Chapter Four
Lucy Lamour—I long ago decided this couldn’t possibly be her real name— is sitting at my desk when I get back to the office. She’s staring at the flower arrangement Jonathan sent to me. “Can I help you?” I ask her, doing little to disguise my irritation. I should either take the flowers home or put them up by reception where everyone can enjoy them without coming over to my desk.
She glares at me and announces, “I met Jonathan Silver at a party last month and I gave him my business card. This should be my arrangement.”
“I suppose if he wanted you to be his realtor it would have been. Giving someone your business card doesn’t mean you’ve staked a claim.” I try to shoo her away with my hands.
She stands up to her full five foot nine in her ridiculous footwear and asserts, “It’s more of a claim than you have.”
“Yet, he sent me the flowers.” I can’t help but roll my eyes.
“Don’t think for a minute I’m not going to find out why you got his business.” Her threatening tone suggests I’m blackmailing Jonathan or holding a gun to his cat’s head until he buys a house from me.
Sky and I once talked about leaving Pemberley and going out on our own, but I like the convenience of working in an established office. Sure, my bosses get a cut of my commissions, but I’m not responsible for paying the rent on the building, the electricity bill, or any of the other expenses that would go along with hanging my own shingle. My hours are too long as it is.
After Lucy finally slinks away, Sky comes over to my desk and perches on the corner of it. “Steven Silver works with his brother at Ravenswood Films. He’s the CFO.”
“And you’re telling me this, why?” I ask her.
“I’m guessing his card and his brother’s look a lot alike. He must have thrown his brother’s accidentally.”
“And?” I prompt her. It’s clear she wants to tell me something else.
“He’s as good looking as Jonathan is,” she says while pretending to be fascinated by her ridiculously long fingernails. The pictures Google coughed up of Jonathan Silver were kind of staggering. According to a recent issue of People magazine, he’s six three and looks more like a model than a businessman. Dark brown hair and blue eyes have always been my weakness.
“Do you want me to get his information from Jonathan when I meet with him tomorrow?”
Sky shrugs. “I hate the whole business card in the window thing; it’s so cheesy.” I arch an eyebrow at her. “Maybe just get his card. That doesn’t mean I’m going to call him or anything.”
“You’ve got no judgment from me. I’ll get it and you can do whatever you want with it.”
“When’s the last time you went out on a date?” my friend asks. “It feels like months, am I right?”
“I think it was that builder who asked me out after we met at our office Christmas party. All he wanted to talk about was real estate though. It was kind of insulting.”
Sky shifts her legs, crossing her left over her right. “But you want to date, right?”
“You know I do,” I tell her. “I just never seem to meet the right men and I’m not a Tinder kind of girl.”
“I was thinking it might be fun to throw a party together. We could disguise it as a networking event, but we could also use it to meet available guys.”
“Where are we going to find these men to invite?” After all, if we knew where to look for them, we wouldn’t need to throw a party.
“I thought you might ask some of your clients who are always recommending your services to their friends. According to the number of referrals you get, there are tons of people looking for real love out there.”
I consider her idea for a minute before asking, “Where would we throw it? All the cool venues would be so loud, it would be hard to get to know anyone.”
“How about Castle Green in Pasadena? I went to a wedding there recently and it was really beautiful. We could do heavy hors d’oeuvres instead of dinner and set up food stations all over the ballroom to force people to mingle.”
“Pasadena? I’m not sure we’re going to get anyone to drive all the way out there.”
“As long as we word the invitation right, they’ll come. I was thinking something along the lines of ‘Fall in Love with Your Future.’ We could sell it as singles/real estate meet-and-greet. You know, without coming right out and offering speed dating or anything like that.”
“Huh. Let me think about it. You might have something there. If nothing else, I can invite the people I’ve already sold houses to who are still waiting for their soulmates.”
Sky kicks off her shoes and swings her feet like a little kid. “As you know, my sister Serena works for a catering company in Pasadena. I bet they’d give us a deal.”
I look at my friend closely and realize that some of her normal radiance has dimmed. “Why don’t you let me show you some houses? Maybe I’d be able to steer you in the right direction.”
“We’ve been through this,” Sky says. “It’s not that I don’t believe in what you do, I just like living in Pasadena, even if it’s not as ‘cool’ as the West Side.”
Sky’s grandmother left her and her sister a beautiful house on Oak Knoll Boulevard. It’s the kind of place you could raise six kids comfortably. It holds wonderful memories for Sky, but she can’t afford to keep her interest in the house and buy something else. Real estate in our part of the world is too expensive for that.
“All right, count me in,” I tell her. “Let’s try to get a couple of big names to agree to come so that we can use those to lure other people.”
“Names like Jonathan and Steven Silver?” Sky asks none too subtly.
“Maybe. Let me meet with the guy first. From his pictures and press, he looks like a real player and neither of us are interested in that.” Although from the look of anticipation on Sky’s face, I’m thinking she’s opening up to the idea of Jonathan’s brother.
Instead of copping to it, she says, “Just because they aren’t right for us doesn’t mean they won’t be right for someone else that’s there. Remember, one woman’s trash is another woman’s Trojan.”
I look at my watch and say, “Talk to Serena and let me know. I need to get out to Los Feliz to show Frank and Tanya that pink palace with the petting zoo.”
Skylar slips off my desk and slides into her shoes. “They must really like animals.”
“I’m not sure why they’re meant to live there, I only know that it’s the house where they’ll be the happiest.”
“When should we throw our party?” Sky asks while I scoop up a few folders off my desk.
“How about Valentine’s Day?” I ask. “If everyone is single, there’s no other place they have to be.”
“Let’s do it!” Sky claps her hands together like a wind-up toy monkey banging cymbals. “As long as the venue and Serena’s company can accommodate us, that would be perfect.”
“Seeing you this happy makes me think we should throw more parties. Where do you stand about inviting people from our office?”
“You know the rules.” Sky sighs deeply before adding, “The whole office has to be invited to parties we host that have a business theme.”
“That means Lucy and Crenshaw.” I remind her, “You already have a sordid history with Lucy stealing your significant other.”
“Any man stupid enough to go out with her isn’t worthy of me.” Thank goodness my friend finally sounds like she believes that. Then she asks, “You want to have dinner tonight?”
“I can’t. I’m prepping for my meeting with Jonathan tomorrow. Frederic is hounding me to make sure I have a full presentation ready.”
“Good luck with that. Frederic is a major pain in the butt when he takes an interest in our clients.”
I shrug. “It’ll be worth it if I can sell Jonathan the right house.” Before I can say anything else, my phone rings. “Speak of the devil, it’s Jonathan Silver.”