Chapter 5

5

" T his is a family establishment," Lim said to him with a haughty note in her voice.

Mr. Higginbotham just laughed. "Not like that. My goodness, I don't know why your mind would go there." He looked down his rather generous nose at Lim, giving her a look that said that he was shocked at the filthiness of her mind. "I was just thinking she could be company to whoever buys her for the evening. And she can give them a week's worth of work." He nodded, as though to emphasize his point.

"I don't really have a week to give. I… I do have work I have to do." It was all on her time though. Owning her own business gave her a certain amount of flexibility. As long as the work got done, she could do it whenever she wanted to. Early in the morning, dinnertime, midnight even if she felt like it. But the animals had to be fed, and her dogs had to be trained. The timing was up to her.

"Don't give me that. You still live with your parents, and they'll make sure that you keep your word. Mr. Higginbotham, for once I think you have a good idea." Lim nodded her head and wrote something down on her clipboard.

"Wait a second. I didn't agree to that." Ellen hadn't thought that they were seriously considering this.

"I think you should. After all, you can't shirk your duty." Chalmer walked by, stuck his head in, and made the comment, and Lim nodded in agreement.

Now Ellen wished she would have said something. Because if she said something at this moment, it would really look like sour grapes.

"I'd buy you, but you're rather clumsy," he sneered as he walked off.

Like she'd done anything to him. He'd been the one to be the jerk, and somehow it was her fault. Goodness, she didn't want to get wrapped up with a fellow like that. She had no idea what Shanna had seen in him to begin with.

"I'll offer you last. Just so you know where you are in the program. And thanks again for your basket," Lim said, looking down with a smile at Maeve. "I'm glad that some people keep their word." She shook her head. "You should have been more careful."

Ellen pressed her lips together so she didn't say something unkind.

"She was, but now there are two flowers on mine," Maeve said helpfully, although she didn't mention that the bucket had been Ellen's to begin with.

Ellen didn't want to take that from her either, and if someone was going to have to sell time, it had better be her. She wasn't going to let her sister go to just anyone.

"It's about time you got here!" Jan said, coming over and putting her arm around Ellen's shoulders. "I didn't think you were ever going to show up. We have so much decorating to do. You are helping, right?"

Ellen smiled at her friend. "How about it, Maeve? Are we helping?"

"You betcha!" Maeve said, and then she pointed over to where a group of girls her age, friends from school, were stacking plates and arranging food on the table. "Can I go help them?"

"You sure can. Just be helpful, okay? No goofing off."

"You know I won't. Mom and Dad would be really upset with me if I mess anything up."

Ellen smiled and returned the hug that Maeve gave her before she ran off.

"I can't believe how big she's getting," Ellen said as she watched her sister jog away.

"I can't believe how old you're getting. When are you going to open your eyes and see that there are about seventeen men in this town who would like you to take a second look at them?"

"Seventeen?" Ellen said with a small laugh. "I'm not even sure there's that many men in the whole town."

"Sweet Water is a lot bigger than it used to be. It keeps growing, I think in part because of the Olympic training center. Way back when they put that in, they didn't know how that was going to affect the economy of our little town." She hooked her arm inside of Ellen's, and they started walking toward where the tables were set up. People milled around, since it wouldn't be long until things got started, but they still needed to tape the tablecloths down.

"I guess it's a blessing and a curse," Ellen said, not sure where she fell on the spectrum of loving it or hating it. She loved the town where everyone knew what everyone else was doing, although she didn't like that at the same time. If that were possible. She also loved the small-town familiarity, but having a larger town with more businesses gave a person more options for jobs and economic prosperity, rather than having to move somewhere larger to find a job.

Of course, Ellen could pretty much do her job anywhere she had a pasture for her cows and some way to train her dogs.

But she loved Sweet Water.

"We're going to call it a blessing. Did you hear that they sold the entire Sweet View Ranch complex? And Ford Hansen is one of the major investors. Of course, you probably already know that because he's investing along with Travis Feagley, who's a special friend of yours." Jan wiggled her eyebrows. And then she lowered her voice even more. "I saw him the last time he was back, and he's not a little boy anymore."

"He's not?" Ellen asked, confused. She hadn't thought he'd been home for the five years that he'd been gone, and she didn't understand when Jan had seen him.

"Sure, about a year and a half ago, he showed up. I was in the photography store, framing some pictures, when he walked in and asked where you were."

"Are you sure it was Travis?"

"Sure, he asked about you, then said he was planning on surprising you, but you were out of state at a dog show and were going to be gone for the entire week. So he told me not to tell you that he was there, although I think the statute of limitations has expired on that one, since it was more than a year and a half ago and I heard he's back in town."

Ellen blinked. She hadn't heard that he had visited at all, but it made sense. If he was trying to surprise her and hadn't been able to, then he probably never mentioned it.

"But I'll tell you what, he's filled out since last time I saw him. He was just a string bean before but now, wow. Those wide shoulders, and he's got a man's chest, if you know what I mean."

"Okay," Ellen said, a little unsure. She supposed Jan could have been telling her that Travis was fat, but she didn't think so. She'd find out soon enough. On the one hand, she was glad she didn't know he'd been back and she didn't get to see him. It would have made missing him harder.

If she recalled, that was the big show that Chewy had come in second to her daughter—the pup that was born the night Travis was there to deliver them. Ellen had trained and then sold her, along with her littermates.

It had marked her training as successful, and after that, she had no trouble selling her dogs for a lot of money.

She still got pictures from the family who bought her, a couple in Montana who were using her on their cattle ranch out near Butte.

"Travis said he wasn't going to make it tonight," she murmured as they flattened out the tablecloth and taped it down.

"Oh? That's too bad. I'd heard that country-fried steak was his favorite, and I made that for my bucket. What's in yours?" Jan said with a wink.

Jan, and everyone else in the town, thought Ellen and Travis were just friends. That's what she'd been saying for the last decade. And sometimes she even convinced herself it was true. But the way she felt now, at the idea of Jan fixing a bucket just for Travis, made her feel like maybe he wasn't just a friend to her. After all, Jan was her friend, and she should be happy to see two of her friends get together.

It didn't really make her happy. It made her…jealous.

Maybe that was just because she hadn't seen him for a while and she wanted to spend some time catching up before she had to give him up to someone else. Yeah. That must be it.

It wasn't long after that that they were joined by several other ladies, and the festival started. The auction was first, although they didn't sell the dinner pails until last. There were some craft items and some tools people had donated to raise money for improvements to the sidewalk and the park in town.

Ellen stood in the back, a little nervous. She wished she had fought a little harder to not be in the auction, but she hadn't considered that it might actually be a thing. She never once thought that they would truly auction her off.

Regardless, surely it couldn't be that bad. These were all friends and neighbors, mostly people she knew, although there were some new people in town that she didn't recognize or know well.

There was the family who had bought the Sweet View Ranch. She knew some of them, was friends with Claudia, one of the sisters, but they'd spent a lot of time fixing the ranch up and weren't in town much.

From rumors around town, she knew Travis was involved in it somehow, but she wasn't sure how. She could talk to him about it whenever she saw him again.

Which hopefully would be soon.

She was tempted to pull her phone out and text him, asking when he would be arriving in town, but she didn't. Something must have held him up, but as long as he wasn't in any danger, she realized that was just the nature of his business.

It was the thing that had kept them apart for the last five years. Although, knowing that he had been in town and wanted to surprise her had made her sad. Even though she was glad that a puppy she had bred had won that dog show, and her business had benefited from it, she would give that up in a heartbeat in order to see her friend.

"And, ladies and gentlemen, we have one last thing to auction off. Ellen?" announced Mr. Higginbotham, the auctioneer. She supposed that was her cue.

Wishing she'd been standing closer to the front so she didn't have to walk the entire length of the building, she started up the aisle.

Maybe to fill in the time, or maybe he really wanted the audience to be well-informed, Mr. Higginbotham started talking about her.

"You guys all know Ellen. She grew up in town. Tadgh and Ashley are her parents, and they're well respected in town. You guys all know that Ellen is a hard worker, and I'm sure we've all seen her around with her cow Daisy and her dog Chewy."

She felt like she was still thirteen, rather than twenty-three. Maybe that was how the town saw her, with her dog and cow. Maybe if she wanted to catch a certain man's eye, she should start being a little more feminine.

It was always interesting to see how people saw her, she supposed. But she didn't know what she expected. They saw what she presented, and that was exactly right.

"She had promised to donate a lunch for the auction, and she came here empty-handed, so this is what we do with people who don't do what they say they're going to do."

She felt like that was a little unfair. She'd gotten her lunch to the parking lot. If it wasn't for Chalmer, she would have her lunch in the building too.

Seemed like Chalmer should be the one on the chopping block for that, but she took the criticism silently. Maybe someday things would get straightened out. She often wondered if she'd get to heaven and God would fix everything. All the unfairly accused people would finally be vindicated, lies would come to light, and the truth would be known.

Maybe she was wrong about that, but she couldn't help but remember that Jesus was led as a lamb to slaughter, and he didn't open his mouth to defend himself. If Jesus was her example, shouldn't she do the same?

It had been a question she'd been thinking about for a while, and she'd been trying to practice just allowing things to slide, rather than fighting them and spending a lot of time trying to prove she was right. It seemed like she wasted a lot of time trying to defend herself at times, when it really didn't matter.

"So, Ellen has agreed to donate the rest of this evening, and a week's worth of time, eight hours a day, for five days, to whoever bids the highest for her. Now, you can put her to work, or you can put her in the parlor and look at her, but no touching. And I have it on good authority that she's not allowed to take any clothes off."

There were a few gasps and a lot of chuckles from the audience as he said that.

Ellen could feel her cheeks flaming, clear up to the tips of her ears.

This was not her idea of a good time, although she did feel like the money was going to a good cause.

She had enjoyed the rest of the auction, watching as ladies stood by their buckets, and she'd been happy for Maeve as Tadgh had bought her bucket.

Maeve had beamed and walked away hand in hand with her dad.

It had been adorable, and Ellen had smiled the whole time.

Hers was probably not going to have such a happy ending. But there was no law that said she had to be bought by a man. Maybe one of the aquatic ladies would buy her, and they'd end up doing eight hours of water instruction.

It was kind of crazy that Ellen had gotten roped into being the aquatic instructor. She really wasn't that great of a swimmer, but they'd needed an instructor, and someone had asked her, and she said sure.

She ended up learning right along with the ladies, but they had fun, and she supposed that was the most important thing after getting out and being active for them.

Regardless, she could keep her hopes up that that would be what would happen. She wouldn't mind that at all.

Swallowing hard, she walked up the steps and stood on the stage.

"Come on, girl, come a little closer. I'm not going to bite you," Mr. Higginbotham said, making her feel like she was three.

She walked closer, feeling like she was headed to the gallows. Reminding herself that the people watching were her friends, her family, and her neighbors.

She shouldn't have any reason to be afraid. Maybe she wasn't exactly afraid, she just was…nervous. She'd never done anything like this before, never known anyone who had. Couldn't really believe that it was happening, even as Mr. Higginbotham started the bidding at a dollar.

She almost gave him a second look. Really? A dollar for an evening and five working days? That didn't seem like nearly enough.

Someone called out ten dollars, and then fifty, and the bidding went up from there. It was happening too fast for Ellen to be able to tell exactly who was bidding. She caught her uncle Tadgh's smirk as he bid sixty-two dollars and then waved a hand saying it was too high after the next bid, and everyone around him laughed.

She smirked as well. Since she knew he was just messing with her.

Then, as the bidding went over a hundred dollars, she heard a voice that made her cringe.

Chalmer's voice. She hadn't even considered that someone like him might buy her. She had been more focused about actually standing up here and offering herself for sale.

No one seemed worried about it, and Chalmer wasn't known as a bad person. He had two small children with Shanna, his ex-wife, and he treated them well. It just seemed that he was a little pushy when it came to Ellen. Although she had never complained to anyone, so no one would think to stop him from purchasing her.

Not that she thought she was going to be in any danger. She just wouldn't enjoy her forced time of servitude if Chalmer was the one who would be telling her what to do.

But as the price went up, there were three or four different voices, and always Chalmer's rang in when Ellen's hope started to rise that he would be outbid.

Finally, when the price was almost two hundred dollars, which was high for the working folk of Sweet Water, Mr. Higginbotham looked around and said, "Going once, going twice…" He paused for dramatic effect probably, and Ellen stood with her heart in her throat.

Chalmer's bid had been the last one.

"Sold!" He slammed his gavel down on the podium and then used it to point out Chalmer. "There you go. You won the little lady, but she doesn't come with food."

The crowd laughed as Ellen lifted her chin, smiled a little for the benefit of the crowd, and then lifted a shoulder. She actually had come with food, and it was Chalmer's fault that she didn't at this point. She kind of felt like it was almost just desserts.

But she would never say that.

Chalmer grinned. "Guess you get the pleasure of my company after all," he said with a smile that Ellen supposed could have been called charming, but it just looked sinister to her.

"I guess I do," she said, knowing she sounded lame but not knowing what else to say. It wasn't like she was excited about it, or happy. It was one of those things in life that she was going to have to endure, and she also made a mental note to pack a spare bucket the next time she came to one of these things. Of course, he was just as likely to spill two as he was to spill one.

"Come on, we'll go outside. It's less crowded out there, and we'll have more privacy."

"You gotta feed the girl," someone called out as he grabbed a hold of Ellen's elbow. She didn't pull it out of his hand; she didn't want to be rude. But this was not the way she had expected her evening to go. Being bought was one thing, then being led away from everyone else while they all laughed and enjoyed each other's company around the tables that had been set up inside for that very purpose was something completely different.

It wasn't like she desired to have any kind of time alone with Chalmer.

But when Mr. Higginbotham had offered her, it was her giving her time for someone else. She wasn't supposed to be demanding her way.

Trying to play along with the spirit of things, Ellen walked beside Chalmer as he called over his shoulder, "That's fine, I got us some hot wings and some of Lucinda's mincemeat. That will tide us over."

Ellen tried not to groan. Mrs. Bothim had made the hot wings, and they were extremely hot. If she wanted to have pain while she ate, she supposed spicy food would hit the spot, but she didn't deliberately seek out pain on purpose and had a hard time understanding people who did. Not that she would judge, just a personal preference on her part. And mincemeat was her absolute least favorite kind of pie. She didn't even really consider it pie. It was more like…she wasn't even sure.

But she'd been raised to be thankful for what she had, and laughing a little to herself at the way her evening had gone completely off the rails, she allowed Chalmer to lead her by the elbow to the door.

He opened it, and they walked out into the dusty twilight. Ellen tried not to show the longing she felt to stay inside, especially as she heard Mr. Higginbotham say, "Oh, look at this. We found a couple more buckets that need to be auctioned off. All right, if you put your big checkbook away, you need to get it back out."