Come With Me

by Sable Hunter

  With a smile, he turned and considered going back downstairs, but halted and went into his room, closing the door for the evening. If he’d had to read it twice to make sure he’d read it correctly, the next dozen times he read it, were strictly for pleasure.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Red, white and blue reigned supreme. Balloons and streamers decorated every conceivable surface and as soon as the sun went down, there were millions of tiny white lights wound around every limb on every tree. The landscaper had even changed out all the annuals, now the flowers were all red, white and blue too. A local band played Cajun music and country favorites and already there were people dancing and having a good time. Several of the waitresses who’d been there for years said the crowd was already twice as big as last years’ and it was still early.

  Lacy walked among the booths, checking everything out. One of the oil companies set up a big fish tank with all kinds of native fish for the kids to learn more about. Cody, Trin and Marnie had set up a really fun booth. It was a combination of a kissing booth and a computer game which allowed the folks to enter information and play a virtual online dating game. All she could hear from that area were giggles and squeals. It was nice to hear people having a good time.

  The Culture Center had one of the most interesting exhibits she’d ever seen. They had several area people there to show the contributions of the people of Louisiana down through the years. One woman had homemade jams and jellies, representatives from Avery island where they made Tabasco sauce were there with not only samples of their famous hot sauce but also information on the white egrets the family had worked to preserve and the nutria rat population which Mr. McIlheney had introduced to Louisiana. Eden had also set up a display of Native American arrowheads, civil war weaponry, and artifacts from early Louisiana history to entertain the adults. Lacy hugged Eden and made sure she was all set for the auction. She’d made a bread pudding with bourbon sauce—DeQuincy’s favorite, she said.

  There was every conceivable type of food booth—from beer to boudain to Natchitoches meat pies. One of the banks had set up an archery competition down near the lake and one of the golf pros had a driving range set up for some competitions. A watermelon eating contest was in full swing and also a pie eating contest. There was no way she could tell for sure how much money was being raised, but it had to be good.

  A touch on her shoulder made her jerk. Jake, was her first thought. But she was disappointed. “You pulled it off, huh,” Rick said with a smile. “I’ve gotta admit, Lacy. I thought it was impossible, but you did it.”

  It was true, the event had come together quite nicely. The vendors were happy with everything and there were many new faces in the crowd, faces never seen before at Willow Cove, potential new customers and potential new members. The event was already a success.

  “Thanks, Rick, I couldn’t have done it without Jake.” She couldn’t help but give credit where credit was due.

  “Have you seen Jake?” Rick asked.

  “No…”

  Their conversation was interrupted when a high-pitched scream sounded from the kissing booth. “Uh-oh, you’d better check that out,” Rick said, “sounds like we have a damsel in distress.”

  Lacy hurried over, expecting anything from an attack of killer bees to an overzealous admirer. But what she found was a very irate Marnie who apparently had just received the news she’d be auctioned off in a few hours. “What? No way, Jose!” She was grabbing her purse and sunglasses, just about to walk off. “I can’t believe you’d spring this on me at the last minute!”

  “We’re a corporate sponsor and you’re our candidate.” Cody explained quietly.

  “That won’t work, we’re all girls. No man in sight.” Marnie continued to fuss. “I don’t have a dress!”

  “I brought you a dress, your pink one, it’s your favorite.” Trinity smiled, trying to be helpful.

  “No one will bid on me!” Marnie stared at Cody accusingly.

  “David is coming to bid on you. He was glad to do so.” Cody pointed to the big good-looking guy walking toward them in a turquoise blue shirt.

  “Oh, God.” Marnie turned her back on him. “I can’t believe you asked him.”

  “Why not? You do stuff for him all the time,” Trinity said, not understanding.

  “This is different.” Marnie was almost about to cry.

  “You have to go through with it now.” Cody put an arm around her. “He’s here and expecting to have dinner with you.”

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I don’t have a dessert!”

  “Damn,” Cody muttered. “I knew I’d forgotten something.”

  Lacy racked her brain, thinking fast. “I tell you what. I’ll make another dessert really fast. I’m pretty well caught up out here, it won’t be a big deal.” Was she crazy?

  “Something chocolate?”

  Damn. “Okay, you can have the chocolate ganache cake and I’ll run in and make something else.”

  “Thanks, Lacy, I appreciate it. Do you want me to help you?”

  “No, that’s okay.” She could do it faster alone. Besides, the idea of going in and telling John she needed to use his kitchen again was not going to be a fun experience. As she left, David had joined them and she could hear Marnie asking him if he minded helping.

  Lacy didn’t linger to see what else happened, she had another dessert to prepare. As she made her way to the kitchen, she racked her brain as to what she could make. A cake took so long, there were already brownies—then she remembered. Jake’s favorite was coconut pie. All she’d have to do would be double the recipe and she could make two. An apology gift. Now, if only John had plenty of coconut in the pantry.

  * * *

  The patio overlooking the eighteenth green looked marvelous and was jam-packed with smiling faces as the sun started its downward trek through the sky. Two mile high coconut pies sat on the table in her office, she had made it. Rick had once again, come to her and told her how pleased he was with everything. It felt good to get the approval of her boss, but it wasn’t over. The auction was imminent and Lacy was once again fielding last minute questions and running around like a chicken with her head cut off.

  “Thank you. I’m just so nervous about the auction,” she told her boss, turning her phone over and over again in her hand. “I hope everything goes smoothly.”

  “Shouldn’t you be going to get changed?” Rick asked. “I mean, not that you don’t look nice.”

  Lacy had the first laugh she’d had all day. She’d worked like a dog today, and she looked it. “Hahaha. It’s okay, I know what you mean. And yes, I do need to go get changed,” she checked her watch, “right now as a matter of fact.” She’d been too busy to go out and get something nice to wear for the auction, but Denise had been kind enough to go to a nearby dress shop and pick out something for her to wear. Unfortunately for Lacy, she hadn’t seen it yet and she was frightened at what she might find lying on her bed when she went to her room to change.

  As she was about to walk off, she thought of something and turned back around to Rick. “Would you do me a favor?”

  “Of course.”

  “Would you put one of those coconut pies sitting on my desk on the auctioneer’s table? I’m running pretty late.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Checking in one final time with Jenny, Lacy started toward her condo to change and ran smack dab into Jake on her way out the door. It was the first time she’d seen him all day. After they’d confirmed all the participants, he’d had to catch up on his work and help with some of the resort’s own contributions to the event.

  God, he looked good. He had on a sports coat and a dress shirt. The shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way up and Lacy flashed back to seeing him with his shirt off. Her nipples tightened and began to throb.

  “How are things on your end?” Jake asked with a smile. God, she was pretty.

  Lacy offered a shy response. “Hectic as al
ways. Are we all set for the fireworks?”

  “My guys are down in the bunker, setting them up as we speak. They’re going to be spectacular. You better get ready for the auction.”

  “I was just on my way to my room to change.”

  “Better get going than,” Jake said with a wink. “You have a big night ahead of you.”

  The wink flustered Lacy, even if she didn’t know what it was for. She soothed a stray lock of hair up over her ear. “Okay, see you later. Be back soon.”

  What had the wink been for? Lacy wondered as she almost sprinted to her room. Oh well, there wasn’t time to figure it out, she needed to get changed and she needed to hurry. The main question on her mind was, what had Denise gotten her to wear?

  She didn’t have to wait long to find out, the sexy red dress was draped across her bed and Lacy gasped the moment she saw it. “My God,” she said to herself in the mirror after she’d put it on. “I might set an auction record in this thing.” And she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. The front was cut low and the back was nonexistent and it clung to her like a second skin. Oh well, it was too late to hunt anything else.

  As she was ready, Lacy didn’t linger, she grabbed a light shawl and headed back. Drawing closer, she could hear the auctioneer’s voice over the speakers. The auction was just about to start and she needed to be there when it did.

  Jake was standing just inside the patio door when she returned. He was leaning on the wall with one foot propped up underneath him. “Good luck, beautiful,” he said with another wink after letting out a low whistle at the sight of Lacy in her sexy red number.

  “And here she is,” the auctioneer said with a raised hand when Lacy found her place in the middle of the bachelorette lineup. “How about a nice round of applause for the lovely Miss Lacy Allen for putting all of this together today and for putting herself up for auction.”

  The crowd applauded and a few drunken male guests got the look from their wives when they wolf whistled at Lacy. She knew she looked good and she’d enjoyed the look on Jake’s face when he saw her, but Lacy was going to kill Denise for getting her this sexy of a dress.

  “Here’s how it works, fellas,” the auctioneer began. “Each one of these lovely bachelorettes has been kind enough to bake a dessert.” He walked over to a long table that had sugary delights spread out on top of it. “Desserts that all of you eligible bachelors out there will be bidding on. But here’s the twist. We aren’t going to tell you who baked what dessert. So you’ll be bidding on the desserts, not the ladies. At the end of the auction, we’ll reveal who made what dessert and which one of these beautiful lades you’ll be dancing with tonight.” There were some excited murmurs from the crowd, mostly from the men. “All the money will go to building a statue in the town park to honor the veterans of the parish, so don’t be stingy, guys. Every one of these lovely ladies and their desserts are worth it, so open up those wallets.”

  The bidding began slowly. It was clear from the first two offerings, that the girls had made arrangements in advance to have male friends bid on them and Lacy felt the pit of her stomach start to ache.

  What if nobody bid on her dessert?

  She stood there with her best fake smile still plastered on her face as she listened to the fifth dessert go for a new high of eight hundred and forty dollars. Lacy clapped nervously. Being over the event, she knew, for the most part, which desserts went with which contestant. When Eden’s bread pudding came on the block, she tensed. Eden looked almost ill.

  “This bread pudding looks delicious, guys. One of Louisiana’s signature desserts made with bourbon and pecans. And I bet as scrumptious as it is, the little lady that goes with it will be even more delectable.”

  Jake stood toward the back of the crowd. He was waiting for one dessert to appear and one dessert only—a chocolate ganache cake. This was intended to be a ‘secret’ auction, but anybody who was paying even minimum attention could read those women like a book. As soon as their own dessert was introduced, it was apparent from their expressions and body language who it belonged to. And Eden Comeaux’s body language said that she was about to make a run for it. The only bid to come in was a one hundred dollar bid from the drunk at the lumber yard. The look of panic on her face said it all. Jake was involved enough to know that the agreement was that the sponsors kicked off the bidding, they set the bar at a reasonable amount, like say fifty or a hundred dollars. Then, they monitored the situation to make sure the candidate got a high enough bid and that no one took advantage. Eden looked like she was about to cry. So, where the hell was Trahan? He began to scout out the crowd, but knew he had to take action or this was going downhill fast.

  “Five hundred dollars,” he called out. Hopefully he’d taken the bid out of the inebriated man’s range.

  “Five hundred dollars from Willow Cove’s own Jake Knight. Do I hear more?”

  Lacy watched the unfolding events with mixed feelings. DeQuincy Trahan had dropped the ball and Jake was just picking it up, she tried to tell herself. Deep inside, she wished Jake would buy her dessert, but she had to be realistic. She didn’t really know where they stood, and more importantly, he had no idea which dessert was hers.

  Jake finally spotted Trahan deep in conversation with one of the professors from Northwestern. From their talk at the golf game the other day, Jake knew he valued Eden’s work but his people skills where his coworkers and friends were concerned were in bad need of a makeover. DeQuincy was oblivious to most that went on around him. Well, that was about to end. Walking up to him, Jake slapped him on the back of the head. But before he could say anything, the auctioneer spoke up. “I don’t think we’ll beat that. Going once, going twice! Sold! To Jake Knight.”

  Jake grimaced. “Damn you, Trahan. Eden needed you. You owe me six hundred dollars and you’re going to not only show her a good time tonight, but you’re going to make her believe you’re enjoying it or I’ll bend one of your putters over your hard, inconsiderate head.”

  “What?” DeQuincy looked around like he didn’t even know what planet he was from. When realization dawned in his eyes all he said was, “hell!”

  Lacy watched what was going on with dawning understanding. Jake had come to Eden’s rescue. He was a knight in shining armor, but unfortunately he wasn’t Lacy’s. Still, she felt so bad for Eden who was a quiet beauty, unassuming and didn’t deserve to be embarrassed. Although by the look on Eden’s face, the damage was done.

  The desserts kept coming and so did the bids. Soon, there was only a lemon meringue pie and plate of chocolate brownies left before the chocolate ganache cake. Marnie looked as nervous as Lacy felt. Why in the heck did she ever think this was a good idea? Of course when she came up with it, Lacy had no intention of being on this stage. The meringue went for just over six hundred dollars, which made sense to Lacy, because the prettiest bachelorette in line had baked it and she was pretty sure all the guys in the crowd knew it.

  The poor girl who baked the brownies had to stand by and watch as her dessert sold for only two hundred dollars and Lacy felt her knees start to knock together. Where was Rick? He was supposed to start off the bid for her. She scanned the crowd, but she didn’t see him. This could be humiliating. Next, she tried to look for Jake again, but the lights shining on her and the other bachelorettes from a window above made seeing anyone who wasn’t right down in the front, nearly impossible. Maybe he’d gone to check on the fireworks.

  “Next up,” the auctioneer began. “We have a decadent chocolate cake.”

  The crowd applauded. Marnie tensed and Lacy tensed with her.

  “Three hundred dollars.” A man in the front called out before the auctioneer even asked for a bid. Lacy was shocked. It wasn’t David, but David promptly answered with, “four hundred dollars!”

  “Now, this is what I like!” The auctioneer sounded happy. “Keep them coming.”

  Lacy didn’t really understand the dynamics between David and Marnie, but she could tell that Marn
ie was watching him like he hung the moon

  “Six hundred dollars!” Came a voice from the rear. She knew that voice. Jake was bidding on the cake!

  “Six hundred fifty!”

  Jake frowned. Who else was bidding on Lacy’s cake? It wasn’t Rick and he’d intentionally told Rick enough of what was going on so he’d be aware of the situation. Did he have to leave, and pass the buck on to someone Jake didn’t know? Well, hell. This wasn’t a war he intended to lose. “Seven hundred!” he called loudly.

  The man in the blue shirt offered still another bid. “Seven hundred fifty dollars!”

  He was about to go higher when he looked up at the stage and met Lacy’s gaze. She looked—hell, he didn’t know how she looked. But he wasn’t receiving a green light from her, that much he could tell. Had he read this whole thing wrong? Then he noticed Marnie. She looked shell-shocked. Something was definitely amiss.

  Jake remained silent and the chocolate ganache cake sold to the man in the blue shirt for seven hundred and fifty dollars.

  “We are raising the money tonight!” To say the auctioneer was pleased was an understatement. “Just a few more to go. Next up, we have a mile-high coconut cream pie. I don’t know about you, but coconut is my favorite.”

  Yea, it’s my favorite too. Jake thought wryly.

  “A thousand dollars.”

  Lacy almost died. A thousand dollars for her pie? And who had made that outrageous bid. The voice sounded familiar, but she didn’t recognize it for a moment.

  “Chef John has bid a grand on a pie he didn’t bake, Ladies and Gentlemen! Must be some pie! Do I have another bid?”

  Lacy tried not to react. Rick met her eye and shrugged his shoulders, he wasn’t about to make a bid. He didn’t have the authority to spend that much of the resort’s money and she was sure his girlfriend wouldn’t appreciate him forking over money of his own. She couldn’t believe John had bid on her. Oh, she’d caught him staring at her lasciviously more than once today, but she’d expected nothing like this.