Page 77 of You're the Reason

Maybe just friends were all they’d ever be, could ever be.

No. She refused to believe that. Seth was just used to people walking away from him when life got too hard. He couldn’t see his own worth. And maybe the only future he could see for them was one where she walked away, but she could see something different. Somehow, she was going to find a way to show him that.

It had been a long day of never-ending festival customers, so shutting the door and placing the sign Closed for Bachelor Auction should come with more satisfaction than it did. Not that he wanted to be out there. The last thing Seth wanted was to be bid on—or not bid on—by the town. What he did need was an hour to work out to get his head straight and that was exactly what he had.

Seth secured the sign to the door, shut off the main lights, and set the timer on his phone. One hour.

Seth walked back to the obstacles, his phone ringing as he went. He scooped it up. Unknown number. Could be about the festival. He accepted the call.

“This is Seth.”

“Seth, this is Allen Mets of Ninja Warriors. We still haven’t received your acceptance to the regional in Chicago?—”

“I’m not going.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You were quite the crowd favorite. Is there anything I can do to change your mind?”

“Can I run it without being on camera, doing interviews, or spotlight features?”

“That’s sort of how we pay for things around here, Seth.”

“I get that. I . . . just can’t.”

There was a deep sigh on the other end. “I am sorry to hear that. If you change your mind, you have my number.”

“Thank you, sir.” He ended the call, tossed his phone aside, and peeled off his shirt. Some people wanted to make a poster child of him, others wanted to shut him away in here like the town’s dirty little secret.

And him? What did he want?

That was easy ... Grace. Wow, he’d never wanted anything so much in his life than to hold her in his arms, to see her smile, to go back to that easy day they had in Chicago when he felt like they belonged together.

Stupid just friends. He could barely be in the same room with her without wanting to revisit that kiss. But it was best in the long run. As much as he cared for her, wanted her, even... dare he say loved her, the cards were stacked against them.

He jumped up to his pegboard and started moving the pegs through the numbered holes, ready to burn a little of this irritation away. It wasn’t that he wanted to go to the auction, or even be in the auction—he was thankful that hadn’t worked out. The whole thing just made him mad.

On his third rotation of working the pegs from one to twenty-five, a small feminine “Oh” made him pause.

He looked over his shoulder to find a wide-eyed Grace standing about twenty feet away.

Oh boy.

He dropped to the ground and snagged his shirt from where he’d thrown it. “Everything okay?”

She blinked at him and then again. Now she was really concerning him.

He slipped the shirt over his head and took a step toward her. “Grace?”

She seemed to shake herself back to the present, then turned accusing eyes on him. “Why aren’t you in the bachelor auction?”

“What?” He grabbed a towel from his bag and wiped his face.

“The bachelor auction. You told me Hannah asked you and you agreed. But you aren’t on the list.” She waved a pamphlet in the air. “And you aren’t even there. Why?”

He stepped over to his water and took a large gulp. “Let it go.”

“I will not let it go.” She withdrew a wad of cash from her purse. “I brought my money and?—”

“Then bid on someone else. I heard there was quite the lineup this year.” He walked over to the table where they’d been collecting money all day.

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