Chapter 11 Charlotte
ELEVEN
CHARLOTTE
“There’s my favorite bev cart girl!” Tony Baldwin cheers as I pull my cart up to him and the three men he’s golfing with.
I give them all a smile. “Need anything?” I ask, hoping they all say yes.
It’s been a busy day here on the course, and I’ve welcomed it.
At first, it sucked because I was still fighting a hangover, but there’s nothing that a little vitamin D and a yellow Gatorade won’t fix.
Thirty minutes after my shift started, I forgot all about the hangover and have been raking in the tips.
The only problem is, I’m almost done with my shift, and I haven’t heard from Jude once.
“We’d all love a Fireball shot,” Tony answers, walking up to the golf cart.
I nod and slide out of my seat. Tony was a regular when I worked at Pembroke Grill, and I know he’s a good tipper. Plus, he’s friendly without being creepy. “Anything else besides the shots?” I ask, opening the cabinet to pull out four shots.
“We’ll need four Transfusions as well.” I grimace, wondering if I still have enough grape juice to make the cocktail. Everybody on the course today has ordered one, and I’m trying to remember if I finished it off a couple of stops ago or not.
“I’ll have to check if I have enough juice for that,” I tell him, trying not to immediately jump and run to my phone the moment I hear it vibrate against the dash of my cart. I’ve been waiting for Jude to text me with some funny comment about the night before to break the ice.
“Popular day for Transfusions?” one of Tony’s companions asks as I hand out the shots. I know I should remember his name, but it’s slipped my mind.
I nod before stepping to the side to open the cooler and see if I have enough juice for their drinks. Luckily, I only have one more hole to drive by before I reach the pro shop, and then my shift is over.
I shift the ice around and look through the bottles in my cooler until I finally find one last grape juice bottle. I pull it out with a smile and look at Tony. “It looks like today’s your lucky day.”
He laughs. “Send that energy to my golfing as well. I can’t putt worth a damn today.”
I give him a sympathetic smile as I grab a bottle of vodka and a can of ginger ale. “Your day’s just starting though. You have time to get better.” I nod toward the shot he still holds in his hands. “Maybe that’ll make you putt better.”
He laughs before holding it up and waiting for his friends to do the same. They all clink their glasses together and sling the shots back as I finish making their drinks. I rip off the bottom of the straw wrappers and place them all in the lids before handing out each drink.
“Will this be charged to your member account?” I ask Tony, pulling out my work iPad.
Tony nods before setting his drink down on the counter of the bev cart and reaching into his back pocket. He pulls out a hundred-dollar bill and hands it over. “And this is for you, my favorite bev cart girl.”
I give him a warm smile, thankful for his generous tip. “I’m totally going to tell Mia you said that.”
Tony’s mouth falls open. “You wouldn’t dare. She’s also my favorite.”
It’s my turn to feign that I’m upset. I’ve learned this job is a delicate balance of playful friendliness and banter.
You want to skirt the edge of flirting without actually flirting.
“Don’t go breaking my heart, Tony.” I take the money before putting it in the fanny pack around my waist. “And thank you for the tip.”
He swats at the air. “You deserve it. Just don’t tell Mia what I said.” He winks before grabbing his drink and stepping away.
I finish putting the transaction through before I make sure all my cabinets are closed and nothing’s loose. “You guys have a great rest of your day.” I walk around the cart and slide into my seat, anxious to pull my phone from the dashboard and check to see if it was Jude who texted me.
“Bye, Charlotte!” Tony calls as he follows his friends out to the green.
The moment I drive away, I check the text.
LUCY
I’m counting down the days until I see you again. It’s been too long!
I try not to be disappointed at seeing Lucy’s name instead of Jude’s.
The great thing about being busy today is that I haven’t had much time to overthink what happened last night and why I haven’t heard from Jude.
The bad thing is my shift is coming to an end, and all of the thoughts I’ve pushed away while trying to focus on work are starting to creep in now that I’m not distracted.
I let out a long sigh before beginning to type out a response to Lucy. Just as I’m about to send it, my phone dies.
“Ugh.” My head falls backward as I toss the phone in the seat next to me. Of course it dies while I’m waiting for a text or call from Jude. I’d been too tipsy last night to charge it, and now it’ll be a while before I’m home and able to.
I groan as I pull up to the pro shop. Now that I’m done for the day, I could go home and take the nap I’ve been dreaming about all day.
Or I could walk around the club. It’s possible I’ve just missed Jude today and he decided to hang out inside instead of golfing.
If his hangover is anything like mine was, maybe that’s what makes the most sense.
Maybe he’s hanging out at Pembroke Grill or even meeting with friends in the Gentlemen’s Lounge.
I nod, coming to the decision that I’ll do a lap around Pembroke to look for him. A walk might be good to help clear my mind anyway.
I try not to let myself get disappointed by the fact that every place I look, I still don’t see Jude. I check rooms, hoping that the next one I stop in, I’ll see him. I expect to hear his infectious laugh or see his sandy-brown hair, but he’s nowhere to be found.
When I get into my car, an unease settles over me. I check my glove box and center console to see if I happened to have left a spare charger in here to charge my phone and see if Jude’s texted me now, but I come up short.
I pull my lip between my teeth as I try to reassure myself that nothing with Jude has changed.
He’s probably still nursing his hangover and hasn’t had time to call or text.
It’s just that it isn’t like Jude to leave me alone.
His favorite thing to do is blow up my phone with funny videos and play-by-plays of his day, but just because he didn’t today doesn’t mean anything’s wrong or that anything has changed.
It just means he might be feeling the wine from last night more than what he’s used to.
I tell myself that over and over again, but I must not believe it because instead of going home, I head back to Jude’s instead.