Page 65 of Wood

Todd pales a bit. “I’ll… ask him.” He scrubs a hand across his face. “God if he wants to wear makeup…”

I laugh out loud. “Let his sister take him shopping,” I advise. “And then tell him he looks pretty.”

Todd chokes on his beer. I catch Ben staring in my direction. His eyes are wide with a hint of desperation, and I push off the bar.

“I think I need to go rescue my husband,” I snicker. “See you around, Todd.”

Round two is an easy repeat of round one. Our group is quiet, marching from hole to hole without conversation. One man completely ignores Ben. The other two are scoring far behind Ben, both well over par while Ben finishes five below, again. He will start on Saturday in the top ten.

I’ve found a restaurant in Jasper advertising locally sourced meats and produce, most especially with a private room available.

Ben ushers me in with his hand on my spine. God, I love that feeling. I will never take it for granted. He smiles softly at me. A fan spots us and tries to make his way over, but I move before he can intercept us and whisk Ben into the back room and close the door in the man’s face.

“That’s gonna make the socials,” he smirks.

“#GuardDogCaddie strikes again,” I chortle.

We settle into comfortable chairs, each on a corner of the small square table. We have a window looking out over the valley, the white peaks gleaming in the evening light. The sun won’t completely set for at least another hour. This far north in August, it doesn’t get completely dark until nine-thirty. I have to be up and walk the course in seven hours, so we won’t linger, but I want him to enjoy this meal.

I don’t even bother to open the menu, letting Ben order everything for us. Charred root vegetables with whipped goat cheese, beef short ribs, cured duck breast; he orders things I have never even thought of, let alone heard of. He is in his Daddy element, ordering my dinner for me, although I won’t say that aloud. He takes care of me and I take care of him. We win.

We head to bed early so I can do the early morning pin walk. We make love slow and deep. We both sleep soundly with him curled around me.

Ben is soundly in fourth place as we finish Saturday. Todd is sitting at Nineteenth - we speculate his thoughts are more on his son than the game.

Marcus has brought a few sponsors to chat with Ben and surprisingly with me. Thus far, my cap and collars have been empty, but apparently I have fans now, too. I get some sexy new sunglasses and an excellent new rangefinder as well as patches for my cap and collars.

Ben and I are relaxing by the big fireplace in some very comfy overstuffed chairs.

“We need this at home,” I groan, wiggling in and propping my feet up.

“I’ve thought about a fire pit on the deck,” Ben replies. “Maybe in time for Fall. Leaves will be turning soon.”

“Mmm, I like it,” I sigh, letting my head fall back. We need to get to bed soon, final day of the Canadian Rockies Open is tomorrow. The morning walk on the greens awaits.

“Thought about a birthday present?” he asks.

I sip my Scotch and reply. “Maybe a PlayStation. Guys want to bring me into their Call of Duty campaign. Or an Xbox, they play Halo, too.”

“Hmmm,” he replies.

A shuffle to my side brings me sitting up straighter.

“Ben? Geoff? Are we interrupting?”

We stand and turn, a genuine smile splitting my face. Todd Harrington the Third. And the Fourth if he passed that on his super-cute son.

“Todd,” Ben says, extending a hand for a hearty shake. “And?” he says, turning to the teen, a very slender boy with a shaggy mop of dark brown hair and the longest lashes I have ever seen on a guy. Is that… eyeliner?

“TJ,” the boy says.

“Todd Junior,” Todd says proudly.

Ben holds out his hand and gets a tentative shake in return.

“Hi, I’m Geoff.” I grab the smaller hand in my big mitt and shake. “It is very excellent to meet you, TJ.”

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