“What’s your dad say about you two dating?”
“He hasn’t met Aiden yet.” She picks up her fork with her free hand.
“He hasn’t met him?” He frowns at her.
“Not yet. Mom only met him this evening, because she came over with my sisters to help me get ready for tonight.”
“That meeting should be interesting.” He pushes his salad to the center of the table, apparently uninterested in eating it.
“What do you mean?” she asks, and he looks at me.
“You haven’t explained to her that Bender and Sons is Mayson Construction’s biggest rival?”
“It’s never come up in conversation.” I reach under the table and cover her hand with mine when she tries to pull it away. “And I don’t work for Bender and Sons.”
“Buddy, you’ve been running your father’s company since his stroke. How on God’s green earth do you not work for Bender and Sons?”
“I’m helping out temporarily,” I tell him, then look toward the stage when he does.
“Hi, everyone,” my sister says with a mic in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. “On behalf of my family and I, I want to thank you all for joining us this evening. It means a lot to us that you’ve all shown up to support a cause dear to my dad’s heart, even though he couldn’t be here with us.” Bridgett looks through the crowd. “This evening, we have lots of amazing stuff for you all to bid on, and please remember every single dollar will be donated to the children’s hospital, so don’t be stingy.”
Everyone laughs.
“I thought we should start out the night with something fun.” Her eyes lock with mine. “So, first up this evening is a date with my brother, who is apparently one of Tennessee’s most eligible bachelors.” Bridgett giggles when her husband hoots, and the entire room erupts in laughter.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I growl, and May’s fingers dig into my thigh when I start to stand.
“We’ll start off the bidding at one dollar.” A bright light suddenly blinds me. “Though I know he’s worth more than that. He is a Bender after all.”
Everyone laughs again.
“Five hundred dollars,” a woman sitting at the table my mother is at calls out.
“One thousand,” another one yells.
“Fifteen hundred,” the first woman shouts.
“Three thousand,” a different woman offers.
“Ten thousand,” May declares, raising her hand.
“Well shit,” Herbert mutters.
“Babe,” I growl and try to catch her eye to tell her to drop her hand, but she doesn’t even acknowledge me.
“Do we all understand that Monopoly money will not be accepted tonight?” Bridgett asks, and people start to laugh.
“Ten thousand,” May repeats, sounding pissed while pink spreads up her neck and cheeks.
“Do we have ten thousand and one?” my sister asks, looking around the room, which has gone quiet, obviously feeling the anger rolling off the woman at my side. “Okay.” Bridgett plasters a fake smile on her face. “Going once… going twice…” She lifts her glass. “Congratulations to the woman in the black dress.” She passes the mic off to the man who’s responsible for running the auction for the event, then heads off the stage to my mother, who looks annoyed.
“I need to use the restroom.” May pushes back from the table, and I quickly stand along with her.
“Doll.” I grab for her hand, but she shakes me off.
“I’ll be right back.” She pats my chest, then she looks at Herbert. “Please excuse me.”
“Of course, kid.” He smiles at her, and I watch her walk across the room, then toss my napkin down on the table.
“Don’t do it,” Herbert says, catching my attention, and I meet his gaze. “I can see you want to go lay into your sister and maybe even your mother, but I’m telling you now, you need to leave it be.”
“Do you know what just happened?”
“Do you?” He raises a brow.