When I Fall in Love (16 page)

She was mortified.

Chapter 19

S
everal men in the audience took to their feet, clapping and whistling. What was Rollin doing? To auction him off was another way to make a couple hundred dollars. They didn't need to turn this into a sideshow.

“Come on, let's hear it. Who wants a date with the lovely Ms. Tayler Carter from big-city Chicago?” Rollin led a round of applause and motioned for Tayler to take the microphone.

She didn't move. How could he do this to her? She must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights, because Rollin was thoroughly amused.

Corra sat in the front row clapping the loudest.

Tayler regained her composure. She admired Rollin's ability to regain control over the audience so fast. She stepped back up to the microphone.

“If there's one thing I love, it's a good challenge.”

The audience went wild with applause and whistles. More people entered the room and the crowd grew.

“So, how shall we do this?” Tayler asked, looking at Corra.

Corra stood up and hurried to the stage. She happily took the microphone. “I'll take it from here.”

Tayler and Rollin stepped aside while Corra did her thing. This was her crowd and she knew how to work them up before opening the bidding.

“That was cute,” Rollin mumbled and glared at Tayler.

“Yes, a nice comeback on your part as well,” she hissed back at him.

“You liked that, huh?” he asked in a whisper.

“Not actually, but what choice did I have?” She smiled and kept her eyes on the audience.

“Now you know how I felt.”

Corra started the bidding with Rollin. “Let's start the bid at fifty dollars for dinner with Rollin Coleman, owner and operator of Coleman House B and B and Coleman Organic Farm. Ladies, you know some of y'all been chasing him all over town—this is your opportunity to have him all to yourself for one precious evening.”

Tayler grinned. This makeshift auction really was Corra's thing. She knew how to hype the women up into a frenzy.

“I'm glad you think this is so funny,” Rollin whispered.

“It's hilarious,” Tayler said between clenched teeth.

Rollin stood with his hands behind his back while Corra walked over and tried to get him to flex his muscles. He laughed but refused. The woman who'd arrived at the same time as Rollin placed a one-hundred-dollar bid.

“Wow, looks like she really wants you. I guess one night wasn't enough,” Tayler whispered out of the side of her mouth.

“What are you talking about?” Rollin whispered.

“Your date,” Tayler responded with a smile.

“Can I get one twenty-five?” Corra called out.

Rollin turned to Tayler and crossed his arms. “I didn't bring a date.”

“Oh, so what did you guys do? Conveniently bump into each other outside?” She crossed her arms and looked everywhere but at him.

“Who? What are you talking about? I came here by myself.” He had stopped whispering.

Tayler cut her eyes at him. “You didn't walk in by yourself.”

Corra turned around and gave them a stern look. “Are you guys okay?” she asked.

Rollin nodded. “Yeah, we're cool.”

Corra turned back to the auction. “I'm looking for one twenty-five, ladies.”

Rollin dropped his arms and shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “What do you care if I brought someone or not? Your vacation's over and you had your fun.” He lowered his voice but still wasn't whispering.

The bidding reached $150, and Rollin turned to smile at the audience, displaying those big dimples.

“That wasn't fair,” Tayler said.

Excited now, Corra was all over the stage. “Can I get two hundred? Come on, ladies, we need computers.”

“Life isn't fair,” Rollin continued. “If it was, you wouldn't have done what you did.”

Tayler crossed her arms again and took a step toward Rollin. “What did I do?”

“Shh—what is wrong with you guys?” Corra snapped at them.

“I'm sorry.” Tayler turned around and tried to smile.

“You know what you did,” he replied.

“Sold, to Tina Smith in the striking purple dress for one hundred seventy-five dollars. You go, girl.”

“If anything, you did something to me,” Tayler retorted.

“Okay, fellas, your turn. How about a date with the beautiful Tayler Carter?”

Rollin chuckled out loud. “Naw, baby, don't try to turn this around. You walked into my life and flipped the switch.”

“Tayler is vice president at MesaCom Telecommunications in Chicago. She's also an internationally known motivational speaker. Let's start the bid at one hundred dollars.”

Tayler couldn't believe Rollin had the audacity to say what he had. “Huh—you couldn't keep your hands off me. How dare you play the victim? I'm not some heartless bitch.”

“Tayler!” Corra shouted in a deep voice.

Tayler snapped her head around to see Corra and half the audience staring at her. She'd stopped whispering.

“Maybe they should bid on each other,” a man on the front row shouted out, and everyone laughed.

* * *

Tayler sat backstage after the ceremony wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole.

“Don't worry about it, baby. Half the audience didn't hear you, anyway,” Rita assured her.

“But half of them did, and they were children.” She buried her face in the palm of her hands. She couldn't shake the horrified looks on the parents' faces.

“What were you two arguing about, anyway?” Rita asked.

Tayler shook her head. Seeing Rollin walk in with another woman had started it all. “He denied he'd come with a date.”

“A date? Who did he bring with him?” Rita asked.

“I don't know, whoever that woman was that he walked in with. I'm gone one week and he starts dating somebody.”

Rita held a hand to her chest laughing. “Bernice? Oh, my goodness, you thought he was with Bernice.”

“That's her name. I remember her from the farmer's market. She was flirting with Rollin.”

“Honey, Bernice flirts with every single man in town. He wasn't with her. They just arrived at the same time.”

A jealous lover was not the role Tayler wanted to play. Her chest caved as she covered her face with her hands.

“You okay?” Corra asked and sat down beside Tayler.

“Corra I am so sorry. I don't know what got into me. I ruined the fund-raiser.”

“What? No, you didn't. Greg paid two hundred dollars for a date with you. Counting the one seventy-five we got for Rollin, we made another three hundred seventy-five dollars. Then Pastor Richardson offered to match that. Girl, this auction idea was ingenious. We raised enough to purchase another computer.”

Tayler reached out and grabbed Corra by the shoulders. “Say that again.”

Corra laughed. “Yes, another computer. It was a success.”

Tayler let out a heavy sigh. “Thank God.” The only problem was, now she had to go on a date with Greg.

As the evening wound down, more parents thanked Tayler than turned away from her. Tonight, she felt like a part of the community. Rita and Wallace decided to call it a night and head back to Garrard County.

Tayler and Corra stood around talking when a tall handsome man with that boy-next-door look walked up behind Corra and cleared his throat.

Corra turned around. “Chris! I'm so glad you made it.”

His eyes sparkled as he looked at Corra as if he were seeing her for the first time.

“I wouldn't have missed it. And you look great, by the way.”

“Thank you.”

Tayler smiled as they stood there admiring one another and ignoring her.

“Hi, I'm Tayler.” She stuck her hand out and introduced herself when their conversation subsided.

“Oh, God, I'm so sorry.” Corra pressed her hands to her cheeks before introducing Tayler and Chris. Tayler was so happy she'd purchased that gown for Corra—she looked like a million bucks. Minutes later, Tayler excused herself and left them smiling at one another.

“Well, that didn't turn out too bad,” Rollin said as he came up behind her.

Tayler was still embarrassed and didn't know what to say to him. She'd made a fool of herself onstage before the entire community. “No, I guess not.”

“Don't look so sad. Most of the crowd thought we were acting to drum up the bids.”

“But we know better.”

Two young women passing by smiled and waved. “That was a great program, guys.”

Rollin gave them a slight nod of the head. “Thank you.” Then he turned back to Tayler. “I don't know who you thought I brought with me, but I came alone.”

“I know better now. I'm sorry. I stood up there and made a complete fool of myself.”

“No, you didn't. You just looked like a jealous girlfriend.”

He stared down at her and bit his bottom lip. He looked so sexy she wanted to reach up and wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him right now.

“I wasn't trying to break your heart.”

“I know you weren't. I've had to come to grips with my own feelings and not be mad at myself for falling in love with you so fast.” He let out a heavy sigh. “So did you just come back for the ceremony, or do you plan to stay a little while?”

She shrugged. “That all depends.”

“On what?” he asked.

“Here you are.” Corra, Chris and a few committee members walked up. “I told you guys I had the right MCs, didn't I?” she asked, looking from Tayler to Rollin as they stood up.

“Come on, give me some credit here. The way you turned the second half of the program into a moneymaker—I never would have thought of that.”

Tayler looked at Rollin and shrugged. “It wasn't really our idea. Somebody in the audience started it.”

“Yeah, girl, but you took it and ran with it. That's the type of energy and creativity we need around here. And now it's time to celebrate.” Corra threw her hands up in the air and sashayed around in her new gown. “The party's at my house and everybody's welcome. I've got plenty of food, and drinks. Jamie and Katie are staying with their babysitter, Mrs. Baker, tonight. So we can party the night away.

* * *

Corra was excited, and Rollin was excited for her. She and her small committee had done a lot of work to get computers into more than half of the classrooms at Roosevelt Elementary. She deserved to party a little bit.

Rollin caught Kevin walking around and gave him his keys, trusting him to get his truck home.

He took Tayler's keys and helped her into the passenger's side of her BMW. For the first time he realized there was a lot he still didn't know about her. He climbed in behind the wheel and started the car.

“In case I didn't tell you, you look stunning.” Red was her color, he concluded.

“Thank you.”

“So, what happened with the work on the conference?”

“I decided something else was more important. The past few weeks have meant a lot to me. I'd never wanted to be with any man more than I wanted to be with you that first night. What we had was more than a vacation fling for me, but I didn't know how to deal with it, either. It happened so fast that it caught me off guard. Then, before I knew it, you turned on me.”

“I was hurt. It was stupid, I know, but when you didn't say anything to Nicole about us, that hurt.”

“At the time I didn't know how or what to tell her.”

“You could have told her the truth.”

“What, that I'd fallen in love with her cousin in three weeks?”

Rollin pulled to a stop at a stop sign and turned to Tayler and smiled. “You what?”

Tayler bit her lip and shrugged. “I tried not to, but you made it nearly impossible with those big dimples.”

He laughed. “Is that all it was? My dimples?”

She shrugged. “Maybe a little more than that.”

As soon as he pulled out and rounded the bend headed toward town, his cell phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Rollin, it's Greg.”

Rollin's supposed buddy who'd paid two hundred dollars for a date with Tayler was calling him. Rollin's first inclination was to hang up, but there was a catch in Greg's voice that didn't sound right.

“What's up?”

“Man, you need to get over to the Danville county hospital. Corra was in an accident.”

Rollin almost slammed on the brakes. “She what?”

“Yeah, man, they got hit by some kid driving drunk.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“I think so.”

“Thanks, Greg.”

Rollin hung up, threw his phone into the middle console and turned the BMW around in the middle of the road.

“What's wrong?” she asked, holding on.

“Corra's in the hospital. They were hit by a drunk driver.”

“Oh, no!” Tayler braced her hand against the dashboard.

Rollin gunned the sporty car down a shortcut and said a silent prayer that both Corra and Chris were okay. The mere mention of the words—
car accident
and
hospital
—reminded him of when his parents died. He had to get to Corra, because he knew she was probably freaking out. Dying in a car accident was the one thing that scared her.

They reached the hospital and Rollin pulled into the emergency area and jumped out of the car. He helped Tayler out and they ran inside. They approached the nurse behind the emergency room desk and got the details of Corra's surgery. His heart was beating so fast and hard he could hardly hear her. If anything happened to Corra, he didn't know what he'd do. She was all he had left in the world. He squeezed Tayler's hand.

Corra had a bad break to her leg, but she was going to be okay.

The nurse pointed them toward the waiting room. The few people in there looked as if they'd been up all day, while Tayler and Rollin looked as though they were headed to the prom.