Catharine Bramkamp - Real Estate Diva 05 - A 380 Degree View (13 page)

“
Okay,” I said to Ben. “I’m here for the rest of the week.”

“Good
, I need to go to Penny’s house first thing tomorrow.”

Was that supposed to make me feel better?

My phone vibrated on cue. “I don’t want that place after all, I want to look some more, and I don’t want to just settle on the first place I see.”  Scott Lewis, just your average first time home buyer

“
Of course not,” I soothed. “How about tomorrow morning?”  If Ben could be busy, so could I.

“
That will work great, thanks!”

The tall library shelves towered over me, empty, but the ladder I remembered as a kid was still propped up against one of the bookcases. A person could, if she wanted, re-enact the scene in
The Mummy
where the girl knocks over a whole room of bookshelves like dominoes. I’d like to try that. I was eyeing the ladder wondering if it would hold my weight, when Scott startled me.

“
Hah,” he exclaimed, “I didn’t squeak that time!” 

“You’d make a great
librarian.” The song, Marian, Madam Librarian from
Music Man
flitted through my head.  I think I played a small child in the opening crowd scene.  Or I just watched it with Prue, I couldn’t remember. 

“No,” he said. “I’d have to finish school
to do that.”

“You never finished school?”

He
puffed out his cheeks and exhaled.  “I haven’t finished much of anything.”

“Why did you buy this then?”

“Honestly?  To create focus. Dad loved this town and it seemed like the right thing to do, to put down roots, or a stake in the ground. For the first time, doing the right thing,” he trailed off.

“
Then let’s find a house so you can stay the course, shall we?”  I sounded like a Victorian schoolmarm. Or better, a Victorian Egyptologist like my favorite literary character. “There are a few more homes left in your price range.”

“
Then let’s spend more.” He offered suddenly.  “Can we look for houses just under a million?” Out of habit and reflex, I did the math. I’m up to almost two percent of a sale, unless headquarters rescinds that, so it was well worth squiring Mr. Scott around in the pouring March rain. Without question, it was worth spending the week at Prue’s. Once Scott was in escrow, I could work from Sonoma County.

“There are about a half dozen homes
in that price range, many in town.” 

“In town
.” He repeated seriously. “I don’t want those big homes in Lake of the Pines or in that other area you showed me, Oak Glen.”

“Oak Glen is nice
.” I started.  In fact Penny’s house was at the top of that “exclusive” development and there was a house for sale across from her property.  But I had dismissed it as too expensive for Scott. Apparently my instincts were very two days ago. The criteria had changed. I was happy it changed for the better.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not that fancy or elegant a guy. Can you see me wandering around Oak Glen?  I’d need a little dog and plaid slacks.”

I grinned, that was pretty good
. He was showing some spunk, and I always like spunk.

“No one in Claim Jump is that fancy or elegant.” I assured him. “But we’ll stay in town.”

We ventured out again in the everlasting rain.  I like
d a house on Nevada Street, it had a deep porch, rolling lawn that was terribly impractical, but lovely to look at, and the kitchen looked like it could handle at least two caterers and their staff.

“Nope
.” Scott dismissed it, “too big.”

I bent the corner on the sales flyer and shoved it into my purse.

The next house was too small; the next one was too dark. Two houses, despite their location and price, lacked the necessary garage.  I trailed him as he walked through the empty homes. When the client knows, they know.  My job is to watch for that moment and point it out.

“I’m sorry
.” He apologized after three hours. “I know I’m looking for something but I can’t figure out exactly what it is. Does that make sense? That I don’t know what I’m looking for?”

“We often don’t know what we’re looking for until we found it.”  I soothed. How was that? I could embroider that on a pillow myself.

“Where did your grandmother live?”  I shooed him back into my car.

“What?”
  He held onto the door and gazed at me, water dripping into his eyes.

“Where did you stay when you came here with your dad?”
  I repeated.

“Gold Wa
y.” He said immediately. 

Gold Way was a small street tucked up behind the elementary school.  There were probably nor more than
a total of five houses on the street.

“But there aren’t any for sale up there.”  He looked at me with those big puppy eyes guys are expert at producing during serious clutch moments.

“Let me make some calls.”

Chapter
Twelve

Before we launched ourselves into the merriment that characterized Prue’s kitchen, Ben and I shared moring coffee in the apartment. The rain drummed on the roof creating a cozy, rather than depressing ambiance. I liked puttering around the small space with Ben.

              He eased his big frame into the vintage chrome kitchen chair and ran his hands through his hair.

“Penny has quite a place.
” He steadied the fragile table and leaned away from it completely.  “The open house is next Saturday. We should go. You should see this house; it’s as huge as Summer claims.  It overlooks a deep canyon filled with pine and fir trees.  Penny told me she watches birds fly under the porch that’s off the study, it’s that high up. There’s a lot right next to her house that she said she’d sell it to me for cheap.”

“I bet she did
.” I said coolly.

              “I could build something like Penny’s house, views, big rooms, we could each have our own office.” He offered.

Over the course of my years selling homes, I have found there are two upgrades that actually improve a marriage: double sinks in the bathroom and two separate studies, so both partners have a room of their own, so to speak. Katherine admitted that she and her husband have separate bedrooms too, but that didn’t sound romantic to me.

She told me, just wait.

“Did Penny offer to help you plan the house as well?” It wasn’t difficult to picture the two of them, circling around each other in Penny’s spacious house, leaning over blueprints, laughing and drinking wine.
              “She has great taste.” He said unabashedly. 

“Oh fine, we can be neighbors, that’s a lovely idea.  We can have a potluck every Friday.” I said sarcastically. 

Ben grinned.  “You are jealous. That is such a compliment.  I wouldn’t worry about it, Penny was fine, a little scattered and the problems she needed fixing weren’t that serious. I think she’s nervous about the event. She was fussing over every detail. She swept and scrubbed the fireplace twice while I was there. I heard her order the flowers, then she remembered she needed vases so she hunted all over the house and only found two she liked, you know that kind of thing.  She’s a little brittle.”

“Okay.” I said grudgingly.

“I love you, you know.”

“I know.” I pouted.

“I’m your fiancé, you know.”

I glanced at my left hand; he didn’t miss the gesture, but didn’t comment either.

“I’m going back right before the event just to make sure everything works.” He admitted.

I took a breath and struggled to act like an adult.  It took all my concentration. We headed out of the apartment sharing an umbrella for the quick walk to the kitchen.

“Okay, be nice to her
.” I finally conceeded. “She probably needs a friend. But why is she doing this at all? Summer cancelled a show right in the middle of the production. Why don’t they just cancel this as well?  Her father just died for heaven’s sake, people will understand.”

“I asked that question myself.  They sold too many tickets to out of towners, with no way to get hold of them to pass along the news.  Plus, they don’t want to return the ticket sale cash.  Summer
and Penny are adamant that Lucky would want the tour to go on as planned.” He pulled out a flyer from his jacket pocket and handed to me as we entered the warm kitchen. 

Beautiful home custom built by Lucky Masters himself
. I read.
Designed by famous local artists. 380-degree views of the valley and mountains.  State of the art kitchen, seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, pool and waterfall. Gardens were featured in May 2008 issue of Sunset magazine.

“Impressive.”
Tickets sold for $50 each and included a champagne reception hosted by the Penny herself.

“Especially the view
.” Ben pointed out.

“What? Oh yes,
I remember when Lucky built on the side of the hill.  He denuded a couple of acres of forest to do it, people were not happy. My grandfather was part of the protest group.”

Prue looked up at the mention of grandpa’s name.

“No, not that. Look at the flyer again.”

I looked again. 
380-degree view
.

“That’s very good
.” I said happily.

“Isn’t her office like in a loft surrounded by windows?” Prue asked.

“I don’t
know; I was under the house looking at pipes.”

“We must
go on the tour.”

“It’s for a good cause
.”  Prue said.

“Everything done in Claim Jump is for a good cause
.” I intoned.

Ben glanced at his phone.  “I’ll get this in the front room.”  He disappeared from the table.

Carrie gave me a quizzical look; I shrugged my shoulders. I do not monitor Ben’s business.

“I need to go back up to Penny’s this
morning.” Ben returned to the kitchen.  “She’s having trouble with her pressure.”

“I bet she is
.” Prue reached out for the flyer.

“She has no one else to call?”  I asked archly.

“Apparently she doesn’t have many friends.”

Prue snorted
. “She doesn’t have many friends because she’s a bitch.”

“If you kept bitches out of the Brotherhood, there’d be no one to attend the meetings.” Far from
aggravating her, she laughed.

“Point well taken.  She’s an odd duck that girl, rarely leaves that huge house except to drop off quilts to Summer who
dutifully auctions them off, then Lucky ends up buying them and keeps them at the theater.”

“Or library.”

“Or library.” Prue agreed, she rubbed her eyes. 

I should be upset with Ben for leaving again to take care of another woman,
especially when I should be the one who was nurtured and cosseted, oh, hell, that’s not me at all.  I encouraged Prue to take a nap, I instructed Carrie to call Patrick and just start apologizing for everything and when she was done with the real stuff, apologize for imaginary stuff. I waved Ben off to help yet another damsel in distress. It would be idiotic to try to change him now.

“I love you.”  He kissed the top of my head. 

“I love you too.  Bundle up, it’s getting colder.”

“Will do.  I’ll buy tickets for Saturday while I’m up there.”

“Four.”  Carried snapped her phone shut. “I left a message for Patrick to come up for the weekend.”

“Good.”

Carrie twisted her ring.  “I hope so.”

“You should marry him.”  Carrie said after Ben slammed the door behind him.

“Eventually. I don’t know; will I be the second wife?  Or even the third wife?  His first wife didn’t meet a very good end.”

“That had nothing to do with Ben
.” Carrie protested.

“You’re right, it
’s just, I don’t know how many marriages he’s had, or how many relationships. Or how many women he’s helped. He’s very closed mouth about it.”

Carrie rolled her eyes. Being the better friend, I ignored the implicit sarcasm.

“And now he’s busy with another woman’s pipes.” I rubbed at a sticky spot on the table.  “It’s going to get complicated, you can picture it - his people, my people, pre nups, my mother, his mother … “

Carrie furrowed her brow and focused on the ceiling.

My inch of the table clean, I looked up.  “Oh lord, you signed a pre-nup didn’t you? I told you I’d hire a lawyer, why didn’t you take me up on it?”

“I don’t want to be that way.” Carrie insisted. “I don’t want to be the woman who married Patrick for his money and his lifestyle.”

“But you ARE marrying him for his money and his lifestyle.”  I protested. Did she not remember her plan? Had she forgotten how focused she had been?  How she had cut Patrick out of the herd as if he was a wounded calf?  Was she unaware that her plan completely and utterly worked? It had worked to a certain extent, then she  honestly fell in love with the boy, which oddly, meant all previous bets were off. 

The good news? Patrick was so in love with Carrie he can’t even think straight when she’s around. I know; I saw it myself.  He flew up here didn’t he?

“What are the terms?”

“If we ever divorce, all I’ll get is ten million.”

“You are one of the few women I know who could actually get by on ten million.”

“It’s not even a real number.  I keep the ring too,” she added.  “I know you don’t approve, but it was worth it to see the sheer relief on the Furies’s faces when Patrick announced that I signed.”

Carrie refers to Patrick’s two older sisters as the Furies.   

“Okay then, it’s your life.” I conceded.

“It could stop before it starts!” She moaned.

“Have you called?”

“Every hour.”

“Have your parents called?”

“Every half hour, they have nothing better to do.”

“Are they calling Patrick?”

“He promised to screen his calls, that’s a start.  He’s met them, he now knows what they are capable of.”

“I don’t see the problem.”

“He’s screening my calls too.”