by Ivy Jordan
“One down – only seventeen more to go,” he said with a laugh.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Hailey
The sun was beating down hard as the afternoon came around. It was a beautiful day for the Masters, and I felt a fluttering in my belly. I felt so nervous for Caleb. I wished that I could be right out there with him by his side.
I would love to be there to encourage him and make him feel better when he got stressed out. If I was by his side, he might be okay to get through everything; I truly believed that. He got in his own head and didn’t know how to get out of it, but I could get him to focus if I was close to him. But I also knew that Matt was there and would do all he could to keep Caleb focused on the game. Matt was good for Caleb and would take care of him if he could.
I moved along with the crowd as they went from hole to hole. I could see Caleb and every now and then, he would find me in the crowd and make eye contact with me. I always smiled and hoped it brought him good luck. We got to the twelfth hole, and I knew that was a bad one. I had heard rumors about it and was worried about Caleb – this would be a bad one for all the golfers, never mind someone who had a tendency to choke up. I knew he would be worried about the hole, and I tried to get as close to him in the crowd as I could.
Every time that I looked at him, I knew with complete certainty that I was in love with him. Head over heels in love with him, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I was to return home in a week, and it killed me to think about it. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to be with him. But there was no reason for me to believe that I could be.
I almost choked up myself when I thought about the pregnancy test that I took earlier in the day. That was why I hadn’t gone to the club with Caleb that morning. I needed to be alone; I needed to know for sure.
I’d had some suspicions for a week now, but I couldn’t believe that I was pregnant. It just couldn’t be true. I needed to know for sure. To know for myself and not have to worry about it anymore.
I was pregnant, though; the test came out positive, and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t know what to do. All I wanted was to talk to Mandy and figure out what my next step should be. I didn’t see how I could keep the baby, not in the situation I was in. I had an audition coming up, never mind the fact that Caleb and I weren’t really together, and in a week, I would be a thing of the past.
I wasn’t sure if I could even tell him. In fact, I was sure that I couldn’t. I can’t tell him, right? No, it is too messed up. I would need to deal with the situation on my own, and I knew Mandy would be able help me in any way that she could.
It sucked to be in love with a man who didn’t love me back, but it was my own fault for getting in deep with him when I had a job to do. I should have been there as an employee, instead of falling in love with my boss. Now, I was in a hell of a mess with someone who wasn’t even my boyfriend. It sickened me just thinking about it, and I had to shut my mind off and focus on the game or I would lose it. I didn’t want to think about the mess I was in anymore.
It wasn’t part of the deal with Caleb. He didn’t ask for a girl to get pregnant and fall in love with him. He had hired me to be his girlfriend, an employee, and that was it. I had to accept the fact that things were about to be over between us. I kept trying to push my heart away from the situation because I knew deep down inside that it was going to get broken badly. It was inevitable, though – my heart was going to be broken.
I could feel the tension in the air at the twelfth hole. It was time for Caleb to play, and I felt sick just watching him. The way his shoulders tensed up scared me. He paused before he took a shot and walked away from the green. Oh, shit, I thought.
He walked away and let out a big long breath. He was choking – I could see it all over his face. I waved at him when he looked over at me. There was no smile this time; he was stressing out. I motioned for him to come over to me and he walked closer, willingly. He didn’t care if people were waiting for him; he was going to do whatever he wanted. He wasn’t feeling good and knew if he took the shot now, he would probably fail.
“Hey, baby,” he said as he approached me.
“I was just thinking about how you spread my legs last night and licked me.”
His eyebrows hit the top of his head, and a smile crept over his face. “Wow, that’s nice, Hailey.”
“Just focus on that, sweetheart. Just focus on everything we did last night, and you’ll be just fine. Fuck, focus on anything but this place, and you’ll be good.”
I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. He was grinning from ear to ear now, and I was glad that I could do that for him.
“Wow, baby, I think you gave me some wood. Do you think that’s a good idea right now?” He was laughing, and I laughed along with him.
“I think it’s a great idea. You can do this. I know you can do this, babe, I know it.”
“Thanks, Hailey. I better go.”
I blew him a kiss as he walked back to the green. Some of the other players looked annoyed, but he wasn’t fazed by any of them. He couldn’t have cared less about what they thought. I wanted him to be okay, and I prayed that he would be.
He steadied himself before my eyes; he was standing on the green and holding the iron Matt had given him. He was ready to hit it, and I held my breath as he did so. He hit the ball and it shot short, but in the way he needed it to because it was 150 yards. He got a hole-in-one, and I started jumping around screaming in excitement. He had done it! He had got through the hardest hole without choking. I was so proud of him. He turned to me and blew me a kiss as I smiled proudly at him.
I continued with the crowd as they moved to the next hole. However, I had a hard time focusing because watching Caleb made me really sad. I was so proud of him, but I also knew that as proud of him as I was, he wasn’t really mine. It was heartbreaking to think about it.
I just wanted to be with him, and that was all that mattered, but it didn’t matter to him, at all. I couldn’t even imagine life without him, but that was the reality for me. I was stuck, and there was nothing that I could do about that.
I followed the crowd with a deep sadness inside of me. I didn’t know what I was going to do without him. I couldn’t imagine raising a child without Caleb or any other father figure. My parents were in Europe and weren’t coming back anytime soon. I had an audition and a big move coming up; I couldn’t deal with a child on my own. I had a lot of things to think about, and wondering what I was going to do with the pregnancy was one of them.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Caleb
Day two of the majors had arrived and I was thrilled to have survived the first. It had gone quite well, and I had Hailey to thank for it. I wasn’t sure what I would have done without her.
I’d had almost choked on the twelfth hole; I had to take a break. I knew I was going to choke and I couldn’t go through with it. Then there was Hailey standing there like an angel. She stood there like an angel and helped me get through that demon of a hole. I was so grateful for what she had done for me. She was a blessing, and I didn’t like the fact that she was going to be gone soon. It sucked more than I wanted to admit, but we had a deal, and once that was over, she would be gone, moving on to a better life, one that didn’t include me.
There I was again at breakfast that morning, already thinking about everything that could go wrong that day at the majors. I had more holes to go through, and there were more opportunities for me to choke. Once the day was over, I would either be a winner or a loser, and I couldn’t even be sure which one it would be. I had done great the day before; I had gotten further than I had the previous years, but that meant nothing. I could lose it all in a second if I let the fear in just a little bit.
I sat there at breakfast thinking about all that, and then I felt Hailey squeeze my hand under the table. I looked over at her and smiled. I was out with a few of the other players, and I had invited Hailey along to join us. She was there to put on a show, after a
ll, so I might as well have her wherever I could. Plus, we were on borrowed time, so I wanted her around me as much as possible. There was no need to leave her alone at the hotel; she could come everywhere with me.
“So, how long have you guys been dating?” Brad, one of the guys asked.
I looked at Hailey and smiled. “It’s been three months now, and the best three months of my life.” Wasn’t that the truth? “It feels like it’s been no time at all.”
The three months had flown by, and it was hard to imagine a time when she wasn’t around. She would be gone soon enough, and that was hard for me to get out of my head. What will I do when she leaves? Probably lose my mind. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Matt and I would get back out there, but it didn’t sound like as much fun as it used to be. I would get back into the groove of things, I was sure of it, and then I would be back to my own life again. So why didn’t that sound awesome to me anymore?
Hailey blushed as I leaned over and kissed her. I could have kissed her all day long if I had the time.
After breakfast, we had gone back up to the hotel room and lay in bed and cuddled together before we had to go to the tournament. I held her in my arms tightly. I kissed her shoulder over and over again while she lay still in my arms. She was so beautiful that I couldn’t help but kiss her as much I could.
“We should probably get ready to go,” she eventually whispered.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I didn’t want to let her go, but the majors would be getting under way soon, and we needed to get ready. I let her pull away and got up to get changed. I didn’t want to think about the stress of the day, but it hit me immediately as soon as I stood up and thought about getting ready.
Hailey looked amazing in a light blue dress. I loved when she wore dresses. She played the part of a pro golfer’s girlfriend quite well and always dressed appropriately. We stepped out in the hallway of the hotel and were about to get going when I stopped her and said, “I’m not sure that I’m ready for our contract to be over.”
She stopped and looked up at me. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want it to be over yet.”
“For God’s sake, Caleb, this is not the time to be worrying about things like this.”
“Hailey.”
“Hush now. You need to focus on the game, and nothing else. Get out there and win this for yourself. That’s all you have to worry about. Don’t you worry about anyone else but you when you are out there.”
I pulled her to me and kissed her long and hard. I loved kissing that girl, and when I kissed her, then it was way more about me wanting to be with her than me worrying about the contract or making people think that I was stable and secure. We parted, and she looked up at me, and I could swear that I saw love in her eyes. Is that possible? No, it is crazy.
It was the second to last hole in the game, and I stood there waiting for Matt to give me a club. He gave me a three wood for the long hole. There was a sand trap that I had to avoid, but I was feeling good so far. The day had breezed by quickly, and I had nothing to complain about.
Hailey had given me a good talking to, and when I got out there, I just kept focusing on her and nothing else. It helped me get through the tough holes. When I thought I was about to choke, I just thought about her, and everything else just went away.
I hit the ball and watched it shoot off, completely missing the sand trap. It bounced along and went into the hole as if it was meant to live there. It was the first hole-in-one that I made that day, and the crowd cheered. Hailey was out there somewhere, and I could feel her approval with every good step that I made.
I had one more hole to go, and I was already in the lead. The green jacket could be mine if I just focused. The fear was real; I could feel it threatening to choke me until I was dead. The fear followed me from hole to hole, but so far, I had kept it at bay.
I was doing the things that Dr. Brentwood told me, I was listening to all the comments Matt offered me, and I was remembering what Hailey told me. Those were the reasons why I succeeded so far, and with just one hole to go, I could let the fear kill me or I could push it aside and win this for myself.
I wanted it all for myself. I wasn’t doing this for my father, Aria, or even all my fans. I was fighting hard, and I was doing it all for myself because I deserved it.
I walked over to Matt, and we went to the last hole together.
“You can do this, man; there’s just one more to go, and you have it. There’s no more choking. You have had an amazing day.”
“Thanks for everything, Matt. You have no idea how much it means to me.”
We moved to the last hole in the majors and watched as the other players made their shot. I felt sick to my stomach suddenly, knowing this was it for me. It was now my turn, and Matt handed me an iron that was going to help me win. I refused to make eye contact with anyone. This was it, and it could all go away in a second.
I walked up to the green and stood there looking out into the fairway. Fear took over and settled in my chest. It was so strong that I felt it wrap around my heart and squeeze tightly. It would kill me if I let it. I let all the fear in just for a few seconds, feeling every inch of it as it coursed through my entire body. I let it sit there for a few seconds as it threatened to choke me.
I could have given up on it right then. I could have let it choke me and just give up, but I thought of Hailey, and suddenly, it was like a door shut on the fear. I locked it out and kept it at bay once again as I swung the club and hit the ball.
As I watched it go off into the fairway, the crowd went nuts – it was all over, and I had won. I had won the Masters. The green jacket was now mine. I turned with a grin on my face to see Matt cheering and Hailey screaming in the crowd. They had huge grins on their faces, and I reached into the air with my club excitedly.
Finally, it had finally happened for me.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Hailey
I couldn’t help but scream in excitement when I saw Caleb make his shot and win the Masters. I was jumping up and down, probably looking ridiculous, but I didn’t care. He had won, and I was insanely proud of him for doing so.
He had finally made it, and he was over the moon. He had his hand raised in the air, the club shooting for the stars; he looked so happy, and tears filled my eyes as I watched him revel in his well-deserved win. I watched as many people went up to him and congratulated him on the win. He deserved it, and I was thankful that his parents were there to see him win. His father would not be able to hound him any longer.
It was the job of the previous winner to put the green jacket on the new winner, and it wasn’t long before the festivities were under way. Perry Davenport approached Caleb and presented him with the jacket and shook his hand. Caleb was grinning from ear to ear, and I couldn’t help but smile right along with him. I made my way through the crowd and got closer to him. I didn’t want to disturb him, though.
Caleb’s parents were there suddenly surrounding him with congratulations and hugs. His father was practically glowing, and I felt happy for the whole family. I hoped that the pride his father felt would last a very long time. Caleb deserved to be there for all the hard work that he did. He had finally made it, and I was happy that he no longer had to go into the media and be laughed at. I decided to make my way over to him and congratulate him myself.
As soon as he saw me, he grinned. “Hailey!”
“Congratulations! I’m so happy for you.”
He leaned over and pulled me to him, kissing me hard on the mouth. I melted into his arms, not caring that his parents were standing beside us. We parted, and I looked over at them and almost laughed at the surprised expressions on their face.
“Hi, I’m Hailey. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hailey, it’s a pleasure. You have changed our son; he’s barely recognizable.”
I laughed while Caleb rolled his eyes. “Oh, I didn’t do anything. He was always in there somewhere.�
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“Well, it’s just wonderful having you here.”
“Thank you; you must be very proud of Caleb,” I said, looking at him and winking.
“Oh, we are,” said his father.
“Very proud,” his mother added, beaming up at her son.
Caleb turned to me and kissed me on the forehead. I loved when he did that; it made me feel cherished. “Thank you, Hailey, for all your help. Most especially for believing in me.”
I smiled. “Of course I believe in you. I always have and I always will. You’re an awesome golfer; you just needed to believe in that yourself.”
“I know. But I couldn’t have done it without your hole. I’ll always remember the twelfth hole.”
I started laughing, “Me, too, you bad boy.”
He kissed me again on the lips, and then I pulled away from him as other people started coming up and congratulating him.
I watched as he got dragged off into a crowd of people. I had never seen him happier than at that moment, and he deserved every bit of it. Tears welled up in my eyes as I knew that it was all over. It was finally over, and although I was happy for him, I was also very sad that it had to end so quickly. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my shoulder, and I looked over in surprise to find Matt there smiling.
“Hi, Matt! You scared me.”
He laughed, “Oops, sorry. Are you all caught up in the moment?”
“Yeah, what a great moment.”
“I’d say. I’m proud as hell of him. What a game he played today. I got worried a couple of times, but he pulled through every time. Fuck, he really deserves this win – it’s been a long time coming.”
