He did, in fact, nearly set his apartment on fire again, trying to do too many things at once. Iron his shirt, make a little dinner, finish an email. It wasn’t the iron that got him, but the dish towel he thought he’d hung on the oven handle and had actually pinched inside the oven door. Fortunately, he caught it before the smoke got too bad. The smell wasn’t as awful as the old sweet potato smell, but the towel was ruined.
Then he got spaghetti sauce on his freshly ironed shirt.
He was so late. After an extra-long visit to the equipment rental to sort out the balance sheets—turned out Mr. Graves had switched to a new invoicing program and had been billing his clients using pricing from the previous year—he’d gotten home almost two hours later than he wanted. He was supposed to be at the community center by six, and it was already five-thirty, and now he needed a fresh shirt. Also, it turned out to be laundry day, so Avery had to find the cleanest of his dirty shirts from the hamper and iron it all over again.
He made it with two minutes to spare.
Except no one was there. Well, lots of people were coming and going. A senior citizen’s group doing Tai Chi. Kids dressed in Scout uniforms. No sign of bachelors, though. Or an auction.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket to double-check the details.
The screen was black. He stabbed at it with his finger, but nothing happened. Finally succumbed to its dunking, apparently.
A nice woman at the front desk let him use her computer to figure out that the auction was at the Seacroft Country Club, not the Seacroft Community Center.
So, by the time he arrived, he was super late.
Avery recognized Penny, who owned the diner downtown, as he burst through the doors. She was pacing the lobby of the country club. The second he walked in, she rushed toward him. “Avery. Where have you been? They already started the auction.”
“I’m so sorry.” He was sweating under his suit jacket and breathing hard.
“It’s fine, come on.” She tugged on his sleeve and pulled him down a hall, through a kitchen, and into a waiting area behind a curtain. Two other bachelors, guys Avery didn’t recognize, were seated on hard plastic chairs. One was a little bit older than Uncle Theo and wore a suit that probably hadn’t been out of his closet since some formal occasion in the eighties. The other couldn’t be more than eighteen. They both gave Avery awkward smiles as he sat.
“So we’re going to put you last,” Penny said as she straightened his tie and smoothed his hair down like he was also below the age of majority. “Can you confirm what your prize will be?”
He blinked at her. “My prize?”
His two fellow bachelors shifted uncomfortably. His anxiety hadn’t settled, and now it morphed into gurgling nervousness.
She sighed impatiently. “The auction is for a bachelorandan experience. Greg here is offering a session at the driving range, and Leon will take the lucky winner swing dancing.”
Avery stared at Greg and Leon in horror. They glanced at their shoes like they’d failed him by not letting him know about this.
“I—” He swallowed. “I can offer a financial planning session? Household or business budgeting?”
“Oh.” Her wide eyes and open mouth said the idea sounded as stupid as he thought it did, but she’d put him on the spot. She scribbled on her clipboard. “Yeah, yeah, we can do that.”
Out front, a round of applause was followed by a gavel banging heavily.
“Sold!” The auctioneer sounded authentic at least.
Avery tugged on his cuffs.
“Leon, you’re next.” Penny helped the older gentleman up and led him toward an opening in the curtain. He shuffled along, barely lifting his feet. Hopefully, he had secret hidden talents when it came to swing dancing.
Leon sold fast. Two quick bids and the gavel fell to polite applause. Greg was already at the curtain before Penny could collect him, and then Avery was alone.
He swallowed. He wasn’t nervous. Not nervous at all. Excited. Yeah. What he was feeling wasn’t anxiety. More like anticipation. He was going to walk out on that stage, and Linc would be there, sitting with the rest of the team from the fire department, and the MC would say Avery’s name, and Linc would put his hand up, and everyone would know who Avery belonged to.
He tugged on his tie and straightened the rainbow clip in the middle. Uncle Theo had lent it to him.
“We’re so proud of you,” he’d said. Avery had tried not to cry. Everything was all coming together.
Finally.
He stretched his feet out in front of him, admiring the shiny brown shoes. They were the color of caramel and the leather was stiff, but he felt soeverythingin them. Sophisticated. Confident. Above them was a pair of striped socks. Pink and orange. Colors he’d never been allowed to wear as a kid because his father said they were for girls. Colors he’d been told he looked ugly in, just like his dad said later Avery’s soul was ugly.
It wasn’t. He knew that now. Had always known it, really. But now he had Linc on his arm, and the rest of the world would see it.
