Page 100

“Seriously?”
As she spoke, I stared at her incredulously.
“What?” I demanded.
“You’re asking what that wasabout?” She closed her eyes and lifted her face toward the ceiling as if asking for patience. It didn’t work. A few seconds later, she was just as irritated as she had been earlier. “Think, James! Your new girlfriend, who is struggling to keep her business open, just walked up and overheard theworstpart of the conversation.”
“Which was?” I turned the conversation over in my head, but I couldn’t think of anything that would cause problems.
Thanks, Zoey. I am grateful to you for designing the dress for her. It was one less thing for me to worry about.
What was wrong with that?
Maybe I’d mentioned her struggling business, but that was stating a fact. Tina was too logical to be upset over a simple statement.
“You aresucha guy,” Zoey said, aggravation in her voice. “You made it sound like you had tohelpher look nice for the event last night, James. How do you think that made her feel?”
“I didn’t say that.” My voice snapped. “It was a formal event, and she’s still scraping by. Do you think she had a formal designer gown hanging around?”
“You don’tneeda designer gown to clean up just fine for a formal event.” Zoey rolled her eyes. Arms crossed over her chest; she glared at me. “Andyou, you big lunkhead, jabbed at her pride. You better fix it.”
“Enough.” The word came out short. “You’re blowing this way out of proportion.”
Her eyes searched mine, and she huffed out a breath. “Be stupid, then.”
As she sailed past me, my phone vibrated. I ignored it. I needed to find Tina—and not because I had to prove Zoey wrong.
I started toward the library, checking each room on the way.
Tina wasn’t in any of them.
By the time I headed to the patio hoping to find her there, I was pissed. Two of my siblings started toward me, only to catch sight of me and stop.
Gianni just arched her brows and turned away.
Scot angled his head to the side. “What’s up?”
“Nothing,” I bit off. “Everything’s fine.”
Everything wasn’t fine, but I didn’t have time to explain.
I took a step to walk past him, then stopped. “Have you seen Tina?”
“Not since the two of you headed inside a little ago.”
With a muttered thanks, I cut a wide path around the lower level of the deck. The family was there, gathering in small groups or lined up to serve themselves from the feast that awaited. Tina was nowhere to be found.
I remembered the rush that went through me when I first saw Tina in that dress. To say she was stunning would be putting it mildly. Zoey’s words came back to haunt me.You jabbed at her pride.
“Horseshit,” I muttered. Tina knew I thought she was gorgeous. I’d sure as hell told her that plenty of times.
Frustrated, I headed to my car. The possibilities of where I might look had run out.
My phone chirped out a notification as my FIAT Spider came into view. Tina’s name appeared on the screen, and I stopped in the middle of the path to open the message.
I had to read it twice before it made sense.
“The fuck?” I scowled and read it a third time.