Page 8 of The Fifth Avenue Apartment

Caroline smiled big and held out her hand while Tessa appraised her coolly. “Welcome!” Caroline said.

Tessa finally nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“We’re heading out to see a property. We’ll be back in an hour or so. If anyone calls, please take a message. I have my phone forwarded to the front desk. If it’s something urgent, just text me and I’ll call them back,” Rick said. He then fished a small recorder out of his pocket and handed it to Sophie. “Here’s the recording for this morning’s meeting. If you could type it up and email it to me, that would be great.”

“Will do,” Sophie said as the phone rang. She reached to answer it and watched the three of them walk off.

When they returned an hour later, Rick stopped at the front desk and Sophie handed him a stack of messages. Most of the calls while they’d been out had been for Rick. There were a few ad calls too, which she sent back to the on-duty agent. She’d also typed up the notes from the morning meeting. She had to stop and rewind it a few times because she got so caught up in listening. She found it very interesting to hear about the new listings and deals that were pending. The morning went by quickly and before she knew it Andrea came to the front desk. “Time for your lunch break. See you back here at one.”

Sophie hadn’t even given lunch a thought when she’d left that morning. She headed out and found a Pret a Manger sandwich shop a block away. She got herself a cup of soup and a crusty roll with butter and sat by the window and people-watched as she ate.

She kept an eye on the time and headed back to the office a few minutes early. Andrea stood as soon as Sophie walked through the door.

“It’s all yours. I’m right down the hall if you need anything.” Andrea headed off to her office and Sophie settled back at the front desk.

The rest of the day flew by, and it was a nice mix of calls and people coming in. When her shift was over and she was shutting down for the day, she noticed the two agents she’d met earlier heading toward the front desk. She guessed they were done for the day as well, but they stopped for a moment to chat.

“How did your first day go?” Caroline asked with a friendly smile. Sophie liked her right away.

“It was good. You have some really beautiful listings. I looked them over in between calls,” Sophie said.

Tessa narrowed her eyes a bit. “Are you looking to be a realtor?”

The question took Sophie by surprise. “Not at all. I’m really not sure what I want to do, that’s why I’m temping.”

Tessa nodded. “That’s fine. We’ve just had a lot of turnover in this role recently. And as far as I know, we’re not looking to hire more agents. We have plenty.”

“Well, so far, it’s more interesting than the last few places I’ve temped at,” Sophie said with a smile.

“Good! Hopefully you’ll like it here. It’s really a great company,” Caroline said.

“Don’t get too comfortable though. Mollie is coming back soon,” Tessa said. She was a beautiful girl, but so prickly. Sophie wondered what she was like with her clients. Based on what she’d seen so far, she’d much rather work with Caroline than grumpy Tessa.

“Right. Andrea said she’s on maternity leave,” Sophie said.

“There’s always a chance she might not come back,” Caroline said. “Sometimes people don’t once the baby comes.”

“I’m sure Mollie will be back. She loves it here,” Tessa said.

Sophie wasn’t quite sure how to take Tessa. She wasn’t welcoming at all.

“Well, I’m glad you like it so far. We’ll see you tomorrow, Sophie,” Caroline said.

By the end of her first week, Sophie decided that she really liked the real estate industry. So far, of the temp assignments she’d had, this was her favorite. It was busy but not too crazy and there was enough downtime for her to work on interesting projects like the weekly meeting notes and pulling together new listing brochures. The agents entered all the information and Sophie pulled it into a template with photographs and the graphics program created an elegant online brochure they could email or print out.

Just in the week she’d been there, she’d already learned what some of the more popular areas of the city were and which features of the homes were most popular. She’d also chatted with some of the buyers that came into the office.

“Rick will be out in just a minute. He’s just finishing up a call,” she told the stylish woman that had arrived a few minutes early to see him. “Would you like one of our fluffy coffees or a sparkling water?” she offered.

The woman, who Sophie guessed was close to her own age, looked amused. “What is a fluffy coffee?”

Sophie smiled. “It’s just what I call them. The Nespresso machine makes a foam on top that is just coffee. It’s addicting.”

“Sure, I’ll try one.”

Sophie returned a few minutes later with the coffee. The woman took a sip and nodded. “This is really good. So, has anything exciting come in this week?”

Sophie thought for a moment. “Quite a few new things actually. Where are you looking?”

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