“Please give Sarah, JJ, and Nola a kiss from me and tell them I love them and I will be back tomorrow. I love you, Mellie. Never forget that. I’ll see you soon.”
I stayed where I was for a long time, replaying the entire message over and over, sending myself into emotional whiplash. I might have sat there all day if the alarm on my phone hadn’t gone off, letting me know it was time to leave for my appointment with Veronica and Michael to sign the offer papers for the home on James Island.
Catherine Jimenez’s van was already in the parking lot behind Henderson House Realty, in the space that the business’s owner, Dave Henderson, had recently designated as reserved for the month’s top seller. As if seeing her name at the top of the leaderboard each month where my name used to be wasn’t hard enough.
Catherine was in the lobby with Jolly when I walked in, and I tried to sneak by behind them without notice. I’d nearly reached the hallway when Jolly called my name.
“Good morning, Melanie. No messages for you, but as a reminder, you have your meeting at nine o’clock with Mr. and Mrs. Farrell.”
“Thanks, Jolly. And good morning, Catherine.” I took a step toward my office, but Catherine called me back.
“Good morning to you, too, Melanie,” she said cheerfully, with the kind of enthusiasm I could muster only after four cups of coffee. “Last night was craft night in our house and the kids and I made friendship bracelets. I thought I’d make some for my office friends.”
She held out a neon green macramé bracelet with dangling tie strings. I stared at it before I realized that I was meant to take it.
Jolly held up her hand, where a matching bright blue bracelet sat on her wrist. “I have one, too. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
It took me a moment to respond, my brain still caught on “craft night.” “It is. Thank you, Catherine. I’ll look forward to wearing it.”
“Would you like me to tie it on your wrist?”
“Um, maybe later. I’m afraid it will clash with my outfit.”
“Got it! Have a great day! And congrats on finding a house for the Farrells.” She smiled her friendly and genuine smile, which made it very hard to dislike her as much as I wanted to.
“Thanks. You have a great day, too. And, Jolly, please just send the Farrells back when they arrive—I’ll be ready for them.”
I hurried to my office to prepare for the meeting, placing the bracelet on the top of the desk, neatly lined up against the edge. I didn’t own anything neon green, but I’d have to wear it at some point. Maybe it would give me some of her pep and optimism. But I had a strong feeling there was only one thing that could do that, and he had just moved back to his apartment and flown to DC to do research on a project I knew nothing about.
I had barely sat down and flipped on my computer before Veronica and Michael arrived, a good ten minutes early.
“I’m so sorry,” Veronica said. “Michael was so excited about making the offer official that he practically dragged me here. Excuse my hair—I don’t think I had time to brush it yet.”
I waited for them to remove their coats and take the two seats in front of the desk. “No worries,” I said. I indicated the papers facing them, which I’d e-mailed to Jolly and asked her to prepare and leave in my office prior to our scheduled meeting. “We’re all set. I just need your signatures where I have the yellow stickies with the red arrows.”
Michael slid the pile toward himself and began flipping through the pages, signing where indicated.
“Aren’t you going to read what you’re signing?” Veronica asked.
Michael didn’t even look up as he signed another page. “Nah. No need. I trust Melanie. Don’t you?”
“It’s not that, Michael. I just want you to read over all the details to make sure you’re okay with everything.”
“I am okay with everything. Now that we’ve made a decision, I’m eager to see it through.” He slid the papers and the pen to Veronica. “And because the renovations are taking much longer than they should be, I’ve decided to work from home until they’re done. I figure if I’m there keeping an eye on the workers, they’ll hustle more and maybe not take so many breaks. Now that we’ve found a new place, the renovations are the only thing holding us back.”
“Well,” I said, “we haven’t put the house on the market yet. We need to wait until all the renovations are done. And I was thinking about new landscaping—”
“No.” He cut me off. “No more delays. I’m giving them until March third to be done, and then they’re out of there. No extensions. If I have to put duct tape on the walls to hide unfinished work, so be it.”
“But that’s the date of Melanie’s party for Rebecca,” Veronica protested. “Lindsey, Nola, and Alston will be having a slumber party. I don’t want the workmen to still be here working overtime if they’re not done. Can’t we move it to—”
“No, Veronica. We can’t. Someone has to put their foot down to end this nonsense, and I’ve realized that has to be me since no one else is stepping up to the plate.” He looked pointedly at the still-empty signature line above Veronica’s name. “Go ahead and sign, and then we’ll be able to put this all behind us.”
She looked at her husband for an extended beat, then briefly glanced at me before lifting the pen and scribbling her signature.
“Great,” I said, stacking the papers. “I’ll get this in today and let you know as soon as I hear anything. It’s a strong offer, so I don’t think we’ll have problems getting your dream house.”
I hadn’t meant to say that to Veronica. It was what I usually said to clients at these meetings, but none of them had her reasons to stay in their current houses or had been as reluctant to move as Veronica.
I sent her a look of apology, then stood. “I’ll go ahead and get started on this. If you need to use the restrooms, they’re down the hall to the right.”