Page 4 of Auctioned to the Devil

She snorts. “This town’s got one stoplight. News gets around before it happens.”

I smile despite myself. “He’s persistent.”

“Persistent’s one word for it.”

“He wants the property.”

“He wants every piece of land on this mountain.”

“I’ve already told him no three times.”

“You’ll probably have to tell him a fourth.”

“I don’t mind repeating myself.”

“I figured.” She studies me for a second before nodding approvingly. “Your granddaddy would’ve liked that.”

I take another sip of coffee. “The lodge means a lot to me. He was…the only family I really had.”

Sally’s expression softens.

“My parents died when I was little.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I grew up in foster care.”

She nods quietly.

“My grandfather found me when I was twelve.”

“You didn’t know him before?”

“He’d been looking for me.”

The words still sound strange after all these years.

“He spent six years trying to track me through the system.”

“Oh, sweetheart.”

I shrug. “By the time he found me, I already knew how temporary everything was.”

“And he changed that.”

“He tried.”

A smile tugs at my mouth. “He taught me how to fish.”

Sally laughs. “Did he now?”

“I was terrible.”

“I believe it.”

“He never cared.”

I shake my head, smiling at the memory. “He’d let me scare every fish away and we’d still come home saying we’d had a successful day.”