Chapter 3

She handed him an envelope with the offer and a bottle of chilled North Coast Chardonnay. He opened the wine, poured a glass for each of them, and joined her in the sitting area. She smiled and then began, "I will pay your asking price. That is a cashier's check for $10,000 as earnest money. I know it's not enough, but it's all the ready cash I had today. More will follow. If my loan falls through, it is yours to keep."

He thought for a minute and then agreed. "That's fine with me. I downloaded a form from the Internet. If you fill in the blanks and sign it, I will take the house off the market."

She studied the form and recognized it as a fairly standard real estate offer document. When she filled out the numbers of her offer, she added a proviso at the bottom giving her the right to raise her bid in case someone else came in higher, which was quite common in that area. He signed and went to his office to make her a copy. When he handed her the copy,, she folded it and put it in her purse. Then she patted her purse and breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, I'm glad that's done! I feel much better now."

She strolled to the middle of the living room with its high vaulted ceiling, stood with one foot on the floor and the other with her heel on the floor and the toe pointed up, rocking her foot to and fro as she memorized the space. He examined her in detail, wondering what thoughts occupied her imagination. Having a nice view of her hips and rounded butt, his thoughts were reasonably predictable.

Then, having mastered the art of flirting over the top of a wine glass,,, she held the rim to her lips and gazed at him, "Well, I guess we'd better feed them before they start getting antsy."

Her look went to the core of his libido and he almost stammered, "You're right. We'll need to go in my car because of the car seat."

Although the restaurant was crowded on Friday night, the server quickly found them a booth. Alexis moved to the inside and he sat beside her, with the girls on the opposite side. The server brought a booster seat for Diana and some games and crayons for both of them. They had just laid out their papers on the red and white checkered tablecloth when the server came to take their orders.

As soon as the orders were given, Alexis said, "C'mon girls, we have to wash our hands." He let her out of the booth and felt her fresh hair brush by him as she stood, making him shudder slightly. She took Diana's hand and walked away.

I'll bet I'm not the first seller of real estate who is strongly attracted to the buyer. To top that, there is nothing immoral or illegal about it. Unwise for business, perhaps, but not wrong.

They returned from the ladies room laughing and talking about ordering their dinner and how much fun it was to eat out together. Soon the server brought their food and, for a change, the girls ate nicely. Well, nicely for them. Alexis helped Diana cut some things on her plate and organize her eating. Brooks marveled at how easily she adopted this caring role, both here and at home.

As they returned to the house, Alexis said, "Diana, I will read your story as soon as you get ready for bed and brush your teeth." She smiled at him and held her arms out, palms up, in an innocent gesture of 'What else could I do?'

He laughed, "You're sure that you can take care of yourself?"

She pushed her finger into his chest, "Trust me." She went upstairs.

After a while she came back and walked by Michelle at the TV. "I'll tell you good night when that program is over." She then came to sit in her usual place on the couch.

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you're enjoying this little diversion from your usual frantic life."

""Brooks, you are so quick. How did you see right through me?" She threw her head back, swishing her hair, and laughed.

"Glass of wine?"

"Please."

She took the wine and placed it on the end table on the wooden coaster. Then she gazed at it for a minute, deep in thought, as if she were looking for the pool of wisdom. "Thanks. This is delicious, even if I picked it out." Her eyes came back to him. "I think I just heard the end of Michelle's program. I'll be right back." She stood quickly and followed Michelle up the stairs.

He read the newspaper until she returned about fifteen minutes later. He said, "That was a long good night."

She smiled, "Girls have to talk. I had to tell her that she was pretty and that I liked her company. Then I told her how much her daddy loves her. Then she told me that she misses her mother. Then I told her that her mother loves her, even though adults do things that hurt other people." She snuffled, "Then, I hugged her while we cried a little. All that takes time."

"Thank you for caring so much. She doesn't have any adult woman in her life right now, except for her teacher and Louise, down the street." He went to the kitchen and opened another bottle of wine and refilled her glass.

"Thanks. Could I ask you about mortgages?" She wanted to change the subject away from Michelle's pain and her tears.

"I'll tell you what I know. What are your questions?"

"Should I get an interest only mortgage?"

Brooks pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of that kind of mortgage and other factors that she should consider. She asked more questions, many of which he could answer with some confidence, and he made a list of the ones he couldn't. The conversation about financing options carried on for at least an hour and a half and two more glasses of wine. He noticed that it was past eleven. Time flies. But he was enjoying a conversation in which he could make a solid contribution and not feel any pressure.

"You told me that you owned this house and had no mortgage. Why did you choose that?"

"Sherry and I worked for a company in Silicon Valley that had a stock offering. It was a darling of the West Coast financial community, which meant that it was in high demand. The price kept going up and when I judged the stock to be priced well out of reason, we sold some of our shares and bought the house outright."

"What happened to the stock?"

"It continued to go up for a while, then poof, the bottom fell out and it dropped in value about 80 percent."

Curiosity got the better of her, "Does Sherry still own her half?"

"No, it's mine. She gave it up in the divorce settlement. Probably because I kept the girls."

She felt a strong rapport with him and would have revealed anything he asked. That was her rationalization for the next question, "What happened to Sherry?"

He looked right at her eyes, "We lived in a crazy environment. People were running all over the world trying to keep up with business. An Italian fellow was our chief systems analyst in Milan, where Sherry met him. They worked on a project for six months at an auto plant. She could visit home once a month, but the jetlag was fierce and she spent more and more time there. One day, she moved in with him." By the time he reached the last line, he talked softly, almost as if he did not want her to hear.

She was also misting, "God, Brooks, welcome to the abandoned spouses club."

"You, too?"

"Took up with a young woman in his company. Took her on trips with him. Pretty soon they didn't need separate rooms. I was so busy that I hardly noticed anything different until a colleague tipped me off. Fortunately, I didn't have children."

"Did you recover?"

"Yes, I think I have. You know, maybe it was my pride more than anything."

"I can relate to that."

Shortly, she looked at her watch and said, "I don't believe it again. I'm still here gabbing with you and I'll bet you need to go to bed. I must run." Then she stood and walked over to him, "I have a request about occupying this house and I can't put it off any longer."

"Please sit and tell me. Can't be that bad." He poured her wine.

She took a deep breath, "Until the sale goes through, I want to move some things over here and rent the guest bedroom. I will need to entertain several large gatherings in the next few months. The sooner the better for the first party—like next weekend is crucial. My objective is to get important people together on neutral social territory at "my" house."

His face revealed total bewilderment.

Get on with it! Then she looked serious., "Would you be willing to act like my host while I entertain at your house? My company is going through a difficult merger. Some of these folks are rather conservative. If you have a daily fee, I will pay it. I mean, can I rent the whole situation?" Stop babbling Alex. Let him think.

He laughed teasingly. "You want to rent me, my house, and my children?"

She blushed, and uttered her exasperated comeback, "Well, if you have to say it that way, it is what I want." She talked faster, "Brooks, if things go well, I will be the vice president for marketing. I have wanted that job for twelve years. I have earned it. Now, it seems to be almost mine. I have only one competitor, the man from the merging company. I have better experience, but I still have to fight for it. Hosting these people in a nice setting will give me a chance to impress the important folks who will decide. It will have more class than doing it at a hotel." She stopped, took a deep breath and a long sip of her wine.

Obviously shocked, he paused and stammered, "Uhhh, well, I will confer with my board of directors and see what we can say tomorrow."

She walked over to him and offered her hand. "Does this mean that you aren't totally rejecting my weird request?"