I trudged through the rest of the week, no thanks to my sister.
Every time I turned around, she was telling me about someone else who was going to be bidding on me at the auction. Trina, of course. But also Jennifer and Katie and probably six others I couldn’t remember.
Maybe I could just call in sick to the auction.
I felt a little nauseated at the thought of showing up. Did that count?
My shift the night before dragged on longer than I thought possible. It was painfully slow, with not even a false alarm or mischievous toddler call to keep us busy.
I sat in the kitchen with a cup of coffee as shift change approached. Chief Danny strolled in and poured himself a cup.
“Today’s the big day, eh?”
I sighed. “Yep.”
“You did good work on this, Storm. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem, Chief,” I responded automatically. Then my mind flipped through all the problems. Gladys’s aggressive attention. Monica’s matchmaking attempts. All the hours with Krystal. “Just choose someone else for next year. I think I’ll be on vacation. Someplace far away. Maybe Alaska.”
Chief chuckled. “Noted. I guess you and Krystal aren’t volunteering to be the regular organizers?”
I clicked my tongue and shook my head. “Nope. She’s gone. Went to film a movie. Two, actually.”
Chief smiled. “Well, good for her. When does she get back?”
Oh, this was painful. “Pretty sure she’s not coming back. We’re over, I guess.” I choked out the last words.
I was kicking myself for the things I’d said when she announced her movie roles. Why couldn’t I have just been happy for her? Why did I have to make it about me? She offered to come back when she was done filming, but I was so hurt that she wanted to go at all, that I wasn’t enough to stick around for, I said some pretty terrible things.
I wouldn’t blame her for not coming back. I’d all but demanded that she never do.
Today would suck. Really, really suck.
But tomorrow would be a new day, and the auction would be behind us. And I would sit down with Monica and put my foot down about the matchmaking attempts.
And I’d figure it out.
Maybe I’d even reach out to Krystal and apologize for how harsh I’d been. Snow Hill, Pennsylvania wasn’t that far. I could go visit–maybe surprise her and patch things up.
I just had to make it through the auction.
Three hours later, I watched the auctioneer behind the podium, cracking jokes and driving the bids up with his commentary. I laughed as he made Matteo flex and the crowd cheered.
Monica walked over and talked with Jake for a minute as I watched from the side of the stage. I started toward them. Monica put her hand on Jake’s arm. They looked awfully cozy as she leaned in to say something to him.
“You better be,” I heard Jake say.
“Better be what?” I asked. They jumped apart. My suspicions rose, but I wasn’t really in the mood to get excited about someone else’s relationship.
“Grateful that I’m even doing this auction,” Jake said with an eye roll.
I chuckled and let him slide with the obvious topic change. I’d talk to him about Monica later. “Come on. You’ll get bought by Pastor Justin like always so you can clean the gutters on the church.”
Jake smiled. “Height has its privileges,” he said.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Tell your guys to behave,” Monica said.
“See you soon,” Jake said before turning to me. “You ready for this?”