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“When we get there,” I said to her, “I’m going to be busy for a while, but I’ll set you up with seats to watch the auction. I’ll meet you up there once I have everything squared away to start bidding.”
“Will there be food?” Day asked from the backseat.
Moira and I looked at each other, smiling.
“Yes, of course,” I replied, reaching into the cooler between Moira’s legs for one of the juice boxes she’d packed. My hand brushed against her bare thigh, but she didn’t shy away from my touch. I tossed Day the juice box and glanced at her, noticing the soft smile playing over her face as she turned to look out the window.
She was dressed to the nines for auction, wearing a short, pale-yellow sundress that brought a cool golden glow to her skin and hair. She wore cowboy boots, too, which did something too me as I watched her and Day walk toward the stadium once we reached the auction.
I followed a few paces behind them until we got inside and the crowd started to swell, then I put my hand on Moira’s shoulder, my other hand on the top of Day’s head as I guided them through the stadium and up to their seats.
Moira made me stop to buy bags of popcorn and corndogs, both of which Day munched on without abandon. I turned my head to look at them once more before making my way down to the auction block, where men and women dressed in rodeo finery were getting the low-down on the horses up for sale.
“Well, look who decided to show up,” said a male voice to my left as I looked over the long row of makeshift pens holding the horses. I turned around, looking Abel Crawscroft up and down before smirking and turning back to the horses, taking notes on who I wanted to bid on. “Not going to give your neighbor the time of day, huh?”
A few laughs sounded out behind me before I tucked my pen into the pocket of my shirt and turned back around, sliding my hands in my pockets.
Abel was an older man with salt and pepper hair beneath his worn cowboy hat. He was part of what George, Pete, and I called the good ol’ boys club in Hot Springs.
He was also the reason I didn’t ever intend to join the club, given that he was a fucking asshole dressed in tight wrangler jeans.
“What do you want, Abel? I know it’s not to exchange niceties.”
“Just wondering what a city-slicker like yourself is doing at the auction when you can just go under everyone’s noses and buy whatever the hell you want. Doing it the old-fashioned way, this time?”
“You had a chance to buy the ranch, Abel. That’s not my problem.”
“You’ll get your reckoning one day, boy. Taking land from good, God-fearing folks like myself and your neighbors—”
“My neighbors,” I spat, looking down at him, “don’t think very highly of you, Abel. Is this because you didn’t get an invitation to my Fourth of July party, by chance? I’m sorry to say Mrs. Charmaine Parks asked me personally not to invite you and your wife.”
Abel’s face went a little red.
I tipped my hat, then turned back to the pens, shaking my head.
I could hear the whispers of conversation behind me as Abel complained heavily to his companions, but eventually they walked away, falling in with the massive crowd.
I stayed by the pens for another half hour as more horses were brought out. I talked with their previous owners and made my choices, then saddled back up to the stands, where Moira and Day were waiting.
But on the way back I stopped and bought a cup of the battery acid Moira liked to drink, frosty and cold, and still in the can when I eventually broke through the crowd and climbed the rows of stadium seating to where they were sitting.
“You bought me a Coke.” She grinned, gratefully accepting it as I sat down beside her. Day was seated on her other side, watching the horses as they were brought out into the center of the stadium.
“Diet, of course. I don’t know why you drink that stuff.”
“The caffeine,” she said with a grin before adding, “and the preservatives, of course.”
“You’re gonna live forever at this rate.”
“Lucky you.”
I looked over at her, fighting the smile threatening to stretch across my face as I looked into her eyes. Lucky me, huh?
She gave me a soft but tight smile in return, her cheeks going ruddy as she looked away from me and down at the auction, which was about to start.
I leaned over her, my hand on her thigh to steady myself as I said to Day, “It’s going to get loud. I might yell and sound mean, but just cover your ears.”
Day looked a bit confused, but all hell broke loose before he could ask me what exactly I meant.
