Page 37 of Putting Out
Taking a deep breath, she sighed and brushed away the tears.
“Sir, honestly I don’t know if I’m better than three quarters of the men playing today.”
There were groans and shouts, but Reilly pressed on.
“Because I’ve never had a chance to play against them. You think I don’tdeserveto be there? As if somehow I’m not entitled? I guess that’s what they used to think about women being in the voting booth, too. The PGA has ranked me as the thirty-eighth best golfer in the world. They do think I deserve to be there. And I for one am not going to disappoint them.”
Reilly stood because she couldn’t sit anymore.
The crowd instantly quieted as they waited for her final words.
“I’m playing in the American.”
The roar was deafening. People were jumping and stomping so hard Reilly could feel the stage shaking under her feet. She looked to the little girl to her left who was jumping up and down and waving her arms in the air as if the best thing in her whole life had just happened to her.
For a second they made eye contact. Reilly pointed to her and mouthed, “This is for you.”
She didn’t know if the girl understood, no reason why she should, but she continued to jump up and down and that made Reilly feel good. Not in any kind of mood to answer any more questions, she headed for the curtain. Luke was on the side of the stage leaning on a support beam, his arms crossed over his chest and a smug smile on his lips.
“You!” Reilly accused as she stormed over to him. “You did this. The people, the girls’ teams.”
He held up a hand. “Guilty. I wanted you to see what it meant. I wanted you to look in their faces and know. It isn’t just about you, Slice. It’s about them, too.”
“Great!” Reilly shouted with her arms waving wildly above her head. “Now I’ve got to go freakin’ play in the American. The American! What if I blow it?”
“You won’t.”
“What if I freeze up? What if I can’t hit the ball?”
“You’ll hit the ball.”
Reilly’s face fell into her hands and she laughed and cried at the same time. “There was this little girl out there on the floor. I saw her face and I just had to do it. You know?”
“Her name is Jenna. I met her mom here earlier. Jenna’s a real big fan of yours. I thought she might like a seat up front.”
“You bastard.”
Luke laughed and opened his arms. Reilly hugged him and in doing so, felt for five seconds like everything was going to be all right.
“Woo hoo! The fucking American, baby!” Kenny came pushing through the curtain and ran straight to where Reilly was hugging Luke. He wrapped his arms around both of them and lifted them from the floor.
“Kenny, relax.”
He backed away, but his puppy dog smile was still in place.
“I thought you weren’t going to do it. Last night, you had this sad look in your eyes and I thought son of a bitch, she’s not going to do it.”
“I wasn’t. I sort of got talked into it.”
“Yeah, what an asshole that guy was. Thank God you picked him first. As soon as he asked his question I was like, that’s it, she’s going to blow. You were great.”
“You do understand what this means?”
“Uh… yeah. We’re going, baby! Here we come!”
“I’m not going to make a fool out of myself there. Which means hard work. Really hard work from now until then. I need to raise my game. Take it further, and that all starts with one thing.”
Kenny and Luke looked at each other. Luke shrugged and Kenny asked, “What?”
Reilly took a deep breath. “I’m going to need to find a way to hit that damn ball farther than I ever have before.”
