14. Tyson
FOURTEEN
TYSON
“Why do you keep looking around?” Jude Kensington asks as he takes a seat next to me at the banquet table.
I pull my gaze from the entrance of Pembroke’s ballroom and focus on Jude instead. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He lifts an eyebrow as he holds a crystal champagne flute to his lips. “I mean, you keep looking around at everyone at the party as if you’re looking for someone. I want to know who you’re looking for.”
I scoff as I shift in my chair. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just looking around to see who I recognize here. I don’t frequent Pembroke as much as you do, remember?”
Jude’s quiet for a moment, but the cocky smirk that he wears tells me he doesn’t believe me at all. “Mm-hmm, sure. You’re looking for someone; I’m just trying to figure out who.”
“I don’t hear from you for a month, which I understand why since you were figuring out how to be a father in that time, and then you suddenly come back and start grilling me about looking for someone in a room? Maybe I should be grilling you more instead.”
His grin only gets wider. During the offseason, I visited the Hamptons to get a feel for whether I liked it here enough to buy.
During that time, I hung out at Pembroke and with Jude.
We were just striking up a friendship when all of a sudden, he stopped answering my texts and calls.
Come to find out, he’d found out that he was a father, and in the time since we last spoke, he also fell in love with his best friend, Charlotte.
Jude chuckles, his gaze moving to where Charlotte is standing, talking to Lucy and Winnie. They all dote over the baby in Charlotte’s arms—Jude’s daughter, Ava. “You know why I liked you from the very beginning?” Jude asks, his gaze still focused on Charlotte and his daughter.
“Because of my sparkling personality?”
He chuckles. “No. Because you weren’t nosy. You didn’t ask questions like everyone else does. You mind your own business. I like that about you, Bishop.”
I cock my head to the side. “Then why aren’t you minding your own business when it comes to me?”
Jude finally looks away from the girls and focuses on me. Like always, he wears a wide smile. “That’s the thing about me. Everyone knows I don’t mind my own business. So, tell me why you keep looking around the room with a scowl? Who are you looking for, and what did they do to make you mad?”
I frown because I hate how easily he’s read me.
It’s been days since my dinner with Josie, and I haven’t seen her once.
She was clear about needing to work instead of spending time with me, but there was a part of me that figured I might see her outside or that she might stop by.
She hasn’t. And never once did I imagine finding myself wishing her cat would escape to my house again, yet I keep sitting on my porch, hoping that Mouse makes a great escape.
And in the time when I haven’t been waiting for a Josie sighting at her house, I’ve been at the club, hoping she pops up here. Part of me was hoping she’d show up to the welcome party this evening—hence, me constantly looking around the room—but so far, it doesn’t seem like she’s going to be here.
Fingers snapping in front of my face pull me from my thoughts. Jude pulls his hand back and rests it on my shoulder instead. “I’m not going to pry anymore tonight, but good luck with whatever’s going on, Bishop.” He pushes himself out of the chair and walks over to Charlotte and his daughter.
I can’t help but smile at the way Ava lights up the moment she sees her dad. It’s adorable.
“Having fun tonight?” my sister asks. I hadn’t realized she’d walked over, but she takes the seat Jude was just in and watches me closely.
“I am. What about you?”
Winnie gives me a soft smile as she looks around the room. “Of course I’m having fun. But I attend these kinds of things more than you do.”
“You don’t have to check on me,” I tell her, not missing how there’s a tiny bit of concern in her voice. I don’t know why it’s there. Just because I don’t always choose to attend events like this doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them when I actually do make an appearance.
Winnie sighs as she sits back in her chair. “It’s not that I’m checking in on you. I just want to make sure you’re enjoying your time here since I’m the one who convinced you to start visiting in the first place.”
I rub my lips together as memories of my dinner with Josie pop into my mind.
I really enjoyed my time with her the other night.
I enjoyed myself so much that I can’t stop thinking about her, no matter how much I know I probably shouldn’t be.
She was clear that she was here in the Hamptons to write and not to get to know her neighbor.
That still didn’t stop me from hoping she might change her mind.
“I wouldn’t have bought a house here if I wasn’t enjoying my time. Stop worrying about your older brother and have fun, Win. I promise, I’m fine.”
Winnie narrows her eyes at me and gives me a look that only a sister can. “If you say so. Want to go get a drink with me? Mine’s empty, and I could use a refill.”
I nod and stand up. “I could use another too.” My eyes scan the room once again, hoping maybe I’d see a familiar blonde in the mix of bodies.
Josie’s nowhere in sight, so I follow my sister over to the table of champagne flutes and pretend that a woman I just met isn’t the only thing on my mind this evening.
This is probably a bad idea. I don’t know what compelled me to walk over to Josie’s house after getting home from Pembroke’s welcome party, but I find myself staring at her front door, wondering if I should knock or not.
I look down at the small box in my hands before looking back up at the door. Technically, I could just leave it here and hope that she finds it soon.
But I don’t want it to go bad. What if she doesn’t notice it for a while?
I could knock and quickly hand it to her, but what if she’s already asleep? I opted to leave the welcome party rather early, so it isn’t too late, but if she spent all day working, there’s a possibility she’s already in bed.
A loud meowing on the other side of the door makes my eyes go wide.
Mouse.
He meows again, this one louder and more demanding.
I look over my shoulder, wondering if I should just drop the box and leave. The last thing I want is for Josie to find me standing on her porch without knocking or announcing my presence. I don’t want her to think that I’m creepy.
Another loud meow comes from the door, and then, all of a sudden, the door opens slightly.
“See, Mouse, there’s nothing out here…” There’s a pause as Josie’s eyes meet mine. “Tyson?” My name comes out as a question. She blinks and rubs her eyes for a moment before meeting my gaze once again.
I hold the box in one hand and scratch the back of my neck with the other. “Hi,” I mutter, looking down at the ground for a moment as my entire face feels like it’s on fire.
Josie opens the door a fraction of an inch wider, her gaze pinned on me with an unreadable expression. She wears a pair of baby blue shorts and a matching shirt, the outfit looking like a pair of pajamas. “What are you doing here?”
I swallow, wondering what to say. I’ve given her space for a few days now in hopes she’d seek me out to spend some time together, but she never did.
My only goal tonight was to drop off the box with her and leave, but now that I’ve been caught creepily standing at her doorstep, I don’t know exactly how to explain myself.
“I, um…” I lift the box in the air to show it off. “I brought you cake.”