Going, Going, Gone

Ellen pauses at the door to the ballroom. This will be her first social gathering in more than a year. The governor has finally approved larger crowds as the coronavirus seems to be subsiding. But that doesn't mean she isn't nervous to be in a group after spending more than 14 months alone. And this will be a big one, 250 people attending to raise money to provide assistance to the homeless in her small city. It is the long-standing social event of the spring, featuring dinner, dancing, and the showpiece, an auction of the city's most eligible single men and women. She was asked in the past to participate in the auction but something about being put on display in that manner didn't appeal to her. Her real estate agency always purchases a table and she attend as one of the principal agents. She enjoys watching the spectacle of the auction even if she doesn't want to be auctioned herself. The past year was very lucrative for the agency and for her personally. If there is a man who appeals to her she has decided she will join the bidding. Her last date was shortly before everything closed down and she is hungry to share a connection with another human being.

She is wearing a spring green Vera Wang gown which with her thick auburn hair presents a stunning look. At 45 she is as slender as she was at 18 and has so few gray hairs that she is the only one to notice them. Her green eyes sparkle as she anticipates the evening's festivities. She enters the ballroom and quickly locates her table taking her place with her colleagues. There are no hugs or handshakes but she is greeted with big smiles which are welcome after a year of mask wearing.

Ellen picks up the program and starts looking through it with her friend Penny. There 15 men and 15 women to be auctioned off. The program has pictures and a short bio of each of them as well as a description of what the date will be like. They will be auctioned in lots of five. There is a section of the ballroom set aside for the winning bidder and their date to meet for ten minutes to set up the details. If the date doesn't happen within a month of the gala then the bachelor or bachelorette is off the hook. All of the participants in the auction are gorgeous and show imagination in their plans for a date which include things like zip-lining, flying to Montreal for dinner in a private plane and a tour of the lake on an excursion boat. Ellen is trying to select who to bid on when she sees Linc Nelson's picture. He is offering a chairlift ride up the state's highest mountain with a catered dinner at the top while they watch the sunset. She remembers she sold his family a house 15 years ago. He was married at the time with two small children. It had taken several months to find the right house for them and she had enjoyed working with him. She decides he will be a good selection.

After dinner is served, a band provides music for dancing before the auction starts. Ellen speculates that they delay the auction so that people will have time to drink more and perhaps be less frugal with their bids. It seems to work because as soon as the auction starts the bids are anywhere from $5000 to $10,000. She decides she can go as high as $10,000, it really had been a banner year. Linc is in the second group with the bidding starting at $1,000 and quickly escalating to $6,000. The auctioneer says, "6,500, do I hear $6,500?"

Ellen raises her hand and nods.

"I've got $6,500, do I hear $7,000, anyone for $7,000?"

A woman raises her hand and as soon as the auctioneer asks for $7,500, Ellen raises her hand. The auctioneer chimes in, "I've got $7,500, do I hear $8,000, anyone for 8? Come on people don't you want to watch the sunset from the top of the mountain? Let's see $8,000." There's a long pause and he starts to close, "Going, going..." The other woman raises her hand for $8,000.

Ellen knows she has it at that point and wanting to put it away she raises her hand and says "$9,000."

After a few minutes of trying to get more bids the auctioneer calls, "Going once, going twice, gone to the redhead in the green dress!" Just like that she is going to have a date with Linc Nelson.

When the group is finished she makes her way to the meeting area. He is even better looking than she remembered. He is tall and his dark hair is sprinkled with just a bit of silver. He wears it a little long, over his ears and his eyes are dark brown. He is dressed in a well-cut black suit with a white shirt and green tie. The suit emphasizes his very fit physique. As she approaches his table he pulls out her chair and introduces himself, "Hi, Lincoln Nelson. I guess we'll be going up the mountain together.

"I guess we will. I'm Ellen O'Brien," she says as she sits down.

He looks critically at her. "I know you."

She seems him trying to remember where they met. "I sold you your house on Farmer Drive."

"Of course you did, I should have remembered that right away. We spent the whole summer looking at houses with you, that was what 15 years ago?"

"That sounds right. Weren't you married then?"

"I was. I need to give the caterer a week's notice. Does next Saturday night work for you?"

"It does."

"Any food allergies?" he grinned, "the caterer said I have to ask that. I'm thinking about a main course that will include beef paired with a red wine.

"I love beef and I love red wine, no allergies. I assume I shouldn't wear this?" She motions to her dress.

He laughs, "No, probably not. It's likely to be chilly at the summit so jeans and a sweater might be best. I'm regretting not doing some elegant thing here in the city so I could see you in that dress again, you look beautiful." His eyes twinkle as he says this. "We should probably exchange numbers so I can let you know when I have the details pinned down and you can give me your address."

Their time is almost up as Ellen puts her number in his phone and he does the same to hers. She has to ask, "Are you still in that house?" It had been a spectacular home with significant acreage.

"I'm not," he answers as the buzzer sounds ending their time together.

The weather is perfect on Saturday. Ellen answers a knock on her door and finds a florist holding a vibrant bouquet. The card reads, "I'm looking forward to our date." She and Linc had exchanged texts throughout the week starting with her address and when he would pick her up and extending to discussions of how their days had gone.

On their drive to the mountain the conversation gets more personal. She asks him where he lives and he mentions an address in the city that she knows is an area with exquisitely restored homes from the early 1900's. "My ex-wife got the Farmer Drive house in the divorce. I've been in this house about 10 years. Weren't you involved with someone when you helped us house hunt?"

"Yes but that ended shortly after I sold you that house," she was unsure how much to say. "We'd been together a long time and I wasn't in a rush to get into something else. Not in a rush somehow became 15 years," she laughed.

"Breakups are tough, my story is similar. How'd you fare in quarantine?"

"I had my low moments, especially at the beginning. I worried about the agency and I was lonely. Then we figured out how to continue selling houses and I was busier than I'd ever been. I learned how to feed my soul in new ways."

"Like?"

"Like long solo runs, biking for the first time since I was a kid. And lots of take out. How about you?"

"Similar. I thought I'd go crazy those first two months. My kids are in college and had to come home but home was with their Mom. I went months without seeing them. As young adults I didn't see them that often anyway, they're busy, I'm busy, but when I couldn't see them that seemed worse. And of course they drove my ex crazy," he laughed, "human nature to want what we don't have. My firm was busy too with divorces and real estate transactions and we had to figure out how to navigate with courthouses and municipal office closed. I'd gladly burn the Zoom App. What did you miss the most?"

"Eating in a restaurant, hands down, and traveling. You?"

"I'm a gym rat, I work out almost everyday, not doing that about killed me. I bought a Peloton bike and one of those Tonal home gyms but its not the same as the camaraderie in the gym."

As they walk to the chairlift he puts his hand on her back partly to guide hr and partly just to touch someone. She has never ridden this lift and exclaims about the views. She asks, "How did you get the chairlift to run so late?"

"I'm an investor."

"By investor you mean owner."

He grins, "Something like that"

She thinks for a minute. "I remember reading about the sale of this place and wishing I'd had a part in it."

He smiles, "It was a complex deal with a lot of pieces. Took a long time to bring it all together. It would have been nice to have you involved."

On the mountaintop they find a table set with white linen napkins, candles, fine china and crystal wine glasses. The caterer brings the appetizer and fills their wine glasses with a Merlot from Bright Cellars. Every morsel of the meal is divine and they finish slightly before sunset. They move outside to chairs facing west taking their wine with them. The sky is spectacular and as Linc raises his wine glass he toasts, "To new beginnings." Ellen smiles and touches her glass to his.

They walk back to the chairlift in the approaching darkness with his hand on her back again. As the chair descends she tells him, "This was really fun, the most fun I've had in a very, very long time. Thank you."

He responds, "Would you like to get together again? I can't promise something as elaborate as this. I wracked my brain for weeks to come up with an idea that would be kind of out there and attract bids."

She laughs, "You did a great job and yes, I'd like to see you again."

It's nearly dark when they get off the lift and he puts his arms around her. "I had fun too, thank you." He lowers his head and kisses her gently.

When he pulls back she smiles at him and says, "Best $9,000 I ever spent."