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Winter was the one who needed time. I needed her to know I had good intentions behind what I was doing and I wasn’t going to be pushing her away again.
Nico brought one of his friends that he played hockey with along with him today. Weston Cole. I was only familiar with who he was from hearing about him or seeing different hockey highlights on TV. I had never met him in person before, so I wasn’t too sure about him, but Nico had insisted he was cool and we would get along.
Nico was obviously lying to himself. He knew I didn’t really get along with anyone.
“You’re here early,” Nico said as they both walked over to me. They were both wearing khaki golf shorts. Nico had a black polo shirt on and Wes was wearing a white one. “This is Wes. Wes, this is Kai.”
“Nice to meet you, man,” he said as he held his hand out for me to shake. I fought the urge to flare my nostrils and instead shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you too.” I spoke the words with a pleasant tone, although I wasn’t sure I really meant them. I didn’t need any more people in my life. I wasn’t in the market for new friends, but this was Nico’s friend. And I supposed that was part of being a good friend. I would never tell him he couldn’t bring someone along unless I absolutely loathed them.
Nico excused himself as he went to pay their fees and grab a cart. Wes tucked his hands into his front pockets as he stared at me for a moment. “It’s a beautiful day today,” he said as he tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. “Have you been golfing a lot lately? Nico mentioned you were taking a break from your tour.”
I lifted my gaze to his and narrowed my eyes in warning. He couldn’t see it past my sunglasses and he was too busy looking up at the bright white clouds in the sky above us instead. “I haven’t been out as much as I should be.”
Wes looked back at me and shifted his head to the side. “Hey,” he shrugged, “sometimes we need time off to find our passion for it again.”
His words struck a chord of curiosity inside of me. I wasn’t usually one to add to a conversation unless it was needed, but I felt compelled to ask him. “Are you speaking from experience?”
Wes nodded. “I had a bit of a dry spell while I was in college. I was still adjusting to the competitiveness of it and I really got in my head about it.” He stopped for a second and adjusted his hat on his head. “I ended up taking a little bit of time off to work on my shot and figure out why the hell I even wanted to play hockey anymore.”
“Did it work?”
His lips parted as he smiled and nodded. “It did.”
“Hmm.”
Nico whipped the golf cart out of the spot it was in and stopped in front of us for a moment. “This is interesting. It’s not often you see Kai actually engaging in conversations.”
I glared at him and Wes laughed. “Leave him alone, bro,” he said as he hopped onto the golf cart with Nico. “We’ll meet you at the first tee.”
I nodded and the two of them drove over to Nico’s car so they could grab their bags and other things for our round. Turning my attention back to my bag, I finished what I was doing and drove my own golf cart over to the first tee to wait for them. The sun was hot already, even though it was still early in the morning. The Florida summers were brutal, but after traveling like I did, I welcomed the familiarity of the suffocating air.
Nico and Wes weren’t far behind me and they grabbed their drivers and tees before walking over to where I was standing. We each took our turn and made it through the first few holes before Nico decided it was time to start interrogating me.
“So, did you get Winter’s number so you could stop showing up at the library like her own personal stalker?”
I cut my eyes to him as I took a sip of my Gatorade and set it back down. “Yes. I went to the library to see her and she gave it to me then.”
“No shit,” he said with a smile and a look of surprise. “When did you do that? Have you seen her since?”
I nodded. “I went that day after we were done golfing. We had dinner last night.”
Wes looked between me and Nico with curiosity. “Who’s Winter?”
“The love of Kai’s life that he’s trying to get back,” Nico explained to Wes before turning his attention back to me. “How did last night go?”
“It went well,” I told him with a shrug. It wasn’t entirely a lie. There was a bit of a rocky start and I did walk away from her when she wanted me to come inside with her. Other than that, I wasn’t lying. “We just went and had dinner and then I dropped her back off at her place.”
Nico widened his eyes. “You didn’t even go inside?”
“No,” I muttered as I raised an eyebrow. “Some of us are able to exercise self-control.”
“I mean, I’m just saying I’m a little surprised,” he admitted with a smirk playing on his lips. “With the history the two of you have, I thought for sure you wouldn’t leave her for the night.”
“We did things a little backward,” I explained and instantly regretted it when I saw the curious look on his face and Wes’s. Wes didn’t even fully know what we were talking about but he was invested.
I was the last one who needed to shoot and I did it quickly, watching my ball land on the green. Nico wasn’t going to let that comment go, but I could avoid him and buy myself approximately sixty seconds before he would be fishing for an answer.
