“Theo Holt,” Tessa announces, and I drag my attention back to the stage. “Owner of Holt Landscaping and the reason every garden in Honeyridge Falls actually blooms.”
Scattered applause. Someone wolf-whistles—probably Mrs. Henderson. I smile and try to look like I’m not having an internal crisis.
“Starting bid, fifty dollars.”
Paddles go up. Fifty. Seventy-five. A hundred.
Then Cara raises her paddle.
“Two hundred.”
The room goes quiet.
She’s looking right at me. Chin lifted. Shoulders back. Not apologetic at all—determined. Like she’s been planning this and she’s not backing down now.
My chest tightens in a way that has nothing to do with the shirt Nate ironed.
“Two hundred dollars,” Mayor Bradley says, sounding surprised. “Do I hear two-fifty?”
Someone bids. Two-fifty. Three hundred.
Cara doesn’t hesitate. “Four hundred.”
Murmurs ripple through the crowd. People are looking at her, then at me, then back at her. Mrs. Patterson’s eyebrows have achieved new heights.
She’s fighting for me. In front of the whole town, she’s fighting for me.
“Four hundred dollars. Going once... going twice...”
No one bids against her.
“Sold! To the lady in green.”
I walk off stage feeling slightly dazed. Lucas is waiting in the wings, his face doing that carefully blank thing it does when he’s processing something big.
“I know,” he says before I can speak. “I saw.”
“Lucas—”
“I’m up.” He smooths down his shirt and heads for the stage.
I find a spot where I can watch. Lucas takes his position, looking uncomfortable under all the attention. Tessa does her introduction—Dr. Lucas Price, beloved town physician, pillar of the community.
Bidding starts. Fifty. Seventy-five.
Cara raises her paddle. “Three hundred.”
The crowd buzzes. She’s doing it again.
Someone counters. Three-fifty.
“Four-fifty,” Cara says. Calm. Steady.
Silence.
“Sold.”
Lucas walks off stage and passes me without a word, but his scent has gone sharp—bergamot cutting through the sandalwood.
