Page 6 of The Auction
It was days like these I regretted the fact that I wasn’t a sociopathic murderer.
No, running didn’t get me what I wanted. Fighting Herb was pointless. And I wasn’t capable of violence.
Marriage, and navigating my way through a temporary situation, were the only ways out.
I just didn’t know what I was going to have to do, to get to the other side of it.
But I did know this. The man, whoever he was, was going to be my new mortal enemy.
TWO
JULIETTE
“A moment, Sheriff,”Herb called out to the old man standing on the platform, now that the horse auction had ended.
Rodeo Remnant Auction had started to become a real event for the town. Which meant banners had been hung, food had been made. A live band of banjo players took up space just outside the local bar in town.
Riverbend, in its entirety, consisted of one main street where all the businesses faced. There was a gas station on one side of town. A health clinic on the other. The diner was probably the main attraction in town because the owner, Ruby, made some kick ass desserts.
Not that I would know.
Herb and I had eaten at the diner a few times after church for birthday celebrations when he still cared about that sort of thing. But birthday dinner didn’t include dessert.
Herb didn’t believe in sweets.
All that was to say, the town was buzzing with activity. Traffic had been closed off on the main street. People werestanding around enjoying the activity of a competitive auction. And now it seemed as if the town’s Sheriff was about to officially announce it over.
“Herb? You need something?” the sheriff asked my dad, his hand over the microphone. I stood next to Herb unable to move, my heart thumping out of my chest with the humiliation I was about to endure.
Please let Kevin be working at the hardware store. Please let him not be anywhere near this auction.
“Want to make an announcement. Thought now would be the time.”
Herb’s voice was getting raspier. That was the cancer taking over his throat.
Maybe no one would hear him.
“Sure thing, Herb,” Sheriff Barling said, even as he stepped aside to make room for my dad.
Herb wasn’t used to attention any more than I was. The two of us were all each other had because Herb was mean and nasty and didn’t have any friends. And, by association, who would want to be friends with me?
Although Kevin had flirted with me. And smiled.
Maybe this was all for nothing. Maybe Herb would lean into the mic, say whatever he was going to say and no one would pay him any attention.
There were times I wasn’t positive we lived in the twenty-first century, but the calendar said we did. Maybe everyone at this gathering would dismiss Herb’s announcement for what it was.
Archaic. Outrageous. Despicable.
“Everyone,” he began, and then started coughing, pretty violently. Enough that he needed the kerchief from his back pocket to wipe away the blood at the side of his mouth. Unfortunately, that seemed to catch everyone’s attention.Probably worried he was about to keel over right in front of the town.
I didn’t have that luck.
He cleared his throat and took a few breaths.
“You all know my girl, Juliette. Time for her to settle down and marry. I’m putting the farm up as a dowry for any interested and serious suitors. Over four hundred acres of sugar beet and barley crop. A house, the barn, equipment-”
“Herb,” Sheriff Barling interrupted him. “I’m not certain what you’re saying here.”
