Page 104 of Trick or Tease

I caught her wrist before she could walk away. “Sabrina.”

She turned back. “Yeah?”

What could I say? Nothing felt like enough.

“Meet me later?” I asked.

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Maybe. I’m pretty tired.”

Then she was gone, slipping into the crowd, leaving me standing there. I tried to tell myself it was nothing. But it did feel like she pulled back.

It was in my head. I was being paranoid. Too much stress.

Two hours later, I sat on the edge of my childhood bed, staring at the old photos tacked to the wall. Sabrina had declared she was tired and needed real sleep. I couldn’t blame her. We had been pretty busy.

I stared at the pictures on the wall and found myself smiling.

Billy, Sabrina, Lucy, and me throughout the best years of my life. We had been kids with no idea what life had in store for us.

I got up and went to the collage of pictures on the wall. I traced my finger over Sabrina’s face, a pang twisting in my chest. She had always been there. In the early years, I thought she was a pain in the ass. But the older we got, she changed.

Or I changed.

She had an energy about her back then. She was always the life of our little group. I didn’t think she ever had a bad day. When one of us was in a shitty mood, she would be there. Whether it was a shoulder to lean on or delivering a joke that made things better. If we needed something, she was there. Even now, she still had that spark.

They all did. Billy was a goofball, but he was also solid. Shit didn’t get to him. The guy was mellow. He was the steady Eddie of our group. And Lucy was always supportive. The best friend to all.

And me? I felt like a stranger in my own skin. I wasn’t that kid anymore, the one who used to climb trees and dream big dreams about leaving this town behind.

I had left, hadn’t I? Made something of myself in the city. Built a life that was supposed to mean something. But sitting here, surrounded by these memories, I couldn’t help but feel like I had lost something along the way.

Something important.

Something vital.

But I gained something new. Something I was pretty sure would be fulfilling. I was still chasing the dream.

I felt like I was in two different worlds. But only halfway. I didn’t fully belong in either one of them.

Not really. The farm wasn’t my life. It was theirs. Billy’s, Lucy’s, and Sabrina’s. They’d built something real here, something good. And I just showed up, pretending I could be part of it. But I wasn’t. I was just passing through, waiting for the season to end so I could go back to the city and pick up where I left off.

Back to the law firm, the meetings, the endless grind. It was what I had worked for, what I had sacrificed for. But God, the thought of going back felt like a weight pressing down on my chest.

I glanced at the photos again, my eyes lingering on Sabrina sitting by the pond in a bathing suit. No makeup. Her hair wet and hanging over her shoulders. It had all been so innocent back then. We lived for the day, not for the year or the career. I remembered the day that picture was taken.

I was the one who had taken it.

It had been hotter than hell. We had all worked so damn hard. We dove into the pond and practically turned into prunes. When she dragged herself out, she’d been exhausted and beautiful.

Damn. Those were the days.

I let myself get too close on this visit. I got too wrapped up in her. She was everything I wasn’t and nothing I deserved. She was kind, grounded, hopeful. And me? I was the guy who brought an appraiser to the farm without telling anyone. The guy who lied to her face when she asked me what was going on. The guy who was still lying to himself about why he was really here.

I couldn’t stay. That much was clear. Even if I wanted to—and part of me did—it wasn’t fair to her. She deserved someone who could give her everything she wanted, someone who wasn’t torn between two worlds. Someone who wasn’t holding back because they were scared of what it might mean to really let go.

I cared about her. More than I’d cared about anyone in a long time. But that didn’t change anything. We couldn’t be together. Not really. Not when I couldn’t stay here.

I sat back down, my head in my hands. I would finish out the season, make sure the festival was a success. That much I owed them. And then I would go back to the city, back to the life I had built. Maybe someday, when I was older, when I had done what I needed to do, I would come back. But Sabrina wouldn’t wait for me. And I wouldn’t ask her to.