Page 5 of Contingently Yours
Andrew lets out a fake scoff and sits up straight, holding up his index finger. “I will ignore how hurtful that was and blame your outburst on your obvious stress level. But let me just say that whatever they want, I can handle it. I’ve shown and closed on more properties than almost every agent you have.”
Rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, Lou mutters under his breath and lets out a sigh. I feel like that’s a telling sign dear Andrew has been a pain in the ass since birth.
“If you can’t stop talking, then just think about how much you’d enjoy going back to work for your father. That’s how close I am to losing my patience right now,” Lou warns.
I don’t know why, but that has Andrew’s yap snapping shut. I know he started about a year before I did, and I’ve always wondered who in their right mind would have previously employed the pretentious man who always ignored my pre-flight safety briefings like I was a bug on his shoe. I am so glad I had to fly his ass around only a handful of times.
His eyes have gone wide, like his uncle’s threat was a bucket of cold water to his face. What is that all about?
He holds up his finger again, since he just can’t help himself, despite Lou’s warning. “Hurtfulagain, but…I’m listening.”
With that, he folds his arms over his chest and finally shuts up. Lou’s nostrils flare with an exasperated breath before shoving his hands in his pockets.
“They want to purchase three properties, each on a different continent. One, a private family home that can be beachfront if it affords enough privacy. An island with a club resort, and a third undeveloped property with coastal access to use as a recreational adventure retreat for outdoorsy survivalist types.”
“Who’s the client?” I ask, unable to hold back my curiosity any longer.
“Mason, Dario, and Keenan Hepperly. Money isn’t an object, so needless to say, these sales have a lot of potential.”
Andrew lets out a low whistle. “Nice.”
“Are they brothers?” I venture, already silently thinking about how I can try to relate to them as someone who has two younger siblings.
“No. They’re a throuple who got married a few months ago. They want to make the viewings their honeymoon over the course of a month and stay at some of the properties to get a good feel for them, so we’ll have to shoot for furnished or staged properties.”
“They’re a what?” My request for clarification draws a snort from Andrew. Why does he look so smug? “What?” I repeat defensively.
“Athroupleis what you call a couple plus one, sweetheart,” he informs me, lacing his fingers behind his head before he returns his gaze to his uncle. “See? Told you. I’m your guy.”
Athrouple…as in three men who are all married to each other? That’s a new one for me. I’ve only shown properties to couples, singles, and business partners. And how the hell does Andrew know what a throuple is?
Shit. Now I look like I don’t know what I’m doing.
“I’d be happy to show them, Lou. I can relate to all those property types,” I offer.
“Yeah. Everything about you screams luxury resort,Conan,” Andrew snarks.
Just as I glare at him, Lou interrupts. “Knock it off. I don’t have time for this shit. If you two could get along, that would make my life a hell of a lot easier right now. It’s going to be a lot of work. A lot of travel. I don’t want to send anyone out solo on this, but everyone’s either got scheduling conflicts or isn’t appropriate. Hank’s got two showings the week the Hepperlys want to take off. Judy’s never shown Oceana properties, Clarence can barely get in and out of a car anymore, let alone a sea plane, and Jeremiah…well, I’m not taking any chances on his lack of filter making us look like Destination Living after what they did to the Hepperlys.”
I sit forward at the same time as Andrew. Destination Living is our biggest competitor. If the clients had a bad experience with them, I want to know about it and use it to my advantage, as well as not make any repeat mistakes that may have been committed by our competition.
“They went to Destination first?” Andrew asks.
Lou snorts. It’s a smug-sounding snort, which gives me hope. “Yeah, and word is that whoever they got at Destination wasn’t a fan of same-sex marriage and made some subtle comments expressing as much. The Hepperlys told them what they thought of that and walked right out, so their misfortune could be to our benefit.”
“Are you kidding me?” Andrew sounds off. “They’re like the most famous throuple in the world and those idiots decided their shitty opinion needed to be heard? I hope they slap a lawsuit on them.” He lets out a bewildered laugh and shakes his head.
“They’re…famous?” I interject.
I’m still absorbing the term‘throuple.’There are famous throuples? My sisters say I live under a rock. I’m starting to feel like they might be right in at least this regard.
Andrew sighs and rolls his eyes. “Uh, ever hear of the band, Renegade?”
Only vaguely, but I’m not telling him that, so I shrug and nod. Are these guys all in a famous band?
“Mason Hepperly is the lead singer,” Andrew continues. “No?” he challenges with a smirk, like he knows I’m just posturing. “How about a little show calledDown Under with Dario,or did the foil fall off the rabbit ears on your television?”
Is he kidding me?That’sthe Dario who’s sitting in the conference room right now? I love that show. Every survivalist show on TV usually has over-enthusiastic wannabees, but Dario Kealy is the real deal. He’s a wild man who eats grasshoppers like they’re M&M’s. I had no idea he was gay or…throupled.
