Going Going Gone

GOING GOING GONE

CERIAN HEBERT

SOUL MATE PUBLISHING

New York

GOING GOING GONE

Copyright©2013

CERIAN HEBERT

Cover Design by Rae Monet, Inc.

This book is a work of fiction.  The names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the priority written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Published in the United States of America by

Soul Mate Publishing

P.O. Box 24

Macedon, New York, 14502

ISBN-13: 978-1-61935-
257-5

www.SoulMatePublishing.com

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

To my friends

who helped me through

those awkward years of high school. 

Love you all!

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to my critique partners who helped me pull this story together and to my fabulous editor, Char, who helped me to make it shine. Couldn’t have done it without you all!

Chapter 1

Penelope Moreno stuck close behind her younger sister as they made their way through the gymnasium at Reginald P. Harper High School. One by one, she picked out the familiar faces in the crowd. She figured chances the recognition would be reciprocated were slim to none. Whether she welcomed that fact or not, she hadn’t decided. On one hand, it would do her ego good to have someone approach her and say, “Oh my God, Penny, you look fabulous!” But then the residents of Harper’s Grove would have to recognize her for the girl she used to be. She hadn’t been ‘Penny’ for a long time. She didn’t much want to start now.

The throng made the gym look smaller than she remembered and that somehow gave her comfort. She kept the memories of this hellhole at bay as her little sister led her to the reserved seating left of the stage. Right now, it was more important to think about the event at hand rather than her not-so-glorious past.

Gwen’s excitement radiated around them. Tonight was a big deal for her. She’d worked hard to put this auction together and now she could sit back, relax and enjoy. Nell tried to follow suit, but there were too many familiar faces, too many little details about the gym that hadn’t changed over the past fifteen years. Maybe Gwen didn’t know how it would affect her, but she’d been too young to pay attention to the daily tribulations of Nell’s life in Harper’s Grove.

Of course, Gwen had been, and still remained, cute and petite, someone everyone noticed. Nell, who’d gone by the name ‘Penny’ back then, hadn’t been. She hated remembering and hadn’t let herself dwell on it for years because she wasn’t “Pudge” any longer. She hadn’t been qualified to wear that label for a good ten, twelve years.

Staring at the empty stage, with the faded rose-colored curtain pulled across it, Nell lowered herself into the metal folding chair as Gwen adjusted a pillow on her own seat. Nell eyed Gwen’s belly with a bit of envy. Seven months along and pregnancy looked awesome on Gwen. All women should look so good while expecting. Nell was sure part of the glow on Gwen’s cheeks was from the thrill of seeing months of hard work come together.

‘The First Annual Southern New Hampshire Firefighters Auction’ had pulled in quite a crowd. The participating firemen mainly came from small town volunteer fire departments. Nell glanced back as people began to take their seats. At least two hundred guests mulled around, chatting with their neighbors. A few approached Gwen to offer their congratulations and pat her tummy as if it would bring them luck. Nell watched, smiled and returned polite greetings, but not one person said, “Hey, you’re Penny!”

It was a double-edged sword and she didn’t know whether to feel relieved or insulted. She chose the former because over the years she’d learned to let things roll off her shoulders. Her life since graduating from college was dog-eat-dog; in order to survive it she had to be tough and a bitch. She could do that quite well when necessary.

The lights lowered and the conversation along with it, as a man stepped onto stage. Gwen gave an excited wave and the man responded by blowing her a kiss.

Sweet.

That pretty much described Gwen’s husband of eight years. Mark Demers was perfect for her sister. Cheerful, cute, and all-around Mr. Niceguy. Nell made a mental comparison between him and her own ex-husband. Conniving, suspicious, jealous, slime ball. As usual, Javier came up lacking. A talented designer, when he put in the effort, and a shrewd businessman. Good in bed, yes, but everything else about his personality trumped their sex life. Nell didn’t regret leaving him for one second, and never would.

Mark opened the evening with a few jokes which received a fair number of laughs, and a shout-out to Gwen for putting the whole auction together, explaining the proceeds were going to New Hampshire Special Olympics, a cause close to the hearts of Nell’s sister and brother-in-law. Their daughter, six-year-old Autumn, had Down Syndrome.

A loud round of applause filled the gym as Mark introduced the auctioneer, Howard Sample of ‘Howard’s Country Auctions.’

“I can’t believe he’s still alive,” Nell leaned over and whispered to Gwen.

The auctioneer wobbled to the podium, waving a leathery hand at the crowd. Howard was one of those people well known by everyone in the whole county.

He picked up his gavel and pounded it on the podium. The sound echoed through the room and halted any lingering conversation. He eyed the room carefully, as was his habit, summing up the crowd. With a nod, he announced the first ‘item.’

“Chester Bernier is a forty-eight years old and a lieutenant from the Reardon Fire Department.”

Chester, a balding man with glasses and a broad smile, walked onto the stage from the opening in the heavy curtains, dressed in a crisp white shirt with patches displaying his rank and department. He waved to the crowd and blew several kisses, which received several distinctly female hoots. Gwen stuck her thumb and finger into her mouth and let out a shrieking whistle.

Howard went on to describe Chester’s attributes and what he was looking for in a woman and started the bid at ten dollars.

“You didn’t tell me this was
that
kind of auction!” Nell said in amazement. There was a healthy outpouring of bids for Chester from the women in the room, until Howard hit the gavel and declared, “Going, going, gone” at one hundred and fifty dollars.

A woman jumped up and down in the back, and Nell could only hope Chester was as excited at the deal. Pink-cheeked, he blew the woman a kiss and left the stage, preening like a rooster.

“This is too funny,” Nell laughed. It was so small-town. Nothing like this ever happened in New York.

“Told you you’d enjoy it,” Gwen whispered back as the next bachelor took the stage.

After half an hour and eight bachelor firefighters went by, Nell had to admit this was rather entertaining. More fun than she ever believed she’d have back in the old high school gym. The crowd ate it up and the bids fell anywhere between sixty and two hundred dollars. With each bid, Gwen glowed that much more.

“What are the winners allowed to do with their bachelors?” Nell asked.

“Whatever they want. The guys are supposed to make lunch or dinner for the ladies, but they can help around the house, do some of those manly chores women don’t want to do.”

“Manly chores?” Nell bit back a snicker, but she waggled her brows. “Sounds like fun.”

Gwen elbowed her sharply in the arm. “That’s not what I mean. Get your mind out of the gutter.” She chuckled anyway.

“Our next bachelor should fetch a good price,” Howard declared. “Bachelor number nine is Elijah Knight, captain of the Harper’s Grove Fire Department.”

Nell sat up, her eyes wide.

It couldn’t be. The pleasure she’d been feeling died quickly when the next man took the stage. He’d been a hunk in high school; tall, with dark hair always cut to perfection, the jock who had the world tucked into the back pocket of his tight fitting jeans. Elijah was still a hunk, wearing his dress uniform, hair as neat and dark as it had been back in school, brown eyes surveying the crowd with the confidence he wore so well.

Unfortunately, Nell remembered the handsome and confident Eli Knight as a jerk. He’d never been kind to her. When he did pay her any attention, and that was rare, he’d teased her. Whenever she had to be on his team during gym class, he always bitched about it. Not that he’d been the worst of his bunch. That prize went to his girlfriend, Shelly. Of course, everything was made worse by the fact Nell had had a crush on Eli since the fifth grade. A crush that stuck with her until graduation, despite his overall jerkiness.

Here he was, looking better than he did when he was eighteen.
Damn him.

Then Nell did something she vowed she’d never, ever do since those painful old days. She melted right there in her seat in a fit of raging, ill-aimed female hormones. Over someone who was a part of the crowd that had systematically made her teenaged existence a misery.

She always prided herself in thinking first and acting later, but even before Howard finished introducing Elijah, she raised her hand, determined to win him. She didn’t know what she’d do with him, but she’d find something.

“One thousand dollars!”

The words were out of her mouth before Howard called for the first bid. The room filled with gasps, as if the entire audience collectively sucked in its breath. The silence lasted only a split second before the crowd broke out into a mixture of cheers, whistles, and more than a few groans, no doubt from women who were all set to win the handsome captain.

She ignored Gwen, who flung her arms around Nell’s shoulders and shook her with excitement. Instead, she locked eyes with Elijah, who stood, dumbfounded, on the stage.

“Going . . . going . . . gone!” Howard’s gavel hit the podium with a resounding crack that caused Nell to jump. The auctioneer hadn’t even waited to take more bids.

“Are you crazy? Can you afford that much?” Gwen still clutched Nell’s arm to the point where Nell thought she’d have to have her sister surgically removed.

Nell gave her a weak smile. “Hmm. Maybe I am crazy. But it’s for a good cause, right? I have a rainy day stash, compliments of my ex. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, my God. Have I told you lately how much I love you?” Gwen’s voice squealed above the noise of the crowd.

“No, not really. But, Gwen? What am I supposed to do with him now?”

Eli stood on the stage, staring down at the woman next to Gwen Demers. All he could do was gape. Although the bidding was over and he should’ve walked off, he couldn’t break the hold the woman had on him.

She wasn’t a local. He knew nearly every citizen in Harper’s Grove and the three surrounding towns. Besides, he could tell by her clothes and hair. Elegance radiated from her, and when she met his eyes, she displayed a heck of a lot more cool confidence than most of the females of his acquaintance. The way she stared at him, one brow cocked, caused a far from unpleasant tightening low in his belly.

He suddenly wanted to get this woman alone to find out what was on her mind.

Though it sounded more like a buzz, Eli heard Howard cracking a joke, evidently at his expense, but it brought him back to the here and now. He realized standing there, staring at the woman in the first row, would get him nothing but ribbing from the guys. Eli broke away from her gaze, turned, and left the stage, steeling himself against the assault of jokes and catcalls from his friends backstage. Damn the way his thoughts had begun to wander; he could’ve made a huge fool of himself right there, center stage.

There were only three more men in line for their turn onstage before the auction would conclude, but Eli didn’t want to wait until then to find out who the woman was. Who the hell paid that kind of money at a charity auction?
A person with too much money, that’s who.

“Hey, Eli, what ya gonna do to give the lady her money’s worth?” Chad Geller called out, raising another round of guffaws and good-natured hoots.

Stalking past the guys, ignoring their questions and jokes, Eli headed for the stairs leading to the hallway outside the gym. Maybe he’d wait until the auction ended before approaching this mysterious woman. She’d seemed pretty comfortable where she was, and he didn’t want to share his questions with anyone but her.

“She’s just a generous woman, you fool. Don’t get any ideas about the motivation behind her bid,” he muttered to himself.

Eli leaned against the door at the back of the room. He could barely see the top of the woman’s head, bent toward Gwen’s darker one. It was obvious they were friends. Eli wondered where they’d met. As far as he knew, Gwen had never wandered far from Harper’s Grove. She’d even stayed home while attending the local community college so she could keep her mother company.

Maybe she met the other woman in school, for all he knew. He’d find out in about fifteen minutes, if he could be patient enough to wait.

The rest of the firefighters were auctioned off in record time. Maybe some of the wind got knocked out of the sails of the audience after the mystery woman’s generosity, but Bob Letorneau, Chris Bentley and Jacob Franks brought in decent bids, and as soon as Howard closed the auctions, the entire auditorium became a sea of gossip and milling around.

As he made his way through the crowd, he received hardy pats on the back, ribald jokes and good-natured punches to his arm. It was going to be a hell of a long time before he lived this down.

“Well, it’s better than only goin’ for ten bucks,” Red Soderhaus pointed out with his signature cackle. Eli rolled his eyes and continued past.

“Well Elijah, I was all set to bid my seventy-five bucks on you.” Dolores Dicey waved an old green wallet in front of Eli’s face.

“Then it’s my loss.” Eli gave the sixty-something woman a hug. “Next year, I promise.”

Eli didn’t seem to be making any progress toward Gwen and her friend. Walking through this crowd was akin to swimming against the tide. He ignored the faces in front of him unless they greeted him. As a captain in the town’s volunteer fire department, he was well known by all. He tried to politely put off everyone who had a mind to talk to him while he tracked his quarry. The gym never seemed so big in his entire life.

“I would have paid twice what Dolores offered.”

Eli looked at the petite blonde who planted herself right in the middle of his path. His ex-wife was tiny but packed a punch. It was hard to believe Shelly had given birth to two kids. She looked too fit to have put her body through such stress.

“Well, it still wouldn’t have been enough. And I’m sure your money could go to better use,” he replied wryly.

Shelly laughed and nodded. Her blue eyes could look so happy and so vicious at the same time. Right now, she’d chosen just happy. “Besides, I’ve never had to pay for your services before.”

Eli scowled. “Don’t be crude, Shelly. I don’t think your boyfriend would like it.”

Shelly laid her hand on his chest and stroked. It was such a familiar gesture, one she once had a right to make. They’d been divorced for two years and even though she didn’t realize it, there were certain privileges she’d lost. Sometimes she forgot that fact.