Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (free novels .TXT) 📕

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Stephanie going back to the auction table and huffing and puffing over the new price she would have to pay for Sam.

Annie smiled, and as soon as Stephanie left the table, excused herself, saying she’d be right back. She snuck over to the table where Sam’s bidding sheet was and quickly jotted a new, even higher number and then hightailed it back to the table. Stephanie had gone up another ten thousand dollars! Obviously, this woman intended to pay whatever she had to for Sam. Annie had upped the bid again, deciding that if Stephanie was hellbent on having Sam, she would top Annie’s bid again soon. May as well help make as much money as possible.

“Did you just bid again?” Beckie asked. “You are so bad.” She laughed just as they announced that everyone should be seated as dinner would be served shortly.

Annie, Beckie, and Jan had a lively time with their tablemates, most of whom were pushing eighty, but still very full of life. A few were cancer survivors which, Annie noticed, Jan seemed to latch on to. She asked all sorts of questions about their treatments and what worked and what didn’t. Their stories seemed to give her hope.

“A lot of it is mental, honey,” one of the women said to Jan. “You have to know you’ll beat it. You can’t have any doubts. Just think of your girls and tell the cancer it will not win. You have things to do yet.”

“Are you talking about the law of attraction?” Annie asked. Along her self-improvement journey, she’d learned about the philosophy of affirmations and the law of attraction and how they could be used to heal oneself. “I have some books on that if you’re interested, Jan.”

“That would be wonderful,” Jan replied. “It seems like all I hear from the doctors or read about my cancer is negative. I could use some positive input.”

“I think you’ll benefit from reading them,” the older woman put in. “Certainly can’t hurt anyway.”

Just as dessert was served, the lights dimmed, and the presentation began. The program was a lot like the few fundraisers Annie had been to. A lot of thanking. First everyone involved in putting on the event, then all those who donated items for the auction, and finally, all those who had taken the time to attend and donate money to the cause.

Next came a very moving speech by a cancer survivor who attributed his survival to the money this group had raised. When he was through, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Finally, the last call for the silent auction was made, and they gave everyone five minutes to place their final bids. Annie looked over at Sam’s table and noticed Stephanie was absent. She’d probably gone to make one last bid. Sam wasn’t going to be cheap. Annie chuckled to herself, feeling rather mischievous.

When everyone was seated again, the announcer called for the volunteers to collect the bid sheets. They announced each item, who donated it, who won, and the winning bid.

“I can only imagine having so much money that I could give that much away!” said Beckie.

“Yeah, me too. Goals, right?” Annie said, and Beckie nodded.

When they got to the afternoon with Sam, Beckie gave Annie a devious smile. “I wonder how much that woman will have to pay for Sam. No thanks to you.” She giggled.

“Lunch with Sam MacDonald, donated by Sam MacDonald.” The announcer paused while the audience laughed. “Winning bid was fifty thousand dollars, and the winning bidder is A. O’Neill.”

Annie’s mouth dropped open, and Beckie gasped. Oh, shit. What happened to Stephanie? The spotlight swung around to her, and she quickly closed her mouth, smiled, and gave a little wave.

She caught Sam’s eye. He smiled and mouthed the words, Thank you.

After the last item was announced and everyone was thanked one last time, the room erupted in clanging dishes and people chatting. Sam made his way over to Annie’s table.

“What happened to your date?” Annie asked, wondering why the hell she’d stopped bidding.

“She wasn’t feeling well and left early,” Sam said.

“Shall I interpret that to mean she got drunk and couldn’t sit through dinner?”

“Something like that,” he said. “I’m gonna kill Phil. Thanks for bidding on me. I did not want to have to be at Stephanie’s mercy for an afternoon.” He lowered his voice. “I’d much rather be at yours. When can we start?”

“About that. Can I borrow fifty thousand dollars?” she deadpanned.

He laughed out loud until she finally joined in. “Yes,” he choked out. “I’ll have Phil take care of the bill. It’s worth the fifty K to not have to spend another second with that woman.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“So the first date was a bust. We’ll let the matchmaker know no more lushes,” Phil said as he dropped into his usual spot on Sam’s office couch.

“Or, how ‘bout we nix the whole matchmaker thing?” Sam asked and then thought better of it. “I’m sorry. That came out as a question, and I didn’t mean it that way. Nix the whole matchmaker thing.”

“At least give it one more chance,” Phil tried.

“Nah. I’m good.” Sam sat in his usual chair opposite Phil.

“Annabelle?” Phil guessed.

“What? No, we’re just friends.” Sam looked down as he said it. He knew he’d all but admitted that he was seeing her during their conversation last week and that Phil undoubtedly assumed he was dating her. Should he just come clean? It would be nice to be able to talk about Annie freely. While he was considering it, Phil dropped a bombshell.

“Joseph finally got back to me.”

“I know that look. Bad news. What?” Sam hated it when Phil prolonged bad news. Just rip the Band-Aid off for God’s sake.

“Her husband just got out of prison after serving a three-year term for manslaughter.”

“Her ex-husband,” Sam corrected. Was that all he had?

“I don’t think so,” Phil said hesitantly. “Joseph doesn’t do sloppy work, and he says she’s still married.