Page 24 of Playing for Keeps

He eyed his pint glass, which was still half full. “No. I can get yours, though,” he offered.

“That’s fine.” She waved the offer away and walked over to the bar.

While Jack set about pouring her drink, Allie sidestepped towards the guy with his laptop. Max was focused on whatever he was doing, but glanced up at Allie.

“I take it you’re a golfer?” she asked.

“I used to be. I haven’t played in a long time.”

That wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting. “You’re not a fan of the Thurley course either?”

“I really like it up there. It’s a beautiful course.”

“So why don’t you play any more?” Allie asked.

He glanced at his laptop, then back at her. “I can’t play any more because I have three demons at home. Children,” he corrected himself loudly, making Allie laugh. “Three children. That’s what I meant. Delightful little things. Not at all demonic. Angelic actually …” He smiled wickedly. “At least when they’re sleeping.”

Allie smiled through her confusion. “What’s that got to do with golf?”

“I just don’t have time,” he said seriously. “Which is a shame because my wife and I used to love going up to Thurley. We had our first date up there.” He grimaced. “Not an official date because we were both seeing other people, but we had lunch and she completely showed me up at the driving range.”

“Does she still play?”

He shook his head. “I think we’d both feel bad leaving the other alone with the kids for such a chunk of time at the weekends. And it’s something we liked to do together, but it’d feel weird to get a babysitter while we spent the whole afternoon on the golf course.”

“You could just make it nine holes,” she suggested.

“We could, but Thurley is set up in such a way that by the time you’ve done nine you’re so far away from the clubhouse that you may as well play the whole course.”

Allie nodded. It was a good point. Ten years ago, her dad had redesigned Fox Hill for that very reason. “That’s a shame.”

“Anyway, how are you enjoying working there?”

“Um … it’s okay.”

Jack set her drink in front of her. “Are you planning on staying around long term?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she said. “I’ll see how things go.” She handed over cash and waited for her change.

“Are you going to come and look at this or what?” Max said, gesturing to his laptop.

For a moment, Allie thought he was talking to her before she realised he was talking to Jack.

Jack moved closer. “If you want to hold a business meeting while I’m working, you’re going to have to wait while I serve customers sometimes.”

“It’ll only take a few minutes.” He turned the laptop so they could both see what looked to be a spreadsheet.

Jack’s gaze went to Allie. “Max and I work for a property management company. It’s a job share.”

“So you’re not actually a lawyer?” she asked Max, trying to keep up.

“I was.”

She suppressed a smirk. “Did you get disbarred for dodgy compensation claims?”

Max laughed loudly. “There was nothing dodgy about it. It was a legitimate claim.” He looked up at Jack. “Can you hurry so I don’t get in trouble with Lizzie for leaving her alone with the demons for too long?”

“He loves his children,” Jack said. “Just in case that’s not clear.”

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