The Long Shot

by A. L. Brooks

  Adrienne looked around. The tea shop wasn’t part of the hotel complex they were all staying in, but even so, it was only a few hundred yards away from the hotel’s main entrance on the edge of the small village nearby. Close enough that any form of intimate interaction between them was too risky if Adrienne wanted to ensure her job was safe until the project was over. Maybe she was worrying for nothing. Maybe she was just paranoid after Tricia had expressed so much concern for her position, but there really wasn’t any reason to be stupid about this. Three more weeks and she could be as open with Morgan as she wished.

  “So would you like a coffee? Something to eat? It’s not table service here,” Adrienne clarified, as Morgan lifted the quaintly printed menu from its equally quaint holder.

  Morgan smiled. “Welsh Rarebit.” She shook her head. “Still confuses me. But no, I’ve already eaten, so just coffee would be fine.”

  Adrienne stood and walked over to the counter, where the thin-faced, sallow young woman behind the display of cakes and buns looked up with barely a smile to take her order for two coffees, one with cream. When she returned to the table, Morgan watched her every move, and once again Adrienne’s libido stirred in a delicious way.

  “You need to stop looking at me like that,” she said as she eased back into her seat.

  “Why?” Morgan attempted an innocent look, but the quirk of her lips gave her away.

  Adrienne rolled her eyes. “What have I got myself in for?”

  Morgan laughed. “Okay, so in all seriousness, and I hate to say it, but I don’t have long. I’ve got a press call at 11:00 a.m., then practice at 1:00 p.m. Then we’ve got the opening reception at 6:00 p.m. Ugh. So we ought to get on with this and talk about how much you want from me this week.”

  Her eyes widened, and Adrienne laughed.

  “Well, that conjures up a very tempting list of possibilities.” Adrienne kept her voice low, and she delighted in the blush that stole across Morgan’s cheek at her flirty comment. Wow, I haven’t totally forgotten how to do this. How lovely. “But let’s focus on the film.” She pulled her notebook out of her purse and opened it at the relevant page. “Here’s what I was thinking.”

  Over the mediocre coffee, they agreed on the amount of time Morgan would be tracked by Jenny, Toby, and Diane. Adrienne was meeting them that afternoon to talk through her ideas and ensure they would deliver what she needed. She also penciled in a possible additional sit-down interview with Morgan on Monday, reluctant to say it out loud, but hopeful they’d be talking about Morgan’s first major win at that point.

  “Okay, I guess we can do another interview. If nothing else, we could talk about the weather,” Morgan said with a wry grin.

  “How’s your confidence level?”

  “Actually, pretty good. More than good. But let’s not jinx anything, all right?”

  Adrienne smiled warmly at her. “Deal.”

  Morgan glanced at her watch. “Crap. I have to go.”

  “I’ll leave with you.” Adrienne stood then gathered her things. “I want to pop into that little grocery store for a few items.”

  Adrienne paid for their coffee and followed Morgan out into the warm August air. The main street that ran through the village was busy with traffic, presumably most of it related to the upcoming tournament. A few heads turned in recognition as Morgan strolled along, but no one stopped her.

  “Do you get used to that?” Adrienne asked.

  “Um, yes and no. It’s kind of odd, being looked at so much, but thankfully everyone’s pretty respectful of my space, so it’s easy to deal with. I wouldn’t mind interacting with them, especially the young girls, because I know how valuable it is to get some encouragement from your sporting heroes, but at the same time, I’ve got to stay focused. And get to that press call.”

  They reached the grocery store and stopped in front of the large window displaying a selection of its offerings.

  “I guess I’ll leave you here,” Morgan said softly, glancing around. “It’s been really good to see you, and I can’t wait until we can spend some more time together.”

  “Yes,” Adrienne murmured, astonished at how the thought of not seeing Morgan properly for the next few days affected her. “But you go do what you do best and know that I’ll be supporting you every step of the way as you do so. You’re going to be brilliant, I know.”

  “Thank you.” Morgan looked as if she wanted to say more, but with a slight shake of her head, she stepped past Adrienne, brushing her fingers against Adrienne’s as she did so. “Miss you,” she whispered, then was gone, striding purposefully up the street, her ponytail bouncing in sync with her steps.

  Adrienne was annoyed, and it was not an experience she was that familiar with. She prided herself on being level-headed, professional, and able to handle any situation her job threw at her, but right here and now, she was pissed.

  Although both Toby and Diane were jet lagged, having only arrived the day before due to budget constraints, they’d both assured her they’d be firing on all cylinders when needed. So, no, it wasn’t their lack of energy causing her annoyance or the fact that Cindy Thomson had, to Adrienne’s bafflement, thrown her a vicious look when they’d passed each other in the clubhouse lobby an hour or so ago.

  Much to Adrienne’s surprise and concern, it was Jenny’s behavior that was the cause of her irritation, and she paced up and down the small room they were using for their meeting while she waited for her missing assistant to return from who knew where.

  Jenny had responded to Adrienne’s messages asking her whereabouts—and reminding her she’d missed the initial meeting with the crew—with short, some would say terse, responses and a vague comment that she’d be back soon. Adrienne had no choice but to dismiss Toby and Diane for a while, suggesting they might want to check out the course, vantage points, et cetera, while Adrienne awaited Jenny’s return so the four of them could finalize the shooting schedule.

  When the door opened and Jenny walked in, a scowl on her face, Adrienne stopped in the middle of the room and just managed to wait until the door closed before she exploded.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  “Out,” Jenny responded sullenly.

  “Out? Out where? Are you okay?” She’d never seen Jenny so…angry. Jenny was practically seething with it. “What’s going on?”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s the big question, isn’t it?” Jenny snapped. “God, how stupid was I? I believed all that crap you told me about trusting me to handle Miami on my own, and it was all just a bunch of bullshit!”

  Adrienne blinked, her mind completely unable to connect all the dots. “What are you talking about? Of course I trusted you with Miami! I’ve seen the footage. It’s great.”

  “I’m not talking about the footage!” Jenny’s voice rose. “I’m talking about her! About you manipulating me, lying to me, making sure I was out of the way so you could make your move. You hypocrite!”

  Holding out her hands in a gesture she hoped would be received as peaceful, Adrienne spoke quietly, unable to comprehend what had worked her assistant into such a state but determined to get to the bottom of it. “Please help me out here. I honestly don’t know what’s got you so upset and—”

  “Oh, don’t be ridiculous! Don’t lie to me anymore.” Jenny glared at her then paused as she studied Adrienne. She took one step closer. “Morgan! You wanted her for yourself, didn’t you? So you gave me that whole speech about knowing the boundaries and keeping it all professional, then got me out of the way and took her for yourself!”

  “I… What? That’s simply not true. I would never do—”

  “I saw you,” Jenny spat. She shook her head. “This morning. All cozy outside that store, holding hands, looking all gooey at each other. Don’t try to deny it!”

  Oh. Shit.

  Adrienne exhaled slowly, then lowered her hands. “If I
promise to tell you the truth, explain to you what’s happened, will you please come and sit down to hear it? I hate seeing you so upset like this. Truly.”

  “I don’t need to hear any more lies. I’m—”

  “Jenny,” Adrienne said firmly, “you need to hear my side of this story. You and I have worked too closely together for you to deny me that, haven’t we?”

  Something shifted in Jenny, firstly in her eyes, then in the set of her shoulders, and finally in the angry scrunch of her face. She blinked a couple of times, then walked two paces across the room to the nearest chair and threw herself into it.

  Adrienne followed and pulled up a second chair to within a few feet of her. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and looked into Jenny’s eyes. Her stomach knotted, knowing she’d done exactly what she’d told Jenny not to do and how bad that must look to her assistant.

  She’s right, you are a hypocrite.

  “Morgan and I are seeing each other, yes,” she began, and Jenny blew out an explosive breath. “But it certainly wasn’t anything I deliberately set out to make happen.” Adrienne continued, keeping her voice calm. “I know this looks bad. I know it is everything I told you not to do but… We just ended up spending more time together and realized that there was a mutual attraction we couldn’t fight. And I did try to keep it within the boundaries I spoke to you about, I really did, but it was…too strong.”

  “Oh, please,” Jenny said snidely, “you’re, like, twenty years older than her. This is just some midlife-crisis thing or something.”

  Adrienne’s smile was sad. “You know, it might be easier if it was. But it isn’t. She’s…very important to me, and I’m sorry that you found out the way you did and interpreted it the way you did. I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you. But what Morgan and I have is serious, and it’s not something I’m going to give up.”

  “What about your job if anyone finds out?”

  Was that a veiled threat? God, I hope not.

  “We’ve agreed to keep it secret until the project’s over. Then I will inform Daniel, and hopefully he will realize it didn’t impact my work in any way and give me his blessing.”

  Jenny snorted, but there was now a haunted look in her eyes. She stood.

  “I really liked her, Adrienne.” Jenny’s eyes filled with tears. “I…really liked her.”

  Before Adrienne could stop her, she walked quickly to the door and left the room.

  “Oh, crap! And then what?” Tricia asked, her voice heavy with concern.

  “She messaged me about half an hour later, telling me she was unwell and needed the rest of the day off. What could I do? I can’t accuse her of lying about that and force her to work. So I gave her the day, told her I was there for her if she wanted to talk again, and haven’t heard from her since.”

  Adrienne sighed and leaned back against the headboard of her hotel bed. It had been one hell of an afternoon. With Jenny gone, she’d finalized the schedule with Toby and Diane and e-mailed it to her missing-in-action assistant in the vain hope she’d still turn up for work the next morning. Then she’d holed up in her room with a meal and a glass of wine and called her best friend.

  “And does Morgan know any of this?”

  “No! She doesn’t need to be involved. She’s got a first round to play in the morning and needs all the concentration she can muster. Besides, this is my problem to fix, not hers.”

  “Ah, well, that’s only true if Jenny keeps the knowledge to herself. I’ll be honest, Addy, I’m concerned she’s going to do something with this.”

  “Yes, the thought’s crossed my mind too.” She closed her eyes. “You know, I really, really hope that everything we’ve achieved together will give her pause. I get that she’s young and she feels like I made a fool of her, but I suppose I hope she’ll remember everything else and eventually write this off as an unfortunate stumble between us.”

  “You think she’ll still want to work for you?” Tricia sounded skeptical.

  “I honestly don’t know. I hope so. If nothing else, I’d still like to mentor her even if she asks to move teams.”

  “Well.” Tricia exhaled loudly. “I guess now all you can do is hope.”

  “Indeed. Oh God, what a mess.”

  “Hey, don’t panic. Let’s hope for the best, but you know, if this does all come out, you’ll ride it out. I know you will. And Morgan will help you, I’m sure.”

  At that thought, Adrienne glowed. “Yes, she would. She’s very concerned about my position with the company, and I know she’d support me 100 percent.”

  “She sounds like a keeper.”

  Adrienne smiled. “I really think she is.”

  “This!” Charlie exclaimed as she grabbed Morgan’s biceps and squeezed excitedly. “This is what I wanted for you! Look at you. You’re all aglow!”

  “Aglow?” Morgan rolled her eyes, then laughed when Charlie tutted at her.

  They were outside the clubhouse, stood in a quiet spot away from the busy comings and goings of all the players, officials, TV crews, and reporters—the usual circus that surrounded a major tournament. Charlie had found her in amongst the melee and hauled her off to interrogate her about the latest developments with Adrienne, having learned the basics via text messages the previous day or so. Their busy schedules in the lead-up to today’s first round had, however, prevented them from finding some private time to actually talk.

  “Yes! Don’t try pretending you’re not.” Charlie smiled warmly at her. “God, I’m so happy for you!”

  “Thanks, Charlie.” Impulsively Morgan pulled her friend into a hug.

  “Can I meet her properly now? Maybe we could all have breakfast together on Monday?”

  Morgan pulled out of the hug. “That’s a great idea. I’ll check with Adrienne, but I’m sure she’d love to get to know you.”

  Charlie grinned. “Look at you with the whole ‘I’ll check with my girlfriend’ thing going on.”

  Morgan chuckled. “It feels kinda weird to hear her called that. It’ll take some getting used to.”

  “Well, get used to it. I’ve got a feeling this one’s going to last.”

  “I really hope so,” Morgan said fervently.

  “Aww.” Charlie squeezed Morgan’s arm again, then sighed. “Okay, I guess we need to go do our respective things.”

  “Yeah. I’m glad we found even this time to catch up. How are you feeling?”

  “Pumped! Just so excited to be here again, and this time knowing if I keep everything steady, I’ve got a good chance of playing the weekend.”

  “I think there’s every chance of that! I really hope you do well, Charlie.”

  “You too!”

  They hugged once more, then went their separate ways.

  Morgan spent the morning with a mix of press interviews and some putting practice; she was playing in the afternoon, teeing off at 1:30 p.m.

  Harry was in a good mood—he’d found an “awesome” spot for some fishing in his free time—and they joked around a little as she putted, which helped quell some of the jitters that had crept in through the morning. They weren’t necessarily bad jitters, though. Morgan didn’t want it to get out of control, but an excited buzz ran through her. She knew she had played well these past few weeks, and she knew her mind was in a great place too.

  What a contrast to the same time the previous year when Naomi had ripped their relationship apart only a week before they flew to Europe.

  As if reading her mind, Harry asked the one question he’d probably been building up to all morning. “You feeling okay about your playing partner today and tomorrow?” He tried to make it sound casual, but concern shone in his eyes.

  Morgan shrugged. “Ideally it wouldn’t be her. But that’s the luck of the draw and nothing I can do anything about.” She exhaled slowly. “I’m just there to play my golf, and I
hope she is too.”

  “Hm.”

  “What?”

  Harry shook his head. “I don’t trust her. If she starts trying to get under your skin, you just—”

  Morgan held up a hand. “It’s okay. She can talk all she wants. I’m not going to let her get to me. Trust me, I am totally focused on my game and nothing else.”

  He gazed at her for a few moments. “All right,” he said eventually, nodding. “Then let’s get some lunch before we need to get out there.”

  Morgan watched from the edge of the sixteenth green as Naomi attempted a long putt to save her par. She missed wide right and shook her head as she walked to her ball and marked it. She was now three over par, having a nightmare of a round. With anyone else, Morgan might offer a few words of sympathy, but she knew she’d be wasting her breath with Naomi.

  They’d been professional with each other and nothing more. And despite what Morgan had said earlier to Harry, she was relieved that Naomi hadn’t felt the need to be a bitch again. There had been a small part of her that dreaded any kind of confrontation to upset her balance, but it seemed Naomi had also turned up focused to play. Unfortunately for her, two awful drives on the sixth and ninth had left her in a precarious position from which she’d not really recovered.

  Morgan, on the other hand, was completely in her zone and currently three under par, with a birdie chance facing her here on the sixteenth. She pushed all thoughts of Naomi out of her head as she approached her marker, a mere three feet from the hole, and replaced it with her ball. Harry walked around and eyed the putt from the opposite side, while Morgan crouched and viewed it from the playing side. If there was a buzz of chatter from the crowd, or birds chirping in the nearby trees, Morgan couldn’t hear them. She straightened again, then waited for Harry to join her.

  “You got this,” was all he said before walking away to the edge of the green.

  She smiled briefly, then stepped up to the shot. Thirty seconds later, the ball rolled effortlessly into the center of the cup, and the crowd erupted. She mentally fist-pumped, then acknowledged the crowd’s applause before retrieving her ball and throwing it to Harry.