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“Thanks.” Carmela took the water and chugged it greedily. “I don’t know why we go anywhere between eleven and four when it’s this hot.” She looked down at an incoming text while drinking.
“Wait ‘til the hot flashes get you during the summer.
Then you’ll really know what hell is. For years I kept a fan in my purse,” Liz said with a laugh.
Carmela narrowed her eyes at her. “Jeez, I’m turning forty in October, not fifty.”
“Just you wait,” she replied, her keen eyes sweeping over every inch of the main floor.
Liz was on the second-floor wrap-around balcony talking to another realtor while Carmela was busy drooling over the master bath. She’d always wanted her own personal steam room but couldn’t justify the frivolous expense.
She was inhaling the strong cedar scent when heels clicked against the tiled floor behind her. Popping out of the sauna she’d been sitting in returning emails, Carmela hadn’t expected a shark attack.
“Hey, it’s you,” the tall, slender girl with the hypnotizing gray eyes said as she strolled into the bathroom. “From the open house last month.”
Carmela was completel
y rooted to the spot. Palm Beach was big enough that she’d never actually expected to see the girl again.
“You’re so busy, I’m sure you don’t even remember me.”
The girl extended a hand toward her. “My name is Rhiannon Rodriguez. You were selling a house on East Palm. I made an o er, but it wasn’t accepted.”
It took every ounce of professional courtesy in Carmela’s body to fake smile and shake her hand. “Sure, yeah. How’s it going?”
“Not bad,” she replied with a blinding smile. “I haven’t kept track of it. What happened with it? Have you sold it?”
Carmela was confused by her friendliness given her previously douchey behavior, but she went along with the game. “No. The clients decided to take it o the market rather than pay tens of thousands of dollars to resolve the mold issues.”
Rhiannon’s eyes widened. “They confirmed it was in the water?”
Carmela clenched her jaw. She didn’t want to explain something that was none of her business, but she would’ve told any other agent. “No, they didn’t want to risk it. They
decided to take their chances until they had the cash to remedy the problem.”
“Oh man.” Rhiannon struggled to keep a straight face.
“You know if I was wrong, that’s like a forty dollar fix right?
It’s not an uncommon problem with that kind of pool pump.”
The information rendered Carmela speechless.
Rhiannon, apparently, didn’t mind filling the silence.
“Damn. That’s a really expensive assumption they made.
Well, good luck to you all,” she added before flittering away.
Carmela glared at her as she wondered away from the master suite. She’d been sure the girl was playing games, but she didn’t think she’d been totally blu ng. That took some serious nerve. Grabbing her cellphone, she dialed her clients immediately to tell them what she’d learned.
Half an hour later, after having been blamed for something that wasn’t her fault, Carmela emerged from the draining phone call. She’d seen enough of the house to o er her feedback and agreement with the price the listing agent had calculated. All she wanted to do was go home and call the crappy day over.
Searching for Liz took her all over the house twice, until she finally spotted her lounging on the patio furniture having the absolute best time with the shark. Anger turned Carmela’s stomach at the sight of them laughing.
No, Liz. Don’t fall for it.
SITTING AT HER DESK, happy to be in her comfort zone, Carmela picked at her salad while studying spreadsheets on the Palm Beach housing market. The good thing about high-end real estate was that it moved slow, but each property was so
