Chapter 5
Sawyer
“When life throws you a curve ball and you swing, you either miss or hit it out of the park, but at least you’re not sitting on the bench.”
~ Grant Turner
Nope. Not her.
Disappointment swelled in me as I watched Brady Calhoun strut into the fundraiser which had started an hour ago. Every time the door opened, I checked to see if it was her. Her parents and sisters had shown up over an hour ago, and I was starting to get concerned. She’d completely missed dinner and Sheriff Reed was going to be announcing the winning bids any minute.
Was she sick?
Had she fallen and hurt herself?
Had she gotten all dolled up for a mystery date and he’d taken one look at her when she opened the door and they hadn’t made it past her front porch?
Lifting my arm, I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. My mind was like a runaway train when it came to that girl. It went off the tracks full steam ahead, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it.
My brother Cooper slapped me on the shoulder as he joined me near the stage. “I heard Edith got frisky at the fitting.”
My sister had a big mouth. I was sure my entire family knew about the incident now, and I was sure they would be bringing it up for years to come. I ignored him.
“Also heard that you were going to be getting an assistant.”
“Apprentice,” I corrected him.
He shrugged. “Same difference.”
No. It wasn’t. This was exactly why I kept my thoughts to myself. People liked to hear themselves talk and were going to believe what they wanted no matter what I had to say. It was a waste of breath.
“I also heard that mom and dad think you’re battin’ for the other team.”
“Damn, Coop.” He was worse than a gossiping teenage girl.
“Hey, man.” Amusement bled through his words as he lifted his hands. “I’m all good with it. More women for me.”
He started listing the ways that me being gay would serve him well, but I was saved from having to listen to it when Sheriff Reed stepped up to the mic. “All right folks, as you know there’s been a silent auction for the past week, and it’s time to name the highest bidders.”
I stood beside Coop as the sheriff read off the winners of the items up for auction. My mind wandered, like it always did, to Delilah. I could still feel the way her body molded against mine when we’d collided today like a phantom limb. I could still smell the light flower scent that was uniquely hers. I could still hear her soft voice saying yes when I asked her if she was okay.
Five minutes or fifteen could’ve passed, I had no idea, when Coop elbowed me, snapping me out of my flashback, as he whispered, “Holy shit!”
I blinked and realized that the entire room was applauding and looking in our direction. “What happened?”
“Five K. Your project and assistant thing went for five thousand dollars.”
“What the fu…” I stopped just short of dropping the F-bomb in front of the entire town.
Sheriff Reed leaned towards the mic. “I’ll have to fact check this, but I think that is the highest bid we’ve ever had and it comes from…”
He paused. I was sure it was for dramatic effect and it worked. I was on the edge of my seat. Who in the hell would spend five thousand dollars for a weekend project and an apprenticeship?
“Delilah Turner.”
“What the fuck!” This time I didn’t catch myself.
Thankfully, the applause that had erupted after her name was read drowned out my cursing. My heart sped, and my mind tried to puzzle together why in the hell that girl would spend that kind of money on this.
I knew that she’d been working on renovations for her house, the guys down at the lumber yard and Mr. Tate at Wishing Well Hardware had filled me in on her various projects. They’d all been impressed by her, not just her knowledge, but also the quality of her work which they’d seen posted on her FB page. I wasn’t on any social media, so I took their word for it.
But that only made her paying such a significant amount for work that I was sure she could probably handle on her own even more confusing.
“I haven’t seen Ms. Turner tonight, but on behalf of the city council, I want to say thank you for her generous bid. And also,” Sheriff Reed motioned towards me, “I’d like to extend our gratitude to Sawyer Briggs of Briggs Construction for his creative donation.”
The crowd went wild again before the rest of the winning bids were read. After the presentation was over, I was bombarded with people offering their congratulations and theories on why Delilah was so generous with her bid. I wasn’t listening to anything they had to say. Coop, on the other hand, was eating the attention up and had no problem fielding all of the comments.
My mind wasn’t in the conversations that were happening around me. It was too busy wrapping itself around the new development that rendered my, keep my distance rule null and void.
How in the hell was I supposed to keep my distance now?
How in the hell was I supposed to keep my sanity now?
How in the hell was I supposed to keep my mind on my work with her beside me?
There were a lot of things that I wanted to show her, to teach her, none of them had anything to do with construction. The constant flow of people that I’d been ignoring finally died down and then a person I couldn’t overlook appeared in front of Coop and me.
“Whoa!” Harmony exclaimed. “Did you have any idea that she was going to bid that high?”
“No.”
“She didn’t say anything when we saw her, but maybe that was why she took off so fast. Maybe she wanted it to be a surprise, and she didn’t want to give it away.”
“When did you see her?” Coop asked, sounding every bit the gossipy teenage girl that he had earlier.
“Today,” Harmony gladly filled him in. “We ran into her. Literally. Well, Sawyer did anyway. She was coming out of the salon. We talked for a minute, and I even brought up the apprenticeship—”
“It’s not an apprenticeship.” It was a distinction I kept making, even though no one was listening.
“Whatever. The point is she acted like she didn’t know anything about it. She didn’t say anything. Remember?” She swatted my arm.
Of course I remembered. I remembered everything when it came to that girl.
Harmony’s eyes widened. “Do you think it was a mistake? Do you think she meant one thousand not five thousand? Do you think that’s why she’s not here?”
“No,” I answered as all of my awareness narrowed to a pinpoint focus.
“How do you know?”
My entire body tightened with the same need that had caused it to shake when I was shaving. “Because she just walked in.”