Page 40 of Trick or Tease

GARRETT

I sat on the back porch with Billy, nursing my second beer and listening to him talk about tomorrow’s plans with an enthusiasm that reminded me of when we were kids.

The October air was crisp but not uncomfortable.

After the busy day, the cold air felt good.

The stars were brilliant overhead, the kind of night that made you forget about city lights and deadlines.

“So I got three more kids from the football team to play zombies in the pumpkin patch,” Billy was saying.

He took another long drag from his beer.

“They’re going to hide behind the hay bales and jump out when families walk through.

Nothing too scary for the little ones, just enough to get some screams. We’re going to stay open until midnight so I’m expecting older teens and young people to be out here.

And they’re going to want to be properly scared. We’re going to take it up a notch.”

I nodded, taking another sip of beer. “That sounds perfect. You’ve really thought of everything.”

“I want to go out with a bang, you know? Tomorrow’s Halloween—our last big night. I want people talking about this for months.” He leaned forward in his chair, gesturing with his bottle. “And Garrett, man, I think we took in around ten grand tonight. Ten thousand dollars in one day!”

I watched his face as he said it, saw the pure joy there. Ten grand was probably more money than Billy had seen at one time in years. In my world, it was peanuts, but here? Here it was everything.

“That’s incredible, Billy. You should be proud.”

“ We should be proud,” he corrected, clinking his bottle against mine. “None of this would have happened without you. The business structure, the insurance, the marketing angle—all of it. You made this real.”

I stared out at the dark fields, feeling the weight of the contracts hidden upstairs in my room.

Billy had no idea that while he was counting tonight’s earnings and planning tomorrow’s finale, I was sitting on paperwork that could end all of it.

Seven point two million dollars. More money than he’d ever dreamed of, enough to set him and Lucy up for life.

But also enough to destroy everything he’d built here.

“You really love this, don’t you?” I asked quietly.

“Love it?” Billy laughed. “Man, I haven’t felt this alive in years.

You know what the best part is? It’s not even the money, though God knows we need it.

It’s seeing families having fun, kids getting scared in the best way, couples holding hands on the hayride.

We’re creating memories for people. I would bet there will be at least three marriages this time next year. All because they got together here.”

I nodded, remembering the way his face had lit up earlier when a little girl told him our haunted house was the “best thing ever.” He’d practically glowed for an hour afterward.

“And Lucy?” I prompted.

“What about her?”

“What does she think about doing this kind of thing every year? It’s a lot of work. And it ties you to this place. What happens when you get married and have your own family? Isn’t it going to be hard to keep up with all of this?”

His grin got even wider. “She’s amazing.

She loves all of this. You should see her with the customers.

She’s got this natural way of making everyone feel welcome.

And the way she’s thrown herself into all the planning and setup.

..” He shook his head. “I’m going to marry that girl, Garrett.

As soon as we get through this season and I can afford a proper ring. ”

I took a deep breath, knowing I was about to shatter the easy contentment of this moment. But Billy deserved to know. He deserved the choice.

“Billy, I need to run something by you.”

“What’s up?”

I opened my mouth to explain about the appraisal, about Ron’s call, about the offer that could change everything. But before I could get the words out, the back door burst open with a bang that made us both jump.

Sabrina stood there, her face flushed with fury, her eyes blazing. In her hand was a thick stack of papers that made my stomach drop to my feet.

“Run this by him,” she said, her voice deadly calm as she thrust the contract toward Billy.

My heart stopped. The sales contract. The one I’d hidden under my pillow, thinking it would be safe until I figured out how to handle this. How the hell had she gotten it?

Billy took the papers with a confused frown, his eyes scanning the first page. I watched his expression change as he read, saw the exact moment comprehension dawned. His face went from confusion to shock to something that looked like betrayal.

“Let me explain,” I said quickly, standing up from my chair. “It’s not what it looks like.”

But Billy kept reading, his jaw getting tighter with each line. When he finally looked up at me, his eyes were cold in a way I’d never seen before.

“You went behind my back?” His voice was quiet, but there was hurt underneath that cut deeper than any shouting would have.

“I was just exploring options,” I said, hating how weak it sounded even to my own ears. “I wanted to know what we were dealing with before?—”

“Before what?” Billy stood up, the contract clutched in his fist. “Before you sold my home out from under me? Before you destroyed everything we’ve built here?”

“It’s seven point two million dollars, Billy,” I said desperately. “Do you understand what that means? You could buy Lucy any ring you wanted. You could buy her a house, start fresh anywhere you wanted. You would never have to worry about money again.”

“I don’t want to start fresh somewhere else!” Billy’s voice cracked with emotion. “This is my home! This is our life! I thought you understood that!”

Sabrina was standing in the doorway like an avenging angel, her arms crossed, watching this whole scene unfold with an expression of pure disgust directed at me.

“I was going to tell you,” I said, reaching toward Billy. “That’s what I was about to do when?—”

“When what? When you’d already set everything in motion? When you’d already had the property appraised and found a buyer?” Billy shook his head, backing away from me. “I trusted you, Garrett. I trusted you with my future, with Lucy’s future. I thought you were here to help us.”

The pain in his voice was like a physical blow. “I am here to help you. This could be the best thing that ever happened to you. Seven million dollars, Billy. Think about what that could mean.”

“I know what it means,” Billy said, his voice getting louder. “It means my big brother came home pretending to care about our family business while secretly planning to sell it to the highest bidder. It means everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve dreamed about, means nothing to you.”

“That’s not true?—”

“Isn’t it?” Billy’s eyes were bright with anger. “You’ve been lying to me since you got here. Lying to all of us. Making us think you cared about this place, about what we were building.”

I glanced at Sabrina, hoping for some kind of support, but her expression was arctic. She looked at me like I was something she’d scraped off her shoe.

“I do care,” I said, my voice breaking slightly. “More than you know. But I also care about your future, about giving you real security instead of depending on whether the weather cooperates or the corn maze doesn’t flood.”

“That’s not your decision to make!” Billy shouted, finally losing his composure completely.

“It’s my life! My choice! And you took that away from me the minute you called that appraiser without telling me.

You haven’t been here. Don’t act like you give a shit about what we do here.

You’re all high and mighty now. This shit doesn’t matter to you.

I get that, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to take it away from us! ”

“Billy, I didn’t make any decisions. I got the offer and I was going to talk to you about it.”

“Bullshit! You already have this thing signed, sealed, and delivered. Were you even going to give me a dime? Maybe I would just wake up one day and find out I was homeless and jobless. What about Mom and Dad? Did you even think about them?”

“That’s exactly who I’m thinking about! All of you. This money isn’t that big of a deal to me, but it would change all of your lives. You could do anything. Go anywhere. You and Lucy could go to school?—”

“Not all of us want to be corporate drones,” he hissed.

“Not just school. A home. Security. Vacations and reliable vehicles.”

He shook his head. “That’s your dream. Not mine. You’re basically saying all of us that appreciate the basic things in life are just waiting for some dude to come along and save us from our lives.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“You think Mom and Dad busted their asses most of their lives, and Dad’s parents and their parents, just to have you come along and sell it because it would be easier? Fuck that. You don’t know anything about us. You don’t have to like this place, but it’s ours. I’ll buy you out.”

I bit my tongue to keep from telling him he couldn’t buy me out. He couldn’t afford it. Especially given the appraisal. But that was the lawyer side of me.

“Billy, there haven’t been any decisions. I wanted to talk to you about this. About what it would mean for you and Mom and Dad. They could travel the world instead of limiting themselves to where they can drive. They can stay in nice hotels or take a cruise.”

I felt his disgust. Sabrina was staring at me like I was a complete stranger.

He crumpled the contract in his hands and threw it at my feet. “I trusted you,” he said again, quieter now but somehow more devastating. “I trusted you.”

Then he stormed into the house, leaving me standing there with the wadded-up contract at my feet and the weight of what I’d just destroyed settling over me like a suffocating blanket.

I looked at Sabrina, desperate for something. Understanding, forgiveness, anything. But she just shook her head slowly.

“You’re exactly who I thought you were when you first came back,” she said, her voice flat. “I just forgot for a while. I guess you’re good at that. All that lawyering just taught you how to be a snake. Good job. You get an A for being the biggest asshole I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

I opened my mouth but she held up a hand.

“Don’t. Don’t say anything. It doesn’t matter.

You’re a real piece of work, Garrett. I hope you sleep better at night in your fancy apartment.

You can rest your big ass head on a stack of money.

I honestly wish you never came back. I wish like hell we never went to Manhattan.

Believe it or not, we were all perfectly happy without you.

We moved on, Garrett. Without you. Go back to your life. Forget you ever saw us.”

Then she turned and followed Billy into the house, leaving me alone on the porch.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. I wasn’t sure that could have gone any worse.