She Bought My Husband for Seven Days, So I Took Back Everything novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Paddle
Lacey wins seven days of Brent at a charity auction on the week of Elise's move. Elise drops her ring in the donation bowl and walks out, then learns Brent paid for the bid himself.
My best friend Lacey raised her gold paddle for the children's fund and won the seven days my husband had promised me.
There was a pregnancy test in my purse with two pink lines.
Brent didn't know.
I was going to tell him after the gala, in the car, with the heater running.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars!" Lacey called across the ballroom.
She laughed and pressed her free hand to her chest, as startled as anyone.
The room clapped.
Brent sat beside me and smiled at her.
Five minutes earlier, his arm had been over the back of my chair while he told me the auction item was a weekend volunteer job.
"I'll look over the winner's house and fix a few things," he had said. "It won't touch your move."
My shop was leaving the cramped storefront I had rented for seven years.
The new studio opened on Monday.
Brent had promised to bring a company truck, hang the walnut display wall and set the lights.
Every day from Monday to Sunday already had a job written on the calendar on our refrigerator.
The auctioneer lifted a card.
"The Seven-Day Fix-Up, donated by Brent Garner of Garner Homeworks!"
A photo lit up the screen above the stage.
Brent stood outside a finished house with his sleeves rolled and a tape measure in his hand.
"The winner gets seven straight days of repairs and household help," the auctioneer said. "Brent moves into the winner's home Monday morning and stays until Sunday's big reveal."
My hand stopped on my purse clasp.
"Moves in?" I said.
Brent kept his eyes on the stage.
"The week cannot be interrupted for personal scheduling conflicts," the auctioneer finished.
The dates came up at the bottom of the screen.
They were the exact seven days of my move and my reopening.
I turned to my husband. "You told me this was a weekend job."
"Most of the work is on the weekend."
"She just said you're living there."
"It keeps the project on schedule."
He said it flatly, with no apology at all.
Across the room, Lacey still held her paddle up.
She wore the navy dress I had taken in for her three days earlier, at no charge.
Standing in front of my shop mirror, she had told me that since her divorce she didn't feel she deserved anything beautiful.
The silver bracelet on her wrist was the one I had given her last Christmas.
Nobody bid against her.
Lacey caught my eye and gave me a small, warm smile.
It was the smile she wore at my second fertility treatment, when she held my hand in the hospital bed.
When that treatment failed, she drove me home and carried all my medication boxes out to her car, so I wouldn't have to look at them.
She knew how long we had waited for a baby.
She knew what this week meant for my store.
The gavel came down.
Lacey covered her mouth and the women from the gala committee hugged her.
Brent clapped.
I grabbed his wrist. "Fix this."
He looked at my hand. "Everyone heard the terms, Elise."
"Then change them."
"The agreement is signed."
"Did you know you'd be living there when you signed it?"
He paused.
It was only a second, and it was long enough.
"You knew," I said. "You knew the dates."
"Not here," he said. "I'll hire someone to help you move."
"I don't want someone. You promised me that week."
His jaw tightened. "I can't back out of a charity pledge in front of every donor in town because of a scheduling problem."
We had signed that lease three months ago.
Brent had picked the walnut for the wall himself and circled those seven days on our kitchen calendar.
He had said that whatever happened at work, that week was mine.
The auctioneer called him up to the stage for the photo.
Lacey stopped at our table first.
"I know the timing is awful," she said softly. "But it's for charity. You're so much better at handling things than I am."
She went on up the aisle before I could answer.
Earlier, at the coat check, my clasp had popped open, and she had been the one to snap it shut for me.
Brent stood and buttoned his jacket.
I held the hem of it. "If you walk up there, you're telling this whole room you agreed to go home with her."
"Don't make it ugly."
"What would you call it?"
He took my fingers off his jacket one at a time.
On the stage, he accepted a green ribbon from the auctioneer and lowered it over Lacey's head.
Lacey put her palm flat on my husband's chest.
When the flash went off, he did not step back.
"One more thank-you," the auctioneer said. "Lacey's bid was paid with a donor credit bought in advance by an anonymous patron."
The room clapped again.
I looked at Lacey, who didn't reach for her purse or act surprised.
Then I looked at Brent.
He didn't ask who the patron was.
He only straightened the ribbon on her shoulder, with no hurry at all.
So I stood up.
I walked down the aisle and up the three steps to the stage, and the auctioneer let me take the microphone because he didn't know what else to do.
"Congratulations, Lacey," I said.
The room went quiet.
"My husband promised me this week. The charity says it can't be interrupted, so I won't interrupt it."
I slid my wedding ring off my finger.
I dropped it into the silver donation bowl, and it rang against the metal.
"Add it to the bid," I said. "Take the seven days. Take the rest while you're at it."
I put the microphone back in its stand and walked out through the ballroom doors while two hundred phones filmed me.
On the curb, I opened my purse for my keys.
My phone lit up with a bank alert.
"Transfer approved: $25,000 to Lakeshore Children's Fund donor credit. From joint account ending 4417. 3:12 p.m. today."
It was the savings account for our house.
Brent had paid for Lacey's bid himself, hours before she raised her paddle.
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