“You ready?” Ally was standing beside her, and she held a stack of cards. “These are all the fun facts about each Coastie. Some of them are cheesy—I’m not going to lie—but they’re cute, and I think the crowd will get a kick out of them.”
Louisa knew this was part of her job. She’d even practiced some of what she would say in the midst of agonizing over her dress, her shoes, her hair. She was ready.
She scanned the beach and landed on Cody. And beside Cody—McKenzie Palmer. And just behind the two of them—Eric, standing with her parents, who’d made a late entrance.
Okay, maybe she wasn’t ready.
Was there a single person there who didn’t think she was a total disaster?
McKenzie threw back her head in a laugh so loud Louisa wondered if she was going for the world record in guffawing. Was she laughing at something Cody said (unlikely) or at her own joke? Louisa groaned. It didn’t matter. She had a job to do. She couldn’t get caught up in any of this. They were expecting large bids tonight, and it was up to her to get them. She was a professional. A business owner. A grown-up. It was what she’d been trying to prove all along. Here was her chance.
She made her way to the stage, drew in a deep breath, and looked out over the crowd. Some of the people quieted at the sight of her, but the low hum of chatter still filled the air.
From the back, Ally gave her a quick thumbs-up. Ally believed in her. That was enough, right?
Then she looked at Cody, which was a grave mistake because Cody was one of the people who’d quieted at the sight of her, and he was steadily focused in her direction.
She locked on to his gaze, trying to ignore the fact that at his side, McKenzie Palmer was still rambling. He seemed not to notice. He seemed only concerned with throwing her equilibrium off with his intense stare.
How was it possible that Louisa felt that stare all the way down to her toes?
“Are we ready?” Duncan had emerged from the crowd and stood on the stage beside her, drawing her attention.
When she looked back at Cody, his eyes were no longer on her.
Drat.
Louisa gave Duncan a nod, then took the microphone, welcomed everyone, thanked them all for coming, and explained who they were raising money for. She described the details of the regatta and did her very best to make the whole event sound like the kind of thing they would all want to be a part of. Because it would be, she was sure of it. Once she figured out the details.
Then it came time to open the bidding.
Most of the guardsmen were no longer out in the audience. As she’d instructed, they’d headed to the backstage area to prepare for their debuts. Apparently the whole event had created a healthy competition in these boys, and they were about to see who brought in the biggest payday.
“We’ll start the bidding with—” Louisa glanced down at the card in her hand—“Carlos Delgado.”
The good-looking Coastie came up onto the stage and grinned at her. Then he turned to the audience and flexed his biceps, showing off well-defined muscles and eliciting a chorus of oohs and aahs from the crowd.
Louisa waited for Carlos to return his attention to her, then smiled. “As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, Carlos is very shy.”
Laughter rippled through the audience.
“Carlos is twenty-four years old and has competed in the CrossFit Games twice, finishing in the top ten both times.”
Another flex from the young guardsman.
“Carlos loves animals and has been a member of the US Coast Guard for three years.”
He turned to her. “You forgot the best part.”
She reread the card in her hand, then looked up at him, confused.
He turned to the crowd. “You forgot to tell them I’m the Coastie with the Mostie.” This time he flexed both biceps and gave the audience a cocky nod.
Laughter filtered through the crowd again, and Louisa shook her head. She tossed a look toward the spot where Cody had been standing before the auction started, but he was gone.
It unnerved her, not knowing where he was.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s start the bidding.”
One by one, Louisa introduced the guardsmen, and one by one, the good people of Nantucket pledged large sums of money for the chance to enter the regatta with a genuine sailor. The bidders were as different as the men they were bidding on.
One guy bid on James Conley, an “Alfred Haynes Junior Yachtsman of the Year and all-around likable guy” for his thirteen-year-old son, who, he said, was very interested in sailing (but who, Louisa noticed, seemed much more interested in his iPhone). Another guardsman was bid on and paid for by an older woman named Dorothea Quinn, who was convinced that she had what it took to win that regatta if she just had the right partner.
It went on like that until finally Louisa only had three cards left.
“Okay, big spenders,” she said into the microphone. “Only a few chances left to win the Coastie of your dreams. We are down to our final three men. Shall we see if we’ve saved the best for last?”
She glanced into the wings and spotted Cody standing there. It was difficult not to notice he looked like he’d rather be having a root canal.
Slowly he brought his gaze to hers, then tugged at the collar of his shirt. She did a quick sweep of the audience and saw McKenzie Palmer standing at the back, poised and ready to bid.
Louisa’s heart sank.
She glanced down at the card with all of Cody’s details written on it and chastised herself for not thinking this through. Surely she had to expect that Cody would participate. This was why he’d been brought to Nantucket in the first place. He was here to make the Coast Guard look good.
She turned toward him again. He definitely made the Coast Guard look good.
The crowd had stilled. Even Eric and her parents had stopped chatting and were staring in her direction.
Ally caught her attention, gave her a pointed look, as if to say, Hurry up, and Louisa did her best to get it together.
“Please welcome to the stage Executive Chief Petty Officer, and real-life hero, Cody Boggs.”
Excited applause tore through the crowd as Cody took the stage. Eric stiffened. Her parents exchanged a concerned glance.
Louisa loved looking at Cody. She always had. How many days had she sat on the beach admiring him as he tore through the waves or worked on his surfing skills? She thought she’d fallen in love with him the summer before her junior year of high school, but looking at him now, she realized she’d never not been in love with him.
Somehow that realization hurt a little more than she thought it should.
The image of his face the moment she woke up on the deck of the cutter ship invaded her mind. Fear. Concern. Worry. Followed by the realization that he’d just saved the life of the woman whose actions had led to his father’s death.
And yet he’d still pressed on. Still took his time with her. Still came to the hospital and made sure she was okay.
“Louisa?”
She found him staring at her, probably anxious to get this over with already, and here she was, mentally waxing poetic about the person he used to be. About the couple they used to be.
“You okay?”
She quickly righted herself with a stern mental talking-to and forced herself to smile, turning her attention to the words on the card Ally had given her. Thank goodness for that card or Louisa might stand here dumbly for the rest of the evening.