It was Spencer’s annual tradition to go to Lake Tahoe for his birthday week in early June. Since his divorce five years ago, he continued to go, now simply staying at a casino hotel for the week instead of renting a vacation home. Of course, he no longer had a wife, and his kids were now living their own lives after graduating college.

Spencer was a serious golfer, having learned to play as a child. Spencer, his brother, and father would play every Sunday morning, weather permitting. He was on his high school's golf team, and after returning to town, joined the Oak Valley Country Club. To say that golf was his passion would be an understatement.

He'd been going to the Edgewood Golf Course for over twenty years during his yearly pilgrimage to the Tahoe area, and he would play this course three days a week and another area course twice. He never played vacation locations like Tahoe on the weekends due to too many “hackers” the casinos would send to the course after dropping thousands of dollars during the week. This was true for his yearly trip to San Diego for the Homecoming celebration at his college.

On Tuesday, when he checked in with the starter in the clubhouse, he was told he was paired up with a married couple, and a single female. Spencer rolled his eyes at Alan, the starter, and said, “Are they any good? Or will we be looking for balls all day?”

Spencer’s patience with poor players was not too good. He reasoned if you’re playing a top course, and paying top dollar, you damn well better be halfway decent. To him, that meant scoring under eighty-five on the par seventy-two course.

Alan looked at him, smiled, and said, “The couple belongs to the Olympic Club in the city (San Francisco), and the single woman is from Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento. And she was on the women’s team at Arizona State.

His brows furrowed. “How old is the single woman?”

Alan guessed, “About your age, I’d say. About fifty.”

After hitting balls on the range and putting some on the practice green, Spencer saw a single woman in his age range. He reasoned she must be his playing partner. She was also putting so he made his way toward her.

“Excuse me,” he said. “Are you in the 10:16 am group?”

The woman looked up and smiled. “I am. Are you Spencer Wells?”

They quickly introduced themselves. Her name was Sophia Gianonni. She said she met the married couple earlier in the clubhouse and gestured toward them sitting in a golf cart toward the first tee.

“Alan said I could ride with you. Are you ok with that?” she asked.

Spencer laughed, “Yes, it’s fine. Besides, that will give us a chance to chat. Alan said you played at ASU. Is that correct?”

Sophia quickly gave Spencer a recap of her golfing accomplishments in high school and college. “Back then, in high school, there were no girls' teams, so I played on the boys' squad.”

Spencer finished strapping in her golf clubs on the back of his cart, and then both sat in the cart waiting for their tee time. They continued to chat for about ten minutes and got a bit more personal, talking about college, marriages, kids, divorces, and what they do for a living. He learned that she lived about ten miles from him in her “adopted” hometown of Rio Sol.

Spencer was also pleased that Julie was in shape, attractive, and they had a ton in common. She stood about five-seven, had an average body with soft curves, and he thought she looked great for a fifty-year-old woman. Sophia had shoulder-length dark brown hair and soft brown eyes. He wondered what the cute Italian woman looked like in her youth. “Probably a knockout,” he thought.

Just before their tee time, they drove toward the first tee and met their playing partners. The married couple was indeed about the same age and from the seaside community of Pacifica, just south of San Francisco. Steve and Marne Jefferson were both CPAs, and they owned their firm.

As they played the first few holes, Spencer and Sophia were nervous since they wanted to impress each other. Spencer instantly saw why she had earned a college scholarship. After the first nine holes, she was only three over par, compared to his forty-two strokes, or six over par.

The four adults had a wonderful time together finishing the eighteen holes. As they all walked off the final green toward their carts, Steve offered to buy a round of drinks in the clubhouse. All four looked at each other.

Spenser looked at Sophia, “I’m in if you’re in.”

Smiling, “I’m in!” she said.

“Great! I’ll buy the second round,” said Spencer.

As they all walked into the clubhouse, Marne suggested the women use the powder room. Once in the women's locker room slash restroom, Marne told Sophia, “I think Spencer likes you. I saw the way he was checking you out.”

At the same time, the guys used the men’s room, and Spenser confided that he was crushing on his new friend. “I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but she is great.”

Steve laughed, “It’s almost three o’clock, you need to ask her to dinner.”

“That seems a little bold,” Spencer said. “Besides, I doubt she’d want to go to a nice place in her golf outfit.”

“Don’t overthink it,” Steve said. “Ask her to dinner. Tell her to go to her hotel room to clean up and then meet her in a couple of hours.”

“We’ll see,” said Spencer.

**

An hour later, after two rounds of drinks, the four were saying goodbye to each other before the Jeffersons made the short drive to their cabin. As Spencer and Sophia took their cart to the parking lot, he decided to ask her out. At her car, as he unstrapped her golf bag, he stopped and looked at her.

“It was great meeting you today. If you don’t have plans, let’s meet for dinner at the Riva Grill,” he said confidently.

Sophia’s smile shone brightly. “I’d like that, thanks, Spencer.”

They started to trade phone numbers, but she grabbed his phone and air-dropped her contact information onto his iPhone.

“Hey, how did you do that?” asked a puzzled Spencer.

Teasing, Sophia said, “I’ll explain it over dinner. I’ll see you at 6:00 pm at Riva.”

**

Spencer went back to his hotel room, took a shower, and was standing in front of his closet wondering what to wear. He didn’t plan to go on a date, so his clothing choices were limited to golf polos, Hawaiian luau shirts, or brewery t-shirts.

He worried that Sophia would get dressed up and he’d look like a bum in shorts and a luau shirt. He decided to text her. “Casual attire. I only have shorts, polos, and Hawaiian shirts.”

Sophia read his text and laughed. “Good. I left my LBD and stilettos at home.”

Spencer waited inside the foyer of the restaurant awaiting Sophia’s arrival. Soon she walked through the door wearing a navy-blue knee-length skirt, a medium blue and white print tunic, and leather sandals. She also wore a light brown leather belt, a wide-brimmed stylish tan hat, and wore an eclectic mix of bracelets on each wrist. She had a very boho vibe.

“Hi, Sophia,” he said.

She raised her arms, gesturing for a hug. As they hugged, she whispered, “You clean up well.”

Minutes later, the two were sitting outside on the large deck, adjacent to Lake Tahoe. The weather was ideal, still about eighty degrees, and there was no wind. They could see across the lake to the Tahoe City and North Shore area. Both commented that there were still small patches of snow in the shady parts of the mountains in early June.

As they chatted over a bottle of wine and appetizers, they recapped the information they had shared about each other while on the golf course. They also discussed some of their hobbies and interests, besides golf and traveling. They both enjoyed going to see live music and dancing, reading, cooking, and were diehard San Francisco 49er faithful.

During dinner, both were flirting with the other. Spencer, at one point, reached across the table. “Give me your hand,” he said. He softly held her hand and continued, “Sophia, I’d love to see you again when we get home.” He gave her hand a soft squeeze and then pulled his hand back across the table.

“I’d love to see you again, too,” she said.

As they finished dinner, Sophia said, “I have to be honest. I’m not staying at a hotel. I have a house here in Tahoe.”

She went on to explain to Spencer that her grandfather built the “cabin,” as the family called it, in the late 1940s. He asked what area of Lake Tahoe, and she said it was near Reagan Beach. She told him that her family would spend the entire month of July in Tahoe, every long holiday weekend, and just over a week after Christmas.

Spencer was familiar with the Regan Beach area as it’s a public park and beach, and a high school friend’s family had a cabin a few blocks from the beach. He recalled how all the original cabins were small two- and three-bedroom one-story cabins on small lots.

Being a gentleman, Spencer walked Sophia to her car in the restaurant parking lot since the sun went down behind the Sierra Nevada Mountains. “I’ve had a great time with you today,” he said.

He leaned in for a hug and was unexpectedly met with Sophia’s lips on his. Spencer was surprised but extremely happy she initiated the first kiss. After several nice lip kisses their tongues were soon waltzing together in each other's mouths. When she sucked on his tongue Spencer softly moaned.

“Why don’t you follow me back to the cabin,” she said.

**

She led him into the well-furnished cabin and said she’d open a bottle of wine, then give him a quick tour of the downstairs- kitchen, dining room, living room, a full bathroom adjacent to a laundry and storage room, and one large bedroom with a full bathroom. “Let me show you the outside,” she said.

Sophia flipped on a couple of light switches and the backyard was illuminated up like a football field. As she opened the double French doors and then stepped out onto the large covered concrete patio, “This is where we spend most of our time during the summer.”

The patio had a large outdoor dining table, two sitting areas for six, each with a gas firepit. “So, who was your grandfather that he could build such a large cabin after the war?”

She stepped over to one of the firepits and turned it on. “Come sit with me,” she said sitting down on the loveseat. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s just say my family has generational wealth. And, I guarantee you will know who my grandfather was.”

“So, is this a family cabin that everyone shares?” he asked.

“It used to be. Eventually, other family members built their own houses up here, or on the coast. I was the only one who expressed interest in the cabin, so my mom and aunts gave it to me about fifteen years ago.”

Spencer still had a thousand questions he’d like to ask her, but he recalled their flirting over dinner now that they were snuggled up on the loveseat outside. They kissed several times when Sophia stopped.

“It’s getting cold out here. Let’s go inside and I’ll show you my bedroom,” she said with a wink. “If you’d like to spend the night.”

“Are you trying to take advantage of me,” he joked.

The End – Chapter One