“Hey,” a man said, and Harrison turned his head. “Dude…are you onthisflight?” he asked, pointing to the gate.
“Ah…”
“Wow! Check this out, Greg,” he said, bumping the shoulder of the man next to him, who was talking to one of two women behind them. Both men wore golf shirts. “Harrison Neely!”
The man named Greg jerked around, a grin forming on his face. “No way! Are you on our flight? That’s fantastic! Hey, can we get a picture?”
“Ah…sure.” Harrison generally didn’t mind when this sort of thing happened; he’d talked to hundreds of fans through the years. But he minded it today—he wasn’t in the right headspace. Nevertheless, he leaned in and smiled. One of the women took some shots.
When they were done, Harrison was turning back around, but the man said, “Hey, I’d love to talk golf with you.”
“Where’s your family?” the other man asked. “Are we standing in their way?”
“No, you’re fine,” Harrison said. Still, the man looked around, reminding Harrison of how lonely and alone he was. He didn’t like the feeling. He didn’t like it at all. He thought of Amy and her family. How the love between them all was obvious.
“Are you flying solo, man?” Greg asked. “Listen, you want to hang out with us in Scotland? We’re spending a couple of days in Edinburgh before we head to the clinic. What are your plans?”
“Who is this?” one of the women asked, pushing in between the two men.
“Honey, this is Harrison Neely. He’s a pro golfer and he’s doing the clinic.”
“Wonderful!” she said. “I guess your family is spending Christmas in Scotland, too? Our kids are grown, but my daughter and her family are flying over tomorrow to join us.”
Harrison thought of the way Amy’s sons had looked at her—as if she was the moon and they were the satellites. How her parents finally seemed to understand they had ruined her two-week retreat and were upset, because they loved her.
The lady was waiting for him to respond, but he was fixated on these two men and their wives, and thinking Edinburgh really wasn’t that big, and how much he didn’t want to spend Christmas with them talking golf. He wanted to be someplace warm and surrounded by love andhappiness. He wanted to be with people who mattered to him. He wanted to be home for Christmas, but he had no home.
“We’re staying at the…where are we staying?” she asked.
“The Caledonian,” the man said.
The same place Harrison had booked.
It was then and there that Harrison decided it was time to quit feeling sorry for himself. Maybe it was time to create a whole new reality for himself, one that didn’t include a lifeless condo in Miami and parents who were never home and fans who made him feel bad about how alone he was.
“Actually,” he said, and he couldn’t believe he was about to say this, “I’ve had a change of plans.” His luggage would be a problem, and his clubs were probably loaded, but he could get Clay to pick them up at the airport. Oh, Clay would be furious.But Harrison would assure him he would show up. Just not today.
He took a step back from the foursome. They were looking at him with confusion, like they thought it was a joke. “I’ll see you at the clinic.” He turned around and started walking. He dug his phone out of his pocket. Clay would kill him, but he really needed his manager to come through, because his best cleats were in his checked baggage.
“Hey! I thought you’d be in the air by now,” Clay said cheerfully when the call went through.
“Yeah, about that. I can’t make it today.”
“W-what?” Clay sputtered. “What the hell, Harrison? I’ve booked you into a clinic—”
“I know, and I’ll be there.”
“It’s in four days!”
“I’ll be there, Clay. But I’ve had a family emergency.”
“A family emergency! You don’t evenhavea family, dude!”
Harrison might have laughed if he hadn’t been so determined.“Ironically, that’s the emergency. Look, I’ll be in touch. I’ll need you to grab my clubs and luggage from the airport—”
“Don’t do this, Harrison,” Clay warned.
“I’ll see you soon. Just not today.” He hung up before Clay could berate him.
