She lights up when she sees me. “Isaac!”
“Hey, Bishop.”
“You made it. I was worried there,” she says and frowns. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“There was a hiccup in the building of our Barbados resort that needed my attention,” I say, shaking my head. “But it’s been ironed out. Mostly.”
“You were just in Barbados?”
“Yes, briefly. We’re almost finished building.”
“I know,” she says, nodding slowly. “I’ve done my research about that. But I didn’t mean to pull you away from work, Isaac. If you need to be somewhere else, you know, you’re free to go.”
She says my name easily, rolls it off her tongue like we’ve known each other a lifetime.
“I promised I’d be here.”
“Isaac…” she says.
I hear what she’s not saying. That it would’ve been okay, that she would’ve understood, that she never meant for me to go to these lengths.But I wanted to,I think.I will never be the one to let you down.
I clear my throat. “So, what’s the score?”
“The first set of matches has been played. All their scores are being recorded over there.” She nods to a giant chalkboard on wheels, complete with drawn brackets of teams. All of them are listed, and there’s a clear path to the two empty spots in the center.
“We’re playing the second round of starters.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And who are we playing?”
“Them,” she says grimly. “Percy knows the guy who runs the club pretty well.”
“Ah,” I say. So he’d made sure he would play his ex-wife. I flex my hand and reach into my bag, gripping the handle of my racket. I can’t wait to beat him.
Sophia takes a deep breath. “I think we should’ve practiced together beforehand,” she says.
“We could’ve,” I say and regret not having that idea myself. It would have been another reason to spend time with her.
“I emailed your assistant about it,” she said. “With some proposed dates. But I think you were busy on all of them.”
I pause. “You did?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know about that.”
“Oh, well, I thought maybe you didn’t.”
“You could have called me,” I say. “Or texted.”
“I didn’t want to overstep. You’re busy,” she says and reaches for her own racquet. “Besides, I’m already grateful for your help with this.”
“You came with me to the Montauk party,” I say. “You kissedme in front of my ex.”
A faint blush creeps up her cheeks. “I did, yeah.”