She checked her watch. “If we hustle, we can get to the riverside dock, catch the next ferry that can take us across the river to the resort, and then change and head over to the practice range. We’ll have enough time to get a bucket or so done, I think.”

Aerin was still grinning at the unexpected excitement of Bette over them joining her at the golf event. “So what do we do for clubs?”

Bette tapped on the call icon of her phone as she urged them to resume walking. “Calling the front desk now to reserve three sets for us. In case they don’t have enough to complete full sets for us, though, what clubs will you need …”

Aerin read her mind and answered quickly, “I’ll need a 7 iron, a five wood, an 8 or 8 1/2 wood or a 9 wood, a sand wedge, a decent driver, and a putter. The woods’ll keep the ball low, in case it’s windy out in the course. With that river, can’t tell either way.”

Rian was nodding in agreement with Aerin’s assessment. “And, in a pinch, if Aerin and I are playing together, we can probably share the clubs. I won’t mind … how about you, Aerin?”

Aerin shook her head.

Bette was already on the phone, arranging for the clubs and extra gloves for them. “Shoes? They’ve got Ecco and Nikes in stock,” she asked them after being patched to the pro-shop.

She shook her head when Aerin asked about how much they’d owe Bette for everything after she and Rian told her their shoe sizes. “Don’t worry about it. Cade will take care of this.”

She smiled inwardly as the clerk in the pro shop repeated what Bette had asked for. “Cade’s gonna get more than he bargained for when he got me to agree to this golf thing. Not one but two girls! See how he deals with that!”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Washington, DC, the day before

Jade cursed as she struggled to tug open the next set of drawers of the Queen Anne style flat top high chest that they’d set on the side of the staircase, facing the front door. Rian may have said that this thing, likely crafted about in the 1730s by a master craftsman, in the William Stoddard style, was a steal when they’d bought it at the estate sale in one of the palatial homes out in Virginia’s horse country, but it had been nothing but trouble for Jade. Rian had gone on and on about the curved, slender cabrio-style legs and pointed slipper feet of the high chest, as well as the curved moulding on the top drawer that projected out of from the flat surface of the case of the drawers, “hallmarks of the Stoddard style,” but to Jade it was nothing more than a veritable dark hole that could somehow suck Jade’s things just when she needed to find them – her SUV’s key fob and house keys, wallet, sunglasses, watches, phone — all the essentials of everyday life. She’d lost two pricey sunglasses to this thing already, and she was damned if she was losing a third today!