Love Lines

26: Premature Wolfage

Chapter Twenty-Six

By the time my father came to retrieve me for our turn on the course, my shots had improved but they weren't perfect. I was nowhere close to being where I was before I turned Elite but it was better than nothing.

"Are you sure about this, Dad? I won't be offended if you decide to back out..." I said on our golf cart ride to the green.

"Oh no, baby girl. It's you and me or nothing at all."

And that's pretty much how the day went, at least the golfing part. My shots were always unpredictable but thankfully my father picked up the slack without any complaint. The good part of it was the announcers were saying he was playing his best round of golf since he retired. The bad part was I found it a tad insulting considering my father only ever played recreational golf or one of these charity things nowadays. But as we sat in my room watching the recap of the day they usually played for the donators, my father just brushed it off with a smile and gave me a one arm hug.

"We did good today," he said.

"You did good today." That famous practice of southern sighing happened for the first time on our trip. His expulsion of breath clearly said give-me-a-break-and-don't-be-difficult. But like the moody teenager I was, I trudged forward with my point. "Dad, my one shot almost landed in the drink. That would've set us back a stroke and that is never good."

"I think you're forgetting the point, sweetheart."

"Which would be?"

"That the ball didn't go into the water. And this is all for charity so there is nothing to sweat over."

He winked at me before ducking out of the room and heading to his to get ready for dinner. I couldn't decide if he was just trying to make me feel better or what but I was suddenly glad this would all be over on Sunday. Playing with my dad was fun but doing it in the semi-public eye when I still wasn't used to the new gusto behind my swing was a bit nerve racking. If this were a private game, it wouldn't be so bad because like my father said, it didn't really matter. But this charity meant a lot to both of us and I wanted them to get as many donations as possible.

I wasn't planning on doing anything spectacular for this party/dinner thing tonight. The mood to dress up and get pretty just didn't hit me. So I slipped on the black lace number Allie made me bring and put a little curl in my now longer than usual hair. The length was just passed my shoulder blades and I definitely wasn't happy with it. I really needed to talk to Kells about how to get it permanently cut. I knew what Cecil said but there was no way I was thinking about that night again let alone deal with it.

Someone knocked on the door at quarter till, I was a little surprised. My father was generally on time, not early. So when I opened the door I was even more surprised and slightly confused when I found Andrzej standing there.

I frowned. "What...?"

"I'm late."

"You think?"

I glanced at the window and the sun was making pretty colors in the sky as it made its descent towards the horizon. "What were you doing?"

"I had to run an errand."

"That must've been one hell of an errand." I let him in and followed the short distance to the closet. I wasn't surprised when he opened it and it was nothing more than an actual closet. I was just messing around in there a few minutes before. But he was surprised.

"Shit," he muttered. "This doorway is supposed to work."

"Maybe Janus just forgot to turn it on or something." He shot me a look before marching back over to the door. "Wait!"