"Get out," Bree said, her voice flat and cold in a way Sabrina had rarely heard from her.
Gavin's gaze flicked over Bree with the dismissive assessment he'd always given things he considered beneath his attention, then landed on Sabrina again.Held."Hello, Sabrina.You're looking well.Marriage prep seems to agree with you."
She tightened her fingers on the bouquet stems until the green ribbon pressed into her palm, until she could feel the ridges of each individual stem through the wrapping."What are you doing here?"
"Shopping," he said, spreading his hands in a gesture of innocence that fooled no one."Last I checked, this was a public business.I'm allowed to buy flowers like anyone else."
"You don't live in Copper Moon," she said."You never did.You thought this town was a backwater with delusions of charm."
"I'm allowed to visit," he said, something flickering behind his carefully composed expression."I heard a rumor that the old Norman property finally produced something.After all those years of you pouring money into a sinkhole, I thought I'd drive out and see what rose from the ashes."
Bree took a step closer to Sabrina, her shoulder almost touching, forming a wall of solidarity."You do not get to talk about ashes," she said."Not to her.Not ever."
Gavin's mouth curved into something that showed his teeth without qualifying as a smile."You must be the artist friend.I've heard so much about your passionate opinions over time."
"And I've heard you're a weasel," Bree said, her voice perfectly pleasant in a way that made the words land harder."Looks like my intel was accurate."
The florist had gone still behind the counter, her capable hands frozen over a bucket of baby's breath.Her gaze darted between them, reading the room with the instincts of someone who had witnessed her share of human drama, then slid toward the phone mounted on the wall near the back room.
Sabrina drew in a breath that didn't shake, despite everything in her that wanted to.She had practiced this moment in her head a thousand times, imagined what she would say if she ever saw him again, how she would stand, what expression she would wear.Now that it was happening, all of that rehearsal felt very far away.
"You heard wrong, actually," she said to Gavin, her voice steadier than she expected."The land produced exactly what I wanted it to.What I had planned for it to become."
"Three tiny cabins out in the boonies," he said, a thread of condescension winding through each word."Very ambitious.I saw the article in that little local paper.'Norman House Retreats.'Cute name.You always did like projects that looked noble on paper, even when they made no financial sense."
"You mean the kind of projects that don't require stepping on people's necks to succeed," she said."The kind that build something instead of just extracting value until there's nothing left."
His eyes cooled, the pretense of casual interest dropping away to reveal something harder underneath."It was a dead investment, Sabrina.I told you that for years.I tried to help you get out clean, to walk away with something to show for all that effort.You refused to listen."
"You tried to talk me into selling to a company you knew was circling," she said, the pieces clicking together in her mind with a clarity that had been building for months."A company that had very specific plans for that shoreline.There's a difference between help and manipulation."
Bree let out a low sound, something between recognition and disgust."You knew about Seaside.You knew the whole time."
"Of course I knew," Gavin said, and there was almost pride in his voice now, the satisfaction of someone revealing a cleverness he'd been forced to hide."I do my homework.Always have.The offers they made were generous.More than generous.You could've walked away with a solid return instead of watching your life burn down around your stubborn principles."
Heat crawled up Sabrina's neck, spreading across her chest.But it wasn't the wild, helpless kind that had grabbed her in the days after the fire, the panic that made her feel like she was drowning in smoke even when the sky was clear.This was something steadier.Something that felt like strength finding its footing.
"You really want to stand in a room full of roses and talk about my inn burning like it was a business strategy?"she asked."Like it was just another line item on a spreadsheet?"
He shrugged, the gesture elegant and utterly without remorse."It was a strategic adjustment.Tragic, yes, but look at you now.New venture.New man.New lease on life, as they say.Some women need disaster to make them finally move forward."
Bree took another step, her body coiled tight with barely contained fury."Keep talking about disaster, and I'll show you one.Right here.Right now.These vases look heavy enough to make a point."
Sabrina's hand found Bree's arm, fingers pressing gently against the tension she found there."Hey.I've got this."
She turned fully toward Gavin, the bouquet still clutched in her other hand, her shoulders squared in a way that felt like armor.
"You don't get to rewrite this," she said, and her voice didn't waver at all."What happened to Norman House wasn't a strategic adjustment.It wasn't an opportunity dressed up as tragedy.It was arson.It was a crime.It was someone deciding that my life, my family's legacy, my home, was in their way, and the easiest solution was fire.That's on them.Not on me for refusing to sell."
He lifted an eyebrow, the expression so familiar it made her stomach turn."Always so dramatic.That's one thing that hasn't changed."
"You don't know the half of it," she said."But here's what you should know, since you drove all this way: I'm not tired anymore.I'm not confused.I'm not lying awake wondering if I was wrong about everything, if I should have listened to you when you told me to give up.I know exactly who I am now.I know exactly what this land is worth, and it has nothing to do with numbers on an appraisal.I'm marrying a man who shows up when things are hard, not just when he can win an argument or close a deal."
"Oh, right," Gavin said, his lip curling slightly."The mechanic.Very solid life plan.I'm sure that works out exactly the way you're hoping."
"He's a firefighter," Bree said, her voice sharp enough to cut glass."And a co-owner of a thriving motorcycle restoration business.And even if he worked part-time scooping ice cream at the boardwalk, he'd still be ten times the man you are on your best day."
Gavin ignored her, his attention fixed on Sabrina with an intensity that might have unsettled her once."Still collecting strays and lost causes, I see.Still surrounding yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to know."
