Worth the Drive (15 page)

An hour later, after many tears, another drink for Alison and the largest pizza the Commodore made, Lizzie started making plans. Lizzie always made plans.

“Let’s see. I can get a number for
Darío
from Chad. That’s probably the easiest way to get it. Unless he gave you his number?” Lizzie said to Katie.

Katie shook her head. “No, he didn’t give me a number. I didn’t give him one either. Why would I want
Darío
’s number?”

“To call him and tell him, of course. Unless you’re planning on telling him in person? That’s probably the better way to go. Let’s see, the Tour’s in Memphis this week, I think. No, wait, maybe it’s South Carolina –“

Katie interrupted her. “But, I’m not going to tell
Darío
.”

That brought complete silence to the table. Both Alison and Lizzie stared at her.

“There’s no need to tell him. I’m having the child. Obviously. And I’m raising it alone. There’s no reason why he ever needs to know. It would just complicate everything. For him and
me.”

“Well, duh. Having a baby tends to complicates things, Kat,” Alison said.

Lizzie was beside herself. “You have to tell him. He’s the father. He has a right to know.”

Katie patted her hand. “Lizzie,
Darío
doesn’t want this baby. If he wanted kids he’d be married by now. It would just force him to take responsibility for something when there’s no need.”

“You can’t possibly know if he wants children or not. That’s not for you to decide. You have to tell him, Katie.” Lizzie was almost in tears now and she took her hand out from under Katie’s, clutching it to her waist. “I’m sorry. I know I’m emotional right now. But, my God, Kat, you have to see that he has a right to know he’s fathering a child.”

Katie looked at Alison, “What do you think?”

Alison took a deep breath. “I’m with Lizzie.” At Katie’s look of disbelief, Alison continued. “But not for the same reasons. Although she has a valid point, I’m not as much into father’s rights as Lizzie.
I’ve seen too many dead-beat dads and how that messes a kid up.
But Kat, these things always have a way of coming around to bite you in the ass. I’m afraid that’s what would happen in this case.”

“What do you mean?” Katie asked.

“It’s like on soap operas, nothing ever stays a secret. Obviously, you’re going to start showing, people will ask who the father is. Either you come up with some lie – which you know is bound to blow up at some point – or you tell the truth. Now, if you tell the truth, it will get back to
Darío
somehow, someday. Stuff like that always does.”

“Come on. I live in
little podunk
Hancock, Michigan. He lives in Spain and is traveling all over Europe and the States most of the time. How would he ever find that out?”

“Six degrees of separation. It ain’t just a fun game to play in the car. It is a small world, after all.” Alison sat back in the booth, took a long drag from her straw, and saw Katie’s look of disbelief. “Off the top of my head? Petey’s always golfing in those Pro-Am thingies isn’t he, Lizard? And you know what kind of mouth Petey has on him. He mentions to someone from the Tour that a good friend of his back in his hometown is having
Darío
’s baby and it’s all over.”

Katie stewed about that, then disregarded the scenario as implausible. Alison pushed her point. “I don’t know how he’d find out, but come on, you’ve watched enough television and read enough romance novels to know
they always find out
!”

“So I’ll have to lie. I’ll say I went to a sperm bank,” Katie said.

“Oh please. You’re the worst liar of the three of us, and I suck at it,” Lizzie said.

“She’s right, Kat, you stink at lying. The first time your mother puts the third degree to you…I hate to think about how quick
ly
you’ll crack.”

The three were silent. Lizzie took the last piece of pizza while murmuring something about the injustice of finally getting to her goal weight after three years of dieting to then get pregnant.

Katie hoped she’d start showing early. She’d waited so long to get pregnant, that she wanted to enjoy every minute of it. She was glad she’d found out about it so early into the pregnancy. She’d be able to cherish every change in her body, every nuance.

“Katie, why don’t you want
Darío
to know? What is your worst ‘what if?’ about telling him?” Lizzie asked, throwing down her napkin like a white flag of surrender as she finished her pizza.

Katie wasn’t sure how to answer. Wasn’t sure what the answer was. “I don’t know. Nothing in particular. He just seems like a pretty decent guy, and I don’t want to dump something on him
that he doesn’t want. That, and I have no intention of sharing this child with anyone.” She placed her hand protectively on her stomach.

“You don’t
share
a child with its father. The child shares its mother and its father.”

Both Katie and Alison gave Lizzie puzzled looks. “What kind of bullshit touchy-feely crap is that?” said Alison.

Lizzie chuckled. “I don’t know. And I’m certainly not the best one to be talking about this.” She smoothed her t-shirt over her tummy. “Or maybe I’m exactly the right person.” She paused, her hand starting a rhythmic circling on her belly
.
“You have to tell him, Katie,” she softly said.

Katie looked at Lizzie’s belly, burgeoning with life, then her own, which would soon be as large. She sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping in defeat. “Yeah, I know. I have to tell him.”

The Memphis sun was even hotter than the Texas one had been. Sultry. That’s the word Katie used to describe the Memphis heat. Warm, sticky, wet. Sultry. Not a word often used when describing the weather in the Copper Country.

She put on a heavy dose of sunscreen and pulled on her hat, feeling a small sense of deja vu as she walked to the first tee area. The internet had said
Darío
’s tee time was 1:40 and she hadn’t wanted to get to the course much before then. She’d flown in early this morning, rented a car, found a vacancy at a Motel Six by the airport and left her things there, getting to the course right when
Darío
was teeing off.

She hung back, not wanting him to see her too soon. She wanted to watch his round, but she didn’t want to speak to him until he was done. Actually, she didn’t want to speak to him at all. No, that wasn’t true. She did want to speak to
Darío
, to see him again. O
n some level she even wanted to sleep with him again. She just didn’t want to speak with him about the baby.

But, that’s why she’d come.

Back in the hotel, sat a pile of papers that a lawyer Lizzie had rec
ommended had drawn
up for Katie. Lizzie’s husband,
Finn
, had used the same lawyer years ago to have Stevie and Annie’s mother give up all rights to the
ir
kids.

Katie had the lawyer draft a similar set for her. In them,
Darío
would give up all claim to the baby and Katie would give up all financial claim on
Darío
as father of the child. If she could just get
Darío
’s signature on those papers and
then get out of Memphis, she’d never have to see
Darío
Luna
again.

The thought did not necessarily make her happy. She liked
Darío
. Very much. Had enjoyed the time she’d spent with him. Would love to spend more time with him. But she couldn’t. Not with her baby’s future at stake. She couldn’t afford to become too attached to
Darío
.
He would undoubtedly be thrilled to see the back of her, wouldn’t be able to sign those papers fast enough when he learned he was about to be the fa
ther of a child with a woman he
barely knew. One who’d told him there was no chance of pregnancy.

That’s what bothered Katie the most. The possibility that
Darío
might
think she hadn’t been honest with him. That she had somehow tricked him into having unprotected sex. She supposed women did it all the time to professional athletes and celebrities.

That’s why she’d made sure the legal documents were airtight. There was no way
Darío
could think she was after his money or his famous name – she was signing away all rights to it. Forever.

The crowd was much thicker than it had been in Texas. It was an afternoon tee time, so more people were on the course for one thing. For another,
Darío
had been playing well since
Texas. People knew he was a player on a roll, and they wanted to watch him.

By the fourth hole, she was sure she’d been made. She hadn’t made eye contact or anything, and she thought she’d blended in well with the crowd. It was just a feeling that she was being watched. When she’d turn to
Darío
, though, he was always concentrating over a shot, or talking yardage with Binky.

By the fifth hole, Binky strolled up to the ropes where Katie had buried herself behind a crowd of people and said, “Hello, luv.” When Katie didn’t answer, and ducked her head further down, he said a bit louder, “Hello Katie Maki-not Lipton-Maki.” Katie burst into laughter, causing her to get a stern look from the volunteer along the green even though none of the players had even
reached
the green yet.

“Come closer, luv,
Darío
asked me to give you something,” Binky said.

Katie made her way through the people. So,
Darío
had seen her. What did he want Binky to give her? Money? No. His hotel key? She couldn’t think of anything else it could possibly be.
What else would he even have on him out here on the course?

She got up to the ropes while Binky dug into the pocket of the apron he was required to wear. She held her hand out and he passed the key on to her while squeezing her hand. “It’s good to see you, luv, you’re our good luck charm, you know. We’ve been playing right well since Texas, but he’s playing in that same zone today with you in the crowd.”

She gave him a smile, still not opening her hand to look at the key. “It’s good to see you too, Binky,” she said. With a wolfish grin, he turned and made his way over to the green, where
Darío
and the two other players were marking their balls, reading their lines.

Binky turned a head over his shoulder. “
Darío
said to make sure you use that,” he said, nodding to her still closed fist.

Katie turned her palm over and uncurled her fingers. She saw several people next to her in the crowd crane their necks to see what had made a caddie come over and talk to someone in the gallery. Katie could only imagine their shock when they saw a hotel room key and she tried to pull her fist into her stomach, slowly unwrapping her fingers so only she would see the key.

But it wasn’t a key. Or one of those key card things.

Lying on Katie’s palm was a tube of
c
herry Chapstick.

Another drive right down the middle. Yes, he definitely played better when Katie was in the gallery.
Darío
had picked her out right away, though it was obvious she was trying to blend in with the crowd.
Darío
realized that he’d been watching every gallery since Texas. Waiting for her to turn up.

Hoping she would turn up.

She was wearing khaki shorts and a sleeveless blouse that was already damp down her back from the sweltering heat. Her skin had more color than in Texas and
Darío
figured the sun had eventually found its way to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

He remembered the night they met, in the Armadillo, creating the state of Michigan with their two hands. Then he thought about the other things their hands had done to each other. He stumbled as he walked down the fairway. Binky chuckled, knowing what was wreaking havoc on
Darío
’s mind.

Why had she come here, to Memphis? Perhaps
she was accompanying her friend on another business trip
? Could he dare hope that she’d come alone? To see him? He’d been playing some of the best golf of his career
in the last two months. He’d come
at the game with a re
newed
vigor, his drive returned
. The drive that had made him succeed so young. The drive that had been lacking for the last few years.

It couldn’t all be because of his one night with Katie Maki, could it?

Darío
tried to focus on the round, but couldn’t. When he saw Katie lick her lips at the third hole, his mouth went dry. He had to ask Binky for the yardage three times. Then he’d stuck the ball within four inches of the pin.

He’d sent Binky to Katie with the lip balm, not wanting her lips to sunburn. He was hoping he’d get a chance to taste those lips once more. And this time, he wouldn’t let her sneak out in the middle of the night. This time he’d get her to stay. For how long, he didn’t know. He only knew Katie was once again in his gallery and all was well.