Page 97 of Anyone But Her

Shit, he's good. How did he know I was thinking that?

"I felt the same way when I was your age," he says. "I was scared to death I'd turn into my father. My dad's great—I love him—but I didn't want the life he had. When I was growing up, all he did was work. He was almost never home and the rare times he was, he was in a bad mood. I promised myself I'd never be like that."

"But your dad was running a company. Giving people jobs. Making something of himself. My dad lies, cheats, breaks the rules. Whatever it takes to make money. Then he gambles it all away."

"You're nothing like that, Luke. You'd never become like him."

"But I'm not smart. I couldn't even make it through a year of college. I barely made it through high school. If I don't make it in golf I'll be back working at the shipyard, just like my old man."

"There are other jobs you could do. You don't have to go back there."

It's true but I feel like it's my only option. It's what I have the most experience doing outside of golf and it pays better than most other jobs I could get without an education.

"Give it some thought," Garret says. "You don't have to decide right now, but you do need to decide soon. You can't keep waiting."

"Yeah, I know."

"You have what it takes. I know you think you don't but you do. You've already proved that to everyone else. Now you just need to prove it to yourself and the only way to do that is to challenge yourself. Stop being afraid. Stop making excuses and just do it. Do it and don't look back."

"I'll think about it."

He walks away and I go to the locker room to change.

As I'm closing my locker to leave, a guy walks up to me.

"Are you Luke?" he asks.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Someone told me to give this to you." He hands me a small cardboard box then walks off.

I open the box. Inside is a yellow golf ball. I pick it up and see a smiley face drawn on it. I smile, knowing exactly who gave this to me.

There's a note inside and I take it out and read it.

It's time, Luke. It's time to live your dream. Albert may be gone but I'm still here and I'll support you every step of the way. Albert believed in you and so do I. So does Cal and my dad and mom and so many other people. You're not alone in this, Luke. We'll all be there for you. And if it doesn't work out? I heard they may be starting a pro tour for miniature golf. I'm actually considering that myself.

I laugh. She's always making me laugh. I love her sense of humor.

The note continues. Seriously, though, it doesn't matter how it turns out. What matters is that you went for it. So stop waiting. Live your dream.

I get out my phone and text her, Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. And how much YOU mean to me.

She texts right back. Does that mean you'll do it?

I wait to reply. I want to say yes but something keeps holding me back. I think it's what Garret said. It's the fear. The fear of ending up where I started. By not going pro, I'm avoiding the possibility of failure, the type of failure that would result in my worst nightmare, which is becoming my father.

But putting off my dream is just making it farther away, making it more impossible to achieve. It's now or never. Maybe today's win was a sign telling me to take that next step.

I let out a long breath and text Taylor back, Yes.

My phone rings. It's Taylor.

"Hey."

"Oh my God, you're really doing this? You're going pro?"

"I'm doing it. Well, not like next week, but soon."

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