There aresome lines that I’ve sworn to myself I’ll never cross.
But I’ve never been backed into a corner like this before, and I’ve never felt like a task was as impossible as figuring out what Chandler loves.
My mom doesn’t have a clue.
Grandpa doesn’t know.
Laney gaped at me when I asked her.
The triplets fell all over themselves stutteringgolfandcarsandhating Theo, none of which can give us an actual plan of revenge for Grey. Even if Chandler’s favorite golf course would let us paintChandler is an assholeon the side of a golf cart, that’s probably not sufficient.
I won’t bother Emma with this. Absolutely not.
I’m five days into Grey’s challenge to me to findanythingelse he can use against Chandler, and I havenothing.
“What did Chandler do to him?” I whisper to Zen while we’re watching the local fridge repair person finally tackle the leak while our local drywall guy fixes the dent in the wall behind the fridge where it nearly rolled into the bathroom during the cheese incident.
Which is the only thing I can bring myself to call it.
“Not my story to tell,” they reply.
“But you’ll share anyway,” I say confidently. “It’s in his best interest. I can’t be fully effective at my job if I don’t know all of the circumstances that led to this assignment.”
“Uncle Grey loves puzzles. He’s given you all the clues you get to solve this one. By the way,warn a person next time they’re about to eat chewy soap.”
“I tried. You weren’t looking at me.”
“Try harder.”
“Is there any chance he’ll give up this dream of beingSuper Vengeance Manand just let us keep running Bean & Nugget as it is?”
They sigh and make a pucker face. “You know he’s rich as fuck, right?”
If I could gag with my eyeballs at how much I don’t care about the size of his bank account, I would.
They actually grin back, but sober quickly. “Very, very worst case for Uncle Grey financially is that this place turns into a big ol’ tax break. You can’t buy it off of him. If I can’t talk him out of it, there’s zero chance that you can talk him out of it. And if you don’t give him something real, he will slap a bee the size of a freaking school bus on the side of this building without a moment’s hesitation.”
“He can do that and still let us keep the café.”
“I heard Emma was the rose-colored glasses one of your group.”
I wince.
They make the pucker face again. “Sorry, Sabrina. Can’t help you. And I say that as someone who’salsolistening to all of the gossip to see if I can find another way, and as someone who’s done all of the market research that supports the idea that a kombucha bar would be more popular here than you think it would. Tell me the ski tourists who stay here because it’s cheaper than the resorts twenty minutes away wouldn’t pack the place every night.”
They have a point, and I have definitely picked up on the vibe that this renovation is more than petty justice. That Zen’s smart and Grey’s usually smart but hurt, and they could make something fabulous out of their kombucha bar.
So knowing that Grey has a beef against Chandler that won’t be satisfied by anything less than destroying something of Chandler’s, that they have a solid plan for making this place a success later, and that sex won’t convince Grey to let me keep my café, it’s time for the last idea I have.
I can either cross a line that I never would’ve considered crossing since the day I was born, or I can watch the café that’s been my entire life’s purpose wither away and die.
So line-crossing it is.
He said he wanted to see me play dirty.
This is as dirty as I can go and still live with myself.
I do it at Laney’s house while Jitter waits for me outside so that my neighbors won’t have any chance of overhearing me through the walls. Laney and Theo are elsewhere, so I have the house to myself aside from their litter of kittens.
