Chapter 22

Bailey fared better in her second tournament. She made the cut but was still far back on the leaderboard. Still, for a 17-year-old amateur, I was pretty impressed. Both of our birthdays fell on the following week — which was good because it was an off week from her travels. The U.S. Women's Open was two weeks away and it was being played about an hour from Virginia Beach. I considered driving over, but I knew Bailey wanted time to prepare for the tournament. I did manage to have 18 roses delivered to her hotel room on the morning of her birthday.

I had to pay extra to make sure they were delivered before she went to a practice round, but the early morning wake up call I got from her told me it was worth it. I was surprised when my birthday came and went without a mention until I realized she probably had no idea when my birthday even was.

Mack, Ellie and Beth knew when it was though, so you can be sure the anniversary of my birth did not go unnoticed.

The U.S. Open was truly a coming out party for Bailey. She stalked the leaders through the first two rounds and was only a shot off the lead — tied with the top-ranked women's golfer in the game — when the third round started. She was nervous at the start of the third round but calmed down at the turn and was in the same spot when she finished up.

When her birdie putt on 18 went in, Beth and I were dancing around the TV set, and the Fergusons and the Elliotts weren't far behind.

We were still in mid-celebration when my cell phone rang.

I expected Bailey because I left a joyous voice mail for her but instead it was Jack and he was frantic.

"Can you come down here?" was the first thing he asked. "She's having a nervous breakdown I think. I don't know who else to call. I can't calm her. Her mom can't calm her. She's been sobbing since a few minutes after the round."

I honestly didn't know if I could get there or not and I asked him to hold on.

"Mack, I hate to ask and I wouldn't if it weren't important," I said. "Do you know anyone who could fly me to Richmond tonight?"

Rick jumped in and said he could probably have someone fly me there in about an hour. He was on his cell phone before he even finished speaking.

I told Jack to tell Bailey I'd be there in about five hours and hung up.

I was rushing around trying to gather items I'd need when it hit me. I would have to pay for a private flight to Richmond. No way would the NCAA let me accept it even cut-rate. I had plenty of money for now, but what I had would have to last me until I finished law school.

This was going to cost me $5,000 if not more. I sat down at my computer and found the earliest I could be in Virginia from any airport nearby would be noon the next day. I figured it would take close to nine hours to drive there.

I was sitting dumbstruck on my bed when Ellie came in to find out what was taking so long.

I told her what I'd just realized.

"Tell Rick I'm just going to have to drive it," I said. "It'll put me there about 5 a.m., but she'll survive until then."

She told me not to be ridiculous.

"Mack and I take care of our kids, R.J.," Ellie said. "If something happens and you need a little help, you'll have all the help from us you can stand. Even Beth couldn't spend all the money we have."

I told her I couldn't ask her to do that.

"I told you," she said. "We take care of our kids. You won't even have to ask."

I gave her a big hug to hide the tear-filled eyes that had suddenly appeared. It was nice to be someone's kid again, I guess.

The pilot didn't fly into Richmond but took me straight to Williamsburg. I rented a car and was at Bailey's hotel less than four hours after he called.

She had locked herself in her room and Jack and Judy were at their wits end. If they didn't know what to do how in the hell was I supposed to?

I figured that, even without a plan, I needed to at least give it a try...

I knocked on the door and was greeted by a string of curses.

"I told you both just leave me the hell alone," Bailey screamed.

"Well, to be honest, it's the first time you've said that to me," I said as soothingly as I could. I heard the locks turning and Bailey grabbed my hand, pulled me into her room and locked the door again.

"How did you get here?" she demanded, but at least she was hugging me.

"Let's just say I'm racking up some frequent flyer miles," I joked. "But I will have you know your father interrupted quite the party in Lexington."

She didn't get the gist of what I was saying, but I let it go.

"I am paired with Jenny Freakin' Phipps tomorrow," she wailed. "Jenny Freakin' Phipps."

Jenny Phipps' middle name was not Freakin' despite what Bailey might lead you to believe. She was, however, the top-ranked golfer I mentioned earlier.

I hastened to mention she'd been paired with Jenny Freakin' Phipps today as well.

"That turned out OK," I said.

"But she'll eat me alive tomorrow," she sobbed. "She's a killer on Sundays."

"So what if she does?" I asked.

Bailey gave me the "you're an idiot" look again, but I persisted.

"No, really, what if she absolutely tears up the course and leaves you in her dust tomorrow?" I asked. "Does that diminish what you've accomplished today or this week? It doesn't to me. We were celebrating in Lexington tonight because of what you'd accomplished. Not what we expect you to accomplish.

"I don't doubt someday Jenny Phipps is going to be worried she has to go head-to-head with Bailey Freakin' Stenstrom on a Sunday. Hell, she might be doing that now for all I know. Forget about tomorrow until you have to worry about tomorrow. I watched you play today. I didn't see anything you need to worry about.

"Your butt looked as good as always, so I started to watch other parts of you, too. They looked just as good although I don't know how your boobs relate to your golf swing.

"Which reminds me of something I wanted to ask you in Florida: How do you swing through those huge knockers of yours?"

It finally got a smile — albeit a small one. It was a lousy joke, so I didn't expect more.

"You don't swing through them," she said with a giggle. "You swing around them. You should know there isn't a whole lot of give to these puppies."

I did, in fact, know her puppies were quite firm but I gave them a small grope just to make sure.

Bailey was finally laughing, but I wasn't finished.

"No matter what happens tomorrow, next week, next year," I said. "I'm proud of, and you should be proud of what you've accomplished today."

I finished my speech with a soft kiss.

"C'mon," I told her. "Your mom and dad are about to have a stroke and I'm starving and I have to find a place to stay. Let's get moving."

I felt pretty good. I'd done in half an hour what her parents couldn't manage in five and half hours. They still greeted her with a hug. It had damned sure better have been a $5,000 hug.

I started to head toward Richmond to try to find a hotel but the Stenstroms told me to just stay there. I was glad because it was almost 2 a.m. by that point. I was still lamenting how much money I'd already spent this summer. I know what Ellie had told me, but they'd done so much for me already. And like it not, I wasn't their kid. They might treat me as if I were, but I was not their responsibility.

Besides, I think if Beth put her mind to it she could go through the family fortune pretty quickly.

Bailey was beside me in bed sleeping soundly, but I was worried. I knew Beth had a degree in finance, so maybe I could get her to put some of my money to work. If worse came to worst, I could always sell the stock my mom had left me. I didn't want to in case I needed it further down the line.

I had tried to live pretty frugally, but I wasn't always successful. It's also hard to hold on to money when you have none coming in. At this point, my income since I was 16 was exactly zilch. The NCAA was finally lessening its grip on summer jobs for athletes so maybe I could go that route.

Everyone seemed to think I'd be worth millions in a couple of years but I wasn't so sure. In fact, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be.

I must have been restless because Bailey snuggled up beside me.

"You OK, babe?" she asked.

I told her I was fine, I was just worrying about things I shouldn't be worrying about. Then it hit me. I was doing the same thing with my finances as she was doing with her golf game — I was fretting over things I didn't need to fret over.

With the money I had, I would be OK for the foreseeable future. But I still couldn't get my mind around the prospect of having to borrow money to go to law school. Hell, I guess I was still an orphan so maybe the state would pay if I couldn't.

I gave Bailey a kiss on top of her head and told her to go back to sleep.

"I'll be fine," I told her. "You just relax and dream about how great it's going to be to play golf for fun tomorrow."

Bailey snuggled closer and started to drift back to sleep.

"I love you, R.J." she mumbled as she dozed off.

Great, now I had something else to worry about.

I wasn't sure if loved Bailey or not. I didn't think I did. But what did I know? I thought I loved Suzette, but now I was sure I didn't. She just passed for what I thought was love at the time. I knew I didn't love Beth — at least not romantically. I was sure I loved her like a sister now though. Sure, a sister I'd seen writhing naked under me a few hundred times, but a sister nonetheless.

Kelly was a different story. I think the makings of love were there right up to the end. I hadn't told her I loved her though, nor she me.

That still didn't answer the question I had now. I certainly wouldn't fly to see someone I just liked for a couple of hours. Or maybe I would. I felt comfortable around Bailey, but there were parts of her personality — like tonight for example — I could do without. At the same time, I was sure if my second collegiate start had been in the Gator Bowl, hell the national championship game, because that's what the U.S. Open is to golf, I'd have probably had a meltdown, too.

It also worried me that I would be almost responsible for Bailey's well-being when she started at Kentucky. I wasn't kidding with her dad when I said I could pick girls like her out a mile away. They were almost always in a rush to make up for all the decisions they missed in the past. And they almost always started to make stupid decisions right away. I believe I mentioned my firm belief that teenaged girls are some of the stupidest people on the planet.

Even if I didn't love Bailey I liked her well enough to try to keep stupid stuff from happening. But at the same time that just replaced her father with me in the decision-making process.

What did I tell her the first time she wanted to go to a keg party? She almost certainly would want to go to them. How about if her roommate was a pothead? What if she didn't ask my opinion before she went to do those things? How in the hell did my life go from happy-go-lucky a few weeks ago to filled with so many questions now?