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Again, Hugh was too engrossed in the article to pay his friends much attention. Finally, his head snapped up. “According to this, her and a few other female golfers challenged the top male golfers to a tournament. It sounds as though it started as a bit of a joke on social media, but the men accepted and the media got wind of it. They set up this friendly tournament with a selection of the world’s best ranked players. Male and female. That’s when Allie got Porsche to give her a car. There was a lot of media around it.”
“I think I remember that,” Damian said. “It rings a vague bell.”
“It was also the tournament when she injured her shoulder.” Hugh swore quietly. “No wonder she was so upset. She wasn’t just at the height of her career, she was about to be crowned the world’s best golfer. Unofficially, at least.”
“Yeah. That would be gutting,” Leo said.
“And now she might be able to play again,” Hugh murmured to himself, then caught his friend’s quizzical looks. “The other night we were messing around at the driving range. I didn’t realise what a big deal it was for her to be able to make a shot without pain.”
“That’s cool,” Leo said. “It would be great if you were dating a sports star. Way better if she were a footballer or an athlete competing in the Olympics, but a golfer would be all right. Not quite so much fun to watch golf though, is it? Don’t the tournaments go on for days?”
“I don’t know,” Hugh said quietly. He shifted his pint on the beer mat. “You won’t believe what else she said to me … She reckons I have a whole bunch of issues because of my mum.”
“How do you mean?” Damian asked.
“Stuff like how I like things neat and tidy, and how I get my hair cut so frequently … she thinks it’s because my mum was so strict and controlling.”
Panic flashed in Leo’s eyes and he looked quickly to Damian.
“You’ve never thought that yourself?” Damian said bluntly.
“No.” Hugh’s eyes darted wildly between his friends. “You thought that too?”
“Yeah,” Damian said. “It was pretty obvious.”
“You could have told me.” Hugh picked up his beer, then set it down again.
“You tend to growl at us if we mention your mum,” Leo said with a nervous twitch of his lips.
“What difference does it make anyway?” Damian asked. “It’s not like they’re terrible character flaws or anything.”
“No, but …” He wasn’t sure what difference it made, except that things felt a little clearer now. “I might stop getting my hair cut so often.” And maybe he could be a little messier in some areas of his life and not be so highly strung.
He was guessing that was his mum’s influence too.
CHAPTER 45
After dropping Emmy at her friend’s house on Saturday afternoon, Hugh went back home and made himself a sandwich. He ate it at the kitchen table while trying to resist the urge to get his phone out.
At this point he must have read almost all there was to read about Alegra Harris on the internet, but he couldn’t seem to resist putting her name in the search bar once again. He reread several articles then forced himself to stop as the feeling of unease intensified in his stomach.
He reminded himself that she’d told him she was a professional golfer. What did it matter that she’d neglected to mention she was a minor celebrity?
The restaurant at the golf club was unusually busy when he arrived later that evening. Parking himself at the bar, he glanced around, deciding that the increase in trade was likely a result of people’s curiosity about the situation with Kevin.
“Hey!” Allie said, smiling as she wandered over to him. With a hand on his shoulder she lowered her voice. “I’ve spent half the evening fielding questions about Kevin.”
“I thought that might be the case. I guess it’s true what they say about no publicity being bad publicity.”
“I’m not sure about that, but a little bit of a scandal certainly hasn’t done us any harm so far.” She smiled at the group at the nearest table. “I need to get their bill,” she said to Hugh. “Things should quieten down shortly.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “Go do your thing.”
For the next half hour, he watched her in her new role – confidently dealing with both customers and staff as though it was second nature. But then it was, he supposed. This was the environment she’d grown up in, and she’d been managing a golf club in Surrey for years. This was both her comfort zone and the place where she thrived. It was eye-opening to see.
“Being manager suits you,” he told her when they were down to only a few guests left in the restaurant and Allie came to sit beside him.
“Thanks. I forgot how much I enjoy it. There’s an adrenaline buzz to being the person in charge.” She tilted her head. “For a while, when I was just waitressing here, I thought how nice it would be to do that all the time and not have to deal with all the stress of running the place, but maybe it was just a pleasant break.”
