Jefferson leans in, kissing me gently on the corner of my lips before moving across the room through the crowd. I return to the table, taking my seat. Annabelle and her husband are still seated there, and I’m jealous of the way they look lovingly at each other.
The two of them; that’s how I’m hoping that Malcolm will be with his ex. This weekend is a big step for him, and I’m so happy that he’s willing to try it. The next will be coming out to his children and family, a date here in town and winning back the love of his life.
“Bradley.” Annabelle leans forward, calling my name across the table.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“That man loves you.”
“Annabelle, that’s none of your business,” her husband says sharply, but it doesn’t faze her a bit. She just shoos him away with her hands.
“As I was saying, before my husband so rudely interrupted me. I can tell things about people and that man loves you.”
I smile, not because she’s right, but because it’s sweet. One day I do hope to have a man who loves me, but Jefferson isn’t it.
“Thank you.” Then I lean in, giving her a huge grin and my best playful wink. “I think he does, too. Sometimes he’s just not good at showing it.”
She bursts out laughing. “Honey, I hate to tell you that’s all men. Best you learn it now rather than later in life.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Best to get the disappointment out of the way early.”
“Annabelle. You’re corrupting this young man with your nonsense. Don’t listen to her, she just likes to meddle.”
This woman reminds me so much of Nana that my heart aches for her still to be here. Her and Annabelle would have caused the most mischief together. I can already envision the call to bail them out of jail for whatever antics they caused.
A sharptap-tapcrackles through the speakers, the familiar pop of skin against metal echoing over the hum of conversation and music. Heads turn instinctively, some wincing slightly at the sudden spike of sound, while others laugh it off.
“May I have your attention, please,” comes from a rich, slightly gravelly-with-age voice. Shifting my attention over to him, I see it’s the same man from earlier. “DJ, let’s bring the music down, if you would.”
The volume fades, the beats of music falling away like a slow tide pulling back from shore, leaving only the murmur of voices and the faint clink of glasses.
“That’s better,” the man continues, clearing his throat gently. “Now, I believe it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for.”
A few scattered cheers rise from the room, along with a ripple of laughter. My eyes roam the room, looking for Jefferson, but I don’t see him anywhere. He won’t want to miss the announcements of who won, and he should’ve been back by now.
Did he leave me? Oh shit, he did. Is this like some upper scale dine and dash and I’m the unsuspecting party? No way in hell can I shell out the amount he wrote for that weekend getaway to Turks and Caicos Islands.
“Yes, yes,” he says with a smile, “it’s time to announce the winners of tonight’s incredible auction items. If your name is called, please make your way to the side of the room to finalizepayment and collect details for your items. We’ve got some very happy bidders in here tonight, I’m sure.”
He pauses, holding up the envelopes in his hand, before placing them on the podium, except for one, opening it.
“Let’s begin…”
The announcer's voice fades to the back and is nothing more than idle white noise as I become concerned. I’m the first to say I get paranoid easily, but this has me on edge. Annabelle must sense something is off as she keeps looking at me, her eyebrow raised.
“Are you okay? You know if you don’t win, it’s not the end of the world.” She tries to comfort me, mistakenly thinking I’m afraid of losing a bid I didn’t even make.
“Yeah, just wondering—”
“I’m so sorry it took so long.” Jefferson’s deep voice speaks as he places a glass of wine in front of me, then sits down. “Had to use the bathroom, then got a phone call, and the line was crazy,” he rambles and my heart calms. I really need to stop getting so wired about things or I’m going to end up having a heart attack before I’m twenty-five.
“See, told you so,” Annabelle says matter-of-factly.
“Did I miss something?” Jefferson leans in, whispering in my ear, his hot breath skimming across the delicate skin of my earlobe.
“Nope. Nothing at all.” There’s no way in hell I’m telling him I was spiraling.
“I haven’t heard them announce the item I bid on. Did they and I just didn’t hear? There was a moment I stepped out of the room to take the call.” I catch the slight change in his voice when he talks about the call. Almost as if it’s not exactly what happened. But that’s me diving off the deep end again with my thoughts.
