Chapter 23 #2
She waved a hand through the air. “You don’t need to worry about Beck. Just a little prearranged opportunity that’s going to go for megabucks. As for Levi, I gave him three free passes to skip family meetings to be used at his discretion.”
“Wow. You guys really went all out for this. What’s the cause again?” I asked, realizing now that I hadn’t seen any flyers about it whatsoever.
“What’s that? Oh, sorry, looks like they need me back there! I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” Addison said before scurrying off toward the gazebo where only a few more men stood, Beck among them.
And yeah, I didn’t care what this “prearranged opportunity” was. It was with my boyfriend—whether he knew it or not—and I wasn’t having it.
The closer it got to his turn, the tighter the knot grew in my stomach.
He was clearly not happy with it, his face set in a grim line, arms crossed and jaw clenched while Ford propped an arm on his shoulder, laughing like he was having the time of his life.
I couldn’t sit by and watch someone else bid on him, but since I hadn’t exactly expected this, I only had twenty-three dollars in my purse.
Hopefully they’d take an IOU or let me run to the ATM so I could cash out.
Finally, it was Beck’s turn, and he stepped up—or rather, Addison shoved him up.
He stood in the gazebo, looking about as excited to be there as Levi had.
He wore his usual uniform of a T-shirt and jeans, but gone was his standard backward baseball cap.
Instead, his hair hung loosely, the tousled locks hanging over his forehead, and my fingers itched to push it back.
Itched to wipe that look off his face. Itched to remind him he was mine and I was his and, together, we were everything.
From the beginning, his entire persona should have put me off.
We were opposites in every way, but somehow, we’d connected and it’d felt inevitable.
Like magnets clicking together. I hadn’t realized it then, but that first day when I’d stepped foot into the diner, everything had slotted into place.
It was the beginning of my new life. A new life I’d created for myself—it wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t easy, but it was mine.
And the only thing I needed in it, without question, was him.
“Our next bachelor is none other than Beck McKenzie. You probably know him best for serving the greatest coffee in Starlight Cove, not to mention those amazing blueberry scones.” The auctioneer gave an exaggerated wink to the crowd.
“I think we all know why we’re here, and you’ll get it.
Don’t let that scowl fool you! Beneath the angry glower is a sweet man who would do anything for those important to him, and I think tonight is proof enough of that. ”
The bidding started then and grew rapidly. So rapidly, I hadn’t had a chance to jump in before another bid was tossed out. And another and another.
“Your man is quite the draw,” Mabel said, stepping up to my side.
“What?” I asked distractedly, sliding my eyes to hers before moving them back to watch two ladies—one of whom was Charlotte, the beautiful woman from the bank Beck had sweet-talked for me. “Sorry, Mabel, I can’t really talk right now.”
“It’s very sweet, what he’s doing. Don’t you think?” She elbowed me in the side again. “After the you know what that I’m not allowed to talk to you about.”
It was then that I noticed she was pointing her phone in my direction, clearly filming a Facebook Live.
“Going once,” the auctioneer called, and I snapped my head around.
I shot my hand up to bid, only the problem was I hadn’t heard what the last amount was, so I shouted the first number that came to mind. “Five hundred dollars!”
Mabel gasped beside me and tugged on my shirt sleeve. “What are you doing?”
“Bidding,” I said. I narrowed my eyes at the cougar from the bank and dared her to bid against me.
Apparently, I needed to work on my stink eye, because she raised her hand to increase the bid, and I swore under my breath.
“But you can’t bid!” Mabel hissed.
I raised my hand to up the bid again, trying my hardest to ignore Mabel, which wasn’t easy, considering she was a distraction just by breathing.
“It totally defeats the purpose!” she said. “You can’t bid on your own stuff to help your own thing!”
“What?” Exasperated, I turned my attention to her, having no clue what she was talking about.
“I didn’t— I mean, it’s just—” Mabel stumbled over her words, shaking her head and trying to backtrack. And in the ten seconds she’d had my undivided attention, the bidding must’ve continued, because suddenly, a gavel sounded.
“Sold, to Charlotte,” the auctioneer called.
“Fuck,” I said under my breath, my shoulders slumping.
“Oh dear. That is definitely not family-friendly. I’m just gonna scooch,” Mabel said. “But don’t worry, sugar. He’s just auctioning off a little piece of deliciousness.” And then she scurried off into the crowd like she hadn’t totally ruined my plan.
Yeah, a little piece of deliciousness that was all mine.
I’d just lost the man I was absolutely, unequivocally, head over heels in love with to a beautiful older woman.
A woman who’d probably lived in Starlight Cove her whole life and didn’t forget things like shutting off her curling iron, and probably didn’t need a keeper because she remembered to eat three meals a day, and she also no doubt knew how to drive a stick.
So that was just fantastic. A cherry on top of my shit sundae.
“Everly.” Quinn stepped up next to me, sounding slightly out of breath. “Hey.”
“Hey, Quinn,” I answered distractedly, my eyes focused on Beck where he stood, arms crossed and scowl firmly in place. He scanned the crowd, his gaze landing on me. His face softened and he dropped his arms, taking a step in my direction before Addison and Charlotte blocked his path.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, and I focused on her, desperate for the distraction because I couldn’t watch him make date arrangements with another woman.
It took me a minute to realize she wasn’t asking how I felt about the man I was in love with going out on a date with someone else and that she was actually talking about the life-changing fire I’d been in that’d set off this entire thing.
“Oh, fine. Well, as fine as I can be. I’m still trying to get everything in order, but I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”
“How about you?”
She blew out a heavy sigh and shook her head. “Honestly? Really damn tired of misogynistic old men.”
A surprised laugh gusted out of me. “One of those days, huh?”
“One of those years. All I want to do is go home, take a bath, and have a glass of wine.”
“That sounds amazing, but it’s a far cry from a festival. What’re you doing here?”
“It’s my master plan to get in the good graces of said misogynistic old man.
” She shrugged and tipped her head toward the gazebo.
“I thought maybe throwing some money toward a Starlight Cove cause might shine a light in my favor. I’m just glad I made it before this was over.
But who knows? Maybe I’ll meet my future husband. ”
I cringed because there was only one bachelor left, and she wasn’t going to like who it was.
“What’s that face for?” she asked.
“Um, well—”
“And the last bachelor up for auction tonight is none other than Starlight Cove’s favorite flirt, Ford McKenzie. You know him best for shooting a salacious grin and a wink your way, but he’s also good with his hands, if you know what I mean.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Quinn said under her breath. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, repeating over and over, “This is for the greater good, this is for the greater good…”
“Anything that’ll stick it to a misogynist,” I agreed.
“I need to look on the bright side. I already went out with a guy who took me to the McDonald’s drive-thru before sneaking me into his parents’ basement—that was just last month, by the way—so surely a date with Ford can’t be any worse than that. Right?”
“Probably not?” I said, though it came out as more of a question.
Still, Quinn squared her shoulders, faced the gazebo, and totally obliterated every other bid when she called out, “Two thousand dollars.”
The auctioneer stared in our direction, openmouthed and frozen for half a second—the look mirrored on Ford’s face—before shaking herself out of it and slamming the gavel. “Sold!”
Quinn was two thousand dollars poorer and leaving with a date to a guy she didn’t want anything to do with. Meanwhile, I was leaving with the same twenty-three dollars I’d come in with, but I hadn’t won the one thing I desperately wanted more than anything else.