Chapter 37 #3
“Knew, what? Caroline? Oh my god…Teddy’s here? Teddy’s here.” Of course, Teddy was here, she didn’t conjure him. Her eyes hadn’t deceived her. She involuntarily shivered in delight. Don’t get too excited, he’s probably here to be nice.
She’d tried so hard to put him out of her mind, albeit unsuccessfully, and now he was here. First the helmet, and now this? What does it all mean? She needed a minute to collect herself.
“So you didn’t know Teddy was here. Got it,” Caroline nodded, pressing her lips together. “Do you need to sit? You look like you need to sit.”
Sit? Seriously, it was taking every bit of willpower she had to not run in the direction she’d last seen Teddy. “No, I’m good,” Avery tried to contain the energy bouncing around inside her.
“Are you sure? Because there’s something else you may want to sit for. In fact, I need to tell your dad too,” Caroline motioned to Michael to join their little huddle off to the side of the stage.
“What’s up Caroline?” he asked.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have a situation. Al Roker left. Snowmageddon is about to hit the East Coast, and he got called back immediately to the studio in New York. So… we don’t have an MC for the auction.”
Avery’s head swam. Perhaps she should have sat down. “You have got to be kidding me,” Avery said.
This was a lot to process. Teddy is here. And their MC is not. Is Mercury in retrograde or something?
“I’ve got this,” Michael offered. “People love me, I have TV experience. I’ll do it.”
Oh my. Avery whipped her head around in Caroline’s direction, trying to telepathically relay her emphatic opposition to her dad being the MC.
No, definitely not. Anything but that, in fact.
Her dad was not good without a script. He’d go rogue, say something that would embarrass her, mispronounce donors’ names.
Luckily, Caroline caught her drift. She’d worked for the Silvers long enough to not only pick up on Avery’s non-verbal cues, but she probably also agreed with Avery’s assessment of her dad’s fitness as a fill-in auctioneer.
“Michael, you would be fantastic,” Caroline said, stroking his ego. “But we need you to work the room at all times. Can’t have you tied up on stage for too long.”
Gosh, Caroline was a treasure.
“Yeah, Caroline is right, Dad. It can’t be you, you’ll, um, you’ll be too intimidating up there?” Avery added, knowing it wasn’t nearly as convincing as Caroline’s reasons, but she piled on anyway.
“You girls might be right, I need to be doing some hustling on the side, egging these guys on to bid higher and higher. Any ideas who can fill Al’s shoes at this hour? Think we can get that local guy over here from CBS? The young, handsome one who does sports scores?”
It wasn’t a bad idea, but Avery knew there wasn’t enough time for him to make it out to the valley.
She knew the evening’s program like the back of her hand.
As soon as the video ended, the guests would be served their main course, and then as soon as the dishes were cleared, the auction was supposed to start.
“I think it has to be someone already on site, given our time constraints.”
She knew instantly who could do it, who would be an absolute smash.
She looked around the room for someone, anyone, else who could do it. It would have to be someone delightfully charming, polished, poised. Someone who could capture everyone’s attention and had extensive media training.
There were exactly two men in the room who fit the bill.
She searched for Caroline’s eyes again, and Caroline nodded at her. They really were on the same wavelength tonight.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Avery asked her.
“Zack? Teddy?” Caroline looked at Avery nervously. “We could ask them to do it together.”
“I like it. Let’s do it. Are you comfortable with Teddy being up on stage?” her dad asked.
Avery appreciated her dad checking in with her.
“Yes, I think it’s our best option, really our only option at this point.
” And it would give her a real reason to go run after Teddy.
She needed to look him in the eyes and try to figure out why he was here— whether her instinct that it was for her was on track.
“I’ll go find them and ask,” she told Caroline. “I’ll be back in five. Hopefully with two handsome race car drivers in tow.”
She suddenly felt like Cinderella at the ball. Wait, no. Aren’t I the prince in this scenario, chasing after the beautiful love interest who has taken off into the night? And what is the glass slipper, a glass helmet?
Avery took a breath and tossed her waves over her shoulders instead before taking a big step in the direction where she’d seen Teddy and Zack from the stage.
It was time to face her destiny, find her happily ever after, or at least find someone to save her ass and keep her dad as far away from the microphone as possible.
“Great job up there. What’s going on?” Josh stepped into her path, interrupting her carpe diem moment. She’d forgotten Josh was even there the moment she’d seen Teddy out of the corner of her eye.
“Well, we are having a bit of an emergency. An MC situation. And I have to go take care of it. But we have a plan. Go enjoy your meal.”
“Are you sure? I want to help. I am at your beck and call tonight,” Josh offered, sweetly, but in a way that now irked her, too.
“Yes, I’m sure. This is something I have to do on my own,” she leaned over and gave him her most chaste peck on the cheek.
“Go get ‘em, tiger,” he told her.
She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.
Avery made a beeline to the back of the tented room, eyes down, avoiding eye contact with anyone who might get in her way. She couldn’t afford any more interruptions.
She was on a mission, and the clock was ticking. She needed to find her man, if she could call him that, both for the success of the event and for her sanity.
Her best bet was Zack. Luckily, he had stayed put, and she found him exactly where she’d spotted him during her speech.
He gave her a warm smile and leaned in for a hug. His wife, Nora, looked beautiful by his side in a red bustier and matching pants suit.
“Congratulations, this is a beautiful party,” Nora gave her the very European double air kiss on each cheek in greeting.
“Zack, I have a huge favor to ask you, that is, if Nora doesn’t mind me stealing you away for a bit. Our auctioneer had an emergency, and the auction starts in a few minutes. We know the crowd would love to see you, and Teddy, up on stage,” she explained. “Would you be willing to step in?”
“I’d be honored,” Zack said sincerely in his warm accent, “Tell me what you need me to do and give me a few minutes to prepare.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are a lifesaver. Seriously.” If she couldn’t find Teddy, or if he said no, at least the auction was taken care of. “Caroline will fill you in,” she added, pointing to where Caroline was standing.
Auctioneer problem solved. Now onto her heart.
“Before you go. One more thing, do you know where Teddy went?” she asked, biting her lip. “I thought I saw him over here a few minutes ago. I’m hoping he will share the auctioneer duties with you.”
Zack gave her a knowing look and smiled. “I’m sure he’d be happy to join me on stage. He said he needed some air. He probably stepped outside.”
“Okay, I’m going to go try and find him outside. Thanks again, really,” she hugged them both.
Avery left Zack and Nora and slipped outside. The sun had gone down since she’d entered the cozy confines of the heated tent hours earlier, and the December air was crisp. She shivered as both the winter chill and the nerves hit her.
She spotted him immediately and her heart leapt. He was leaning against the trunk of the juniper tree in Ben’s garden, a few of its leaves scattered around him. Avery felt them crunch under the point of her heel as she approached.
He must have heard the crunch too because he looked up from his phone, which he had been staring at seriously.
“Teddy, you’re here...” she said softly, her voice rising in a question mark.
“I couldn’t stay away from your big night. From you,” he looked at her fondly.
The golden flecks in his eyes focused on her, instantly warming her body from the inside out.
Maybe she was going to have her Cinderella moment after all.
“I saw you from the stage, and in my heart I knew it was you, but then you ran off and I didn’t trust my own eyes,” she wanted to leap into his arms, nuzzle her head into the spot on his chest where she knew it would fit perfectly, let his strong arms surround her and hold her tight.
But she had an auction to save. There would be plenty of time for that after the event, or at least she thought there might be from the heat coming off his body, and the way his eyes had lit up as she walked toward him.
She stepped in closer to him, to his warmth. She was so close in fact that if he leaned in, and she tilted her head up, their lips could meet. But he stayed as still as a statue, and she still needed to ask him to go on stage.
“Listen, as much as I would rather stay outside with you all night under my favorite tree, I have a favor to ask of you first. The auctioneer had an emergency, and we are hoping you and Zack can fill in at the last minute. Zack already said yes.” She cocked her head, looking at him pleadingly, hopefully.
“I don’t know if you are still trying to avoid the spotlight… ” she added, offering him an out.
“You don’t have to ask twice. I’ll do anything for you. I want you to be happy, even if it’s with Josh and not with me,” he said, his voice earnest but flat.
What? “Josh? Wait…” He thinks I’m with Josh? Her stomach dropped. “No—”
“Avery! Teddy! There you are,” Caroline barreled toward them, the tent canvas flapping behind her as a gust of wind blew through. “Zack said I’d find you out here.”
Caroline’s eyes darted back and forth between the couple. “Am I interrupting? Did he say yes?”
Yes, you are as a matter of fact. “He said yes to the auction,” Avery whispered.
“Excellent, Teddy, here come inside and I can point out which tables I want you to keep your eyes on,” Caroline was off and running. “Your job will be to spot the bidders, Zack is going to pitch the items, I just went over the list with him…”
Teddy stepped back from her, breaking the magnetic pull. Avery felt dizzy as she struggled to get enough oxygen. She knew Teddy was used to completely focusing on the task at hand and could block out anything else, but she had to make it clear that she wasn’t with Josh.
“Wait! Caroline, I need one second alone with Teddy.” She had to set the record straight.
Caroline nodded and slipped back into the tent, leaving Teddy and Avery alone again.
“Josh is not… it’s not what you think. I…I want to explain, please?” she pleaded.
“It’s fine, Avery, truly. I’ve been watching you all night from afar, and I see how he dotes on you, takes care of you.
You deserve that,” Teddy said, looking down at his feet.
“You deserve more than I was willing to give you. You don’t need to explain anything.
He seems like a good chap. I know you two have history and I’m glad you found what you were looking for. ”
Her mouth went dry. I have to fix this. Now. How does he not know that my eyes only see him? That she’d wanted more with him, a real partnership with him, and no one else.
“NO!” She practically shouted in frustration.
“Teddy. I’m not with Josh, I invited him as a friend.
I don’t know what you think you saw, but absolutely nothing romantic is happening between us.
” She couldn’t get the words out of her mouth fast enough.
It was one thing if Teddy truly didn’t want her or wasn’t ready for the relationship that she wanted, needed, but it was quite another if he was holding back because of something he saw with Josh.
Teddy closed his eyes and exhaled. “Okay. Yeah, thanks for clearing that up.”
She grabbed his hand. “Please, meet me back in the garden after the auction?” There was so much more she wanted to say, to ask.
“We’ll talk then.” He squeezed her hand back and leaned down, letting his forehead touch hers. She lifted her other hand and traced it along his jawline.
“But first, I’m going to raise a huge pile of money for your charity, bella.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it from his jaw to his lips, pressing his mouth into her palm. He kissed her hand suggestively, licking one of the lines on her palm.