Page 19 of Checking All Her Notes
I’m working the check-in table, smiling through chaos like I’ve been trained for this my entire life. Which, as Coach Kessler’s daughter, I basically have been.
“This is going to be a disaster,” I mutter, checking names off the list as people arrive.
“This is going to be amazing,” Ivy corrects, practically vibrating with excitement.
“So,” she says, counting envelopes that people have already submitted with their maximum bids, “five local heroes tonight. Two firefighters, a deputy, one of the new teachers, and?—”
She grins wickedly. Dangerously.
“—a surprise hockey player.”
My stomach drops straight through the floor. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Absolutely yes,” Hadley says, not even looking up from the cash box. “And rumor is, your dad volunteered him.”
I squeeze the pen so hard it bends. The plastic cracks under my thumb.
It’s been three days since Jude walked away from me in that hallway. Three days of radio silence. Three days of me pretending I’m fine while teaching scales to children who can sense weakness like sharks sense blood.
And now my father has volunteered him for a bachelor auction.
What in the world is he butting in for?
The lights dim and the crowd starts hooting before the MC even takes the stage. Sheriff Glasgow is up first, looking uncomfortable in a suit that’s slightly too tight around the middle. He goes for fifty bucks to Darlene Snow, who’s been trying to set him up with her daughter for months.
Then the second firefighter, Adam Jacobs, steps up and flexes once. Just once. The PTA loses their collective minds and starts bidding like it’s a Vegas poker game. He goes for a hundred and twenty dollars to the school nurse, who looks far too pleased with herself.
By the time Mr. Bart Landry, the new high school science teacher, gets “sold” the small-town gossip mill is running wild.
I’m starting to relax. Starting to think maybe Jude backed out. Maybe he refused. Maybe he’s not even?—
The MC leans into the microphone. He’s also the local radio host and he knows how to work a crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen, fresh off last week’s Bobcats win, let’s welcome our final bachelor. Number five. JUDE BLOCKTON!”
The room erupts.
My heart stops.
Jude walks out from backstage like a man facing execution. No smile. Just that glacial calm I’ve come to recognize as his default armor. He’s wearing jeans and a button-down shirt. Dark blue. It makes his eyes even more striking under the stage lights.
He looks good. Too good.
He also looks like he’s planning seventeen different escape routes.
Ivy leans over, her voice barely audible over the crowd noise. “Your man cleans up nice.”
“He’s not—” I start, but my voice cracks.
Because he is. He’s definitely my man. Or he was. Or he could be.
Oh my, this is complicated.
The MC launches into a list of Jude’s stats like he’s announcing a boxing match. “Height six-two, plays defense for our beloved Bobcats, rumored to have a heart of gold beneath that scowl. Starting bid twenty dollars!”
Crickets.
Complete silence.
