ChapterTwenty-Seven
KRYSTAL
The drive from Snow Hill to Minden took most of the night, with a nap in the parking lot of a rest stop off of I-70. I knew from messages from Monica that I was cutting it close, but I pulled into the park about twenty minutes before the auction was due to end. Thanks to a little finagling from his sister, Bryce was slated to be the last firefighter auctioned.
I left everything in the car and jogged across the park toward the stage. There were at least two hundred people here, enjoying the food, games, and auction. As the auctioneer banged the gavel, closing the sale of Dylan Cole for $600, I couldn’t help but view the event with pride. Bryce and I had worked hard to help everything come together.
Chrissy Flynn took a red marker and colored in another piece of the flames on the poster being used to show the progress toward the fundraiser’s goal.
I craned my neck to look to the side of the stage where the guys from the fire department were standing around. I spotted Bryce instantly and I exhaled. I wanted to run to him, or wave my arms and announce myself. Forget this crazy plan Monica and I dreamed up.
“Up next, we have Jake Barrett. This firefighter has been with the department for ten years. At 6’ 9”, Jake is especially useful for elevated tasks, but, ladies, rumor has it that he is also single, so you could also win yourself a little time to spend getting to know the man behind the uniform. I’ll start the bidding at $100.”
Jake looked nervously around the crowd as bids started coming. He frowned, despite the bidding quickly going to over $500.
“Going once, twice, and sold to the young lady in the pink sweater,” the auctioneer pointed to an elderly woman using a walker and hit his gavel.
Jake flashed a tight smile and stomped off stage. What was that about?
I heard a few department pagers chime from backstage and in the audience. I recognized the call for volunteers and briefly wondered what was going on. Would it end the auction before I had a chance to bid? I saw Jake shove Bryce on stage and tried to read his lips as he waved him away from the others backstage who were checking their pagers.
Bryce took a deep breath and made his way to center stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen, last but not least… Captain Bryce Storm is multi-talented. I have it on good authority that the man can handle any construction or handyman job you need.”
A large woman with a gaudy pink floral shirt yelled from the front of the crowd. “$500!”
Bryce looked mortified and shifted his weight uncomfortably.
The auctioneer laughed. “Apparently, no further introduction is needed. I’ve got $500 up in the front. Do I see six hundred?”
Bryce was staring at the auctioneer. I willed him to look my way as bids were entered by several women around the park. It began to slow as it reached nine hundred, then nine-hundred and fifty.
He still hadn’t looked. Didn’t he care who won?
I raised my hand and yelled, “Two thousand dollars!”
Bryce’s head snapped up. My eyes never left him, and eventually, he found me in the crowd.
The expression on his face was unreadable.
A hundred pairs of eyes were on me as I weaved through the crowd to get closer to the stage.
I barely registered the voice of the auctioneer as he commented on and finalized the sale with a bang of the gavel. He declared the event over, announced the total dollar amount raised, and started a round of applause.
All of this happened with my eyes completely locked on Bryce’s.
He stood there on stage, unmoving during the closing comments as he watched me approach
I mustered a confidence I didn’t feel and took the front steps up to the stage. Three strides later, and I was directly in front of Bryce, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Is there an ATM around here…or do they take checks or what?”
Bryce blinked. “You’re really here?”
I looked around, suddenly very aware of hundreds of eyes watching our exchange play out. “Is there someplace we could talk?”
Bryce’s gaze shifted over my shoulder and back. He grabbed my hand and led me off the side of the stage behind the simple curtains that designated the waiting area. When we got there, I held onto his hand, unwilling to let it go.