“Awesome. Just plan to be at my house around five. Does that sound good?”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”
We said our goodbyes and I put away my phone. After another hour of searching and waiting, I decided to head home.Work still needed to be done, and I hoped it would distract me from things. Sadly, I didn’t think it would. I was getting desperate to find Margaret and I had no clue how to find her.
23
JAKE
If there was ever a day I needed to clear my head, it was today. I dreaded the thought of tonight of Lydia going to the Mistletoe Mania Festival with Max. I stayed up all night wondering what I should’ve done differently. It all came back to the same thing - I should have spoken up sooner. The blame was solely on me.
I walked into the clubhouse and behind the counter was one of my old high school buddies, Ryan Phillips. His family owned the Blue Ridge Country Club. If it weren’t for him being a good friend, I doubt I could’ve afforded to play golf as much as I did as a kid. My family had no money to pay the country club fees. Guess you could say his parents helped fund my golf career. I owed them a lot.
“Well, if it isn’t the infamous Jake Reynolds!” Ryan shouted.
Luckily, we were the only ones in the clubhouse, besides a woman so short I could only see the red visor on top of her dark brown hair.
Ryan hurried over and held out his hand. “It’s so good to see you, man. You in town for the holidays?”
Ryan looked the same as he did in high school, only his blond hair was a little thinner. His father went bald at a young ageso all our friends used to give him hell because of it, saying he would follow suit.
“I’m in town for good,” I replied, shaking his hand. “Just bought a house.”
He let my hand go and patted my shoulder. “Congrats, brother. Does that mean you’ll be gracing us with your presence every so often?”
I laughed. “It does. I’m looking forward to playing the mountain course. It’s been a long time.”
Ryan snorted. “That it has. It’ll be good to have you back. We’ll have to get all the guys from high school together.”
“I’d like that.”
He waved for me to follow him to the desk. “Your tee time is next, after those two gentlemen out there,” he said, pointing out the window. “And you know the drill, just pick which cart you want when you get outside. The keys will be in them.”
I pulled out my wallet and held out my credit card. Ryan shook his head and smiled. “Your money’s no good here.”
“Please,” I said, setting it on the counter before him. “I need to pay my dues. Without you and your family, I wouldn’t be as good a player as I am.”
Ryan chuckled. “Oh, yes, you would. You have a talent for playing golf, Jake. That’s all you.”
He tried to hand me my card back and I pushed it away. “If you don’t let me pay, I won’t come back. I don’t deserve to get anything free.”
“I’ll take his free spot,” a lady called out. I looked over to see the woman in the red visor coming our way, dressed in a red sweater and black pants. She walked up to the counter and smiled at Ryan. “I’m just kidding, young man. I want to pay for my tee time.”
She looked to be in her late fifties with curly brown hair and an angelic face. Her presence reminded me of my grandmotherwhen she was alive; I felt at ease around her for some reason. She had a small red fanny pack around her waist and reached in to pull out her money.
“You know what,” I said, holding a hand out to stop her. “I’d like to pay for it. Is there someone else joining you?”
There was a sadness to her smile. “Not today. I’m playing solo.”
I turned to Ryan. “Charge hers to my card.”
He did as I said and gave me my card back. “Mrs. Grant, your tee time is right after Jake’s,” Ryan told her.
The lady patted my arm. “Thank you, sweetheart. That was very kind of you.”
“No problem.” I glanced down at her sweater, which had a sprig of mistletoe wrapped in a silvery glitter ribbon. It looked exactly like the mistletoe Lydia had started wearing.
“I know someone who wears mistletoe just like that,” I stated, nodding at hers.
