Page 26 of Fangirl Down

Caddying on the PGA Tour was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she wouldn’t blow it by noticing...thingsabout Wells. Things about him she never would have known before spending some time with him. For one, he was very sensitive about his former mentor. When the topic of Buck Lee came up in conversation, he looked down at the ground. Like an automatic tic. Another trait she’d noticed was that Wells did nice things,like accompany her to the party, offer her a dream job, check her mini fridge for juice... but he seemed to feel the need to balance out those kind deeds with a lot of growling and complaining.

Josephine’s thoughts were interrupted when Wells plucked a glass of champagne from a passing tray and handed it to her, gruffly asking the waiter for a nonalcoholic beer. He raised an eyebrow at Josephine, as if inviting a comment, but she only returned his stare.

“Thank you,” she said, setting the flute down on a nearby table. “But I’ll pass tonight. There’s a dance floor and no one wants me to end up there.”

“Oh,” he said, coughing. “I disagree.”

“No, really. It’s a whole situation.”

“As your employer, I should know up front what we’re dealing with.”

They traded a silent look over the wordemployer. Their relationship, as it was now, didn’t necessarily feel like a boss-employee relationship, but that could very well change in the morning once competition started. Josephine let out a breath. “There is only one musical act that can make me dance. If that group comes on, it’s finger guns and hip thrust city.”

This was the closest to laughing that she’d ever seen Wells. “You know I’m going to ask which band.”

“And I told you, you’re going to have to work for things to tease me about.”

“It’s the Spice Girls or something, isn’t it?”

“Cold.”

“Timberlake.”

“Freezing. You’ll never get it. Sorry.” Josephine pursed her lips and looked around the room, noticing for the first time that nearly every head was turned in their direction. “I guess it’s going to be up to us to mingle, since none of your friends are approaching.”

Wells accepted the nonalcoholic beer from the waiter and tipped it back, drawing Josephine’s attention to the strong lines of his throat, before she determinedly dragged it away. “You think I have friends?” He used the back of his wrist to swipe moisture from his upper lip. “That’s adorable.”

“There isn’t even one person in this room you can tolerate?”

“I’m tolerating you, aren’t I?”

She couldn’t possibly be sensing a flutter in her belly over that. Tolerating someone didn’t pass as a compliment. “Besides me.”

“Nope.”

Surely this man wasn’t a total lone wolf. “Do you have any friendsoutsideof golf?”

Wells shrugged, rubbing at the back of his neck. He started to set his beer down, then changed his mind, keeping it in his hand.Look at that.She’d landed on something.

“Few years back, during a charity pro-am,” he started, referencing the tournament where a professional golfer gets paired with an amateur, who is usually a celebrity in some capacity, “I got stuck with this hockey player as my teammate. Have you heard of Burgess Abraham?”

Josephine started. “Uh... yeah. I don’t even have an interest in hockey and I know who that is. Isn’t he constantly going viral for being somewhat... volatile?”

“That’s him.” Wells rolled a shoulder. “Anyway, he lives in Boston, but he shows up occasionally to spectate when I’m in California, since he’s got a vacation home in Monterey. I’ve gone to one or two of his games, too. We go for a beer—maybe. Nothing is set in stone. But I wouldn’t call usfriends, so if he shows up, I never said that.”

She shook her head. “Why are men like this?”

“Let me guess, you have someone you callbestie.” He shuddered.

“Proudly.”

“Who?”

“Tallulah.” Saying her best friend’s name made her throat sting, so she swallowed hard. “She’s a future marine biologist who wants to specialize in winter wildlife. Ironic for a Florida girl, right? She’s been studying penguins as an intern in Antarctica for almost a year.” Pride in her friend brought a smile to Josephine’s face. “You might remember her. She came with me to cheer you on a few times.”

Wells shook his head. “Must have been too distracted by your aggressive chanting.”

She hummed.

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