Watermelon Wishes

Chapter 14

Evey sat in her hotel room, feeling a mixture of bittersweet emotions. She was happy to have met two very kind souls in this town that she hoped to make a place for herself. But the sadness of their situation seemed to seep into her thoughts, no matter which way she tried to turn them. Although it was a situation that she detested for them, she had admit that it felt nice in a weird way, to have her heart distracted from feeling conflicted over Brady.

Finally, the phone rang and she answered it on the first ring without even looking at the screen. It was going to be either one of two people and she was ready to talk to both of them.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Evey, it's Walton," his voice sounded even-keeled as it always did. It was a tiny reassurance that she would bank for now. She felt the need to gather all of the comfort that she could.

"Walton, it's so good to hear your voice," Evey said. "Were you able to learn anything about the auction? Something that might give me an edge?"

"It just so happens that an old buddy of mine went out of retirement a few years ago right into the offices of Peterman and Peterman," Walton said with an easy chuckle.

Evey relaxed a bit, exhaling. If there was ever anyone that she could always count on, it was Walton. Her mother used to say that there were two kinds of people in the world: the floating dreamers whose optimism and creativity brought a bright beacon of light to an otherwise cool and dark world and a the rocks, the ones who brought the dreamers back down to earth when it was time and saved them on occasion. Evey didn't even have to question anything; she was a dreamer like her mother and Walton was a rock, like her father, like Ellen, like Walton. Like Brady, her heart tried to nonchalantly continue. She shook her head as if to shake to nonsense away and concentrated on what Walton was saying.

Focus Evey, she scolded herself. Tomorrow morning, he will be your opponent and nothing more. Not the guy who makes your knees feel like jelly when he looks at you with those emerald jewels that ought to be registered as lethal weapon. Emotionally lethal, anyway.

Evey answered Walton's questions about her finances and how much she had available and was willing to pay up front. She had helped keep her determination at buying the farmhouse solid by going over the numbers almost every night. Although it was a good price for the farmhouse, it would almost require everything that she had. Staying at the hotel longer than she had originally intended due to the stall of the sale only compounded her financial stress. Regardless, she still had a nice enough chunk of change to work with and since the auction preferred to deal with hard cash instead of loans, she knew that it was in her best interest to win by putting down as much as possible. After speaking with Walton, Evey felt reassured that she would win tomorrow. Thankfully, he had spared her the lecture about risky ventures that she had received more than she cared to recount but Walton did mention that it was a lot of money that she was putting down that would leave practically no room for a financial safety net.

Evey thanked Walton profusely for the third time before hanging up and assured him that it wasn't necessary for him to try to drive through the night from San Diego in order to be there for her at the auction, although secretly, selfishly, she wanted him there. Or Ellen. Someone from back home to hold her hand encouragingly and tell her she was doing the right thing.

Inside her heart, she knew the real reason that she was craving comfort so desperately and it had nothing to do with nerves. She was certain that she was going to feel awful when she looked into those big green soulful eyes and attempted to take his precious memories away from him. She told herself that it was the right thing in staking a claim to the future plans that she had worked so hard for but right at the surface, she feared that by hurting Brady, she would rip a hole so big through her heart, she wasn't sure if it could ever be fixed.