Page 54 of Saltwater Memories
Whoops. Didn’t mean to do that so loudly. “Yeah, just you know – there’s a lot to do here. Shall we?”
“Sure.”
He unlocked the door to the first house and they walked into the expansive foyer. The marble floors looked dull and dusty, and the grand staircase had a faded carpet tumbling down, torn in spots.
“It’s a bit of a forgotten place.”
“Yes, but I can still see that it was soglamorous,” Amanda said. “The high ceilings, the lighting, and the detail on the banister…it’s incredible.”
Will smiled. “I agree. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it’s all about how you look at it.”
“How you look at it,” she repeated, nodding. “And how much are you selling this for? Can we do a house swap?”
He laughed. “If it were up to me, I’d give it to you. But unfortunately, the plan is to use this place to make as much money as possible for DGG.”
“I thought you ran that place,” Amanda said with a smile.
“Ha! Yeah right. I’m still a nobody. But if all goes well on these projects, I have a good chance of making partner.”
Amanda turned to him, eyes wide. “At DGG?”
“Yep, the one and only. I’ve been working there a while. I’m pretty young to make partner, but I put a lot of time into the company and brought in impressive clients. I’m handling all the clients here on my own.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t think that I would end up spending my whole career at one company, but things move fast at DGG. Faster than any other investment groups where my friends work. So I guess I’m lucky.”
Amanda nodded and turned away, walking into the next room.
Will cringed at himself. He didn’t mean to sound like he was bragging – not at all. He was trying to acknowledge that he knew it was odd that someone his age could make partner – but DGG was a different kind of company. They were growing so fast that there was room for him to move up. Or maybe Amanda just had such a low opinion of the company that she thought it was a bad idea?
He wasn’t sure. They walked into the kitchen, the exquisite tile work standing stark against the blank holes where all of the appliances were supposed to be.
Will cleared his throat. “The guy who owned this property is in prison for tax evasion – but before he went, he stripped the place of whatever he could. He didn’t even leave a single toilet in this house. I mean, how much could he have gotten for old toilets?”
“The appliances he could resell,” Amanda said as she uncrossed her arms, running her fingers across the marble counter top. “But the toilets – he took those to send a message.”
Will laughed. Of course she was right; he hadn’t thought of it that way. “Good point. And send a message he did. There areeightbathrooms in this house. And wait until you see the other house – it’s even more extravagant.”
“That’s wild. What kind of job did this guy have?”
“Beats me,” Will said, walking into the next room. He was excited to show this one to her – it was an enormous library with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. There were two levels connected by a copper spiral staircase, and a rolling ladder that spanned the room. “He took the toilets but left all of these books behind, so I wouldn’t say that he was an intellectual.”
“Clearly he had other priorities.” Amanda laughed. “This library is the most impressive room yet.”
Will smiled, watching her climb up on the ladder. He didn’t want to disappoint her in telling her that his boss wanted to strip the library bare and turn it into a game room. Will was going to argue that the bookshelves needed to stay.
“Hey look, I’m Belle fromBeauty and the Beast!” She threw out an arm in an attempt to make the ladder roll. It moved an inch, then jolted to a halt. Amanda nearly fell off, but she grabbed onto a rung and caught herself.
Will burst out laughing. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, her cheeks flushing pink. “Just trying to dislocate my shoulder. You might want to put some oil on that.”
“Noted.” He smiled. “You know what’s cool – there’s a secret passageway in here.”
“Get out!” she said, jumping off of the ladder.
“It’s a little rickety – behind this book shelf. It leads to the kitchen.”
