We sit in silence while Axl slowly drinks his bottle of hospital provided breast milk as I think of another thing I’m responsible for teaching my kid—not to be an entitled dick because he comes from money.
14
BREK
The knockon the open door has me glancing up from my desk. I knew it’d be Zaiden without having to look. I can count on one hand how often someone else has come to my office since I started here over a year ago. I’m the Van Doren pet. Or spy. Who knows?
“You have the Sampson and Markowitz files?” he asks.
I nod toward the wire tray just inside the door. “Yep. Right there. All ready for you.”
“Cool.” Zaiden thumbs through the files in the tray. “What’s going on with Lowell?” He opens the file and looks at the notes.
“They’re pretty insistent that they can get $100,000 more for their house than what it’s worth, despite being listed for nine months now because twelve years ago, their cousin in Pennsylvania went into a bidding war three days after her house was listed and sold for ninety-k over list price. They clearly know more than we do about the market.”
Zaiden shakes his head. “You want to drop them, have at it.”
I shrug. “Whatever. They’re the ones paying two mortgages, not me. They’ve turned down three reasonable offers, but their house needs a fuckton of work, and it’s never showing-ready, so…” I shrug again.
“Got to love homeowners,” Zaiden says.
“It’s not even sentimental value,” I say. “They didn’t raise their kids there. They didn’t build the house. It hasn’t been in their family for generations.”
“They’re greedy.”
“Yes. And have no concept of value. Not just of their house, but I’m being judgmental so I’m not going to comment on anything else.”
Zaiden chuckles. “How’s the newest Van Doren?”
My heart jumps when I think about Axl. Thinking about him makes me think about Voss, of course. “He’s good. Growing. I think Voss has already packed away the first load of baby clothes Axl has outgrown.”
Zaiden snorts. “Tell me about it. They grow too damn fast.”
“You have a couple, right?”
“Son and daughter, yeah. They never stop growing. Never. Shoes, man. I swear to fuck, I replace shoes every week that are too small. Ellsworth is talking about learning to make shoes.”
I laugh. “I’m not going to tell Voss that. He’s already baffled how a kid that only weighs seven pounds can be too big for the rompers he’s only worn once.”
“Tell me about it. Ellsworth came home with an adult-sized small shirt the other day and tried to give it to Preston and toldme he’d eventually grow into it. He won’t have to replace it for at least eight years.”
“Cute,” I snort.
“Makes you want to run right out and have a kid, huh? I’m totally selling this parenthood thing.”
I chuckle, but my mind goes to Voss. He’s always so damn tired. Yet, he always has a smile for Axl. He doesn’t complain, except to comment on how tired he is, though I don’t think that’s a complaint more than a constant state of mind. And he loves his baby more than anything. I’ll never not smile when I see how he looks at Axl.
“I’m not really convinced one way or the other,” I admit. I glance at the doorway he’s standing in, and the Van Doren plaque shimmers. “Hey, have you ever met Rome Van Doren?”
Zaiden looks to where I am. “Nope. I’ve talked to him a few times. He’s currently in northern Oregon, though I don’t know what he’s doing there. I assume there’s a Van Doren Real Estate branch up there.”
“It’s strange that he’s never here, isn’t it?”
“I think it’s stranger that he has an office at a branch he never visits. It’s a waste of space,” Zaiden comments. “At least you get use out of it.”
And a target over my head but Jalon walked me straight into this office the day he introduced me to the staff. “Maybe it’s here for when any Van Doren is in the area and needs a place to work,” I muse.
Zaiden nods, shrugs. “No idea. Speaking of Van Doren, I hear that they’re breaking ground on the reserve behind the estate soon.”
