Page 28 of A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity

The flowers. Austin had almost forgotten about them. Who had sent him flowers? His coach? Physical therapist? He walked back to the desk and pulled the card out of the bouquet. He opened it and stared down at the message.

Watch out for snakes lying in the grass. Some of them are poisonous. Get well soon.

Austin read the message over again, a strange feeling creeping over him. This wasn’t from anyone on the team. Who sent these? And what did the message mean?

He read it a third time, then chuckled, realization dawning on him. Sounds like something Gregg would do, send flowers with a creepy note. He’d been friends with Gregg since middle school, and lame jokes were his specialty. He probably sent the flowers and weird note trying to be funny.

Still, it kind of creeped him out. He crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash. Before he could leave, the door opened and Dani walked in. Her eyes lit up when she saw the flowers. “You got me flowers?”

Well, crud. He couldn’t lie and say he’d gotten them for her, could he? But how awkward would it be if he said they were for himself? Then he’d have to show her the odd note, and she might take it wrong. He didn’t want to creep her out or anything.

He debated for a quick second, then thought it was best just to let her assume, and handed them to her without saying anything. That way it wasn’t exactly a lie, right?

“Oh, my goodness, that’s the sweetest thing. Thank you. I can’t believe you got me flowers. They’re beautiful.”

She continued to gush for another minute before the guilt rose so much, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Let’s go do something. I’m going a bit crazy sitting around all day.”

“Sure. Can it involve food? I’m starving.”

“Not surprising. You’re always starving.” He hadn’t meant for it to come out like that, and he waited for her to get upset at him for implying she was always eating.

She put her hand on her stomach, her face showing she took it in jest. “Yeah. I am.”

“How about we grab something to eat and then look for something fun to do.” Anything to take his mind off the gnawing boredom he was facing.

“Sure, let me quickly get changed.” She pointed to the housekeeping shirt she wore.

He nodded and sat down on the couch while she gathered clothes and then headed into the bathroom. It didn’t take long before she came out. She’d changed into a light blue T-shirt that she’d tied a knot in by her hip.

How she managed to look cute in clothes purchased from SaleMart, he wasn’t sure, but she pulled it off. Maybe they should hire her for their advertising posters. They’d probably sell a million T-shirts.

Dani curled a piece of hair behind her ear. “There’s a miniature golf place down the street. Does that sound like something fun?”

“Sounds perfect. I minored in miniature golf.” He winked at her, and then immediately felt dumb. He was so lame.

Dani laughed and then stopped and turned to him at the door. Her gaze traveled over him, and she squinted. “Wait, how good are you?”

He smiled, relieved she didn’t react to his stupid wink. “My uncle owned a miniature golf place growing up, and he let me play as much as I wanted for free. So, when I wasn’t practicing football, I was practicing my putt-putt golf skills.”

Football. Why did he mention that? Part of him didn’t want her to pick up on what he’d said, yet another part of him wanted to just get it over with and tell her the truth. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to notice, or at least didn’t comment on it.

“Hmm. Maybe we shouldn’t go then. I don’t want you to totally cream me.” They left the room and turned to walk on the sidewalk. She tossed him a frown, which he could totally tell was fake.

“You’re not afraid of some friendly competition, are you?”

“What if you get bored waiting for me to get the little ball into the cup thingy? I could take a while.”

Bored? Hardly. He wasn’t worried about being bored when he was with Dani. She’d proved to be a much-needed distraction. He was more worried about becoming too enamored with her. A problem which was quickly becoming reality. He grinned at her. “I can cope.”

“All right then. If you promise to go easy on me.”

“I promise.”

* * *

Dani calculatedthe space between her ball and the wall she needed to hit in order to make the shot. She had to keep control or she could hit it too hard and miss the hole. After a couple of practice swings, she hit the ball with her club. It sailed perfectly, striking the wall and winning her a hole in one. “Ha. I got another one.”

Austin rolled his eyes and pointed at her. “You totally hustled me.”

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