Page 60 of Hard to Love

Stevie laughs and then her smile falls slowly. “The truth, Kyle? The truth is when I was a teenager, I hated him some days almost as much as I loved him. I didn’t understand why I had to miss my senior prom or why I couldn’t participate in senior ditch day. I hated him because he didn’t think any boy was good enough and therefore when the few girlfriends I had were out living it up, kissing boys and figuring their dating lives out, I thought of him as more of a tyrant than my father and coach. Maybe that’s why I went a little crazy after he died. Maybe that was my attempt to live on the wild side I never had the chance to live.” She smiles softly as tears well in her eyes. “The funny thing is, trying to do that only served to prove him right. Now I’m behind training for the Open.”

“So you are playing the Open?”

“I haven’t missed one yet.”

“You’ll get there. I’m sure of it,” Kyle says as Stevie nods shyly. “I want to thank you for sitting down with me. I know that couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“It was important for me to say my piece so that I can move forward, so thank you for letting me do that.”

“Best of luck to you.”

Then the feed switches off and Kyle moves on to his next story behind his anchor desk. I turn the TV off but stay seated where I am and wonder where the hell all of that just came from. I mean, if allowing Stevie Lancaster to sit alone for five days with her thoughts produces an earnest, believable, honest interview such as the one she just gave, then I think she needs to be left to her thoughts more often.

I don’t know how long I sit there ignoring the buzzing of my phone on the couch beside me, but when I look up, Stevie is standing in the doorway studying me.

She cocks her head to the side and is silent for a beat. “Well?”

I give a disbelieving shake of my head. “Are you okay?” It’s not what I meant to say. I meant to tell her she was brilliant and I was proud of her for everything she said, but I also know saying what she said probably took a toll on her.

She inhales a shaky breath. “I wouldn’t have said it if I weren’t.”

“And so just like that, things are crystal clear and okay?”

“To the public, yes. To me, I’m still a major work in progress, but at least I know the answers. And I know where I need to get to.”

“No more stripper poles or strip poker or trying to lose me?” I ask, a ghost of a smile on my lips as she takes a seat beside me and leans her head on my shoulder.

“Does that mean you no longer quit on me?”

“It means that you’re welcome to stay here and train for the Open.” That’s not what she asked because frankly, I don’t have an answer. I had a reason for walking away. A damn good one.

Or at least I thought so at the time.

And then I invited her to live with me for two months.

My logic isn’t exactly sane at this point.

“Thank you,” she says softly. “For coming back to get me. For letting me stay here. For telling me about your mom. Somehow, that made it easier to say what I had to say.”

“Today was all you,” I say, resting my cheek on the side of her head in a rare show of empathy. “And you did one hell of a job, Stevie. Incredible actually. I’m proud of you.”

FINN

“AND YOU WONDER WHY I brought you on board to handle her?” Carson chuckles into the phone. There is the sound of a steel drum somewhere in the background and laughter. The fucker probably has his feet up on a wicker footstool and someone serving him cocktails if my hunch is correct.

“Took you long enough to call. Let me guess, you’re in some tropical paradise where the cell service sucks and the Wi-Fi is intermittent?”

His chuckle is all I need as confirmation. “You’re a goddamn genius, son. That interview was perfection. Absolute perfection. How’d you pull that off?”

“I didn’t. She did.”

“I’m sure you did something to prompt it.”

“I’d love to take the credit.” And normally I would, but for some reason, I can’t on this one. “I didn’t do anything other than give her time to think.”

“But you got her the interview that was heard around the world.”

“She did that. She made the call and set it up without me even knowing.”