Page 7 of More Than Friends

Tyson’s eyes skirt over to me for a moment before his gaze snaps back to Charlotte. “Keep the change.”

Charlotte’s eyes go wide as she focuses on removing the bottle caps from the beers. She regains composure as she finishes, meeting both our eyes with a bright smile. “Thank you for the tip, Mr. Bishop.”

Tyson tosses a knowing look in my direction before returning her smile. “Of course.”

“How’s your coffee tasting?” I ask, changing the subject and catching her attention. I need her to stop looking at Tyson and look at me. My chest still burns at the sight of her wearing Teddy’s jacket, and now that she’s smiling at Tyson, I think I might be feeling jealous, and I have no idea why. This is Charlotte.

Luckily for me, she looks away from Tyson, and with her attention on me, I’m finally able to take a deep breath and get rid of the tightness in my chest. “The coffee’s been delicious. I’m trying not to drink it too fast. Thank you again,troll.” She bitesher lip after saying the nickname, clearly amused with herself for continuing to use the name she called me when we were texting earlier.

I place my hand on my chest and pretend to be offended by the nickname. “You’re hurting my feelings, Char. I’m not a troll.”

“How are you both doing today?” she asks as she hands me my beer.

I try not to frown when she focuses on Tyson again.

“Jude’s kicking my ass today.” Tyson laughs as he takes the other beer from Charlotte.

I smirk and try to push away the sudden jealousy I’m feeling when it comes to Charlotte. I lift my shoulder in a shrug. “I’m having a good day.”

Charlotte aims a beaming smile in my direction, and I try to ignore the way my pulse spikes because of it. “Good for you.” She wipes her hands against the fabric of her skirt before clapping her hands together. “Well, I’m going to get on with it. There’s a lot more of you out today than I was expecting.”

“There’s definitely a lot more people here at Pembroke for it not being the busy season yet.”

“Everyone’s in on your secret of how great it is during the off-season,” Charlotte quips.

She slides onto the bev cart seat and gives Tyson and me a wave before leaving.

I’m watching her drive away when Tyson’s deep laugh breaks me from my thoughts.

“What are you laughing at?” I ask, putting my focus on him.

He tucks his free hand into his pocket while using the other to bring the bottle to his lips. “Nothing, Kensington. It was nice of you to be so insistent on tipping yourfriend.”

I narrow my eyes. “She’s told me how cheap people can be here. I knew she wouldn’t take anything from me, but I just wanted to make sure she made good money.”

“Mm-hmm.” Tyson takes one more sip of his beer before setting it in the golf cart’s cup holder.

I roll my eyes and plaster on a smile. “So, are you going to take your shot, or are you going to keep grilling me about being nice to my friend?”

Tyson ignores me and returns to the green to line up his shot.

We don’t see Charlotte again for the rest of the day, and he doesn’t bring her up again. It’s the first time I’ve spent so much time with Tyson, but I like the guy. He comes off quiet and reserved, but he’s cooler than I thought. And he doesn’t want to talk business the entire time or make everything a pissing contest. I’m glad he’s choosing to spend more time at Pembroke Hills. With Cal busy being madly in love with Lucy, and Ryker attached at the hip to Camille, it’s nice to have someone who has a fairly open schedule. Usually, I spend a lot of time with Charlotte, but with this new job, she’s busy working every weekend.

I keep quiet as Tyson lines up his shot. For some reason, I can’t stop thinking about Charlotte in that damn jacket. It shouldn’t bother me that she was wearing Teddy’s jacket, but it did. Add in the way she was smiling at Tyson, and I’m wondering what’s up with me today. I don’t ever get jealous, but that’s exactly what I felt when watching the two of them together.

I scrape my hand over my mouth and wipe all thoughts of Charlotte from my mind. I was up late working, and then seeing her first thing this morning might just be messing with my head.

FIVE

CHARLOTTE

I havea personal vendetta against whoever came up with the saying “when it rains, it pours.” No one should’ve ever spoken that mindset into existence. My day started rough with my coffee spilling all over me, some rude members at the club, and now it’s ending even worse.

“There’s really nothing I can do?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady as I meet my landlord’s eyes.

Devin grimaces for a moment, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation we’re having. “I’m sorry, Charlotte. You know how it goes. I found last-minute renters who can pay full price to rent the apartment for the summer. With it being so close to the busy season, I thought maybe you could keep your discounted rate for the summer, but this is too good an offer to pass up.”

I nod, trying to keep my lip from trembling as I look at the ceiling for a moment. I don’t want to make Devin feel any worse than he already does. He’s got a wife and a two-year-old at home to take care of. It isn’t fair of me to ask him to turn down a lot of money just so I don’t have to find a new place to live for the summer. He needs to take the long-term rental tenants that can pay the full price; I just don’t know what I’m going to do.