Page 46 of Trick or Tease

GARRETT

S abrina’s parting message was pretty fucking clear. She wanted nothing to do with me, and honestly, I couldn’t blame her. I screwed up so badly I wasn’t sure there was any coming back from it.

The cleanup was winding down around me. Most of the volunteers had already headed home, leaving just family and the core group to handle the heavy lifting.

I spotted Lucy near the food vendor booths, stacking empty boxes and folding up tables. Her fairy wings were long gone, and her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, but she still had that glow of someone who just pulled off something amazing.

I walked over to her with my hands shoved deep in my pockets. “Lucy?”

She looked up, and I saw her expression shift from tired satisfaction to something more guarded. Not hostile like Sabrina but definitely cautious.

“Hey, Garrett. Hell of a night, huh?”

“Yeah. Listen, I was wondering, did you talk to Sabrina at all? After everything that happened with Ron?”

Lucy straightened up, brushing dust off her hands. She studied my face for a moment, and I could see her weighing how much to tell me.

“I did,” she said finally.

“And?”

Lucy sighed. The sound was full of sympathy that somehow made me feel worse. “I’m sorry, Garrett. I really am. But I think it might be a lost cause.”

The words hurt, even though they weren’t entirely unexpected. “She’s that pissed?”

“She’s hurt,” Lucy corrected. “And yeah, she’s pissed too. Really pissed. She feels like you betrayed her trust, and for Sabrina, trust isn’t something she gives easily, especially once it’s broken.” She gave a helpless shrug.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I fucked up, Lucy. I know that. But what happened with Ron, tearing up that contract—doesn’t that count for anything?”

“It should,” she said gently. “And maybe someday it will. She thinks you were manipulating her while you planned to sell the farm the whole time.”

“That’s not what happened,” I said desperately. “I wanted to know how much the farm was worth, but that had nothing to do with all the help I did around here. I wasn’t manipulating anyone. I genuinely wanted you all to succeed.”

“I know. You asked, I told you.”

Later, Billy and I sat on the back porch, sharing what had to be our third or fourth beer of the night. The October air had gotten colder, but neither of us seemed inclined to go inside. We were both exhausted, running on adrenaline and the satisfaction of pulling off something incredible.

“I can’t believe we actually did it,” Billy said, taking a long pull from his bottle. “Did you see the line of cars still leaving at midnight? People didn’t want to go home.”

I nodded, feeling a deep satisfaction I hadn’t experienced in years. “It was amazing. You should be proud of what you built here.”

“What we built,” Billy corrected, clinking his bottle against mine. “And thank you. For standing up to Ron tonight. For choosing us over money and your job. I know that couldn’t have been easy.”

I stared out at the dark fields, feeling the weight of what I’d almost done.

“I’m sorry, Billy. I’m so fucking sorry I even considered selling this place.

Seven million dollars seemed like this incredible opportunity, and I thought I was looking out for everyone’s future. But I was just being a coward.”

“A coward?”

“I was scared,” I admitted. “Scared that staying here meant giving up everything I worked for in the city. Scared that I wasn’t cut out for this kind of life anymore. The money felt like an easy way out.”

Billy was quiet for a moment, processing that.

“I get it, you know. The money was tempting. More money than any of us have ever seen. But this place?” He gestured around us at the farm.

“This isn’t just about money for me. It’s about building something that matters. Something that brings people together.”

“I can see that now,” I said. “Tonight, watching those families having the time of their lives, seeing how proud everyone was of what we accomplished, I remembered why I used to love this place.”

“Think you could love it again?” Billy asked quietly. “For real this time? Not just for a season, but for good?”

I thought about that question. A month ago, the answer would have been an immediate no. But now? Now I could picture myself here, working alongside Billy, maybe setting up a small law practice in town to help locals deal with the kind of corporate bullshit I had been dishing out for years.

“Yeah,” I said, surprising myself with how certain I sounded. “I think I could.”

Billy grinned. “Good. Because I’m going to need all the help I can get if we’re going to make next year even bigger.”

We talked for another hour about plans for the future, improvements we could make, ways to expand without losing the charm that made this place special. By the time Billy finally headed inside, I felt more optimistic about my future than I had in years.

But sleep wouldn’t come.

I lay in my childhood bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to process everything that had happened.

In the span of one evening, I had blown up my entire career.

Telling off Ron had felt pretty damn good, and if I was being honest, it wasn’t just about the contract.

It was the result of years of being overlooked.

I was so frustrated with the asshole for not giving me the kudos I felt like I deserved.

I knew I probably burned every bridge I had built in the legal world.

Ron wasn’t kidding when he said he would make sure I never worked in corporate law again.

It was a huge network but also a very small world.

Going out in such spectacular fashion was going to have far-reaching repercussions.

Ron was right when he said it would reach California.

I knew it would. I didn’t have the kind of connections he did.

I might be able to salvage some of my reputation, but no firm was going to hire me. No client would trust me.

My future in Manhattan was done.

And for some reason, I was having a hard time feeling bad about that. I was going to have to give up my apartment. The expensive suits I paid for weren’t going to have much use out here.

The car.

The fucking gym membership. My life there was so far removed from my life here. Was I really going to live with my brother and what I assumed would be his wife very soon? Sleep in my childhood bedroom?

I was going to need a new bed. I was done with the small bed.

And it was time to redecorate.

I looked around the room and almost laughed. People at the firm would never believe where I landed. They would laugh their asses off by how far I had fallen.

The strange thing was, I didn’t care. Not about the job, not about the money, not about the prestige I spent years chasing. All of that felt hollow now, meaningless compared to what I found here.

What I cared about was Sabrina. The way she looked at me tonight when she told me Ron was at the farm was brutal. She hated me. I disappointed her in ways I never thought possible.

The way she had driven past me during cleanup, flipping me off without even slowing down told me everything I needed to know. I was dead to her.

I hurt her. Badly. And I didn’t know if she would ever forgive me for it.

But I had to try.

The truth was, everything that had happened had shown me exactly what mattered most. Not my career, not making partner at some soulless firm, not impressing people who didn’t give a shit about anything but billable hours and profit margins.

Sabrina mattered. The way she laughed when she was genuinely happy. The way she threw herself into everything she cared about with complete passion. The way she looked at me in that upstairs room like I was someone worth believing in.

Damn, I missed her. I missed touching her. And obviously I missed the sex. But it was so much more than that.

I needed that woman. There was a good chance she would never speak to me again. Even being neighbors.

I thought about all the dreams for the farm and her vision for what this place could become. I had let her talk all while knowing what I was considering.

No wonder she hated me.

But I wasn’t the man she thought I was. Not anymore. Maybe I never really had been deep down. Maybe I had just been playing a role for so long that I had forgotten who I really was underneath all the expensive suits and corporate ambition.

The man I really was loved this place. Loved the community, the traditions, the simple satisfaction of hard work and honest living. The man I really was had fallen completely, desperately in love with a stubborn, passionate woman who deserved so much better than the secrets I had been keeping.

I had to find a way to show her that. Not with grand gestures or expensive gifts but with actions. With time. With the kind of patient, consistent effort that proved I was serious about changing.

I rolled over and looked at the photos on my wall, all those pictures of us as kids, young and innocent and full of dreams. In every single one where Sabrina appeared, she was smiling. That bright, genuine smile that could light up a room.

I wanted to see that smile again. Directed at me. I wanted to earn it back.

It was going to take time. Sabrina was nothing if not stubborn, and I had given her every reason not to trust me. But I wasn’t going anywhere. For the first time in my adult life, I knew exactly where I belonged.

Now I just had to convince the woman I loved to let me stay.

After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, I finally gave up on sleep around five-thirty in the morning. My mind was racing with possibilities, with plans, with the desperate need to fix what I had broken. I knew what I had to do.

I threw on jeans and a T-shirt and padded down the hall to Billy’s room. Without bothering to knock, I burst through the door like the house was on fire.

“Billy! Wake up, I need your help.”

My brother groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. “Go away, Garrett.”

“No. I have to talk to you.”

“What time is it?”

“It doesn’t matter. I have an idea. A really good idea.” I was practically bouncing on my feet with nervous energy. “But I need you to help me pull it off.”

Billy peeked out from under the pillow, one eye barely open. “Can this wait until I’ve had coffee? Like, a lot of coffee?”

“No, it can’t wait. This is important. This is about Sabrina.”

That got his attention. He sat up slightly, his hair sticking up at odd angles. “What about Sabrina?”

“I need to show her that I’m serious about staying. I have to prove to her that I’m choosing this life. And her.” The words came tumbling out in a rush. “But it has to be perfect. It has to prove that I understand what really matters.”

Billy rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Okay, but seriously, dude. Coffee first. I can’t process grand romantic gestures without caffeine.”

I was too wired to wait, too afraid that if I stopped moving I would lose my nerve. “I’ll make the coffee. Just get dressed and meet me downstairs. Trust me on this. I know exactly what I need to do.”

I was already heading for the door before he could respond, my mind spinning with details and logistics. This had to work. It was my only shot at proving to Sabrina that I wasn’t the same man who almost sold her dreams out from under her.

I took the stairs two at a time. Despite having no sleep, it felt like I already consumed twelve pots of coffee. After spending a whole night thinking about what I needed to do, I was pretty sure I finally had a plan.