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“If you weren’t so damn stubborn, I would have told you about this ahead of time,” my dad said.
My brows drew together. “What?”
“I just got back from Westwood’s,” he revealed, taking a step in my direction.
I stepped back, my eyes darting between my parents and Wyatt. The man I’d fallen in love with was looking at me with nothing but concern, sympathy, and remorse written all over his face.
“What did you do?” I asked Wyatt.
He shook his head. “Rhea, I?—”
“I did it,” my dad said, cutting him off.
Looking back at him, I asked, “Did what?”
I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it. I needed to know what my heart was telling me was the truth.
My dad didn’t hesitate. “I’ve just signed all of the paperwork to make it official. I’ve worked out a deal with Westwood’s to sell off the portion of our land they needed for their project.”
Silence fell over the shop.
I turned my attention to Wyatt. “Is this why you said what you did weeks ago?”
His face twisted with confusion. “What?”
The lump that had formed in my throat seemed to have grown. It was a wonder I could swallow past it. “When I asked you to have dinner with my family for the first time so you could meet them, you had told me you were wondering when you were going to get the opportunity. Was this why? Was it so you could trick them?”
Hurt moved through his expression.
And because he didn’t respond, I went on. “Is that why you came here today? To tell me that you won, that none of this was real.”
“Rhea…” His voice trailed off, sounding utterly wounded. “Do you honestly believe that?”
Tears filled my eyes. “I don’t want to, but you came in here saying you need to tell me something, and now my dad’s saying he sold the land to Westwood’s. What else should I believe?”
“That I love you and would never do something to betray you,” he fired back. In any other scenario, I might have appreciated seeing the fight back in him.
“So, what did you want to tell me then?” I asked. Swinging my arm out toward my parents, I pressed, “Are you saying you came here to talk to me about something that has nothing to do with this?”
“No, I’m not saying that, either,” he replied.
“So, what is it, Wyatt? What did you come here to tell me? Because I know, based on what you said before my family showed up, that you believe I would no longer trust you.”
He nodded. “Yes, because your father came to my office just a few days after we had dinner together for the first time. He wanted to discuss the original offer Westwood’s had intended to make on the land.”
With tears threatening to spill down my cheeks, I glanced briefly at my father. He offered a simple downward jerk of his chin to confirm Wyatt was telling the truth.
When I returned my attention to Wyatt, he revealed, “I told him it was no longer on the table. I told him that we were working to make adjustments on our end, because I know what this farm meant to you. What the memories meant to you. And there wasn’t a chance I was going to be responsible for taking that away from you.”
This sounded like the man I knew Wyatt to be. Unfortunately, I knew there was some major detail he hadn’t yet shared, so I ignored my gut instinct and the voice in my head telling me that Wyatt hadn’t done anything wrong and spat, “Yet somehow, my dad just confirmed he’s sold that land to Westwood’s.”
Wyatt nodded, and my dad interjected, “He didn’t know.”
“What?”
“Wyatt didn’t know until, I’m guessing, just before he showed up here this afternoon that any deal had been discussed, or that the land had been officially acquired by Westwood’s.”
I shook my head slowly from side to side. “I don’t understand.”
