Chapter 38 Gwendolyn #2
A few more winners come and go. They hand over their payment and gather their baskets, all of them grinning ear to ear with anticipation.
All of them make me and my girls spend the next few minutes guessing how their dates would go.
Especially when our high school principal had the winning bid for our high school gym teacher.
“Next we have a real catch, ladies.” Mrs. Spencer hypes up into her microphone. And knowing who was up on the docket had me slapping at my girls to pay attention. There was no way we were missing any moment of this one.
“Willow Grove’s very own veterinarian, Jackson Prescott! Come on out, Jackson.”
Slowly, the curtain parts to reveal my brother in all his scowling glory.
The three of us hoot and holler, making him whip his head in our direction to glare at us.
No doubt screaming mentally for us to shut up.
What he doesn’t realize is the scowl is making all the women—and some of the men—in attendance even more feral as the shouts of excitement grow louder.
“Jackson is a single father to the sweetest little girl and the older brother to two of this town’s favorite women. So we all know what that means, don’t we, ladies? He knows how to treat a woman!”
That makes Kennedy and me loudly gag while Piper continues to make noises through her fit of laughter.
“Let’s start the bidding at five hundred dollars!”
“Five hundred”
“Six hundred dollars!”
“I hear six hundred. What about six hundred and fifty??”
“I’ve got seven hundred and fifty dollars!”
“Y’all can do better than that. Do I hear eight hundred?” Mrs. Spencer eggs on the crowd. A few more numbers are shouted toward her, but it’s the one next to me that has my head and Kennedy’s whipping around.
“One thousand dollars”
“Piper!” I screech. “Are you serious right now?”
She shrugs, but I see the twinkle in her eyes that tells me she’s up to something.
Jackson stares her down, a look I’ve never seen crossing my brother’s eyes taking me by surprise as I can’t pinpoint what it is exactly. But it’s Piper straightening her back and meeting his glare that has me questioning her sanity.
“One thousand dollars, going once. Going twice—-”
“Fifteen hundred” Someone in the back shouts.
Margot’s delightfully squeals into the microphone, counting down to the final number.
My eyes stay on my best friend and my brother as I watch an unspoken conversation happen between them.
When the final “sold” rings out, Piper flinches and her eyes blink rapidly, bringing her back to the present as she breaks contact with Jacks.
“What the hell was that about?” Kennedy questions, speaking into existence exactly what I want the answer to.
Piper runs a hand over her face, her fingers sliding through her brown hair as she turns toward us. “I got caught up wanting to jack up the price,” she chuckles nervously.
“Do you even have a thousand dollars to bid?” I side eye her.
She cringes. “I mean, technically yeah. But I really didn’t want to spend it on Jackson, so that was a real gamble.”
“You got really lucky that whoever the other person is that swooped in.”
“Mhm,” the nervous laugh is back. “Lucky. Who was it?”
I shrug, unsure as well, until we all turn ahead again and see who is walking toward us.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Hello, ladies,” her voice rings out and slithers its way through the air. I have to actively keep myself from shivering at the horrible feeling it leaves me with.
“If it isn’t Icky Vicky,” Kennedy levels her with a saucy grin. Her arms crossed over her chest like armor. “I should have known you would sniff out any chance of my brother enjoying himself. Where did you get the money from, Vick? Your latest sugar daddy?”
With a haughty laugh and a toss of her bleach blonde hair, Vicky sneers at my sister. “Judgy as ever I see, Kennedy.”
“Well, when my niece’s mother finally shows back up to town after running out of her life when she was a baby, to pay for a date with her ex-husband because he won’t entertain her otherwise, I think I reserve the right to judge the hell out of you, Victoria.”
Piper and I bounce our eyes back and forth like a ping pong match as Victoria and Kennedy verbally spar—a common past time when they are near each other.
“Whatever, Kennedy. I’m not here to waste my breath on you, I’m here to give your little sister the money I rightfully earned to spend some time with my husband.” She turns to me and reaches into her bag. “A check alright with you, Gwendolyn?”
“Be careful, sis. That check might bounce.”
“Actually,” I hold my hand up to stop Vicky. “I can’t accept checks for that exact reason. Cash or card only.”
She rolls her bright blue eyes. “But I don’t have any of that.”
Kennedy steps between us. “Damn, that just sucks, doesn’t it? Better scurry along then. I would hate to see how Jacks reacts to you being here and not even bothering to give him a heads up or, ya know, asking to see your child. Who is doing just fine without you, by the way.”
Vicky steps up to my sister. A murderous look in her eyes. “Don’t you speak to me about my daughter, you bitch.”
“Hey!”
Everyone in the area jumps at Jackson’s booming voice. If I thought Victoria looked murderous, Jackson’s expression could make the devil shiver and not in a good way.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Vick?”
She flashes a sneer at Kennedy then starts moving toward Jackson with flirty eyes. “I missed you, honey. Isn’t that enough of a reason to come visit?”
“No,” his steely voice lowers. “Get out of here before you make a scene. We can talk later.”
“Where’s Rowan?” Victoria looks around my brother as if she would materialize behind him. Jackson takes a side step to block her view.
“You don’t worry about her usually, so don’t start now.”
Her bottom lip juts out in a pout. The appendage looked bigger than usual with extra lip plumper. “Don’t be like that, Jacks.”
“I’m serious. Either you get out of here and I’ll meet you at my house to discuss whatever it is you need so you can hightail it out of town again, or you can air out why you’re here in front of everyone. Your choice.”
Victoria huffs, a little foot stomp to really round out the spoiled brat persona that seems to come so naturally to her.
“Fine. But don’t be late.” Without another look back, she stomps off.
Her hand instantly takes her phone out of her purse and placing it to her ear as soon as she is out of listening distance.
“Did she pay you, Gwen?”
I shake my head with a heavy heart as my brother sighs in defeat. “I’ll take care of it. You are doing real good, kid.” He wraps me in a hug, reaching out to bring Kennedy in as well. “I’m sorry she had to mess with it.” He ruffles my hair when he pulls back.
“It’s okay, you didn’t know she would show up. Do you still want the basket? Feels like you might need the alcohol. I won’t even make you pay the full price somebody jacked up.”
“Nah, let Pipsqueak have it since it seems she wanted it so bad.”
Piper pretends to pick at a nail, examining it from all angles. “I guess I’ll take it. I’m sure I can find someone to share it with tonight.”
A loud cheer comes from the crowd and we all catch Matthew coming from the stage with wide eyes.
“Why didn’t anyone save me?”
“Vicky showed up,” Jackson grimaces. “What happened?”
“Mary won the bid,” Matt swallows thickly with warranted fear in his eyes. We all follow his stare over to the edge of the main crowd where our local psychic is sauntering toward us.
“Oh, Matthew, I cannot wait for our date tonight,” she hands over a stack of cash that has my mouth dropping open at the size. “You better clear your mind, hot stuff. I’ve been itching to get my hands on your cards for years.” Her hand slides across his back. He stiffens his spine in reaction.
“Help me,” he whispers.
Kennedy throws her head back on a cackle. “You deserve whatever you have coming to you and you know it.” She crosses her arms, nodding to the stage. “Looks like the headliner is about to take the stage.”
“Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, our final bachelor of the evening, so those wallets should be warmed up and ready. Come on out, Logan.” Margot leads everyone into a round of applause to encourage him out onto the stage.
My heart trips over itself when I see his sheepish grin.
He ducks his head and waves out into the crowd.
It’s his eyes though that has my breath hitching.
Because the moment he is standing by his mother, ready for the bidding war to begin, his eyes seek mine out again.
They plead with me to understand. But that’s hard to do when I’m not sure what it is I’m supposed to get.
Margot doesn’t even start the bidding number when a shout rings out from the back of the crowd.
“Three hundred dollars!”
“Do I hear three hundred and fifty?”
The amounts start rolling in so quickly that we hit seven hundred and fifty dollars in the blink of an eye, art of me is kind of glad I didn’t try to bid on Logan because I would have maxed out by now.
“What about eight hundred dollars?”
Clear as a bell, from the front row a loud “one thousand” cuts through the noise.
“That bitch,” Piper gasps.
Camila beams from in front of the stage and my heart sinks at the realization that I just handed over a romantic date to the man that I love and the woman who once had him.
“How much you got?” Kennedy rushes out, her fingers counting the money in her wallet. “Piper, do you really have that money?”
“What are you doing?”
“How much?” She demands again as Margot calls the next round of numbers.
“Only five hundred,” I pull out the bills from my front pocket, which she snatches along with Piper’s stack.
Stepping forward before Margot calls it, my sister yells with all her might, “One thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars!”
The entire crowd gasps as they turn to look at who could have offered up such an insane bid.
“Wow! Seventeen-fifty going once, twice. Camila, do you have a counter-offer? No? Okay. Sold to Kennedy Prescott, Willow Grove’s very own best-selling author!
And that’s all, folks. It has been wonderful being your emcee for the night.
Please enjoy the rest of the evening here in our beautiful town. ”
“What did you just do?” I whisper to my sister, who hands me back the wad of cash we piled together.
“I just kept your boyfriend from having a romantic evening with his ex and got you a massive donation. You’re welcome. You can pay me back later.” She slaps me on the back and gives me some space when Logan walks up to us.
He scratches at the back of his head, his eyes looking down for a beat when he stops in front of me. When he finally looks up, I’m captivated by his swirling hazel eyes and his half-smirk.
“Gwendolyn Prescott, would you go on a date with me?”