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“Thank you, dear. It has been just over a year and I’m ready now. I’d like to be in the same area, possibly even the same building, but a smaller unit. One bedroom is all I need. And I don’t have to sell this place first. I don’t want the pressure of having to coordinate that. I want to move into a new place, then clear out this unit, maybe have you stage it, or refer me to someone that can do that, and see if we can sell it for top dollar.”
“Well, I can certainly help you with that.” Sophie spent another half hour with him. She didn’t want to rush him. He’d told her that he was eighty-one and she enjoyed talking to him. She made a plan to call him back that afternoon to go over a few properties and set up some showings. When she finished the call, she did a quick search of available homes in his area and there were quite a few. She narrowed it down to her top five and called to set up showings for the next day and Monday. She set up three for Saturday and two for Monday and called Russ to let him know. And then she walked to the front reception desk to chat with Ava.
Ava had been in the role for a little over a month and was doing a great job. She was in her mid-twenties and was a college student going to school for her MFA degree in the evenings. She looked up from her computer when she heard Sophie approach.
“So, I thought this was a little strange the other day, but I didn’t say anything. I still don’t really know how you all do things here. But I thought it was a little odd that you and Tessa sent out a mailing on the same day, to the exact same list. When that last caller said he received mail from both of you, it reminded me, and I thought you should know since you gave me your mailing first. Maybe it’s not a big deal, though?” Ava seemed a little worried that maybe she shouldn’t have said anything.
Sophie took a breath. It was disconcerting to say the least that Tessa did that. “Thanks for letting me know, Ava. I’m still fairly new here, but it does seem a little confusing. I’ll talk to Tessa about it.”
Ava nodded. “Okay. If anyone calls in like he did and says he heard from both of you, I’ll forward the call to you. But some people might call your cells directly.”
And Sophie wouldn’t be surprised if Tessa’s mailing only had her cell phone on it. Sophie had listed her cell, email and the main office line. She went back to her desk, thinking about what Tessa had done and she realized two things—if the list was identical as Ava had said, then Tessa saw Sophie’s list. And Sophie had left her notebook in the living room, wide open as she’d been adding names to it over the weekend. Tessa could have easily snapped a few pictures.
The second thing was that Tessa had done that before the incident with Sean and the rental. It was troubling that Tessa helped herself to Sophie’s list that she’d spent hours compiling and didn’t think anything of it. Sophie would be less surprised if it had happened after she’d lost Sean as a client.
She didn’t want to make a big fuss over it, as it was already done, and it wasn’t like any of those contacts were already Sophie’s clients. They were just prospects, and no one owned them. Still, it was disappointing. And it was a lesson learned. From now on, she would be careful what she shared with Tessa, and she wouldn’t leave any valuable info literally lying around.
Sophie passed Rick in the hallway on the way back to her desk. He stopped and asked how her day was going.
“Good. I just landed a new potential buyer from my neighborhood mailing.”
Rick grinned and high-fived her. “Fantastic! We should celebrate with an after-work drink. It’s almost five, want to go for a quick one?”
It was Friday afternoon and there was only one other agent left. Sue was the on-call agent that day. Rick called back to her. “Drinks in five? You, me and Sophie, you in?”
“I’m in! I’m ready,” Sue said with a laugh.
“Meet me by the reception desk in five and we’ll head out,” Rick said.
Sophie nodded. His enthusiasm was contagious. She was also interested in chatting more with Sue, as she knew that she’d been with the firm since it started.
“See you in five,” she confirmed.
“Cheers to a great week!” Rick lifted his glass of bourbon and Sue and Sophie tapped their martini glasses against his. Sue got a traditional vodka martini with a twist while Sophie splurged for a salted caramel martini, made with caramel vodka, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Kahlua. The glass was rimmed with gooey caramel dusted with flaky sea salt. It tasted like dessert and Sophie loved it. It was so rich and sweet that she could only have one though. It was perfect for sipping slowly.
They were at the new restaurant around the corner that Rick had quickly become a regular at. They sat in the bar at a round cocktail table that gave them a good view of the after-work crowd streaming in. Rick recognized many of them and several people stopped by the table to say hello and chat for a minute.
“You’re like the mayor here.” Sue chuckled as another person waved at Rick and headed their way. “I don’t go out as much as I used to,” she admitted to Sophie. I remarried a few years ago, and now I head home at a reasonable hour so we can have dinner together.” She took a sip of her drink and looked at Sophie curiously.
“I gather that you are roommates now with Caroline and Tessa. How is that working out?”
“Really well, so far. Caroline is so easy to get along with and a lot of fun. Both she and Tessa had boyfriends until recently, so I often had the place to myself on weekends. It’s just Tessa that no longer has a boyfriend,” she clarified.
“What about you? Are you dating anyone?” Sue asked.
“Not at the moment, no.”
“Did you say Tessa and her boyfriend broke up?” Rick asked. “I didn’t know that. I thought they were pretty serious.” He seemed surprised and Sophie realized that Tessa hadn’t told anyone at work.
“Yeah, they were together for almost two years. Tessa wanted to get engaged.”
“He wasn’t ready?” Sue asked.
“Not yet. He was happy the way things were, but Tessa didn’t want to wait, so she ended it.”
Rick nodded. “That sounds similar to my situation with Julia. I haven’t told many people at work yet, either. I haven’t wanted to talk about it.”
Sue and Rick ordered another round of drinks and they decided to get a platter of nachos to split. Sophie still had more than half of her drink left. When the nachos came, they all helped themselves. They were loaded with guacamole, shredded chicken, refried beans, and cheese and were very good.
