Chapter 20
Sabrina
There are some lines that I’ve sworn to myself I’ll never cross.
But I’ve never been backed into a corner like this before, and I’ve never felt like a task was as impossible as figuring out what Chandler loves.
My mom doesn’t have a clue.
Grandpa doesn’t know.
Laney gaped at me when I asked her.
The triplets fell all over themselves stuttering golf and cars and hating Theo , none of which can give us an actual plan of revenge for Grey. Even if Chandler’s favorite golf course would let us paint Chandler is an asshole on the side of a golf cart, that’s probably not sufficient.
I won’t bother Emma with this. Absolutely not.
I’m five days into Grey’s challenge to me to find anything else he can use against Chandler, and I have nothing .
“What did Chandler do to him?” I whisper to Zen while we’re watching the local fridge repair person finally tackle the leak while our local drywall guy fixes the dent in the wall behind the fridge where it nearly rolled into the bathroom during the cheese incident.
Which is the only thing I can bring myself to call it.
“Not my story to tell,” they reply.
“But you’ll share anyway,” I say confidently. “It’s in his best interest. I can’t be fully effective at my job if I don’t know all of the circumstances that led to this assignment.”
“Uncle Grey loves puzzles. He’s given you all the clues you get to solve this one. By the way, warn a person next time they’re about to eat chewy soap .”
“I tried. You weren’t looking at me.”
“Try harder.”
“Is there any chance he’ll give up this dream of being Super Vengeance Man and just let us keep running Bean & Nugget as it is?”
They sigh and make a pucker face. “You know he’s rich as fuck, right?”
If I could gag with my eyeballs at how much I don’t care about the size of his bank account, I would.
They actually grin back, but sober quickly.
“Very, very worst case for Uncle Grey financially is that this place turns into a big ol’ tax break.
You can’t buy it off of him. If I can’t talk him out of it, there’s zero chance that you can talk him out of it.
And if you don’t give him something real, he will slap a bee the size of a freaking school bus on the side of this building without a moment’s hesitation. ”
“He can do that and still let us keep the café.”
“I heard Emma was the rose-colored glasses one of your group.”
I wince.
They make the pucker face again. “Sorry, Sabrina. Can’t help you.
And I say that as someone who’s also listening to all of the gossip to see if I can find another way, and as someone who’s done all of the market research that supports the idea that a kombucha bar would be more popular here than you think it would.
Tell me the ski tourists who stay here because it’s cheaper than the resorts twenty minutes away wouldn’t pack the place every night. ”
They have a point, and I have definitely picked up on the vibe that this renovation is more than petty justice. That Zen’s smart and Grey’s usually smart but hurt, and they could make something fabulous out of their kombucha bar.
So knowing that Grey has a beef against Chandler that won’t be satisfied by anything less than destroying something of Chandler’s, that they have a solid plan for making this place a success later, and that sex won’t convince Grey to let me keep my café, it’s time for the last idea I have.
I can either cross a line that I never would’ve considered crossing since the day I was born, or I can watch the café that’s been my entire life’s purpose wither away and die.
So line-crossing it is.
He said he wanted to see me play dirty.
This is as dirty as I can go and still live with myself.
I do it at Laney’s house while Jitter waits for me outside so that my neighbors won’t have any chance of overhearing me through the walls. Laney and Theo are elsewhere, so I have the house to myself aside from their litter of kittens.
Then Jitter and I head home, where I fix myself an afternoon pour-over coffee, turn on the Razzle Dazzle channel for comforting background noise—it’s showing a movie that Laney, Emma, and I have seen so much, I can recite it by heart—and I text her.
Sabrina: It’s done.
Laney: HUGS, my friend. Go well?
Sabrina: Better than expected.
Laney: Good!
Sabrina: Maybe?
Laney: You think he’ll find out?
Sabrina: Definitely. The question is HOW SOON he’ll find out. If the café isn’t shut down with a massive SAbrINA SULLIVAN IS THE BIGGEST LINE-CROSSING ASSHOLE IN THE UNIVERSE sign spray-painted in the windows by the end of the week, we’ll have half our answer.
Laney: When did you hang up?
Sabrina: Twenty minutes ago.
Laney: You’re not fired yet?
Sabrina: Nope.
Laney: Then I’m trusting your instincts that this was the right step. What’s next?
Sabrina: Waiting to hear. I’ll keep you updated.
Laney: You okay?
Sabrina: No.
Laney: Does it help if I remind you that your complicated feelings and hesitation in doing this mean you’re a good person without a lot of other options to protect something you love that serves a massive purpose in our community?
Sabrina: You are entirely too loyal.
Laney: Nope. Just completely correct in my convictions.
Sabrina: Have you seen Emma this week?
Laney: *frowny emoji* No, and Theo thinks she might be sleeping at her office.
Sabrina: He’s seen her?
Laney: Briefly.
Sabrina: This is bad.
Laney: He’s been taking her breakfast to make sure she eats, and she keeps telling him she has a lot of work to catch up on.
Sabrina: I’ll take her a pretzel from Sir Pretzelot tomorrow afternoon.
Laney: Good idea. She’s definitely working tomorrow. I had chicken wings delivered to her for dinner, and Theo told me her dad and uncle are checking in on her regularly too. And I know at least three of her clients have brought her giant food baskets.
Sabrina: I…didn’t hear that. OH MY GOD. No one’s talking to me about Emma AT ALL except for you. Are they tiptoeing around me? Do they think I’m awful?
Laney: NO. No. Stop. Deep breath. No one thinks you’re awful. They think you have enough on your plate right now.
Sabrina: No one has ever kept me in the dark like this. I haven’t heard a single WHISPER about Emma in the café. Not about anything since the wedding and the video. They only ask me how she is. They don’t tell me how she’s doing.
Laney: I’m coming over.
Sabrina: I’ll go see my mom.
Laney: I’ll meet you at her place.
Sabrina: I’m trying really hard to tell you not to worry about me and I can’t make myself say it. I don’t fall apart, Laney. Why am I falling apart?
Laney: Because shit’s fucking tough right now.
Sabrina: I love sweary Laney, in case you didn’t know. Sweary Laney is a bright spot in my day.
Laney: Apparently I’ve had a few special words bottled up for a while now. Feels good to let them out.
Sabrina: And I’m sure Theo rewards your efforts appropriately.
Laney: I wasn’t going to rub it in. Are you staying home or going to your mom’s?
Sabrina: I’m going to Mom’s.
Laney: Meet you there.
Sabrina: I’ll pick you up. Theo’s bad side is the last place I can afford to be right now.
Laney: I won’t let him be mad at you.
Sabrina: I sincerely don’t know what I did to deserve you.
Laney: YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON, SAbrINA SULLIVAN. That’s what you did. Don’t let having to fight hard for what should’ve been yours in the first place make you doubt that.
Sabrina: You spelled “dirty” wrong.
Laney: You’re not fighting dirty. You’re fighting hard. And you’re not alone, no matter what you have to do. HE could solve this by finding a different way to get revenge on Chandler, and we don’t even know what Chandler did to him. This is not your fault and you’re doing what you need to do.
Sabrina: Stop. You’re making my eyeballs leak. Sit tight. I’m coming to get you and then Mom and I’m treating you both to dinner. No arguments. I have to balance out my karma in the universe.
Laney: Your karma’s already balanced, but if this is what you need, I’m here for you.