At a Charity Auction, My Husband Sold My Best Friend the Seven Days novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Lot Fourteen
At the Carrington gala Lorena's husband sells seven days of himself and her best friend wins them; the anonymous donor is thanked and Brett isn't surprised.
At the hotel's charity gala, the auctioneer held up lot fourteen and read it to three hundred people.
"Seven days of Brett Tolbert, his crew and his truck, at the winner's home, day and night."
My husband stood at the side of the stage in his black tuxedo, holding the lot card.
The room clapped for him.
I sat at table two with my clutch in my lap and a folded lab slip inside it.
I had taken the test that morning and bought a pair of white baby socks on my lunch break.
I was going to tell him tonight, after the auction, in our kitchen with the lights low.
Before the lot opened, Lane Wenger had come over to the bar to wish me luck on the studio move.
Lane owned the other installation company in town, and Brett had resented him for years.
He told me he'd read my proposal for the Carrington twice and wanted to see the finished samples.
I laughed at something he said about the Carrington's carpet.
Shelby leaned in beside us and took a photo with her phone.
"For the studio's page," she said. "You never post anything, Mar."
Shelby had been my best friend for twelve years, and she had been divorced for five weeks.
She'd zipped my green gown for me an hour ago and kept my clutch safe while I fixed my hair.
Now she sat next to me with her paddle in her lap, squeezing my hand.
"Bid number one-forty-one," the auctioneer said. "Do I hear a thousand?"
Brett had told me the package was repairs.
He'd shown me the brochure two weeks ago over coffee, with his thumb on the line that said household support.
He had called it a favor for the committee.
I turned the printed program over and found the contract summary on the back.
Winner to provide sleeping accommodation on the premises for the full seven days.
I read it twice.
A man in the back raised his paddle for a thousand, then two.
Brett looked out over the room, and he did not look at table two.
"Do I hear five?" the auctioneer said.
Shelby raised her paddle.
I thought she was helping the bidding along.
"Twenty-five thousand," she said, "on my credit."
The room made a sound.
The auctioneer asked her to confirm, and she nodded, and he said the credit had been placed by a private donor on her paddle number.
He brought the gavel down.
"Sold, to the lady in gold. Seven days."
Shelby put her hands over her mouth and laughed.
"I can't believe it," she said. "Mar, I can't believe it."
I stood up.
I walked to the foot of the stage with every phone in the room on me.
Brett came down the steps and I took hold of his sleeve.
"Tell them no," I said. "You live at our house."
"Lorena."
"The contract says you sleep there."
"Let go of my arm."
"I'm moving my studio tomorrow. You promised me your crew."
"Not here," he said, low.
He took my fingers off his sleeve one at a time.
His face was calm, and he had already decided something before he got down the steps.
Behind me somebody said "oh, no" and somebody else said "is that his wife?"
A man at the next table lifted his phone higher.
Shelby came up beside me with her hand on my back.
"Mar, it's charity," she said. "He'll be fixing things the whole week."
"He'll be sleeping at your house."
"In the guest room, I promise. I'll text you every night with a photo of what he's built."
She said it with her whole face open and kind.
Brett took his tuxedo jacket from the back of a chair and put it on.
"You were friendly with Wenger tonight," he said.
I took it for the old rivalry and let it go.
"You shouldn't have grabbed me in front of everyone," he said.
Behind him the auctioneer had started on lot fifteen, a weekend at a lake house.
I looked at my husband.
I touched the clasp of my clutch, where the slip was.
If I took it out right now, in front of the room, he would stay.
He would stay because three hundred people had watched me hold his arm, and he would stay with the face of a man who was being forced.
I didn't want my baby to be the reason he stayed.
So I didn't tell him.
I closed the clasp and went back to my seat.
At the end of the hour, the auctioneer thanked the evening's donors one by one.
"And a special thank you to the anonymous donor who funded tonight's bidding credit."
People turned in their chairs to look for them.
Brett looked at his plate.
He wasn't surprised.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend