thought too much of himself. He refused to be humbled by a game that rewarded humility.
She noticed that Wyatt Allen didn’t look particularly happy with this development, and she gained a new respect for the man. He took no joy in winning simply because his opponent made a bad move.
Murdoch wore a game face, but the spring in his step betrayed him. He was happy to see his opponent in trouble.
His gloating, however cleverly masked, was apparent to Lily. When he settled himself into position to take an easy shot up onto the green, she thought, Come on, you weasel. Miss.
And, unbelievably, he did.
The champion missed his easy shot to the green. His ball struck the sandtrap, plowing a furrow deep into the soft earth before coming to a stop a few yards from Sean’s.
There were no groans from the spectators now; there were gasps of disbelief, even outrage.
As Lily grabbed Charlie’s hand and surged with the crowd to the final green, they passed a commentator who was speaking in a low-toned, excited voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is an incredible turn of events. Just incredible. It seems that, by wildly different techniques, the two contenders have found themselves in the exact same position. Now there’s a horse race to see who finishes second today.”
Murdoch’s turn. He circled the sandy bunker like a lion around its prey. He bent down to study the position of his ball. He conferred with his caddie who, incidentally, was even younger and more beautiful than his wife. A moment later, Murdoch signaled for an official.
“What’s he doing, Red?” Charlie asked.
“Son of a bitch is going to try for a free drop,” Red growled.
“That son of a bitch,” Charlie said.
Lily was too tense to correct her. After an excruciating delay during which frazzled nerves frayed to the breaking point, it was ruled that an anthill next to the champion’s ball constituted an abnormal ground condition. Red confirmed that whether a groundhog or an ant, the rules were clear. A “burrowing animal” is an animal that makes a hole for habitation or shelter, such as a rabbit, mole, gopher, salamander—or even the lowly ant.
Sure enough, the ploy worked. It was declared that Murdoch’s ball had encountered an obstruction. He was allowed to drop it.
“He can drop that thing where the sun doesn’t shine,” Lily muttered, feeling decidedly vicious.
“Yeah,” said Charlie. “Right in his ear.”
“Golf is an unforgiving game,” the commentator murmured into his headset. “A player has to use every advantage he can find.”
“Why doesn’t Sean take a free drop?” Lily demanded.
“Too far from the anthill.” Red’s voice was taut with sarcasm.
As Murdoch set himself up to hit the newly positioned ball, Lily tried her weasel curse on him again. This time, it didn’t seem to work. He chipped his ball neatly onto the green within striking distance of the hole.
“He should just get it into the hole right now,” Charlie declared. “Right this very minute, in one stroke.”
The nearby spectators sent Charlie fond, indulgent looks.
Lily had never been able to tolerate it when people patronized children.
“She’s right,” Lily agreed. “He’s got to hole out with this next stroke.”
“Yeah, and I’ve got to win the lottery,” said a man in a jaded voice.
Interestingly, Cameron appeared supremely confident as he handed Sean a club.
Sean settled his stance as best he could in the situation. His ball lay on a slope, having driven itself into the sand. It was under a lip of earth, screening the pin from Sean so that he was hitting blind.
Sean hit the ball. A flurry of sand obscured everything. Then the ball broke free, sailing up and over the brow of the bunker. The ball didn’t even touch the putting green but dropped right in with a hollow thunk, rattling around before settling home.
There was a heartbeat of disbelieving silence. Then pandemonium started. Cheers and applause thundered from the gallery. This was what people came to see.
Sean’s hand went straight up in the air, a gesture of supreme satisfaction.
Lily remembered to breathe again as she watched Sean walk to the hole, lean down, pluck the ball from the cup and hold it aloft in his fist. Then he hugged Cameron and gave him a resounding kiss on the head. Cameron seemed too overjoyed to mind.
Charlie screamed and jumped up and down, pigtails flying.
Lily, on the other hand, didn’t make a sound. She stared at Sean in wonder, feeling absurdly happy for him. His posture was taut with triumph, his face lit by joy. Then