The Short Game Read Online Free Page A

something.”
    “Yeah?” I asked.
    “You never did get my last name. It’s Manning. Tracy Manning. So let’s not be strangers anymore, all right?”
    I felt my cheeks blush and mumbled, “Okay.” I turned back toward the door, but she grabbed my wrist again, turning me around once again. “You forgot something else.”
    “Yeah?”  
    She held my cell phone out to me. “Wouldn’t want to forget this,” she said. “How else are you going to call me?”
    “Thanks.” I took the phone from her hand, purposefully brushing my fingers over her palm as I did. “See you around.”
    “See ya.” She fixed me with a coy smile that was nearly impossible to turn away from.
    It wasn’t until I got to my truck that I realized I’d never gotten her number. But it was for the best. If I had gotten it, I might’ve made a stupid mistake like actually calling her.

C HAPTER F IVE

    “ANY WORD FROM the advisors about Shay?” I asked Maggie as she set two mugs of tea down in front of us. I grabbed my cup by the handle and took a small sip. Immediately, I felt more at ease. If one day I learned that Maggie slipped drugs into her concoctions, I wouldn’t be all that surprised. It was amazing how calm they could make you feel.
    “No. Michael doesn’t want him calling back to the Village unless there’s a problem.”
    “Michael” was Pop Sheedy—our clan leader. Only Maggie dared to call him by his first name. “That’s weird. Why wouldn’t he check in twice a week like we always do?”
    Maggie didn’t answer. Instead she took a long draw from her mug. How it didn’t burn her throat, I didn’t know.  
    Maybe it did.
      Ring. Our house phone, and we didn’t get very many calls.
    Maggie and I looked at each other, but neither of us moved to pick it up. She was probably thinking the same thing I was. What if the call was about Shay? He’d only been gone a week now, but who knew what sort of trouble he was getting into up in Pennsylvania. We were both too afraid to answer and find out.
    Ring. Maggie gave me one final look, then stood and picked up the phone. “Hello?” I watched her face closely. If anything happened to Shay, it’d show immediately. “Is everything all right?” She listened a short while, and the tension went out of her shoulders, then she handed me the phone. “It’s for you.” I gave her a look that asked what this was all about, but she just shrugged and shoved the phone at me.
    “Hello?” I asked, no idea who’d have reason to talk to me.
    “Hi, it’s Mary Costello. I have a message for you from your uncle.” Mary had been an advisor as long as I could remember. As long as Maggie could remember too, from what she’d said. I often wondered how old she was, but now certainly wasn’t the time to ask.
    “And what’s that?”
    “There’s been some tornados in Oklahoma, and Pop’s given him the go-ahead to find some roofing work over there, but he needs an extra hand. He wants you to meet him in Tulsa in a couple days.”
    I sighed. I really didn’t want to leave the Village while Shay was away, but I didn’t want to leave my uncle in the lurch either. “I need to think about it.”  
    “Fine. But he said he’d call me back in an hour for your answer so make up your mind quick.”
    “I’ll call you back in thirty minutes,” I said and hung up the phone. Truthfully, more than anything, I wanted to talk it over with Maggie, but I didn’t want to admit that to Mary.
    I looked to my mam. “Uncle John wants me—”
    “I heard.”
    “So?”  
    “Go. You’re driving yourself crazy waiting around here for word from your brother, and you’re taking me on the ride with you. It’s not like you’re any closer to him here than you would be in Oklahoma, and it wouldn’t be like you not to help out your uncle.” Uncle John was born with one leg, a birth defect not that uncommon among Travelers. He could get around pretty well with his prosthesis, but he had a hard time