Watermelon Wishes

Chapter 18

Evey gestured towards the pair, looked up at Brady and instantly, the mounting pressure that had been building between them, melted away.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Evey asked.

"Are you seeing an aging balding dude hitting on the real estate lady that I've known my whole life who's like a mother to this town?" Brady asked without taking a breath.

"Yup," Evey said.

"Then I'm seeing what you're seeing."

They both stared at the love connection that was being established before their very eyes for several seconds until Evey couldn't take it anymore and she burst out laughing the same time as Brady.

Walton and Angela looked up, as if caught and Evey noted that both their faces were bright pink. 

"Come on," Walton said, adjusting his tie and straightening up. "Don't you kids have something better to do like talk about this farmhouse of yours?"

Angela set the pie box down on the reception table and smoothed her hair.

"I'm sorry, Walton," Evey said. "I've never seen you act so giddy before. It just might be the funniest thing ever. I have to Ellen about this."

"You'll do no such thing," Walton said, the slightest hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Now let's get on with the business we came here to discuss."

After Angela offered coffee for everyone and the mood has been sufficiently lightened by the flirtatious older gentleman and his surprisingly receptive crush, the foursome got down to brass tacks as they sat in Angela's office and she spread the contents of a manila folder before them.

She collected a few forms and was about to set them in front of Evey when she paused, clutched the papers in front of her and inhaled, closing her eyes for a couple of beats.

"You know, I just have to say something," Angela began and Evey could see the stress written all over the woman's face.

Boy, did Evey ever owe her a few hundred favors. Angela had been a guiding light for her from the very beginning.

"When I first heard of the private auction from Sid and got this listing, it broke my heart," Angela said, casting a sorrowful glance at Brady who offered a comforting and supporting smile to the realtor.

"Personal tragedies like loved ones passing away isn't how I like to get business," Angela said. "But this particular set of circumstances hit home extra hard. I had known Cora for ages and have watched you, Brady, grow up from a bright young boy who this town grew to love and think of as their own to the intelligent and fine man that you are today. I had obligations to my business," she said, sniffling slightly, nodding towards Evey," but I had obligations of my heart as well. It was very difficult for me. And then this rollercoaster of events, with you, my dear," Angela said, casting a look at Evey, "calling me to say that you had decided to suddenly drop out of the auction and then calling me soon after to cancel that."

Evey's face became hot and her breath ran short as the phone call she had placed to Cora after her talk with Brady was presented front and center to her memory. She remembered how she felt just weeks earlier; so heart torn and sympathetic towards Brady after their tender talk and after finding out that he planned to attend the auction and win all along, she felt tricked and betrayed by him. So humiliated that she had fallen for what she was sure was a manipulative ploy. Her emotions had been so hot and cold. But that was all in the past now. She was going through with her plans this time, one hundred percent. Whether, Plan A or Plan B was accepted tonight, she knew that things would be very different from this moment on. And she was ready.