Before he could reply, they heard Walter calling out.
“Seamus caught the later flight.” Walter was panting. He repeated the message from his voice mail. “So, Hedge, you’re still short one. You can play as a threesome. But I just saw Unu Shim from Gingko Tree Asset Management in the lobby. Didn’t know he was here today. Want me to get him? Shim-kin’s a good guy. You’d be a few minutes late, though. He’s gotta get his gear.”
“Isn’t anyone on time anymore?” Casey glanced at her watch. Even after four months, the Rolex still tended to startle her.
Hugh nodded at Walter, trying to be agreeable. “Okay, man, you make it happen. I’ll be at the first tee with sweetie over here.”
Casey smiled at Walter and elbowed Hugh.
At the foot of the long patio where the carts were parked, Unu Shim turned up only a few minutes late. He was not quite six feet, slight build, almost skinny. His eyes had the double fold that Casey didn’t have. When he smiled, radial lines formed near his temples. He was thirty or so. Like all the others, he wore khakis. His red shirt had come from a pro shop in Maui with a slogan embroidered on the unbanded golf sleeve. Small, knotty muscles lined the length of his arms. For a thin guy, he had Popeye forearms. His golf shoes hadn’t been cleaned since the last time he’d worn them; mud streaked his laces.
There were seven fully manned carts on the patio, and Casey, the only female, sat alone in one. She was in the driver’s seat, waiting to take the new guy. Seeing him approach the cart, she turned around to make room for his Callaway bag. Hugh had taken Brett and his noisy pockets in his cart. Unu ducked his head to get in.
“Casey, right?” Unu said. He held out his hand.
“Hey.” She shook his hand. Decent grip, palm damp. “You want to drive?” she asked him, smiling politely.
“No thanks,” he answered, puzzled as to why she didn’t recognize him. She was Casey Han, Ella’s friend. They’d met twice, and both times she’d barely talked to him, but especially at the wedding, where she had skipped out before making a toast. Was that almost two years ago? he wondered. The dad had some tussle with her boyfriend. Something like that—Ella had said. The boyfriend was history, but apparently she had zero interest in blind dates, although Ella was forever singing her hymns: creative, attractive, smart as a whip. Unu had figured that she was one of those Korean girls who hated Korean men. But she didn’t seem like that right now.
Today, she looked relaxed and cheerful, like a girl on a college golf team. Her face was slightly tanner than the last time he’d seen her, making her look healthier. There was a faint spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She wore a white golf shirt and a pair of Nantucket reds. Her white golf shoes looked new. Unu couldn’t have guessed that they cost four hundred dollars. She sported a Panama hat she’d had blocked at Manny’s Millinery and trimmed with a dark blue ribbon and one of her better-executed tailored bows.
“Good hat,” he said.
Touching the edge of her brim, she said, “It’s an original.” There was still some flirt in her tone left over from talking to Hugh.
“I bet,” he said, laughing. She was taller than he’d remembered.
“You know, you look amazingly familiar,” she said, then looked straight ahead. “I never say that, by the way.” Her comment wasn’t meant to sound like a come-on.
“I’m Ella’s cousin. Unu. We’ve met. Twice,” he said sheepishly.
“Oh.” Her happy expression vanished.
“It’s been almost two years. I was a groomsman at the wedding. And you—”
“Yes, yes. Of course. I’m sorry,” she said, wishing she could bolt.
Casey turned on the ignition and started to drive, saying nothing. Yes, yes, yes, she thought to herself. Unu. His full name was Un-young Shim from Gingko Tree A.M. That was the name on the client list, which she had reviewed multiple times, but it never occurred to her that he could be Ella’s cousin Unu. There were three Shims she knew of when she picked up the calls at the desk. And Walter sometimes called Unu “Shim-kin.” Of course, of course. They must’ve at least said hello on the phone before she’d patched Walter through. This man had seen her pop Jay on the nose, carrying on like an insane person minutes after church service ended. He might have seen her dad shove Jay out of his way and would have remembered her taking off from Ella’s wedding before fulfilling her promised duties. If he thought she was violent, from a bigoted family, and lacked both personal decorum and loyalty, how could she blame him? Casey wanted to fold her arms over the steering wheel and drop her heavy head on them.