Instead of getting the horrified shocked expression that I was dying for, Mary’s face smoothed over into an emotionless slate as she opened the letter, her eyes scanning over the little black words.
“Bri, it’s a shame that you picked this day of all the days to give up. I was finally going to hand you over a lead I had.”
Lies. Lies. Lies. She was full of shit and I knew it. It took everything inside of me to bite my tongue, I wanted to catch her this time.
“Alright, give me the information. I’ll get right on it and then tear up this notice.”
Mary’s face was still emotionless. No quirk of the lips or eye movement gave me a heads up as to what she was thinking. I was finished though. If she really wanted me to stay, she needed to fork over something. The woman needed me. I don’t know how it was she had gotten by before, but I’d seen her attempt to work the copier and it hadn’t been a pretty sight.
“I have a man I’m supposed to be meeting in an hour. The chance is yours. I’ll let him know you’ll be coming instead of me.”
Finally. I couldn’t fight back the grin, it’s what I’d wanted all along and all it had taken was threatening to quit. Mary rolled her eyes and turned back to her office, heels clicking again sounding out into the silence of the office.
When she was out of sight, I couldn’t stop the happy dance that my excitement caused. I know despite Mary’s cool and calm demeanor, she was angry. Her shoulders had gone rigid and her as she walked away I had noticed her fists clenching.
Mary handed over a piece of paper where she’d scribbled down the man’s name and address along with his phone number but didn’t say a word more to me as I left the office. When I arrived at Mr. Harlow’s place, I was certain Mary didn’t have a clue what she had just given up.
His house was an elaborate mansion on the outside of town, inside the gated community I passed by extravagant home after extravagant home until at the back of the neighbor was the largest home of them all. Three stories at least with a long green front lawn, encircled by a black iron fence. The house was edged against the shore of our town lake and along the side of the home were four garage doors.
I had to stop and take a breath before ringing the doorbell.
Nervously, I smoothed any imperfections in my clothes and chastised myself for not putting on more makeup. I hadn’t ever in my wildest dreams expected this day to turn out the way it was. If anything I thought I’d be back at home around this time stuffing my face with ice cream and watching movies with my cat.
The door opened while I was lost in introspection. A dark haired gorgeous man was standing in front of me. His green eyes bored into mine. He had on a tight fitting grey shirt, expensive looking jeans, and a watch that probably cost more than my car. His arms were toned with slight muscled that expanded under the sleeves of his shirt. Taking all this in I was pretty well dumbfounded.
“Is your father home?” I finally blurted out. It was pretty much never that someone in their twenties could afford a place like this.
He gave me an odd look, “My father’s taken some sort of self-improvement trip down in South America. I don’t see how that pertains to selling my home though? You are the real estate agent, aren’t you?”
His home. I didn’t know if Daddy’s money had bought him this home or maybe he was just handling the estate. Either way, it was still a big deal and I should probably watch my mouth.
“Yes, I’m sorry. Bri Anderson,” I spouted off quickly and gave him my hand to shake, “You’ve got quite a place here. Any particular reason you want to sell?”
“Come inside please,” he opened the door wider and slung his hand around to gesture for me to come inside, “I’m just not here enough to hang on to it. Despite its sentimental value, I believe someone else could appreciate it more.”
It was just as beautiful on the interior. Wide open floor plan, grand staircase, there was even an elevator in the damn thing. I followed behind Mr. Harlow as he swept his hand around pointing out the expensive customized kitchen, the intricate fireplace in the sitting room, and the rock pool in the back with its own waterfall.
Despite the beauty of his house, I found myself watching him instead. You could tell when he pointed out something that prided him because the soft curve in his lip would rise slightly displaying the hint of a smile. His eyes came alive when he explained that he’d laid the tile in the bathroom himself, even though it was an intricate design.
We came to a stop when he finally showed me the garage. Inside were some vintage cars, gleaming as he lifted up covers to show me what it was he had hidden. He expected me to be impressed, but I knew nothing of cars. So I merely smiled and nodded.