AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do people even do that?” she asks, looking back at me. “Matching carpets and drapes would be a lot of the same color.”
“Most people don’t even have drapes anymore,” I say. “They have some kind of blinds.”
Meg nods and leans down toward the passenger, whose cheeks are growing flushed. “Some people have plantation shutters,” she says.
“Put the top up,” the kid mutters to the driver.
His friend laughs and says, “The light’s about to turn green.”
“Plantation shutters are really nice,” I say.
Meg edges even closer to the car. “So, you want to know if the flooring in my house matches my window treatments. Are you looking to buy a place? I sell real estate and I can add you to my weekly newsletter if you want.”
Just then, the light turns green, and the boy’s face melts with relief. As they accelerate, we can hear the sound of his friends’ laughter. “She worked you,” one of them says.
Meg steps back from the curb, grinning. “Someone has to teach them,” she says.
Regardless of whether or not she knows who I am, regardless of whether or not I’ve placed a target on my back, being around Meg is always entertaining.
Iturn to face her. “So Ron’s house,” I prompt. “It would be great to get that listing.”
Meg gives me a smile and says, “It’s a great house.”
It’syour house, I want to say.
She crosses her arms and continues, “I might have the perfect buyers for it. I’ll have Veronica plant the seed first and then bring it up with Ron.”
I give her a sharp look. “Can you represent both ends of the deal?”
“Technically? Yes, though some consider it a little shady. Fiduciary duty, and all that. But my thinking is that we can probably keep it off the market and get a quick sale if my buyers can make a competitive offer. I doubt Ron will be excited about open houses twice a week.”
The valet pulls her car forward, and she hands him a tip.
“I didn’t realize you had new buying clients,” I say, wondering where she’s picked them up. She doesn’t do any of the things other new agents have to do, like door knocking or open houses. “Who are they?”
She gives me a tight smile and says, “Can’t disclose, sorry. They’re industry people and want to remain anonymous.” Before I can ask where she found them, she checks her phone for the time. “And I’m late. Chat later?”
She slides behind the wheel and is gone within seconds, leaving me standing there, thinking through all the ways this could be the beginning of her plan.
***
I arrive home just after one o’clock, eager to research the ways a listing agent could manipulate a sale. Especially one that never hits the market.
I settle at my desk and open my computer, typing the parameters into the search bar. My computer is slow to load, so I get up and grab a Diet Coke from the kitchen. When I return, the page is still blank.
Cannot load page. Check your internet connection and try again.
I look to our router, which is blinking green, and try again. Still nothing.
I move into the living room to see if our cable is working. Maybe there’s an outage. I turn on the TV and am greeted by a black screen.
“Shit.” Back in our office, I pull out the box where Scott and I put things we want to shred and dig out an old bill. I dial our cable company and punch my way through several automated choices, until I finally get a live person on the line. “Yes, I’d like to report an outage,” I say.
“Zip code?” a woman’s voice asks.
I offer it and hear her typing in the background. Finally, she says, “I’m not seeing any outages in your area.”
“Well, there has to be, since neither my internet or my cable are working.” I look out the window, as if I might see a pole fallen down into the middle of the street. But everything looks normal.
