I tried to call Tess when I left his office, but it went to voicemail.
I needed to think. Tess hadn’t sounded all that impressed with the fact that I had partially recovered the painting. What else could I use to show I was sorry?
I needed my tea to think.
In the elevator ride down, I ran through ideas. A pony? Flowers? A pony with flowers? Chocolate? Maybe a chocolate fountain?
What did Tess like?
I thought back to what she had bought.
She did like nineties nostalgia. Though buying her a whole box of ‘90s toys didn’t seem appropriate.
And even though she had said she didn’t care about the painting, I knew that she did. None of my groveling mattered if I didn’t get her painting back from Belle. To do that, Tess needed to be the HOA president and to do that…
“She needs to be a resident.”
Belle picked up on the second ring.
“You better not be backing out of the deal,” she warned.
“No,” I said, “I’m trying to secure it. How much for one of the condo units?”
“Starts at ten million, though, oops, it looks like we actually just had someone put a hold on the last small unit. The next size up available is a three bedroom at twenty million.”
“Damn,” I said. “And Greg bought several of those?”
“He is like a small terrier that sees a squeaky toy,” she said. “When he decides he wants something, it makes him easy to manipulate. Will you be paying for this unit with cash or a loan?”
“I guess cash,” I said.
“I’ll be at the tower tomorrow showing another unit to a prospective buyer,” Belle said. “I’ll give you the keys then. Pleasure doing business with you.”
Fucking Greg.
So I had Tess’s painting, and I had a place for Tess to live.
I probably shouldn’t just hand her the keys, I decided.A big presentation would be more appropriate.
Holly glared at me when I approached the café counter.
“Can I have my usual?”
“No,” she said and crossed her arms.
“But I’m a paying customer.”
“And I’m refusing service,” she shot back.
“I need my tea,” I said incredulously. “I’ve had a hard week.”
“And Tess has had a worse one,” she retorted. “You screwed her over, fired her, lied to her, and—”
“I’m going to make it up to her,” I interjected.
“How?” Holly asked
“Look,” I said, frustrated, “can you please just call her and tell her I want to meet and talk?”
