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Sophie smiled. “Your timing was fine. I really don’t know. I thought maybe I sensed something, but the moment passed. Maybe I imagined it.” She didn’t want to get her hopes up.
“I think there’s something there. And I don’t think he’s into Tessa.”
“Hopefully not.” Sophie didn’t think so, either.
“So, are you still up for dinner at the Italian place? Ed is out with his buddies tonight, so I am all yours,” Caroline said.
The door opened and Tessa strolled in, wearing her gym clothes. She glanced over at Caroline and Sophie and then saw the tree. “Looks good.”
“What are you up to tonight?” Caroline asked. “Sophie and I are going out to dinner. You’re welcome to join us.”
“Thanks, but I have plans with April and Joy. We’re going to a new club that opened in midtown.”
“Okay, have fun.” Caroline paused for a moment and then asked, “So, how are things going with Max?”
Tessa made a face. “They’re not. He hasn’t suggested going out again. And over dinner at Rao’s he actually kept talking about Sophie. It was annoying. And on that note, I’m jumping in the shower and then heading out. See ya.”
Sophie watched her go and felt a sense of hope if Max had been talking about her at dinner. It meant she was on his mind. Or maybe it just meant that Sophie was the only thing that Max and Tessa had in common.
Chapter Forty-Two
Sophie had a much better turnout at her second open house for Emily’s unit. She baked cookies again as she loved the homey scent when people walked through the door. And almost everyone took at least one cookie. She had a total of two dozen people come through and, while all of them were working with realtors, a few of them seemed interested.
Sue from the office also came with the young couple that gave her the new listing at 1025 Fifth Avenue. She introduced them to Sophie.
“We’re excited for your buyer to see their property on Monday. I told Dan and Paula about this open house and thought it might be good for them to see, as it’s in the neighborhood and is bigger.” They were in their early thirties and Paula mentioned that she was almost eight months pregnant. She was tall and slender and looked like she had a basketball in her stomach. Sophie wondered about the timing for them. Once her baby came it seemed like it might be a hectic time to move. Sophie didn’t ask the question, but Dan saw her look at Paula’s baby bump and smiled.
“We know it takes on average about three months for a co-op and we were thinking that Paula might feel more up to the move then,” Dan said.
“I think it would be too difficult to do it sooner, and we don’t want to wait too long,” Paula explained.
Sue encouraged them to look around, and stayed in the kitchen with Sophie, so they could wander around on their own. She helped herself to a cookie.
“Do you think this could work for them?” Sophie was surprised. She’d thought they were looking for a two bedroom and Emily’s unit had three, which meant it was quite a bit more expensive.
“They say they are flexible, but I think seeing this unit and its price tag will help them to have more realistic expectations for what they can afford.”
Sophie nodded. “That makes sense. It helps to look and really understand what’s available in this area.”
Sophie answered questions that came up as people walked around and, once the last person left at a few minutes after two, she packed everything up and headed out. The feedback she heard was positive overall and she felt confident that the unit should sell fairly quickly, hopefully.
When she got home, Caroline was doing laundry and Christmas carols were playing. She’d also picked up several red pillar candles and set them around the living room and kitchen. The color gave the room a cheery feel and Sophie could faintly smell the candle’s scent of apple and cinnamon. She set the bag of leftover chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen counter and Caroline came right over and took one.
“I was hoping you’d bring some home. I could make a meal out of these cookies.”
Sophie laughed. “You have. Didn’t you eat a few for breakfast last weekend?”
“Hmmm, I guess I did.”
The apartment felt calm and quiet and festive. Caroline had plugged in the Christmas tree lights, so it glowed merrily by the window. Sophie had picked up some more mini-lights and Christmas garlands on her way home to decorate the mantel. Aunt Penny had three heavy silver reindeer that held the Christmas stockings. There was one for Aunt Penny, Uncle Joe, and Sophie. It felt bittersweet to Sophie as she took them out of their boxes. She’d loved those long weekends here before Christmas and she missed both Uncle Joe and Aunt Penny. She knew Aunt Penny would approve of the decorating though and she set about making the mantel look festive. The final touch was to place the reindeer at the edge of the mantel. She would add the stockings later. She had her old one, but wanted to pick two more up, for Caroline and Tessa.
When she was finished, Caroline admired her handiwork. “It looks so pretty.”
She wandered back to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and then the freezer before turning to Sophie. “I’m sick of pizza. What if we just make some appetizers? We have some frozen chicken wings we can heat up and I can make taco dip. We have all the ingredients except for tortilla chips. But I can run out and grab those and maybe some avocado for guac on the side. What you think?”
“That sounds good to me. I’ll run out and get the chips and avocado and you can show me how you make the dip?”
“Perfect. It’s super simple. I’ll take wings out now so they defrost some.”
