“We felt bad about keeping it a secret,” Antonio says, allowing his hand to drop to my mother’s shoulder.
“It’s okay. A lot of couples have things they need to work out in private before they feel comfortable telling anyone else.” I look up at Mindy and tighten my hold around her waist. “Sometimes that takes a while if one of them is particularly grouchy and stubborn.”
“He’s talking about himself,” she fake-whispers to the other couple, and they laugh.
“I appreciate you being cool about this,” Antonio says. “I know I’m not nearly good enough for Ophelia but?—”
“Would you stop saying that?” she complains, leaning fully into his side now. It’s a foreign sight to me, seeing my mother cuddle with a man, but it’s somehow refreshing. She’s been alone for so long, supporting and loving her family through thick and thin. It’s about damn time she found happiness for herself.
“She’s right, Antonio,” I chide. “You’re the most loyal and protective person I know, and I can’t think of another man I would feel safer with around my mother.”
His lips press together, and I can read the emotion in his eyes. “Thank you for saying that, Remi. It means a lot.”
“Plus,” I add, “it’s pretty cool that my mom is dating Batman.”
“I know that was a total shock to you, but you handled it well,” Mindy muses as we walk down the hallway hand in hand.
“I was a bit stunned to see him in Mom’s room, but somehow everything clicked, and it seemed to make perfect sense.”
“They are really freaking cute together.”
We enter the elevator, and I press my keycard against the scanner.
“I’m glad we went down there to talk to her. It seemed to help that I told her in person about Nicolette, once we finally got around to that.”
“Agreed. She’s so excited about getting a new grandbaby.”
The cart rises, and I shift my gaze from the numbers above the door to Mindy’s profile. “Do you want kids one day?”
She looks up at me in surprise, and her lips curl into a soft smile. “I really do. How about you?”
“I want ten,” I state matter-of-factly.
Mindy barks out a laugh. “Then you better find yourself another woman, Remington Haywood Hale.”
I bend to kiss her plush mouth. “Never. How about two?”
“Mmm, that’s doable.”
When the door opens, I scoop her up and carry her down the hallway toward our suite. “Speaking of doable…”
“Nice win today, Hale,” Tom, one of the pro golfers, says, coming up to me the next evening at the cocktail party at the luxurious country club.
We shake hands. “Thanks. I had a good team.”
He turns to Auburn beside me, and they shake as well. “I heard your plane got delayed. Tough luck.”
“It turned out fine. I’m not sure I could have played much better than Mindy did the past two days.”
“I can’t believe she’s Juan Espinoza’s daughter,” Tom says, shaking his head in amazement. “I used to watch him when I was an amateur. He was my favorite player. It’s a shame what happened to him.”
I stiffen a little. The media had gotten wind of Mindy’s relation to Juan and tossed questions at her about it in a post-match interview with our team on the eighteenth green. She handled it well, answeringthe questions about her childhood and his career while easily skirting around the questions about his downfall with a polite but stern, “I’d rather not discuss that. Next.”
“It was.” I answer Tom shortly, hoping he’s not trying to dig for information because I’ve always thought he was a good guy.
He stares down into his drink for a long second before lifting his gaze with a wry smile. “I understand the pressure he was under. I was headed down the same path early in my career. As the money and fame started rolling in, my drinking got out of control.” He tilts his glass. “I don’t drink anything stronger than soda now, thanks to a stint in rehab.”
“I didn’t know,” Auburn says. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
