Page 101 of Trick or Tease

Sabrina’s shoulders relaxed slightly, though she still looked puzzled. “Consulting work?”

Janet extended her hand with a professional smile. “Property appraisal, actually. Garrett contacted my firm about getting a current market assessment.”

Sabrina’s eyes widened. “Property appraisal?”

“Just getting some paperwork in order,” I said quickly, hating the way her face had gone carefully blank. “You know how it is with business stuff. I told you about this.”

Janet, oblivious to the tension, seemed inclined to take over. “Yes, it’s always smart to know your options when you’re considering a sale. The market’s been quite strong for agricultural properties, especially ones with development potential like this.”

The word “sale” hit the air like a bomb. Sabrina’s face went pale, her eyes darting between Janet and me with a look of betrayal that made my stomach clench.

“Actually,” I interrupted, stepping forward and giving Janet what I hoped was a meaningful look. “We’re just exploring all our options at this point. Nothing concrete. We need to provide the insurance company with an accurate value.”

But the damage was done. Sabrina was staring at me like she’d never seen me before, and I could practically see the walls going up behind her eyes.

“I should let you get back to your work,” she said, her voice carefully polite. “Nice meeting you, Janet.”

She turned to walk away, and every instinct I had was screaming at me to go after her.

But I couldn’t. Not with Janet standing right there, waiting to continue her assessment of the property.

“Shall we continue?” Janet asked, blissfully unaware she had just blown up my life.

37

SABRINA

The next day I was out by the edge of the woods with Tyler, working through the logistics of our newest addition to the hayride. We’d been brainstorming ways to make that final stretch from the old house back to the barn more exciting, and I’d finally hit on the perfect idea.

We were going to extend the ride to go down the dirt road that led through the trees before winding back down to the patch itself. It was probably silly to keep adding when we were so close to the end of the season, but I also hoped it would inspire people to keep coming back. What new stuff would they find?

That was my theory anyway.

“So you’ll be hidden in the trees right about here,” I said, pointing to a cluster of oak trees about fifty yards from the path. “When you see the tractor coming, you ride out on the horse and run beside the hayride for maybe thirty seconds before disappearing back into the woods.”

Tyler grinned, clearly loving the theatrics of it all. “And I’ll have the cloak rigged so I can see but the passengers can’t see my head?”

“Exactly. We’ll attach it to your shoulders and let it hang loose so it looks like you’re headless. And instead of a real jack-o’-lantern, we’ll use one of those LED ones so there’s no fire hazard.”

“This is going to be so cool,” he said, already practicing how he’d hold the fake pumpkin while guiding the horse. He had been riding since he was four, so I had no doubt he could handle it. “The little kids are going to lose their minds.”

I laughed, caught up in his enthusiasm. “That’s the idea. We want them scared but not traumatized.”

We spent another twenty minutes working out the timing and the route he’d take through the trees. Tyler was a good kid who seemed to share my somewhat twisted personality. He was responsible enough that I trusted him not to do anything stupid, but young enough to really get into the performance aspect.

“I’ll practice the route a few more times tonight,” he said. “Make sure I know exactly where all the roots and holes are.”

“Perfect. We’ll do a full run-through tomorrow before⁠—”

I stopped mid-sentence as I caught sight of a familiar silver sedan parked near the main house. That appraiser woman was back, and this time she was alone, walking around the property with her camera out, taking pictures of everything.

My stomach dropped. Yesterday had been awkward enough with her talking about sales and development potential right in front of me. But at least Garrett had been there to provide some kind of explanation. Now she was back, documenting the property like she was building a case file.

“Tyler, can we finish this up later?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual. “I need to go take care of something.”

“Sure thing. I’ll go practice the route.” He hopped on his horse and cantered off toward the woods, leaving me alone with my growing suspicion that something was very wrong.

I walked across the field toward where the appraiser was now photographing the old house on the hill. She was taking shots from multiple angles, making notes on her tablet between each one. This didn’t look like casual documentation. It looked thorough and professional.