“It is, but we can look at a few more before deciding.”
We spend the rest of the day following the map she had planned. House after house after house, and to be honest none of them compare to the first one. So I pretty much have no choice but to put an offer on it. I can’t see a way to stretch the house hunting out, since the decision is so fucking obvious. Elania said the sellers have twenty-four hours to respond to my contract, which at least means I have a reason to look forward to tomorrow, knowing I’ll be hearing from her. As I watch her walk back into her office building, it hurts. In such a short period of time, I’ve grown to like her. Maybe it’s just my dick doing the thinking for me, but it feels like so much more than that. Something stopped me, something made me not make a move when I was around her. God knows I wanted to…but I didn’t. And when I’m around her, Arion is the furthest thing from my mind. Which I cannot even believe. Zero comparisons. It’s just all about Elania. Fuck.
“I put an offer on a place,” I tell my mom as we sit and enjoy the pizza I brought for her.
“Oh, honey, that’s great and really fast.”
“I know, and it’s really nice.”
“Where is it?”
“Probably five minutes from here. I actually drove by you twice today while I was out looking.”
She stops eating and looks up at me, “And why didn’t you stop in?”
“Well, I was with my realtor. I didn’t want to barge in here with someone that you didn’t know.”
“Thank you for considering that, but any time you are near, please stop by. I don’t care who you’re with.”
“But—”
She cuts me off. “No, Nate, don’t argue with me. This may be how I am for a while. I want to see you as often as I can, and I love your friends. So if they come, then that’s a bonus too. Speaking of, how’s that cute girl Amanda doing? Are you two still just friends?”
Hah, my silly mom. Does she really think I’d bring my realtor in here? A friend, yeah, but not someone I’m doing business with. “Yes, Ma, just friends.”
She reaches for her water and is a little shaky. I hand it to her and worry that things aren’t getting any better for her here. With all of the physical therapy, I would think that she would be improving faster. Her mood is good, at least, she’s in great spirits every time I see her, but there’s only so long that she can keep up with it if her body doesn’t get any better. The usual panic starts to rise, but I push it down. She just has to get better. She has to.
“Please tell me that you aren’t working late…again.”
I glance at the doorway of my office and roll my eyes at Jacquelle. Like she cares. She’s one of the other realtors in my office, and a totally conniving bitch. “I’m waiting to hear back on an offer for a client.”
“You know you can do that from home?”
“Jacquelle, I have shit to do. I’m up to my knees with work. So unless you have something of importance, please spare me.”
She glares at me, a sliver of the setting sun rolls through my office window, catching her fake gold necklace. I don’t know why she even bothers coming in here. I hate her and she knows exactly why. It’s not rocket science. “Excuse me for trying to be nice,” she says.
“I doubt that’s what you were doing.” She turns on a heel and leaves. I wish her goddamn heel would snap as she stomps down the hallway. I enjoy the image of her flying forward, face-planting, breaking her nose, and covering her face in gnarly rug burn. It’s soothing, really. Christ, I’m messed up.
Since her mom owns the agency, she thinks she has some weight to throw around here, but I couldn’t give two shits because she hit the top of my shit list the day she went after my man. The thieving bitch that she is had been eye fucking him for months. Not that he’s innocent in it all, but now my hate is never gonna change.
As I run comps on a customer’s new listing, my phone rings.
“This is Elania,” I answer.
“Hey, Elania, it’s Dan, I saw you put in an offer on the Highland property. But I wanted to let you know that they received another offer for ten thousand over the asking price. Do you think your client would come up? We need to know within the next ten minutes.”
“Thanks for telling me, Dan. I’m not sure. Let me get a hold of him and I’ll be in touch.”
We hang up and I dial Nate, but he doesn’t answer. Checking the clock I know I have to get ahold of him now. I dial him again, but get voicemail.
I shoot him a text, hoping that I’ll get a response.