Chapter 28

Edmonton, Alberta was a sparkling, handsome, new-looking metropolis sprawled out on the plains of western Canada. It felt like the cities I'd visited in the Western United States. It was better-maintained than most of them, and, even in August, the air seemed crisp, this far north.

It was a little bit like Scotland; but more than a little bit like Denver, or maybe Salt Lake City.

I liked it. I'd always liked Canada. Just like the U.S., it was vast enough that a person could find lots of different cultures -- almost different countries -- all under the same brand name. There were plenty of generalizations -- clichés -- that could be, and were, uttered about the people of both countries, but all of the things that people said were only partially true.

I figured a citizen of Alberta would find himself with about as much in common with -- say, a Kansan -- as he would with a fellow Canadian from Newfoundland. Or from Quebec.

The CN Canadian Women's Open probably suffered a little from being the next event after the British. Sure, there was adequate time for the pros to get back from Scotland, and most of the British Open competitors were coming back this way in any event.

Still, the prize money was, although generous, somewhat lower, and quite a few women on the Tour elected to sit out this event and head, the following week, for Portland, Oregon for the Safeway Classic. The Canadian event's prize money compared favorably, actually, to the Safeway Classic, but there was a psychological letdown for the Tour pros, after the European events.

I mean, Canada was a nice country, but it didn't have the glamour of France, or Scotland.

Let's face it: the whole Western Hemisphere, from Mexico northward, is a little bit boring, as continents go. And if you're going on pure pizzazz, even South America has got it over North America, where exotica is concerned.

Canada or no Canada, most of the golfers were just back "home" now. They could play this week in Edmonton, or next week, in Portland. Or they could sit them both out, if their season was going really well. Ho-Hum.

My girls, however, had chosen to play both weeks. They weren't tired. They weren't injured. They seemed sufficiently up for the Canadian Open, and Kim, especially, seemed eager to get on out to Portland. I wasn't sure why. Oregon is one of our better states, God knows. Even Americans who think that The South Will Rise Again concede that the Pacific Northwest is one of the country's jewels.

But Portland wasn't San Francisco, for God's sake. It wasn't even Seattle! Why all the interest, on Kim's part?

"You ever even been to Portland before?" I asked Kim.

"No. Been to Seattle, twice -- but never been to Oregon."

"So what's the attraction?"

"I know somebody there," she said.

"Oh. A woman?"

"No."

"A guy?"

"No, Will. It's a giraffe... Of course it's a guy, Will."

"Well. It could have been a woman. You know some women."

Kim was patient with me, but a little exasperated. "You get crazy sometimes, Will. Hadn't we already established that it wasn't a woman? Who would that leave?... As an alternative?"

"I'm jealous already," I said. I was kidding. Sort-of.

"He's a nice man. I met him last year, while I was in Texas, on the Futures Tour."

"Texas. That was before Tess joined the tour, right?"

"That's right. McAllen, Texas. Garden spot of the Universe."

"Serious? Or just a friend?" I asked her.

"Let's put it this way, Will: His hotel room in McAllen was a lot nicer than the one I was staying in."

"Hmmmm. Sounds serious!"

"I don't think it's anything that's going to get you excused from your Wednesday night duties anytime soon," Kim said. "But we've spoken a few times by phone, and I've been writing to him, via e-mail, and we're going to get together, while I'm in Portland."

"Did you tell Tess about this guy?"

"Oh, yeah! A lot more than I've told you," she said, laughing.

"Now I'm really jealous," I said.

"That's a healthy attitude for you to have," Kim said, still smiling at me with great affection. She kissed me on the neck, employing a little tongue. "Better treat me nice! Extra-sweet... You've got some competition, now."

"And all this time, before me, I thought you had been a virgin!"

"Not even close, Will-ard. Not even close."

Tess and Kim had a decent period of preparation for the Canadian, and they took advantage of it. Both women seemed relaxed and ready. They weren't taking the event lightly, but after the excitement of St. Andrews, it was somewhat easier to put the current tournament into perspective, from an emotional standpoint.

Both women made the cut handily, although their scores were somewhere in the middle of the pack. On Day Three, Kim broke out, firing a 66 and finding herself, at day's end, tied for third place overall.

Tess, still well-back, could nevertheless anticipate a fat paycheck if she could fire a below-par round on Sunday. Coming off the British Open as champion, she was continuing to attract a lot of attention, on the course and off, despite not scoring particularly well in the current week.

Saturday night, we eschewed a taxi and just had dinner in our room. "I miss the bus," Tess said. "It might have been rude and crude, but I'll take Lean Cuisine over room service, any day."

"We should have stayed at the Traveling Lodge," I said, employing Kim's old name for the well-known and inexpensive motel chain. "They've got microwaves in the rooms; I could have hit the supermarket, come back with all the frozen Hunan Chicken you could eat."

"When we get to Portland," Kim said, "we can all stay with my friend, Roland. He's already invited us."

"Tell us about this Roland character," I said.

"He's a businessman, from Portland," Kim said. "He's, I think, about 30, maybe a little older, I didn't ask. He's very handsome; kind of a Latin type. His name is Roland Hidalgo... That's Spanish -- right?"

"Hidalgo? Oh, yeah. That's pretty Spanish. Is he a Mexican?"

"He's an American. Born here -- in Nebraska, I believe. But his family -- his parents -- they were from Costa Rica."

"Tess -- did Kim tell you about this guy's hotel room in McAllister, Texas?"

"His hotel room?... No. No, I don't think you mentioned his hotel room, Kimmy. Tess smiled at Kim in a way that, I knew, excluded their male company. "We talked about this Roland, but his hotel room never came up."

"Kim told me it was a much nicer room than the one she was in."

"It was McAllen, Texas," Kim said. And his room wasn't even in the same hotel," Kim said. "It wasn't even on the same side of the town!"

"Poor little girl from across the tracks," I said, teasing. "Seduced by the Suave Latino, and then abandoned in the Wilds of Texas."

"I wasn't exactly abandoned," Kim protested. "We exchanged phone numbers, addresses, everything."

"So how come we haven't heard about 'Rolando' before this?" I asked. I was keeping it light, and the teasing was friendly. Didn't matter. I was a little jealous, and both women knew it. Hell, if I had been fucking Julia Roberts (something I thought about doing, quite frequently), I'd still be jealous of Brad Pitt because he was, presumably, fucking Angelina Jolie.

... And Angelina wasn't even, so much, really my type!

But Kim brought me back to reality. "His name is not 'Rolando, ' Will-ard. It's just plain 'Roland.' The 'o' sound is at the end of his last name: 'Hidal-go'.

"Oh," I said, pointedly. Always the humorist, me.

"And he's invited all of us?... To stay with him in Portland?" Tess asked.

"Yes! And I gather he has a lovely home, with plenty of room. I asked about the location. He said it wasn't far -- perhaps ten miles -- from the tournament venue. He will have an extra car available for our use. And he plans to watch us play, all next week."

"He plans to watch you play," I said. Tess and I haven't even met the man, yet."

"He's a charming man. You'll both like him," Kim said.

"I hate him already," I said. "Are we all going to be there together, in his house -- even on Wednesday night?"

Kim was contrite. "I don't want you to be jealous, Will! Really! I didn't think you would be... or that you would want to discourage me from..."

"Don't expect Will to take too readily to the idea of sharing you with another man," Tess said. "Remember Hal? Will and I, in those days, had the same relationship with each other that you have, now, with Will... and with me. We were supposed to be fuck-buddies. It was supposed to be casual; meaningless... Just sex."

"It wasn't ever 'just sex, ' for me," I told Tess.

"Well, I admit it was 'way better than I had expected, too," Tess said. "Sure, it's true we got to be... pretty damned friendly, pretty quickly."

Tess looked over at me and stared hard at me while she was speaking, even though, mostly, her words were directed at Kim. "But you know, Kim, Will can get a little... territorial. I think he knows, intellectually, that you're not going to be his little extra play-toy forever... But he's gonna have a hard time, when another little boy comes around, and wants to play with Will's... fire truck."