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Heidi had always been careful. At her heart, she was a planner, so it would have been frighteningly unusual for her to say, “How fast can we build?” But that was exactly what came out of her mouth.
Carine, natural beauty that she was, was able to raise her eyebrows all the way.
“Well?” Heidi prodded.
“Was that a hypothetical question? Folks don’t usually ask me that until I’ve said a few more things.”
“I’m sure that’s usually the case. Normally, I’d have many more questions to ask, as well, but I think with circumstances being what they are, acting with intrepidness is the way to go here. I’m not going to overthink things. I have the money to spend and the opportunity to glue some years onto the tail end of an old lady’s life. So. How fast can I put a house on this thing?”
“How fast can your bank write a check?” Carine said sardonically.
She didn’t know who she was dealing with.
Another thing I’ll have to teach her.
Heidi looked at the time, then called her bank and asked for her personal rep.
“Heidi Dowd, how the hell are ya?” he asked.
“Wonderful. Listen, I may need to buy a piece of property.”
“Wait—” Carine started, but Heidi held up her hand to interrupt.
“How fast could you cut me a check?” Heidi asked him.
“You trying to pay cash?” he asked.
Heidi studied her nails. “For the lot, at the very least. I don’t see why not. I’ll worry about the structure we’ll build on top of it after I’ve got this locked in. The location’s the most important thing.”
“In that case, you can get it whenever you want. Just give me about twenty minutes’ notice.”
“Thank you. I’ll call you soon.” Heidi ended the call and tucked her phone into her tote. “How much progress can we make on this deal before your next clients show up?” she asked Carine.
Carine was still staring.
“I mean it, Carine.”
“You’ve got to give me a minute. You kissed the sense out of me without so much of a heartbeat of warning. Now you’re plopping down cash for a piece of property you haven’t had surveyed on even set foot on.”
“I can go do a few somersaults out there if you think that’ll make much of a difference, but I’d much rather write you a check for earnest money and sign some forms.”
Finally regaining some semblance of her business edge, Carine murmured, “They’re never going to believe this one,” and got the car moving again. “I can make a couple of calls tonight to dot some I’s and cross some T’s, but you’ve got to give me some time to push that paper around. I’m a real estate agent, not a robot. I’ll get you squared as soon as I can.”
“That’s fine. You can email it to me and loop Valerie in so she can work on the plans. Let me know the figures so I can pick up the check in the morning.”
“Are you sure you’re not buying this because you feel sorry for me? That wouldn’t be totally out of the realm of possibilities for you. You did loan me a car when my last one became a paperweight.”
“I did that because you’d worn a tight turtleneck recently, and that made me feel generous. My motives aren’t all that altruistic. If I felt sorry for you, I’d buy the least desirable lot right next to the road where the hog trucks barrel past fifteen times a day.”
Heidi couldn’t remember the last time she’d spouted such bullshit. The only part of her response that was honest was that she hadn’t felt sorry for Carine. The rest was fable. She’d loaned Carine the car because people needed to be able to get to work. Heidi had no recollection of anything Carine had worn in that period of time, tight or otherwise. She’d done her honest best to not covet the straights’ assets. And if she were going to do Carine any favors at all, she would always buy the best lot, even if she would just hold onto it to resell when properties became scarce. She wasn’t displeased by the idea that Carine would earn a commission off Heidi’s money. If it got her one step closer to a better place, Heidi would be glad for it.
Carine stole a glance away from the dirt path. “I…sometimes have dinner at Dylan’s on Tuesday nights. The drink specials are lousy, but the music is commendable.”
“I’ve never been.” But Heidi knew how public the place was just from having conversations with people who’d been. The vibes at Dylan’s may have been immaculate, but the privacy in the restaurant was like Kevin’s verbal filter: nonexistent.
Carine was trying to get an answer to the question Heidi had ignored and that Heidi was going to continue to ignore. If Carine wanted to label things, she could buy herself a sticker machine at Janet’s. She thought she knew what she wanted, but she didn’t. They never did.
“Maybe you should go,” Carine said. “I mean, if you don’t need to be in bed too early.”
“I might be able to get caught up on sleep over the weekend. What time does the music start?”
“Eight. Are you going?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
