in the front row, but Abby had seen him come to two or three auctions now and never raise his paddle. She wasn’t sure what, if any, interest he held in the land out by her.
Zach Zuckerman had just walked in, and the man had a ton of money. He could easily outbid Abby for the ranch, though he lived further north on a pristine piece of property already. She narrowed her eyes at him and wished she could read minds. He simply gave her a friendly smile and asked, “My wife just checked out thirteen books. Isn’t there some kind of limit?”
Abby gave him a tight smile. “Not for adults.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “She’ll probably get through ‘em all this week anyway.”
His wife worked as the chef up at Whiskey Mountain Lodge, but apparently she had plenty of time for reading. Abby wouldn’t be able to name the last time she had leisure time. She did read a lot, but that was for her job. She had to know the latest bestsellers and be able to answer questions about a variety of books. People came into the library with the oddest questions sometimes, and they often mixed up author names and book titles, then relied on her to unjumble everything.
A couple walked in, and Abby smiled politely at them as they signed up and took their paddle. She knew Gill and Tricia Yardley, and again, she wondered why they were there. They already owned a big corner lot on the last true block before the farms and ranches took over the more rural parts of Coral Canyon. Not only that, but their property sat on the lake side, which was easily twenty minutes from Abby’s east side of town.
The clock clicked closer to ten, and Abby glanced toward the stairs, imagining where the elevator would go if she could just get the funding for it. She’d been working on a grant for what felt like forever but had actually only been about a year. She’d made it quite far before realizing she had to bid out everything, and she’d had to start over.
She stepped over to the table and signed herself in, then moved halfway down a row about halfway back from the podium. The big screen had been pulled down for the auctioneer to show the property and go over the rules, but Abby knew both like the back of her hand.
Perhaps that was why she zoned out. She only looked over her shoulder once, and she didn’t see Tex. She listened with half an ear as the man up front went over the acreage, the outbuildings, and that the property would be sold as-is.
“It’s been appraised for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but you can see the land and home and buildings need a lot of work. We’ll open the bidding at fifty thousand.”
Abby waited, because she wanted to feel out who would really be bidding this morning. Dale lifted his paddle after glancing around at everyone.
“Fifty thousand,” the auctioneer said, but he didn’t increase in pitch or speed. He simply said it, and she’d learned that these land auctions weren’t anything like cattle auctions. She’d worked in that industry for a few years right out of high school before deciding to go to school and get her degree in library science.
“Each bid has to be one thousand dollars more than the one lower,” the man said, and Abby lifted her paddle.
“I have fifty-one,” the auctioneer said. He wore an expensive suit, because he’d likely come from a bigger city like Cheyenne or even Denver to run this auction. He represented the bank, and they’d take whatever they could get for the property that had been in default for over a year.
“Fifty-two,” he said.
Abby lifted her paddle, and he called out her bid.
When they reached sixty-one, Dale put his paddle down on the chair next to him. Abby’s heart pounded. Getting that ranch for one-fourth of what it was worth would be a huge steal. A major win.
Excitement beat beneath her breastbone like hummingbird wings, and she swallowed to keep them down where they belonged.
“Sixty-two,” the man said, and Abby surveyed the crowd to find who’d bid against her.
Tex.
Her hummingbird pulse turned into crow’s wings. Big, huge flapping things that drove fury through her with every—single—beat.
Tex had some nerve, especially when he got up and moved closer, sitting right on the end of her aisle.
She threw her paddle into the air. So did he.
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