“Then let’s go,” Birdie said. “I’m starving, and we still have time for me to get food to go from the Dairy Freeze.”

Hunt stood in the doorway watching them leave. He could tell by the side-glances Wade was giving Birdie, and the stiff set of her shoulders, that there was something happening between them. But whatever it was, it was theirs to explore.

He went back inside, finished up the floors, then locked up and went back to Ava’s.

Wade and Birdie got back to the store with minutes to spare. She ate at her desk while she worked, and Wade sat out on the dock and downed his food before going back inside.

He’d already made up his mind about the house, but there was nothing to do but wait for the auction.

* * *

It was the day of the auction. Ava was feeling good—like a woman who was ready for hot Texas days and even hotter Texas nights, and she was dressed and going to the sale with Hunt. It would be her first appearance in public since the report of her death and resurrection. There would be comments about how she looked, if she’d seen “the light,” if she’d talked to God, and variations on all of the above, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

Junior traded days with someone at work so he could attend. Ray and Susie were going, and Gordon had taken off work to be with Emma.

Birdie was taking off work long enough to attend the auction. Even though she’d come to terms with what was happening, no matter who bought it, it was going to be sad because it would no longer be home.

The sale was to begin at straight-up noon. First they would sell the old black truck, and then the property. The auctioneer was on-site early, verifying that he had the correct description and plat number of the property, and the siblings were there early as well because the house would be open for prospective buyers to see the updates that had been made.

There was a steady stream of people coming and going through the house right up until the time for the sale to begin, and when it did, the black truck came up first.

The opening bid was $2,000, and after that it went up in increments until the bidding was down to two men. One wanted it for an extra farm truck, and the other wanted it for his teenage son to drive.

Hunt stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the bidders’ faces. It was all the way up to $3,500, and the auctioneer was asking if there were any other bidders…that it was going, going…

All of a sudden, the parent with the teenager shouted, “Four thousand!” and the crowd gasped. He’d upped it $500 more in one bid.

The other bidder shook his head. “I’m out,” he said.