joked.

Obviously Cooper would be better at anything hockey related, but I knew enough to just smile and nod. I swear, the more I tried to downplay the Cooper thing, the more people wanted to be in on it. I was tempted to say we’d broken up, but it was hard to break up when we hadn’t been dating. Cooper had given a very different impression this morning. That hadn’t been by accident.

Mr. Anderson stopped by the table to thank me for the heads-up about the fourth green, even though I hadn’t been the one to mention it.

“We’ve been overlooking your potential, Calliope. I’ll ask my assistant to set up a meeting to discuss your future. I think you can be an asset to the firm.”

That was…promising. But it didn’t thrill me the way I’d expected.

I just wanted to get away from it all. I needed to think, and that wasn’t going to happen with all these people trying to grab some of Cooper’s glitter. It was kind of sweet to see how much it chafed Benson’s ass though.

* * *

Cooper

Can we talk?

I needed an ally, someone else who might be willing to take a risk for me, and for the possibility of Callie and me. Someone with access to Callie anytime. If he’d talk to me, and I could convince him it would be good for Callie, maybe Darcy would help.

About?

Callie.

Why?

What was I willing to share?

Because I miss her.

It was the truth, and if Darcy was going to help me, I had to open up to him.

The country club had been a good start. Her job was important. I’d wanted Callie to see that professionally I was an asset, not a liability. Now she needed to know that she wasn’t alone when it came to these uncomfortable emotions.

She didn’t answer texts, calls or emails. She didn’t do social media, so I couldn’t get to her that way either. I knew where she worked, and where she lived. With my position on the Blaze I knew I’d be allowed into Anderson, Krys and Chan. But she might be with a client, or I’d be interrupting her work, and possibly have an audience while I spilled my guts.

I’d already gotten into her condo building, so I could do that again…but it didn’t feel right. That was her space. Using my reputation to force access she didn’t want to give wouldn’t help.

Okay.

I could almost taste the hesitation in his response.

Since Darcy was working evenings this week, and I didn’t want to wait, we met just after the Top Shelf opened in the afternoon. I’d finished training camp for the day, and this was a window of time before he started his shift. Also, since fans were discouraged from bothering players here, it was an opportunity to meet in public with reasonable privacy.

I was waiting inside at the bar when Darcy arrived. He looked around with wide eyes. I waved him over. “What would you like? I’ve got a tab.”

---