Page 41 of Trick or Tease

“The second kind, which makes it worse,” I said.

Lucy grinned. “This is going to be good. Tell me everything.”

“He spent the whole morning eating everyone’s food and complimenting their recipes. Cinnamon rolls, honey, pumpkin pie. He was genuinely enjoying it all, you know? Like he was remembering what good food actually tastes like.”

“I’m sure he was.” She nodded. “He’s been eating caviar and snails.”

That made me laugh. “Yeah, well, he thinks he found the honey pot.”

“The honey?”

“No, like he’s got dollar signs. It’s like he can’t understand people being happy with their lives that aren’t filled with penthouses and exotic cars. He seems intent on everyone trying to get rich. He started talking about how everyone could ‘scale up’ their operations. Online sales, distribution channels, subscription boxes. He turned this beautiful morning of community and tradition into a business opportunity.”

Lucy winced. “Ouch.”

“Right? Like he couldn’t just appreciate what these people do without figuring out how to squeeze more profit out of it. He’s just always about money.”

“Money is important though,” Lucy said, folding a cardigan. “Everything’s more expensive these days. Bills don’t pay themselves.”

I sighed, knowing she was right. “Yeah, but he’s greedy about it. Like he wants more than he needs or can even use. There’s a difference between making a living and whatever it is he’s doing.”

Lucy paused in her folding, giving me a look. “You know, for someone who supposedly can’t stand the guy, you seem to be talking about him an awful lot.”

“I am not—” I started to protest, then caught myself. “Okay, fine. Maybe I am. But it’s only because he’s so frustrating.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And it doesn’t matter anyway,” I continued, more to convince myself than her. “He’ll be gone in a few days. He hasn’t really said how long he’s staying, but I can’t imagine it’s much longer. He’s probably counting down the minutes until he can get back to his precious lawyer office.”

I grabbed another sweater from the box, shaking it out more aggressively than necessary. “Besides, we’re completely different people now. He’s not the boy who left all those years ago. That Garrett was… I don’t know. He had dreams but he also had heart. This version of him just sees everything as a transaction.”

Lucy was quiet for a moment, which was never a good sign. When Lucy went quiet, it meant she was thinking, and when she was thinking, it usually meant she was about to say something I didn’t want to hear.

“What?” I demanded.

“Nothing,” she said innocently, but I could see the wheels turning behind her eyes.

“Lucy.”

“I just think it’s interesting, that’s all. You’ve been single for what, two years now? And the first guy to show up who gets you all fired up happens to be your first love.”

“He’s not my first love,” I said quickly. “We never even dated.”

“Right. Because that makes it less complicated.”

I threw the sweater I was holding back into the box. “You’re not helping.”

“I’m not trying to help. I’m trying to point out that maybe you’re protesting a little too much about how awful he is. You chose to take him to the market. Seems to me you put him in your way. You wanted to hang out with him.”

I scowled. “He is awful. He’s arrogant and condescending and he thinks he’s better than everyone here.”

“And yet you voluntarily spent the morning with him at the farmer’s market. None of my business, of course. It’s just interesting, is all I’m saying.”

I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again. She had me there.

“Look,” Lucy said, her voice gentler now. “I’m not saying you should throw yourself at the guy. But maybe cut him a little slack? Coming home can’t be easy for him either. People change, but sometimes they just need reminding of who they used to be.”

I wanted to argue with her. There were a few moments that almost made up for the asshole moment.