“Oh my god,” the old lunch lady said next to me. “I never thought I’d see a Townsend spend a dime on a Bailey product, much less try to buy one. Bet he’ll be the highest quality thing you’ve ever bought.”
Okay, ouch. But true.
“I’d pay a hundred grand to date him,” the young girl on the other side said.
I didn’t want a date. No date I’d been on had ever been worth fifty dollars, much less fifty thousand.
Teller’s chest rose like he was inhaling for the first time in a long time.
“Fifty-one.” Riley’s return lifted over the crowd.
Fear filled her eyes. She was a hairdresser with a salon in her house. Was she going to take out a second mortgage to pay for this? A home equity loan? She couldn’t truly think there was a future between her and Teller.
Unless she was like me. Did she plan to have him remodel her salon?
That wasn’t Riley though. She was bidding fifty grand in hopes of gaining access to his millions.
I bit the inside of my cheek. It was done. I’d lost.
Teller jutted his chin out like he was encouraging me to keep going. I squinted at him. I had to be seeing things.
A second ticked by. Two. He tilted his head to the side. I shrugged with no other way to convey that I had no more money. I’d love to ruin Riley’s night more than anyone else’s and extract some long overdue revenge, but I couldn’t afford to. It was a balm to see someone detested her as much as me. That it was Teller was surprising.
“Wow,” Wilna said. “A historic bid for the last year of the auction. That is something. Fifty-one going once.”
His eyes flared and he cocked his head some more.
I couldn’t.
“Going twice...” Wilna’s words were a taunt. Everyone’s eyes were on me, the weight heavy, but I was focused on Teller. His gaze repeatedly darted to Riley, darkened, then swung back to me. He tipped his head toward her again, urging me on.
I’d gathered fifty thousand dollars. Why couldn’t I raise two thousand more?
Wilna leaned in. “Going . . .”
“Fifty-five.” I whacked my leg with the paddle when I lowered it. I should smack my head. How the hell was I going to raise five thousand extra dollars? My next paycheck was barely five hundred.
“Wow, Mad Maddy,” Riley sneered. “Even that much money won’t get a man to stay with you.”
I flinched, her words bitch-slapping me across the face as snickers rippled through the crowd. Teller’s brows crashed together, but I dropped my gaze to my hands.
The former lunch lady chuckled. “Mad Maddy. I haven’t heard that one in a while. Remember when you dumped spaghetti in Josh Tucker’s lap when he called you that? Riley’s almost as upset.”
Josh had grabbed my boob, but I had gotten in trouble for the food. Not a memory I needed when I didn’t have enough to cover my bid.
“You couldn’t pay me fifty-five grand to let Riley put highlights in again,” the girl next to me muttered. “I hope you win.”
I snorted before I could smother my laugh. She would be the first. Riley shot me a glare.
A gavel pounded against the podium. “Sold to Madison Miller—oh, sorry—Townsend forfifty-fivethousand dollars.”
My heart stopped and it wasn’t because she’d called out my married name, the one I’d changed as soon as the ink on the divorce papers was dry. My chest constricted, trying to resuscitate my heart. I was down fifty grand and five grand in the hole. What did I do?
Riley stomped over everyone in her pew on her way out. Then she flipped her middle finger at me as she wove toward the exit.
The roar of the crowd was growing. I couldn’t sort my thoughts.
Wilna clapped into the microphone. “If everyone who won a bachelor can meet me in the pastor’s office, we’ll take your payment. You can make arrangements with your bachelor after we’re done.”
