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“Hmm, but Tessa talked to her first. Sorry, Sophie, I think this goes to Tessa. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. You’ll get the next one.” His phone dinged with a text message and he glanced at it, typed something in response and then looked up. Sophie was still sitting there, fuming.
“Rick. There’s more to it than that.” She sighed. “Here’s the thing. I spent a good chunk of the weekend making that list and adding the contacts into the system. And then I sent a mailing out to my whole list. But Tessa did too—to the list that I created.”
Rick frowned. “What’s her name again? Charlene something?”
“Charlotte Houston.”
Rick typed the name into the computer and then frowned again when he saw that what Sophie said was true.
“Jeez, Sophie. This is a first. You talked to her too? Charlotte?”
“Yes, she told me that she’d tried me first, but called the main number. Tessa only had her cell phone on hers I guess, and she tried her next.”
“And she thinks you work as partners? So, why don’t you go to the meeting at eleven.” Sophie nodded but was still unsure what that meant.
“Is Tessa going to go too? Are we sharing her?”
Rick shook his head. “No, you are not. I’m not going to allow someone else to benefit from your hard work. That new client is all yours. On your way out, can you please tell Tessa to come and see me. I’ll let her know what’s going on.”
“Will do. Thank you.”
Sophie walked out of the room and stopped at Tessa’s desk. “Rick wants to see you in his office,” she said flatly. She’d pretty much had it with Tessa.
Tessa narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Just go talk to him.” Sophie wasn’t going to get into it.
She went back to her desk and filled Caroline in.
“Good. I knew he’d do the right thing.”
“He almost didn’t, until I showed him the date stamps in the system. And he didn’t seem very happy that Tessa did this.”
“Maybe that will snuff out this romance before it even gets started,” Caroline said.
“Do you think there was really anything there?” Sophie had her doubts.
“I don’t think he’d be that obvious about dating someone that works here. I think he’s just flirty and likes to go out for drinks, to be honest. I do think that even if it did go anywhere, she’d end up miserable because I don’t see Rick settling down anytime soon. Though, maybe one day someone might sweep him off his feet. I don’t think it’s going to be Tessa, though.”
Five minutes later, Tessa came out of the office, glanced Sophie’s way and sat back down at her desk. Sophie had noticed that she looked flustered, and her lips were pressed together. She wondered if Tessa would apologize to her or just ignore the situation entirely?
Later that evening, Sophie had the apartment to herself. Caroline had gone to Ed’s apartment for the weekend and Tessa never came home after work. Sophie had no idea what she was up to. Sophie was comfy on the sofa, watching a Christmas movie and sipping a cup of chamomile tea.
Just as she was about to head to bed, a little before eleven, the front door opened, and Tessa walked in. She stopped short when she saw Sophie, then sighed and shut the door behind her. She put her bag down, shrugged off her coat and walked over to where Sophie was on the sofa. Tessa sat across from her in one of the big club chairs.
“Listen, I owe you an apology. It was a shitty thing to do, and I am sorry. I don’t have a good excuse. I just saw your notebook here with all those leads written so carefully and I’d just had everything fall apart. I felt like I was never going to close another deal again. So, I sent out that mailing. It was dumb and I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve just been in a bad place. But that’s not a good excuse.”
“Thank you. It’s okay,” Sophie said. “I know it’s been a rocky time, but things will turn around for you.”
Tessa smiled. “Yeah, I think they will. I might have a buyer for my big listing. I have a second showing for it tomorrow. If that happens, I’ll feel like my rotten streak is over.”
“I hope you get it. I really do.” Sophie knew she’d never be close friends with Tessa, the way that she was with Caroline. But she genuinely hoped things would get better for her and that there would be less tension between them.
“Thanks, Sophie. I appreciate that. I’m off to bed now.” She stood and Sophie yawned and did the same.
“I’m right behind you,” she said.
Chapter Forty-Six
