I clear my throat. “You’re here with Scarlett?”
“It’s a benefit,” he says and smiles like I’ve caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. “You need to go with a date, or it’s unbearable. You’re here with someone. Isaac Winter, Soph?”
“Yes.”
His smile doesn’t falter, but there’s something tense around his eyes. “I didn’t know you two knew one another.”
“We met recently,” I say, and then I look over in the direction of the bar. Like I can’twaitfor Isaac to return. I make my eyes doe-y, forcing them to sparkle so damn hard I should win an Oscar. “He’s… quite the man.”
The smile slips from Percy’s face. “He’s too old for you.”
I chuckle. “Don’t be ridiculous. What’s five years?”
“How’d you two meet?”
My mind casts about.Work.But that wouldn’t sound believable. He knows how much I care about my career, and that I wouldn’t do anything to risk it.
God knows we’d fought about it enough.
“At the club,” I say, “playing tennis.”
Percy’s eyebrows rise. “At Grandview?”
“Yes.”
“I thought the Winters preferred the Whitebridge. They’ve never had memberships at Grand.”
I chuckle. It sounds shrill, even to me. “Oh, I don’t know about that. We haven’t been dating for long, but it’s… oh. Welcome back.”
Isaac wraps an arm around my waist. I lean into it, into him—the man I’ve never shared more than a handshake with before. His body is a firm wall beside mine. “For you,” he says and hands me a glass of champagne.
I give him a warm smile. “Thank you.”
The hand at my waist tightens in response, and then he looks over at Percy. “Hello, Browne.”
“Winter,” Percy says. “It’s been years.”
“Yes it has, hasn’t it?” Isaac takes a long sip of champagne. “How have you been?”
“Good, good. Just the usual.” Percy’s eyes drift to mine. “Soph was just telling me how you two met at the club, playing tennis. I didn’t know you went to Grandview.”
Isaac shrugs. “My usual courts were being refurbished, and the Grandview’s are passable.”
“Yes,” Percy says. His jaw looks tight. “Passable indeed. The hardcourts were just refinished, and the squash courts were repainted last winter.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’ve already seen it, Soph, but there’s a doubles tournament for members next weekend.” There’s a challenge in Percy’s eyes, one I recognize well. “If you two already play, you should join in.”
“Next weekend?” Isaac asks. There’s polite disdain in his tone; one like he’s making conversation because it’s expected of him, but he has no interest in the topic.
It’s glorious.
“Yes,” Percy says. “I’m playing with Scarlett. It’d be fun if you two joined in. You always liked a good contest, Soph.”
The edges of my vision turn hazy with anger. “Why not?” I say. “Isaac and I love to play. We’ll see if we can make it.”
“Great,” Percy says.