Chapter 105

“I didn’t want you to think I was a total bitch,” she said when we were back in the hallway.

“I don’t,” I replied. “And I’d never admit it if I did. I’ve determined that you could kill me on video and not spend a minute in jail.”

She stopped in the hallway – which caused me to stop, too. She was glaring at me with her arms crossed across her front.

“I was talking about the way I had to handle some of the tenants,” she clarified. “I can’t let people stop paying rent and I can’t let people dictate the security arrangements.”

“Yeah,” I said, completely unsure of why we were having the conversation in the first place – let alone in the public area of a building. “Liz, this is your building. You can toss every one of these people out on their asses and I won’t say a word.”

Liz sighed.

“It’s not about anything you’d say,” she told me. “I know you wouldn’t ... undercut me ... in public like that. I just don’t want you thinking I’m some heartless shrew that gets her kicks by pushing people around.”

I shook my head to clear my confusion.

“I don’t think that,” I offered. “There were some things I didn’t understand when we went in the door but I got the gist once you started talking. You can handle this situation however you think is best. I’m not going to think any differently about you this evening than I did this morning. This is your building.”

Liz frowned at my answer and tried to use her keycard to open one of the unoccupied offices. It didn’t work. It became obvious that even our movements were being monitored a moment later because the door miraculously opened thanks to the security booth. Liz took my arm and led me inside.

“I don’t want you to think of this as my building,” she said. “I want you to consider things as ours.”

“Uh, your lawyers are going to disagree with that assessment,” I pointed out. “And I’m on their side. There are some things that are yours and some things that are ours. Anything worth more than ... a hundred dollars ... is yours. The toothpaste we used this morning is ours.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Liz muttered. “Fine. We’ll table this conversation until later. For now, I’m content to know you don’t think I’m a bitch because I expect courtesy and prompt payment.”

“I don’t think you’re a bitch,” I said. “And we don’t ever need to have this conversation ever again.”

“We need to have this conversation,” Liz told me firmly. “Now, let’s go meet the last group of tenants. I saved this one until last because I want to talk to them on a professional basis after we go over the building stuff. Are you OK with that?”

“Yeah,” I said, shrugging as best as I could. “I’m clear until two o’clock. We can do whatever you want until then.”

Liz rubbed her eyes.

“They’re Realtors,” she noted. “They handle properties that are for sale. We had discussed the parameters of purchasing a property out here. Are you still on board with that idea? I mean, after all, you’re going to be homeless in a few hours.”

I blinked as the realization hit me. I was going to be homeless in a few hours.

“I guess I’ll just have to shack up with my girlfriend,” I said, setting aside the unease that had settled on me. “She digs me so she’ll take me in.”

Liz rolled her eyes.

“Are we still good for looking for a place together out here?” she asked. “I want to be clear before we even start.”

“Yes,” I said.

“And we’re good on exactly what we’re looking for?” Liz wondered.

“I think so,” I said. “We need a place that is secure and relatively private.”

Liz nodded her agreement.

“And we’re good on the price range?” she tried.

“Uh,” I said. “We never actually discussed a price range. But I understand enough about Southern California property prices to know it’s not going to be cheap. So, yeah, if we keep it below...”

I didn’t get to put out a number because Liz cut me off.

“I would rather pay extra to have everything we want and need,” she said. “I spent some time online looking at places while you were ... in the hospital. I’m comfortable going as high as $25 million.”

I started to reply, stopped, tried again and failed.

“Holy fuck,” I managed to get out. That was about 20 times what I’d expected the price to be.

“That’s why I thought it best to have this conversation now,” she said. “I saw your eyes go wide when I handed over the check a minute ago. I’ve already told Bobbi she could Tase you if you tried to run away.”

“Twenty-five million?” I asked. “I ... my house just sold for one-two hundredth of that!”

“I know,” Liz said. “But...”

She let out a long sigh.

“But you need something nicer than that,” I finished.

“No!” Liz said. “It’s not a matter of bigger or better. It’s a matter of privacy. Look, I can’t live in a place that has neighbors coming over to swap recipes. You understand that. If I could live in a place like you just sold ... you never would have sold it. In this area, private means pricey. There are no two ways around it. Private also means ... showy. The places I’ve found that fit what we need ... not what we want but what we need ... start at $10 million. I saw a couple of places in Del Mar that I really like from the photos. Those have what we need and what we want. One was $32 million and I knew you’d drop dead if we started with that one. The other was around $20 million. I wanted to make arrangements to visit them while we’re here but I’d prefer to have a proxy make contact. I wanted the Phillipses to handle that for us.”

“The Phillipses?” I asked.

“The family that runs the real estate firm in the building,” Liz said. “I’ve long ago learned that we’ll get a better price if they don’t know exactly who is looking. Are you good with this? If not, we’ll find another time to come out.”

“Can I see the places you’ve been thinking about?” I asked.

Liz smiled softly.

“Eventually,” she said. “Let’s fix a price first and then you can have a go. I really think you’ll love the place in Del Mar.”

“Liz, I can’t even afford to drive through Del Mar!” I said.

“I can afford to buy every house and burn them down if I want,” she pointed out. “Or have you forgotten that?”

“No, no, fuck no,” I said. “I haven’t forgotten that.”

I covered my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm myself. Liz saw more in interest in a day than I made in a year. She made more in a week than I’d made in my entire working life. That wasn’t going to change. She was a few pennies shy of being a billionaire – and she probably would have had a net worth of several billion dollars if she didn’t spend it like a drunken sailor sometimes.

“OK,” I said when I felt my heart rate return to a normal level. “It’s your money.”

“Will you fucking stop saying that!” she hissed at me. “This is going to be our home, Travis. It’s not going to be mine. This is going to be the first piece of community property. Both of our names will be on the deed.”

“It seems like a pretty one-sided transaction,” I said.

“You can’t put a price on happiness,” Liz replied. “I’m happiest when you’re with me. I know what it feels like to be unhappy, Travis. I lived an unhappy life for... 28 years. The happiness I’ve found in you is worth every single dollar I have to my name. If you want to keep searching until we find something ... less expensive ... then we’ll keep searching. But we’re not going to find a situation that I need with a price tag that you can afford on your own.”

“What?” I asked, laughing lightly. “We can get a nice doublewide down the river. It only floods six times a year.”

“You could probably swing something a little nicer than that but, yeah,” Liz said. “In return for having the house as community property, you can put the Mustang in both of our names. I know you’ll never leave me if it looks like I’ll get your car.”

There was a teenager behind the counter at Phillips Realty. She literally started bouncing in her seat the moment she saw Liz walk through the door.

We were greeted by, “Oh my God; oh my God; oh my God,” as we entered.

She picked up the phone receiver, promptly dropped it again, and then corralled it before it hit the desk.

“They’re here!” she said excitedly. “Travis and Liz are here!”

She put the phone back down and stood so quickly the rolling chair she had been seated upon hit the wall behind her. She looked at the wall and then covered her eyes and blushed.

“I am such a spaz,” she said to herself.

“Welcome to the club,” Liz said with a laugh.

“You should see how I react when I see her,” I said, also laughing. The young woman, whose age I put at 17 or 18 (and I think I’ve already mentioned that I’m terrible with ages) was still blushing brightly when two adults entered the waiting room.

“I’m Phil Phillips and this is my wife, Sonya,” the man said. “I see you’ve met our daughter, Dakota.”

The man was trying hard to be nonchalant but it was clear that he was a bit star-struck, too.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Liz said, shaking hands first with the wife, then the husband and finally the daughter. “Sarah Costello tells me that you’ve been a huge help in getting some of the new hires relocated. I really appreciate that.”

“We’re happy to help,” Sonya said. “It’s sort of our job.”

Liz laughed lightly and we followed the Realtors back to a private area.

“If we could, I’d like to take care of a few building-related items first,” Liz said. “Is this a good time for you?”

“It’s fine,” Phil said.

“We got your invoice for the work you’ve done for us so far and I wanted to get it paid as quickly as we could,” Liz told them as she pulled out another check – this one from a different pocket of her jacket.

Sonya took the check but didn’t look at it.

“Thank you,” she said. “I wish all of our work paid dividends so quickly.”

“Don’t we all,” Liz said. She went through her practiced routine about lease and the renewal. The Phillipses exchanged glances.

“We expected a rather hefty increase because of the security features you’ve put in,” Phil said.

“Those are for me and my company,” Liz explained. “I’ll bear the cost of that. We would have done the renovations even if I wasn’t moving LLE here because ... the building needed to be renovated. But I’m not going to pass along the costs associated with having my company here to the people who rent space. That’s not fair.”

“To be blunt, fair rarely plays into these types of decisions,” Phil said. “We’re going to benefit from it.”

“I hope you do,” Liz said. “I want LLE to be a good partner for the other businesses in this building and in this region. I want you to grow and succeed and I’ll help if I can. I also hope that I always use ‘fair’ as a guideline.”

Liz let the couple digest her words before changing topics.

“I would also like to continue to engage your professional services,” she told them. “Over the next year or so, we’ll be moving a large number of people into the area that work for LLE in other places right now. My New York office is closing.”

The couple nodded their agreement.

“I’ll be changing the structure of operations in other places,” Liz continued. “By this time next year I suspect that only the office in Nashville will remain the size it is now. The rest of my operations will be centralized here. The plan is to spread out the changes. I’d like to retain your firm to help our employees search the housing options in the region.”

“We’d be happy to do that,” Sonya said.

“To that end, I’d like you to begin with Travis and me,” Liz added.

That caused the Realtors to exchange glances.

“Travis owns a home nearby,” Liz told them with a smile. “But only for a few more hours. The sale is private so he didn’t engage somebody in your profession. Neither of us knows anybody out here that can help us find what we want – except for you two. We’d like for you to act as our representatives. I’ve found that my name tends to drive costs upward. I’m willing to pay fair market value. I’m not willing to pay a premium when people hear my name and see dollar signs.”