Page 19 of The Cowboy's Surprise Return

“Grab yourself a table,” Karen said, steering her to an empty one near the front.

“But don’t you still need help?” She’d been at the barn after work to help with setup, and was hoping that, despite being sent home to “spruce herself up,” she could continue to help out rather than be a bidder. They’d already set up a microphone near the barn’s large doors and strung bedsheets from the thick wooden rafters above, to create a backstage area where the bachelors could mingle without being seen. Surely there was more to be done.

“We’re good. The auction starts in two minutes. Do you have your number?” Karen consulted her clipboard and handed Jackie a red card with a four written on it with thick marker.

“My lucky number.”

“We hope so,” Daisy-Mae said, sashaying over and giving Karen a wink. With a flounce, she sat in one of the hard folding chairs at Jackie’s table.

“Are you sure you don’t need more help?” Jackie asked Karen before sitting down.

She shook her head. Myles was adjusting the sound system along with Levi, the brothers helping their girlfriends with tonight’s event.

“Well, then. I guess I’d better bid on someone mechanical. Maybe I can get my bumper fixed,” Jackie said, crossing her fingers.

“And find a boyfriend for tomorrow night,” Daisy-Mae said, checking her reflection in a pocket mirror.

“Please let him not be ancient,” Jackie joked, resolving to be a good sport even though her heart wasn’t in the mood for a bachelor auction.

Daisy-Mae reached over and gave her a high five. “Amen, sister.”

It felt as though most of her friends had paired up lately, which meant they hadn’t been suckered into bidding on a man who might or might not turn out to be a lecherous sleazebag.

Not that Sweetheart Creek had many of those, but knowing her luck, that’s who she’d end up with. She took a moment to scan the barn’s occupants. There were still enough single people in town to give the bachelors a few options, but at least half the women in the audience were younger than Jackie, making her feel old. What if the men on the other side of the curtain were crossing their fingers and hoping they didn’t get set up with someone like her?

She placed her number flat on the table, wondering if Karen would be upset if she didn’t bid. Though her friend had insisted the auction was about getting things crossed off people’s to-do lists, while socializing and raising money, Jackie knew it was a matchmaking event. And for whatever reason, she couldn’t find the enthusiasm for it. Maybe it was the fact that she was looking for something a bit more serious than a good time purchased at an auction.

Jenny Oliver joined her and Daisy-Mae at the rectangular table, sliding in between them. “What number do you have?” she asked, holding up a six.

Jackie showed hers, and so did Daisy-Mae, who also had a four.

“May the best woman win,” Daisy-Mae said.

“Thank goodness it’s ablindauction.” Jackie gave Daisy-Mae an appraising look, and the woman laughed. She was a former Miss Sweet Hills County beauty queen and had a way of turning men’s brains into pudding with just one dazzling smile.

“I hear we have to do challenges if there’s a tie,” Jackie said. Thankfully. Otherwise, if based on a schoolyard pick, Jackie was fairly certain they would leave her empty-handed if she went up against Daisy-Mae.

“Apparently someone forgot to look up the definition of ‘auction,’” Jenny muttered.

“Works for me. I don’t have a lot of spare cash these days.” Daisy-Mae tugged at her tight blouse and smoothed a few strands of hair into her up-do.

“Why not?”

Daisy-Mae shrugged off the question. She was a bit of an entrepreneur, renting out that crazy free-gravity trampoline thing Karen and Myles had borrowed for the library’s fall fair.

Karen cleared her throat at the microphone and Laura Oakes, Levi’s girlfriend, a former fashion model, appeared from behind the curtain to stand beside her. The long stretch of fabric billowed behind them, drawing Jackie’s attention to the occasional deep voice filtering to where she was sitting. She strained her ears to identify them and noticed Daisy-Mae doing the same.

“I wish we knew who we were bidding on,” Jenny said.

“It’s not fair they don’t get to strut their stuff for us,” Daisy-Mae added.

“You can’t see the men because this is a blind match-up,” Karen announced, looking at her friends in the front row. “And it’s also not about matchmaking. It’s about getting items off our to-do lists with help from someone in the county.”

Daisy-Mae rolled her eyes. “Whatever. We all know why we’re here.”

The other women cheered.

“Bring on the men!” someone from the back shouted.

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