Page 68 of Pros Don't

I clear my throat because I need to keep my thoughts from diving into desiring Holland. “I’m Holland’s golf coach.”

“I know that. Do you intend to pursue something more with him?”

“I—“ I cut myself off.

Two weeks ago, I would have been able to easily say,no way. But now? Now, I’m not so sure.

“I don’t know,” I admit out loud.

She harrumphs. We sit in silence for a minute, and then she sighs. “I’m going to tell you this because I know Holland cares for you.”

I cut a look in her direction. “How do you know that?”

She waves me off, like it’s obvious, and I bite the inside of my cheek in frustration, but then I check myself. When I stop to think about it, I can see the way Holland has been caring for me since this whole thing started.

“I also know that that boy is loyal, and when he gets attached, he getsreallyattached,“ she goes on. “I don’t want to see you trifling with him. I see how he looks at you.”

“Are you sure the windshield wasn’t distorting your vision?” I ask and then immediately dip my chin, chastened, when she glowers at me.

“I also watched you and him near the rose bushes the other day. I saw the way he was looking at you there.” She arches her brows. “Longingly. That’s what I saw. He’s got feelings for you, and I don’t want to see him hurt, so I’m asking you. No”—she sits up straighter—“I’mtellingyou not to mess with that man’s heart. He deserves someone who will return his loyalty.”

I stare straight ahead, and I feel Candace’s gaze on my cheek. My parents didn’t raise me to be disrespectful, so I drag my gaze over to meet hers.

“You’re a good friend to him.”

I surprise her with this comment. She sucks in a short breath. “I wouldn’t call us friends, but we’ve been through a lot together. I’ve known him for a long time.”

“How so?” I ask quietly.

She presses her lips together and shakes her head. “That’s not my story to tell. Ask Holland about me sometime. He’ll tell you if he wants to.”

She pushes herself off the bench and stands still for a moment, like she’s getting her bearings. Then she turns to me. “Don’t be reckless with him. He likes people to see him a certain way, but underneath is a tender heart that I don’t want anyone to trample on.”

I open my mouth to defend myself, but she’s already walking away.

“Good luck at the Grand Masters,” she calls over her shoulder. “I’ll be watching.”

A layer of goosebumps pops up along my flesh. Candace doesn’t look back at me again. I track her until she disappears into her house, and then I close my eyes. I don’t know how it’s possible, but I’m more wound up now than I was when I stepped out the front door. I play back everything Candace said, and I’m most struck by her final words. Holland shows people what he wants them to see, but underneath he’s got a tender heart.

I don’t want to believe that. It was easier to keep things separate—professional apart from personal—when I considered him a cocky, self-centered jerk.

But now?

Now I think I know better.

When you know better, you do better.

When you know better, things change. I need to figure out what I want that to look like for me…and for my relationship with Holland.

24

Choke Job

Holland - Sunday, at the Grand Masters

Istride up the fairway of the seventeenth hole, my mind completely occupied by what I know about the distance to the pin from where my tee shot landed.

“Got about 180 yards to the water hazard. 200 yards to the green. 245 to the hole,” Steve echoes my thoughts. We’re a well-oiled machine.

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