Page 30 of Putting Out
“Look you little weasel…”
“Is there a problem?” Luke appeared at Reilly’s shoulder.
“No problem. Stanley was just saying how much he enjoyed Little Creek and how he was in no hurry to leave.”
“Excellent,” Luke beamed. “Have you been to the movies yet? It’s a great little theater and the popcorn is the best in the county.”
Stanley frowned accepting his welcome was up.
“Any day. That’s all I ask. For the sake of my and a lot of other guys’ careers.”
He turned and trotted back across the street.
“What was that all about?”
“He wants me to make a decision. He’s missing the Pro-Am at Pebble Beach.”
Luke nodded. “Stadler and Rye are playing. It’s a story.”
“So I heard.”
“No one is rushing you.”
“They are,” she said, pointing to the group Stanley had joined up with, no doubt conveying the bad news she wasn’t ready to tell anyone anything yet.
“They don’t count.”
“Damn straight.”
“But…” Luke let the word dangle.
“But what?”
“I think prolonging it is making this harder for you. You’ve got to rip off the Band-Aid. You need to make a decision and stick with it and let what happens, happen.”
“Now you’re rushing me,” she accused him.
“Not rushing, nudging.”
“Feels like rushing.” Reilly knew it because the skin around her body seemed to grow tighter, making it harder to move or breathe.
“I need to leave Wednesday,” he announced. “Let me guess. The Pro-Am?”
“I’m doing the coverage for CBS.”
“Of course you are.”
A dull disappointment settled in her gut that was hard to digest. She’d missed him. She hadn’t realized it until they were seated around Grams’s table eating dinner together like old times. Now he was going back to work and back to his mystery woman and she was going to be left to decide things on her own.
She crushed the whining voice in her head. This wasn’t the end of the world. This was a golf match and while the decision was a big deal, it was a big deal she could handle on her own. With no guidance and no pressure from anyone.
“All right. Let’s rip the Band-Aid off. Hey, Stanley!”
Reilly jogged across the street where the group of reporters waited for her, several of them reaching for their recorders.
“Tell me something, Reilly. Anything,” Stanley urged.
“Give me tonight. Let me do one last roll around with it in my head. I’ll have a statement for you first thing tomorrow morning.”
“You’re a peach.”
“And you’re a dick for nagging me. If it turns out I regret anything, I’m coming after you.”
Reilly made her way back to Luke. Kenny and Erica were already standing outside the ice- cream place. Kenny was pulling Erica inside while she tried to dig in her heels. There was no point. Kenny would win. Erica was stubborn but nobody knew better than her brother how to get women to do what he wanted.
“It will be better this way,” Luke assured her. “It’s time for the next step.”
Reilly nodded and let him lead her to ice cream. The next step. Why did she have a feeling that it was going to be off a very high cliff?
