“What can I get you, Diane?” Tamsin asked. It had been a long day of travel followed by the chipping and putting competitions and most of the ladies had retired for the night. Only Diane and Isabelle remained.

“This Portuguese wine is delicious,” Diane said. “So I’ll gladly have another one of these.” She lifted her near-empty glass.

“Isabelle? Same again for you?” Tamsin asked.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Isabelle said. “I didn’t earn it the way Diane did.” She stretched her arms above her head. “I think I’ll turn in. Long day and all that.”

“That’s Isabelle’s way of saying she’s feeling her age,” Diane joked. “I’ll be quiet as a mouse when I come up.”

“I’ll be right back.” Tamsin headed to the bar to place her order.

While the bartender poured their drinks she glanced backwards and saw Isabelle kiss Diane on the cheek. Even saying a simple good night to each other was a chatty affair for these two.

“Here you go.” Tamsin deposited Diane’s fresh glass of wine on the table in front of her. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“I certainly don’t want to drink my victory drink alone. What would be the point of that?”

Tamsin sat down opposite Diane and held up her glass. “To your chipping skills.”

“Thank you.” They clinked rims. “Do you have any other games in mind for tomorrow? I’d like to prepare myself psychologically.”

“Please give the others a chance.”

“I can’t let you buy anyone else a drink now, can I?” Diane held her gaze, making Tamsin wonder how many of these glasses of wine she’d had.

“I can’t discriminate, you know that.” Tamsin played along.

Diane pursed her lips. “A contest automatically excludes discrimination, that’s the beauty of it.”

“You’ll just have to do your best then.” Tamsin sipped from the wine. It was, indeed, delicious. She let her head fall back. “It’s great to be away for a few days.”

“It is for me,” Diane said. “For you, this is work, though.”

“Teaching golf has never really felt like work to me. More like a dream come true.” Tamsin counted her luck every single day—except that one day when her previous club had all but kicked her out.

“It’s great when you love what you do,” Diane mused.

“To me, there’s nothing more important.”

“You must come across a really annoying pupil sometimes, though?” Diane inquired.

“Well, there’s this woman at my new club. Diane something.” Tamsin winked.

“I hear she’s a nightmare. So full of herself, and always wanting to win all the competitions, even the most insignificant ones.” Diane glanced at Tamsin over the rim of her glass.

They both chuckled. It was hard for Tamsin to remember when she’d last had a laugh like that, with someone who didn’t take herself too seriously. Definitely not with Ellen, who was at an age where everything was deadly serious—especially seducing her golf teacher.

“Do you enjoy your job?” Tamsin asked, to get her mind off Ellen as quickly as possible.

“It’s numbers all day every day, but I do genuinely enjoy it,” Diane said, before taking a sip from her drink again. “Which reminds me, come by my office after this trip. I don’t charge for an introductory visit.”

“How nice of you.” Tamsin had wanted to make an appointment but had hesitated because she’d be laying out her entire financial situation to one of her pupils. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do that and had considered looking for an accountant who wasn’t a member.

“Anyway, enough shop talk. For once, let’s not talk about golf or the, admittedly, very fascinating secrets of accountancy,” Diane said.

“Agreed.” Tamsin nodded.

“If golf is your job, what do you do for relaxation?” Diane asked.

“Golf being my job, I don’t need that much relaxation. There’s nothing like being outside playing on a beautifully designed course. The green grass. The wind in my hair. Bird song.”

“All of that might be true, but you must do things that are not golf-related.”

Browse on Tinder. Go on dates with women I’ve no future with. “I have a passion for vintage furniture,” she said, pushing thoughts of other women to the back of her mind. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted to move to the countryside. To have room to work on some projects. My small flat in Croydon didn’t really lend itself to it so I always had visit my dad up north if I wanted to work on something. Quite a hassle, although a good way to stay in touch with my father.”

“Ah yes, city life and all its conveniences.”

“My previous club was only a twenty minute drive from where I used to live, and I was out in nature all the time. Best of both worlds, really.”

Diane nodded thoughtfully. “Why did you say you left your former club again?”

Tamsin tried to remember if she had said anything to Diane about that. She certainly wouldn’t have divulged the real reason. “Sometimes you need a change.”

“I guess you can’t keep on teaching the same old people.” Diane offered a supportive smile.

The golf world was a small one. It would only take one member-in-the-know at Chalstone to say too much and rumour would spread like wildfire—quite possibly, as rumours went, with a few salacious details added in the process.

“You might think the RTGC is homophobic, but if they really are, they’ll have to fire me soon.” Oops. Maybe Tamsin had partaken of the wine a bit too much herself. But Diane had given her an opening when she’d shown her outrage about Isabelle’s son-in-law. Surely she must believe in equality.

Diane arched up an eyebrow. “So you’re gay.”

Tamsin gave a slight nod. “As is many a lady golfer.” She found a joke always lightened the mood when she delivered the news.

Diane giggled. “I can’t possibly imagine Chalstone fired you simply for being gay. That would be against the law.”

“I wasn’t fired, just encouraged to leave. And it was a little more complicated than that.” Tamsin sighed. “Everyone knew I was a lesbian. I came out not long after I started, which is not a given in a traditional golf club.” She took a sip of wine and noticed her glass was almost empty. “But I thought it was important to be honest, and it was.” At least it gave Ellen the strength to come out, she thought.

“I wholeheartedly concur,” Diane said, her lips drawn into a soft smile.

“Tell me truthfully.” Tamsin leaned forward. “Have you heard any rumours about me?”

“How about I tell you all I know over another glass of wine? My shout.”

Tamsin nodded eagerly. She wanted to know what was being said about her and Diane was the closest thing to a friend she had at her new club.

After Diane had presented her with another glass of wine, she slanted over the low table between them, and whispered, “One of the things I heard was that you might be a lesbian.” Her glance skittered away from Tamsin’s. “The other is that you got it on with the daughter of the club’s president.”

“I’m impressed by your sources.” Tamsin hoped the smile on her lips wasn’t too wry.

“Are you saying the rumours are true?” Diane’s voice shot up a little.

“Ellen and I were in love. And she was twenty-six at the time. Hardly someone who can’t make her own decisions.” Tamsin knew she sounded defensive, but she was so sick of having to explain herself.

“Twenty-six,” Diane said under her breath.

“The only unfortunate thing about our relationship was Ellen’s father.” Tamsin shook her head. “I wasn’t a man and didn’t come from enough money—I didn’t pay an astronomical fee for the privilege of playing at the club; instead I got paid for teaching there.” It wasn’t as black and white as that—nothing was—but after a few glasses of wine Tamsin refused to see the grey areas.

“That must have been hard.” Diane’s eyes had found hers again. Her gaze was soft and almost comforting.

“According to my sister I don’t do myself any favours by falling for women in their twenties.” Tamsin furrowed her brow. “I hate to admit she’s right, but…” She threw up her hands. “In this case, she just might be.” She chuckled. What else was she going to do? And she wasn’t still that hung up on Ellen. Deep down, perhaps she’d always known they didn’t have much of a future, because Ellen still had so many mistakes to make, so many youthful adventures to have, while Tamsin was more than ready to settle down. “Thank you for not judging me,” Tamsin said. “You’ve no idea how much that means to me.”

“We only just met a few weeks ago,” Diane said, “but you really don’t strike me as the type to take advantage of someone’s youth.” She ran a finger over her chin.

“Then you already know me better than the president at my old club ever did.”