Page 70 of Sugar & Shadows

I sighed. Yeah, I saw her game. The woman would sooner take the town down with her than admit she may not have the answer. While it was common knowledge that she was hell-bent on recalling Gabe, by the way she was looking at me now, it was safe to say I’d made it onto her hit list too.

“Oh Bitsy,” I said sweetly. “Good luck with that. Much meaner, richer, and smarter people than you have been trying to take me down for years.”

I turned and walked away.

“And yet I’m still here.”

Chapter 19

Gabe

The meeting was hostile, but not more so than I was used to these days.

As time went on, it had gotten easier to stomach them. I was starting to let go, to detach.

I didn’t care what Bitsy said. And my comment about not caring about the recall results was 100 percent true. At this point, I owed this town my best work, and if that only lasted another month, then so be it.

Was I distracted by Sabrina? Yes.

She looked incredibly sexy tonight. Not that I’d ever tell her that.

She was decked out in all black, of course, her dress so formfitting I could see the spot where her hip curved into her waist. A spot I’d held on to while I was fucking her.

God, I was an asshole. The very kind of guy I’d always worked hard not to be.

How dare I have sexual thoughts about a woman who was here working her ass off to help us?

She was doing an incredible job presenting data and plans, shining a light on the hard work of others, and answering questions seamlessly.

People were excited. The town was energized for once.

I’d spent my early years in competition with her, though I hadn’t gone about it respectfully at all. My childhood had been easy. People had always liked me. I’d done well in school, and I had wonderfully supportive parents.

Sabrina was right. I was the golden boy.

And maybe I hadn’t given her the due she was owed.

She’d needed that scholarship. I’d needed it too. But my parents had planned and saved for tuition. I was going to school in state. It was reasonably affordable. But I wanted to win every dollar and make them proud. At the time, I was certain my life would be over if I didn’t get it. As an adult, I can look back and understand that I would have been fine.

But that had been far more critical to Sabrina. The two of us were so different back then, despite living in the same town and going to the same school. Despite my blindness to the situation. I was ashamed of how competitive and shitty I’d been to her when we were teenagers. We could have been friends and worked together. Instead, I made life harder for her at every turn. No wonder she’d been carrying a grudge for almost twenty years.

I busied myself, chatting as the official portion of the meeting ended and a crowd formed around Sabrina and Harper. The townsfolk were firing off questions one after another.

Thank fuck they had the answers. I didn’t understand social media. It was important, sure, but not part of my day to day.

But more and more, I could see how that had been a mistake. I should have leaned harder to modernize, to take advantage of every avenue for growth. Nothing I’d done in my time in this position had been interesting. Fighting the zoning board or fielding angry calls about parking space layout was hardly the stuff of viral magic.

“And with the help of the mayor⁠—”

My ears perked up at the sound of Sabrina’s voice, and as I looked at her, I realized several sets of eyes were on me. So I gave the crowd a thumbs-up. “Of course.”

A few women giggled, and Mrs. Whitcomb’s face flamed red.

“So you agree with Mrs. Whitcomb?” Sabrina asked. “You’d be up for chugging maple syrup shirtless on TikTok?”

“What?” My heart leaped into my throat.

“Kidding, Mayor. Pay attention,” she chided, causing her audience to really erupt in laughter.