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“Me too, but, what else am I gonna do? I’ve got a mostly useless college degree for a field that basically dead right now, so I picked up real estate as a fallback plan. I knew what I was getting into when I started the real estate training. Everyone told me the money was going to be slow to come. The first couple of years I did this, I had a part-time retail gig, too. I might go back to retail for a while. I’ve been at this for five years, and I’ve been enduring a lot more famine periods than feast ones.”
“The market is turning around, though, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but you know places like this are the last to see the trickle-down. I think the success will depend a lot on how they’ll promote this place and who’ll look for homes here. Have you seen the marketing collaterals from the developer?”
“I haven’t, but my understanding was that they were trying to market the place from folks out of the area moving from places with higher costs of living. They’d basically come in and pay in full with the cash from the sale of their previous homes. They’d be folks who wanted to be near the coast and didn’t need to commute to work.”
“Huh. I haven’t seen any of those folks yet, but that’s not surprising. I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing any of those big spenders until the last of the models go up.”
“That’ll be next month, and then you’ll have a frenzy of construction.” Valerie grinned. “I won’t be here to see it.”
“Boo.” Carine fanned her damp shirt.
Valerie cringed at the sight. That fabric had to feel gross. “Feel free to root around upstairs and see if you can find something dry that’ll fit you. Be forewarned that I’ve got a T-shirt shortage. Leah steals them all whenever she visits me.”
“Oh,God,” Carine said with eyes going wide, “your sister. She—never mind. Wait right there. I’ll tell you after I change.”
Oh boy.
Carine hurried up the steps, and of course, Valerie followed right on her heels. “Don’t leave me in the lurch like that! What about my sister?”
“Well, you know, we chat.” At the foot of the bed, Carine wriggled out of her pencil skirt and pawed at the buttons of her blouse. “She’s funny and she gives me insights that help me manipulate you.”
Valerie rolled her eyes.Again,who needs enemies?“Obviously, she doesn’t know everything about me.”
“And I’m not gonna change that. The soap opera that is you and Timmy is plenty enough entertainment for me at the moment, but because she’s not in the loop, we might need to strategize some ways to keep what’s supposed to be a secret a secret.”
“What do you mean? And there is no Valerie-Timmy soap opera.”
Carine snorted, walked into the en-suite bathroom, and draped her shirt over the shower rod, followed by her bra.
She didn’t even bother covering herself as she moved to the walk-in closet. She probably didn’t see the point in bothering, given that Valerie wasn’tactuallythe prude she’d made herself out to be.
Flicking on the light, Carine said, “There’s totally a Valerie-Timmy soap opera, and lookie-loo that I am, I’m enjoying a front-row seat. You’re playing this chase game with him, and that’s just gonna get him hotter than you can handle.”
“You know from experience, huh?”
“Nope. Told you, Tim’s not my type, but his reputation follows him around like an eager submissive on a leash.” She grabbed a shirtdress from a hanger and shoved her arms into it.
“Oh, get this,” Valerie said, dancing her eyebrows teasingly. “Speaking of subs on leashes, the delivery guy stopped in earlier and made me out from Clay’s place. He said he saw us through the window when we were waiting for your tow Saturday morning.”
Carine’s eyes went comically round. “Who was he?”
“I didn’t catch his name. Like you said about Tim—not my type, so my gaze didn’t linger.”
“And a delivery guy, you said? Jeez. I wonder which one. Some folks are more discreet at Clay’s than others. Anyway, I was telling your sister about what goes down at Clay’s and…she kind of invited herself down.”
Valerie blew out a sputtering breath. “Well, that makes no difference to me. I have no intention of going back.”
“Yeah, but, here’s the thing. People talk. They may keep secrets out here in the open where we have to be upright and professional, but inside that house, they’re gonna pass along snippets of information, and somehow, it’s gonna shake out that you’re fucking Tim.”
“I’mnotfucking Tim.”
“They’re gonna assume you are. No one there would say no to Tim.”
“There’s nothing to say no to. He hasn’t asked me anything.”
“Uh huh.”
