Worth the Drive (5 page)

At the
phrase “good restaurnat”
being used to describe the Armadillo, Katie and Lizzie exchanged smiles across the table from each other.

“
Darío
, Binky, I’d like you to meet Lizzie Hampton-Robbins and Katie Lipton,” Chad said, indicating the two women. “Lizzie, Katie, this is…
”

“Maki,” Katie interrupted Chad.

“Excuse me?” Chad asked, looking at Katie, not quite sure what she meant.

“Maki,” she said again. At Chad’s questioning look she added, “Katie Maki, not Lipton. Maki.”

Chad was apologetic. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard Lizzie this morning.”

“No, you heard her right, it’s not your mistake. And it’s not Lipton, it’s Maki. Katie Maki,” she said. She held out her hand as she swiveled in her seat, and came face to face with
Darío
Luna
.

Well, not quite face to face, more like hand to crotch.

Her hand, held out to shake, came into direct contact with two-time Masters winner
Darío
Luna
’s penis.

His “oomph” and her simultaneous “oohh” stunned the rest of the table until the man standing next to
Darío
said, “If that’s your idea of a greeting, luv, let me introduce myself.”

It lightened the moment, and all laughed except for Katie and
Darío
who couldn’t stop staring at each other.

“I’m so sorry…”

“I saw you on the course…”

They both spoke at the same time. Both put their heads down, flustered, then both tried again.

“I enjoyed watching…”

“No apology necessary…”

This time they both laughed.
Darío
held up his hand for Katie to go ahead. “I am so sorry,” she said, indicating her hand and his crotch, which only furthered her embarrassment, and she groaned. “Please, you speak.”

He laughed. “I was going to say, no need to apologize, but now you have done it twice. Also, I was going to say I saw you on the course today. Did you enjoy the round?”

Katie nodded her head, pleased, but not surprised that
Darío
remembered her. He had, after all, made eye contact with her afterward. She had been about to go over and introduce herself to him and congratulate him on a fine round when that awful Barclay
Ives
started hitting on her. “Yes. I enjoyed it very much. You had a great day.”

He waved his hand, as if to brush away her compliment. She felt the breeze it created across her cheek. It felt cool against her flushed skin.

“Your approach shot on thirteen was brilliant,” she said.

Chad, Lizzie and the caddy turned their heads to Katie in surprise.

“Thank you, but I must confess that the outcome was mostly luck on that shot. Luck and a good bounce.”

“You’re much too modest,” Katie said.

The man next to
Darío
snorted. “Modest? Guv here, modest? Not bloody likely. By the way, I’m Binky, and you, as you said are Katie. Not Lipton, but Maki, right?”

He was much taller than
Darío
, but that was not hard to accomplish. He was lanky, downright skinny, with none of
Darío
’s brooding strength. He was probably a good ten years older than
Darío
, though his weathered face made him look even older. He wore Dockers and an oxford shirt. Much more dressed up than he had been earlier on the course when he’d worn shorts and a golf shirt under the requisite apron that all caddies wore.

He was obviously British and Katie suspected he was playing up his thick accent. She already liked him immensely.

“Right, Binky, Katie Maki,” she chuckled. “Will you gentlemen join us?” she asked, then remembered that it wasn’t her party to invite people to and looked to Lizzie and Chad for reassurance.

Chad jumped to Katie’s aid. “Yes. Please, join us.”

Binky started to grab for a fifth chair from a neighboring table, but
Darío
cut him off. “No, thank you, but please enjoy your dinner.” He moved beyond them, to a table farther down the length of the bar. A surprised Binky gave Katie a shrug and followed his boss.

Katie looked back at Chad and saw him give a sigh of what looked like relief. “I’m sorry, Chad, should I not have done that?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s okay. It never occurred
to me to invite them to join us.
I’m glad you did. I’m just glad they said no, that’s all.”

“Oh. Don’t you like
Darío
?” Lizzie asked Chad.

Katie realized she was holding her breath. She didn’t know why, but it was very important to her that Chad not say anything bad about
Darío
.

“Oh no, it’s not that at all. I
t’s just, I was so nervous to begin with about playing today, and then to find out yesterday that I’d be paired with
Darío
Luna
. I mean, my God, I was eight years old when I watched him win his first Masters, and now I’m playing with him?”

Katie and Lizzie exchanged “we’re so old” glances with each other as they realized how old
they
had been when they watched
Darío
Luna
win his first Masters
. It was a lot older than eight
.

“But he was so cool. Even asked me questions about growing up in Texas, if I played this course a lot, stuff like that,” Chad said. “He was totally awesome, but I don’t know if I could handle having to make dinner conversation with him. I think I’d be too nervous.”

Chad’s cool and totally awesome vocabulary made Katie feel even older than realizing she was
Darío
Luna
’s age, not anywhere near Chad Curtis’. She tried to alleviate that sting with some more Margarita only to find her glass had somehow mysteriously emptied.

She waved her empty glass toward Blanche, now on a first name basis with the bartender. Blanche nodded and gave a, “Comin’ up, sweetie,” accompanied by a toothless grin.

Katie returned the smile. She loved this place. Women who looked like Blanche seldom called women who looked like Katie sweetie. Usually it was something like “stuck-up bitch” murmured low enough to hear, but not loud enough to be able to comment on.

But Blanche didn’t think she was a stuck-up bitch. No, Blanche called her sweetie. She even patted Katie’s head as she brought her the Margarita. “Pace yourself, sweetie,” she said. “I can tell you ain’t from Texas, and these here is Texas Margaritas. They pack a wallop.”

Katie was touched at Blanche’s concern. In fact, the warm glow of the liquor made her realize that no one in her entire life had ever cared for her as much as Blanche The Bartender did. Blanche loved her. Just look at the lovely drink she’d brought all the way over to the table for Katie. If that wasn’t love, what was?

Katie got out of her chair, not an easy task, swayed just a little, quickly tried to cover it, and launched herself into a startled Blanche’s arms for a huge hug.

“Oh Blanche, thank you. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for understanding me. You know, I think you’re the most wonderful person. I want you to know that.” She pulled away, but still clung to Blanche’s arms. Blanche held Katie’s gaze as if Katie were imparting deep words of wisdom. Katie felt she was. “Blanche, I think I should move to Texas. Is everyone in Texas like you Blanche? So lovely? So understanding?” She looked at Lizzie and Chad, whose eyes had grown big with amusement. “Lizard, I’m moving to Texas.”

Lizzie only nodded, but Katie was already turned back to Blanche. “I will notify you the minute I relocate to Texas, Blanche. You will be my first call.”

Blanche smiled, disentangling herself from Katie, got her seated once again and then turned to Lizzie and Chad and asked, “Did y’all want another one?”

At the other end of what could loosely be called a restaurant,
Darío
watched Katie hug the bartender and wondered if perhaps he had been mistaken and she was from around here after all. Then he saw her sway as she sat back down, her friend’s hand instinctively reaching out to offer support, which was not heeded, and he realized the scene was one of a grateful drinker to an amused bartender.

He smiled. Katie Maki. Not Lipton. Maki.

So, she had either recently gotten married or divorced. Judging from the vehemence in her voice, and the bare ring finger, he guessed divorced. And the bitterness that he’d detected
also led
him to believe that perhaps the divorce had not been a friendly one.

Darío
wondered what kind of fool would let a woman who looked like that walk out of his life? Her hand at his crotch now made more sense after seeing her sway as she stood to hug the bartender. Maybe she was a drinker? Was that the cause of her divorce?

He didn’t think so. There was something almost…virgin… about her drunken movements, like it was a state she was not familiar with.

“Aaah, so that’s why you dragged me out to this blasted shack, a bird?” Binky interrupted
Darío
’s gaze and thoughts. “And the pretty bird who followed you all day, no less.” There was a teasing gist to his voice.

Darío
didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “She was not following me. She was following Chad Curtis.”

Binky smirked. “Yeah, maybe, but do you think she could tell us what approach shot Chaddy boy shot at thirteen?” He looked around the room and shuddered. “I’ve been in my fair share of dives in my time, but I can’t say I’ve been in any worse than this one here. And you made me wear my church clothes to this place?”

Darío
shrugged and ordered a beer from the man who came from the bar to their table. “I did
n’t
know what it was like.”

Binky slapped a hand down on the table. “Right. I knew you were telling tales when you said you’d been here before to Chaddy boy. This place is up my alley, all right, but not yours.”

“I didn’
t say I’d been here before. I said I had been on Tour a long time and had heard of most local establishments. All true.”

“But you’
d
never heard of this one, have ya?”

“No,”
Darío
admitted.

Binky laughed heartily. “By God, that may be as close to fibbin’ that I’ll ever see from ya, Guv. And for a bird?” He chuckled some more. “So then why not sit with them when they offered?”

Darío
shrugged. “It seemed to me that Chad and Lizzie were conducting business. I did
n’t
want to interfere.” That and Katie’s
hand at his pants had made him so flustered that he felt it better to retreat and regain his composure. Hopefully before the night was over he would get to talk with her again. Plus, he enjoyed just watching her.

Their drinks were delivered and they ordered their dinners. Something that was fried and served in a red, plastic basket. The beer tasted cool and refreshing and
Darío
momentarily regretted that he only allowed himself one beer per night during a tournament. It was another one of his strict codes.

Darío
was also in what Binky would call his church clothes, though
Darío
had not attended Mass for several weeks now. He had assumed that by the business-like demeanor Chad and the Swede’s friend had been using at the ropes after the round, that this was indeed to be a business dinner and would thus be held at a fine dining establishment. It was a good thing
Darío
didn’t normally travel with a sports coat, or he would have been even more overdressed than he was in his tailored slacks and white dress shirt.

The women must not have been expecting the Armadillo to be quite so…colorful, either. The woman introduced to
Darío
as Lizzie wore a nice blouse and slacks, looking like she’d dressed for the business occasion
Darío
had assumed this dinner was. Katie was a little more casual, but still much more elaborate than
Darío
was sure the Armadillo was used to. She wore a pale blue sundress, which highlighted her except
ional body. Form-
fitting without being obvious.
Darío
liked that. He had never been attracted to women who fla
unted themselves. And Lord knew
she had plenty to flaunt if she so chose.

Her hair was loose from the ponytail she’d worn at the course and cascaded down her back, almost to her wai
st. Poker-straight and so blond
it was nearly white. It almost seemed incandescent in the poor lighting of the Armadillo. It looked like a halo surrounding the Swede.

Katie Maki. Not Lipton. Maki.

Darío
made himself as comfortable as possible in the hard chairs and sat back to let the evening unfold.

The wait was not long. Only an hour later
,
Katie and Lizzie’s table had turned rowdy and lewd with Chad’s hometown buddies toasting their friend’s debut on the Tour.
Darío
and Binky watched as Lizzie tried to leave but Katie dragged her feet. Seeming to compromise, it looked like they decided to stay, but to move to another table. As they got up and looked around, Binky motioned for the women to join them.