“So, you’ve been doing this for a while?”
“Yeah, but I’ve been thinking about finding someone to help me, it’s gotten too big to run on my own. We’ve been talking about adding some winter activities and if I have another baby, I’ll definitely need some help. But, I just had a great idea.”
Sabrina was just about to ask her what her idea was, when Garrett and Stan walked into the kitchen. “Oh, I forgot. Garrett and I have a meeting scheduled for this morning, on this subject as a matter of fact.”
Stan came over and kissed Daphne on the cheek, “You ready to turn the monsters over to me?” He said, sitting down at the table with the girls.
Daphne, gathered her things and headed out the door, “Garrett I’ll meet you at my house.” She said.
Garrett crossed the kitchen and kissed Sabrina on the cheek, “I’ll see you at lunch.” He said, following Daphne out the door.
Sabrina watched Garrett go out the door, then turned to face her daughter, who had a speculative look on her face. Sabrina knew the exact moment that she figured it out. “Mommy is Garrett your boyfriend?” She asked, innocently.
“Well, sweetheart, I think he might be.” She said, embarrassed.
“Good, I like him and we need a man in our lives.”
Sabrina just burst out laughing and joined them at the table. Stan was trying hard not to laugh, but finally couldn’t help it. She just shook her head, feeling like a teenager once again. There was something about falling in love, which made people act like kids again, herself included.
She spent a quiet morning helping with the girl’s lessons, relieved to be on solid ground for the first time in weeks. She and Garrett would have to talk and soon, she couldn’t go on in limbo forever, she had to go home soon. Garrett didn’t appear at lunch time, but after they’d eaten, Daphne asked her to join her in the library.
Sabrina found that she was suddenly on her guard, she couldn’t imagine what could be so important that Daphne would need to see her in the library. She’d felt nothing but acceptance from Garrett’s family, but they were very different, maybe the family didn’t want them to be involved. She had no doubt that he would listen to their opinions.
They seated themselves in front of the fire, and Sabrina was assaulted by memories from the first night she and Garrett were together. Daphne interrupted her thoughts, “I know this might seem a little sudden, but when I see an opportunity, I like to take advantage of it.”
She handed Sabrina a stack of papers, the top one was titled, employment contract. Sabrina looked at Daphne, then flipped through the pages quickly. “What is this?” She finally asked.
“Well, you know how we were talking about me needing an assistant for the education program. I want you to fill that position. You’d be perfect. You can ride, survive in the wilderness, and you’re a teacher. You and Marie could live here, not in the cabin, but in your own place.”
“Daphne, I don’t know what to say. That’s a lot to think about, I just moved to the city, we’ve barely begun to build a life there.”
“Even more reason to take the job, just read the contract and think about it. That’s all I ask.” She said.
“Did Garrett put you up to this? I don’t want you giving me a job just because of him.”
“Honestly, I had already thought about offering you the position. I was going to wait until we got back from the roundup, like it was a working interview. Sabrina, we’ve got a great thing going here, and with you on staff, we can reach even more kids.”
“I’ll think about it Daphne, but it’s a big transition, I have to talk to Marie too.”
Sabrina was shocked at the offer of a job and intrigued by the opportunity, but she had to think about Marie. Living here would mean homeschooling, which she had never considered before, but Daphne’s girls were around and if the program turned into all it sounded like Daphne wanted it to be, there would be other kids around all the time.
She poked her head into the kitchen, saw that Marie was happily doing homework with the girls and signaled to Stan that she would be on the porch. She sunk into a chair and read the contract twice. It was an unbelievably generous offer, which included a nice salary as well as a house and horses for both her and Marie.
She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t jumping at the opportunity, but she knew she needed to talk to Garrett about it. The last thing she wanted was to uproot her life once again, then discover that she’d made a huge mistake. Moving here was a huge commitment, and both she and Marie had finally began living a normal life again.
She moved through the rest of the afternoon on autopilot, her thoughts spinning with all the choices she suddenly had to make. As the day wore on and Garrett still didn’t appear, she began to think he was avoiding her. But finally, late in the afternoon, she saw him go into the trail barn and followed him in.
She’d brought the contract with her, planning to challenge him on his involvement, she wasn’t taking the job unless she was sure Daphne really wanted her help. Additionally, she wasn’t exactly comfortable with being Daphne’s assistant, if she was going to do this, it had to be a partnership.
Garrett looked happy to see her, until she showed him the contract in her hands. “I see you’ve talked to Daphne. She sure didn’t waste any time.” He said, coming up to kiss her.
She pulled away before he could. “What role in this did you play?” She asked.
“I had nothing to do with that. It was all her idea. I didn’t even know she was thinking about it until this morning. She had the contract ready before we even got home. I swear.”
She could see that he was telling the truth, “Okay, it sounds like a dream come true, but it’s such a big decision. I hate to uproot Marie again after all that she’s been thought.”
“I won’t pressure you into making a decision, neither will Daphne. But I will tell you that it would be nice to have you close. It’s a long way to the city, but if you decide you don’t want to move here, we’ll figure something out.”
“I wasn’t sure what you wanted, I’m not sure I know what I want. This isn’t one of those things that we can take day by day.” She said, looking into his eyes.
“I know that moving here is a big decision, take some time, but remember that I love you. We’re meant to be together, but I don’t want to spoil it by going too fast, it was my idea that you have your own cabin. That will give us time to get to know one another and for the kids to get used to the idea of us together.”
“Well, Marie already thinks it’s a good idea for us to have a man in our lives, so I don’t think she would fight me on the decision, but I have to talk to her before I decide.”
Garrett had been keeping his distance, but he couldn’t resist any longer, he crossed the barn and took her into his arms. He smelled wonderful, as always, that mixture of soap, man, and horse. She couldn’t resist him, she melted in his arms as his mouth found hers.
He kissed her deeply, his desire clear in the kiss, she responded as desperate as he was to feel connected. He backed her against the wall, as their tongues danced together, driving their desire, until they were both panting. “We can’t do this here.” Sabrina said, unbuttoning his shirt to stroke his hard chest, her fingers finding his nipples and teasing.
“Oh, God. Come with me.” He said, taking her hand and leading her to a ladder in the back of the barn.
They climbed the ladder to the loft, and fell back into a soft pile of straw, his mouth on her before they had settled in. “I’ve always dreamed about making love in this loft, a sexy woman I love beneath me.” He said, pulling her pants off, one leg at a time.
“Then it looks like you’re dreams are about to come true.” She said, undoing his pants and freeing his erection. He growled deep in his throat when she took him in her hand, and little more was said after that.
They emerged from the barn, an hour later, their clothes on straight, but Sabrina still had straw in her hair. Garrett was picking it out when a car pulled up in
the drive and honked the horn. Sabrina gave Garrett a questioning look, to which he only shrugged his shoulders, as curious as she was.
As they watched the driver side door opened and a pair of very high heels emerged, followed by a pair of long legs. Sabrina watched in fascination as a beautiful woman stepped out of the car, she was dressed more like she should be walking down the red carpet instead of getting out of a car in the mountains.
Garrett stiffened beside her, took her hand and squeezed, until she let out a little cry of pain. He loosed his grip, but didn’t let go. She looked at him again, he was radiating anger, his jaw clenched. Looking at him, she hoped he was never that angry at her.
“Who is that?” She finally asked, just to get him talking.
“My ex-wife.” He said, still not moving.
As she watched, the woman spotted Garrett and began to make her way across the yard, her heels sinking in with each step. When she reached them, she looked at their joined hands, then flung herself into Garrett’s arm, shoving Sabrina out of the way in the process. She had no doubt that the woman had done it on purpose.
Garrett stood stiff as a board until she finally let him go. “What are you doing here Michelle? You know you’re supposed to call before you come. I don’t like you just showing up.”
“Aren’t you even a little happy to see me? I’m sure Scott will be.” She said, batting her eyelashes at him.
Sabrina instantly wanted to scratch her eyes out, but restrained herself, for Garrett’s sake, but also to see how he handled it.
“Well, you managed to show up just in time for dinner, I guess you should join us. Michelle this is Sabrina, she was Scott’s teacher but now she’s considering taking a position here with us at the ranch.”
“Hmm, nice to meet you Stephanie.” She said, getting Sabrina’s name wrong on purpose.
Sabrina didn’t even bother to correct her. She was pleased when Garrett took her hand and led the way into the house and a very uncomfortable dinner.
Chapter 10
Everyone must have been watching from the window because when they stepped up onto the porch, Sabrina could hear everyone scrambling for the kitchen. There was absolute silence until they stepped into the kitchen, when everyone began talking at once. Scott saw his mother, who went shooting across the room as fast as her heels would let her.
She threw her arms around Scott, who appeared to not quite know what to do. When she finally let him go, he simple sat back down at the table and looked at his plate. Daphne swooped in with a dish of food, who took one long look at her former sister in law, standing behind Scott’s chair.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, the animosity clear in her voice.
“I’ve come to see my son.” Michelle answered, putting her chin in the air.
Daphne opened her mouth to reply, but closed it with one look at Scott who was obviously uncomfortable. They ate the meal in silence, Michelle refusing the offer to join them, instead making herself comfortable in the library. After dinner, she’d made enough noise about needed to be back on the road soon, that Garrett had finally offered her a room for the night.
Michelle accepted gladly, then wanted to know who was going to bring her luggage in. Scott, bless his heart, offered to help her and they went out to her car to get the bags. When they left the room, the tension was so thick it could have been cut with a knife.
With a huff, Daphne gathered her family and left for home, but on the way out, she pulled Sabrina aside. “Don’t worry about Michelle, Garrett doesn’t care about her anymore. She killed the love he had for her a long time ago.”
“I know we’ve talked about it. But, what about Scott? This can’t be easy for him.”
“It’s not, and I hate her for putting him in this position. It’s been years since she’s bothered to visit him. I bet she wants something.” Daphne said, with a nod of her head. “Just wait by tomorrow, she’ll be begging Garrett for money.”
“But, he already gave her a divorce settlement. How can she ask for more?”
“Well, she knows that there’s plenty more where that came from.”
“What do you mean? I thought you told me that the education program was to keep the ranch solvent.” Sabrina asked, confused.
“That’s true, but the ranch is only a small part of my families’ holdings. Did you see the ski area on the way here? That and all the development you saw around it belong to the Terrell’s.”
Sabrina stared at her open mouthed. “But...”
“Oh, you didn’t know. That’s funny. Wait until I tell Garrett, he’s going to love you even more than he already does.”
“How....”
“I grew up with Garrett, I know him better than just about anyone, even his brothers. I hope you love him too, because when he gets that look on his face that he does when he looks at you, there’s no turning back for him. That’s how I knew that it would never last with Michelle. I just wish she hadn’t show up here.”
“You’re not the only one.” Sabrina said, looking back into the library where Michelle had draped herself over the chair Garrett was sitting in.
“Go fight for your man. He wants you too. Declare you territory. I’ve got to get out of here, before I do or say something I’ll regret later.” She said, giving Sabrina a hug. “I’m cheering for you, I just have to do it from a distance.”
Sabrina stood in the hall for a few minutes, she had no idea how to play these games. She’d never had to fight for a man, and wasn’t even sure she wanted to. Life was difficult enough as it was, without adding more drama. Garrett’s ex certainly looked like she’d add drama to any situation she was in.
But when she walked through the door of the library and saw Michelle draped over Garrett like she belonged there, she knew in an instant that she wasn’t going to let Garrett go, even if that meant she had to deal with this woman for the rest of her life. Surprised by the fierceness of her feelings, she walked into the room and met Garrett’s eyes.
He was clearly unhappy, and looking for any excuse to leave the room. He rose when she walked in and said. “Sabrina, I wondered where you’d gotten to. I’d like to show you the cabin, you and Marie will be living in when you take the job.” He said, extracting himself from Michelle.
He crossed the room and pointedly took her hand. “Let’s go find Marie and take her with us. Michelle you might want to spend some time with your son, since that is why you came all the way out here.” Michelle just stared at them, the anger clear on her face.
“That’s a very unhappy woman.” Sabrina said, then called up the stairs for Marie.
“Yeah, she’s run out of money. First she wanted to talk about getting back together, now she just wants me to give her money to go away. She’s threatening to move back here and make my life a living hell if I don’t pay her off.”
Just then Marie came pounding down the stairs, Garrett explained where they were going, and she gladly agreed to come. “Will I have my own room?” She asked, taking Garrett’s hand.
“Of course.” He said, looking down to where their hands were joined and smiled at Sabrina. “And your own horse.”
“Hey, I haven’t made my mind up yet, you two. Don’t be making plans without me.” She said, catching up and taking Garrett’s other hand.
They hadn’t gone far when they heard Scott’s voice calling to them. They waited until he caught up. “I want to see the cabin too, which one are they going to live in. I’m glad you’re going to be here, since you can’t be my teacher.” He said, surprising her by taking her other hand.
It took her a few minutes to master the thick feeling that came to her throat and the tears that threatened to spill over. “Well, Scott that’s about the nicest thing anyone has said to me today. I think you better start calling me Sabrina.”
Garrett’s eyes met her and she could see the love shining there. After Garrett and Scott had shown them their new home, because at this point how could Sabrina say no. It seemed that everyone
but her had come to the conclusion that she was meant to be here. They returned to the house to find Michelle waiting in the kitchen for Scott.
“Where did you go? I traveled all this way to see you and you disappear with them. What am I supposed to think?” She had advanced on Scott, who had at first hidden behind his father.
But the longer she continued to berate him for leaving the angrier he got. Sabrina had never seen Scott so mad, he looked a lot like his father at just that moment.
“I left because you got on your phone, I waited but you didn’t even know I was there. I don’t think you even came here to see me, I think you just want dad to give you more money.” He said, storming out of the room and upstairs to his room.
“Are you going to let your son talk to his mother like that?” She asked, Garrett. “What kind of a boy are you raising? It’s probably because of her.” She said, pointing to Sabrina. “She’s his teacher, for heaven’s sake. Are you fishing in the bottom of the barrel now, Garrett? I’m not even going to mention that she’s...” Michelle wisely cut her words off, because Garrett had advanced across the room and was standing right in front of her, looking like he could strangle her any moment.
“Get your things and get out of my house.” Garrett said, between clenched teeth.
Michelle wasn’t ready to back down yet. “He’s my son too, I should have a say in who is in his life. And I don’t want her anywhere near him. Do you hear me Garrett?” She actually stomped her heeled foot.
“Let me remind you that when I gave you that huge chunk of money that you so badly wanted, you signed away your parental rights. You have absolutely no say in how I raise my son.” He’d put a great deal of emphasis on my, making it clear that she was not part of the picture.
“I’ll contact my lawyer, you can’t get away with this.”
“Oh, I can and I will, even if you had a leg to stand on, do you really think your lawyer could compete with my team. The only reason you got anything the last time was because of Scott. I tried to protect him from the truth about you, but I’m done with that.”
You Complete Me: A BWWM Single Parent Older Couple Romance (Brothers From Money Book 1) Page 10
