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A few minutes later the bartender came over and before Caroline could speak, they heard a familiar voice behind them. It was Rick and he was grinning from ear to ear. He was with Troy from the office, who was one of his best friends.
“Carl, I’ve got this,” he said to the bartender. “We’ll take a bottle of Veuve for the girls and two Macallans on ice.”
Sophie had emailed Rick earlier that afternoon once the deal was finalized. It was a Saturday, so she didn’t get a reply back and didn’t expect one. But he’d obviously seen the email.
Once they all had their drinks, and thanked Rick, he raised his glass in a toast.
“Congrats! You ladies are killing it!”
They sipped their champagne and Sophie laughed as Rick told them about one of his recent crazy clients, a buyer that was prepared to spend up to fifty million.
“I’ve been working with him for over a year now. I was all excited at first. Who wouldn’t be, right?” Sophie and Caroline nodded. Rick talked fast and he was always animated and high energy. “So, I think I’ve shown him over twenty properties now. A few every month. He’s in no rush, and I was starting to wonder if he was just playing around and had no intention to buy. I’d just about written him off, when I took him to that new project where there were two units side by side. If he didn’t like one of those two, I was out of ideas.” He paused and took a sip of his scotch. “Well, he sure surprised me. He loved them and is buying both units. He’s going to knock down the wall and make one huge penthouse apartment. It will be pretty incredible.”
Sophie couldn’t even fathom spending that kind of money. “Congrats! What does he do?”
Rick grinned. “I have no idea. His main residence is in Dubai. I think maybe something in finance. Oh, and it’s a cash sale. Came to one hundred and eighteen million—more than twice what he told me he wanted to spend.”
Sophie and Caroline exchanged glances and were struck speechless.
Troy laughed. “That’s crazy.” He looked at Sophie and Caroline. “This is the best job in the world.”
“How long have you been doing it?” Sophie asked. She guessed that Troy was close to Rick’s age, around forty.
“A little over ten years now. Been with Fulton for the last five. I started at one of the big shops. Lots of turnover, but I learned the business. Did a few deals with Rick and liked his energy. When he said he was going on his own, I jumped.” He grinned. “Haven’t regretted it yet.”
Rick nodded. “Those big shops are okay for learning, but they’re too corporate and stuffy. We like to be nimble and stay on the cutting edge with social media and marketing.” He looked at Sophie, “Have you started on TikTok yet? Great way to showcase your listings and if you post regularly, people get to know you.”
Sophie hadn’t thought much about TikTok. It had been mentioned along with all the social media and she started where she was already established, on Instagram and Facebook, mostly. She went on TikTok occasionally, but mostly for book recommendations and she was oddly fascinated with the makeup videos, even though she didn’t wear much of it herself.
“I haven’t, but I will look into it,” she said.
“I got on it recently,” Caroline said. “And I think it helps. I put my listings everywhere.”
Troy changed the subject and they chatted about Broadway shows they’d all seen. Rick had just seenSweeney Toddstarring Josh Groban the weekend before with his girlfriend, Julia and raved about it.
“What is Julia up to tonight?” Caroline asked.
Rick’s smiled faded. He took another sip of scotch. “She was supposed to be here. We broke up this morning, actually. Please keep it to yourselves though. I’m not saying anything at the office just yet.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Rick,” Caroline clearly regretted asking the question.
Sophie just nodded. She had never met Julia. Rick didn’t seem overly upset, though.
Rick sighed. “We just wanted different things. It’s all good.” He glanced at Troy. “I called Troy to see if he wanted to join me tonight instead, since I knew his wife was away. We have a VIP table reserved in the kitchen. The chef will come talk to us and we can watch them do their thing. I did it once before here and have gotten to know Eric, the chef. It’s pretty cool.”
“That sounds fun,” Sophie said. She’d never heard of a VIP table like that.
“Are you two meeting anyone here?” Rick asked.
“No. It’s just us. We wanted to get out and celebrate our big deal,” Caroline said.
He smiled. “Why don’t you join us for dinner? The table seats four. It will be fun.”
It sounded intriguing to Sophie. She glanced at Caroline, and she smiled.
“We’d love to,” Caroline said.
A few minutes later, the hostess texted Rick that their table was ready. He led the way into the kitchen and to the half-moon-shaped table that faced the line where the cooks were rushing around. Sophie and Caroline sat in the middle and Rick sat to Sophie’s right.
