Page 82 of Sweet Spot
“Oooooh. Shit. I’m sorry. That’s why you look like someone told you golf is for pussies.”
“She’ll be all right. She’s ready.”
“Yeah, but what about you?”
“There’s no shortage of clients. In fact, I might have to hire another golf coach to handle the overflow.”
“Come on, Linc, you and I both know she wasn’t just some client. Even you aren’t that much of a dumbass to believe that. You like her. She’s different. Gram said you’ve brought her over a few times. The last person you brought to Gram’s was Lacey.”
“And you know how well that worked out,” I say dryly.
“Fix it. Whatever you did.”
“There’s nothing to fix, so drop it, okay? It’s for the best. I’m not looking to get involved beyond a certain point, and I passed that point with her a month ago. She wants things I can’t give her.” Every word burns like acid.
“Can but don’t want to because Lacey was a giant bitch.”
“I gave her a lot of reasons to be a bitch. The divorce was my fault. I’m not capable of shutting off work. When I was playing, it was all I thought about. Same with work. Lacey was a distant second. It wasn’t fair, and I won’t do it to Keira.”
“So, don’t. I’m not telling you to be a selfish prick. I’m telling you to get your shit together and do better. You’re clearly upset about losing her, so do something about it.”
“I have to jump on another call.”
He shakes his head slowly. “I just wanna see you happy, bro. So does Gram. It’s why she’s always setting you up on dates. Since you brought Keira around, she moved on to me, and I’m loving it. I don’t even have to leave my house anymore to find chicks.”
“Oh yeah? She sending you dates in Los Angeles?”
“Sort of. One of her friends has a granddaughter out here, and they’ve been badgering us to meet up. Anyway, the point is, I’m happy with the setups. Someone else is doing all the work and I just get to date awesome women. Don’t screw this up for me.”
I laugh. “Good luck with that.” My phone beeps with my next call. “Gotta go.”
“Later, bro.”
I click over to Heath. “Hey.”
“Hey, old man, what’s up?”
“The usual. What about you? Managing to fill your time since the season’s over?”
“Eh.” His response is about what I’d expect for bringing up their season ending. They finished with a brutal loss in the conference championship.
“I have a couple of camps looking for coaches again this summer, including Deerwood. You did a great job for them last year.”
“When would I have to decide? I’m hoping to get invited to the Coyotes developmental camp in July.”
I sit up straighter. “Yeah? Wow, Heath, that’s awesome.”
“Well, I haven’t been invited yet, but Coach Meyers thinks it’s likely.”
“That’s really cool. Best news I’ve had all week.” I make a note to look for some other guys I can recommend to the camp should Heath not be available. “I can probably hold Deerwood off on finalizing staff until the end of the month.”
“’Preciate it.”
I can usually count on Heath to carry our conversations with his usual antics, but he seems to have as much on his mind as I do, and we wade through the usual business stuff in less than ten minutes.
“What else is new?” I ask before he can push me off the phone. “Still managing to show up to class?”
“They haven’t kicked me out yet, so I guess I’m doing okay.”
