Page 41 of Love Me Ever After
“Fore!”yelled Dad.
Distracted by the sudden shout, I shanked my shot off wide to the left, watching as it bounced against a tree trunk and tumbled harmlessly into the rough. “Fucking stupid game,” I muttered under my breath.
After Mum had taken Ems to the spa, Dad insisted I join him on the golf course, even though I’d have been happy lounging around the villa. So here I was, swinging a club at a ridiculously small ball, wishing I was somewhere else.
“You really do have an issue with that swing, don’t you?” Dad came to my side, tapping my club with his own. “Every time you hit the ball, it goes left. What you need to do is—”
“What I need to do is not play golf.” I let out a frustrated sigh. Usually so good at sports, the fact I couldn’t seem to get to grips with this game annoyed the fuck out of me.
We started the walk to where our balls had landed, Dad’s way out in front of mine in the fairway.
“Remember, business relationships can be built on the course,” he commented. “I got a lot of deals done that way.”
I knew there was substance to what he was saying. But I wanted to get my deals through hard graft and actual work not necessarily through an old boys’ network, naive though that may have sounded.
Dad made me finish the round, even though I cursed and grunted my way around the rest of the course. He put the clubs in the boot of his car, then suggested we get a drink. Now that was the part of a golf day I could get on board with.
While he got the drinks, I found us a table on the terrace. I slid on my sunglasses and drank in the view the golf course gave. Certainly a better way to appreciate it.
“I got us some snacks too.” Dad put a tray on the table, holding two beers, a bowl of olives, and some bread with oil and vinegar. “Not sure of your plans for dinner tonight.”
“I’m taking Ems to Osteria N15.”
Dad nodded, taking a sip of his beer. “Excellent, I know you like it there.” He leaned back in his chair, putting his own sunglasses on. “It’s good to see you, Mason. It’s been too long.”
“I said you should have come out to New York.”
“It would have been a long way to go for us just for a few days, and your mother wasn’t keen.” He leaned over and stabbed an olive with a cocktail stick before putting it in his mouth. “Do you think you’d ever go back?”
I hadn’t considered it. The secondment had been a great opportunity and when it got extended, I wondered if there was any chance of it becoming permanent. Of course, that was before I’d come home and got back with Ems. Now there were other things to think about.
“Since I’ve come home, my profile within the business has certainly increased. Before, I hadn’t had much to do with the senior management. Next thing I know the CEO is putting me at his table for the latest company dinner.”
“You make the most of it, Mason. As soon as you’ve got the ear of someone like that, you never know what might happen.” Dad’s advice was something I always looked for.
I screwed up my face. “Even if it means I have to play golf?”
He snorted. “You’ve got some way to go if you want to be accepted that way.”
“Cheers, glad to know you’ve got confidence in me.”
A friendly silence descended over the table as we both took the opportunity for a break in conversation to eat something. Normally, I hated olives, but for some reason when I was eating them in the glorious Spanish sunshine, they tasted so much better.
“When did you and Ems get back together? I thought you went away single?”
“I did.”
“None of the American ladies take your fancy?”
Briefly, my mind flitted to Whit, but we were so much better as friends. “I didn’t know how long I would be there for. Didn’t want to lead anyone on, so kept things light, you know?”
“Mason, I’m fifty-seven and have been married for what feels like forever, I have no idea what ‘keeping things light’ means.”
“Never mind.” I changed the subject, asking him if he still kept in touch with his work buddies from home. We chatted shit for a couple of hours, only stopping when my phone vibrated with a message.
Ems: Your mum wants to take me for a drink, so I’ll see you back at the villa later xx
Mason: Don’t get too drunk, you know what she can be like!
