“I just sent you a friend request,” Rhiannon said as she walked over to her in the foyer while looking down at her phone. “You should share them on your page too. Actually, we should take a picture together.”
“What? Why?” Carmela wasn’t dressed up enough in a simple dress and sandals. She’d been thinking cool comfort while running around behind the photographer, not selfies with the baby shark, who was in jeans and a tank top.
“Trust me. I was a marketing and business double major in college. People are more likely to engage with a post or advertisement when it’s got somebody’s face in it. Especially an attractive one,” she said with conviction. “Now, what in your fifty years of experience doing real estate would you say is the best feature of this house?”
Carmela was so stuck on attractive that she glossed over the old-age zinger. Was she talking about me or herself?
“Pools in Florida sell houses,” she blurted automatically as she responded to a text. “But you want to get the grandeur
of the house. So I’d say a shot that gets the pool and the house.”
Rhiannon grinned. “I know just the spot then.”
The confidence with which she said that caught Carmela’s attention. “How long have you been here?”
“Oh, just before sunrise. So like three hours,” she replied before starting for the sliding glass door leading out to the backyard. A few minutes later they were standing in front of a hammock tucked under two shady palm trees. “If we sit here,” Rhiannon explained, “we’ll get the pool and the house. We can even pretend to like each other.”
“I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to act that much,” Carmela replied as she crossed her arms across her chest.
Rhiannon laughed. “Oh, I’m sure that’s not true. You do such a good job of hiding your scales and pretending to be mammalian. I’m sure that takes a lot more e ort than this.”
The dig conjured an amusing image in her mind, but Carmela was determined not to smile.
“I suppose I can give it a try as long as it keeps the baby from throwing a tantrum,” she replied with exaggerated resignation to her fate.
“Thanks, Mom. You’re the sweetest.” Rhiannon wasted no time getting in the colorful rectangle of fabric.
Carmela hesitated before sitting down. There was no way to get on it without being on top of each other. “Is this really the best idea? Maybe we can just bring over those patio chairs.”
Rhiannon rolled her eyes. “Trust me, this will be much more eye catching. Now hurry up, I’m starting to sweat.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled. She was starting to sweat too, and didn’t want her sleek, black hair to turn frizzy.
Despite her best e orts at personal space, as soon as Carmela sat in the hammock, she slid toward the middle and
smushed against Rhiannon. Her bare skin against hers was so soft and she hated how the warmth of her thigh pressed against hers gave her goosebumps. The intoxicating scent of her perfume was the absolute worst as it sent her stomach fluttering.
“Now, do your best human impression and smile,”
Rhiannon said before pressing her cheek against hers and snapping her picture.
It took multiple attempts before Carmela managed to unclench her entire body, and at the end, she had to admit the photo looked great. It was so good, it looked almost like a magazine shot.
Within an hour she had more activity on the post Rhiannon made her share than she’d had on anything before. She didn’t give her the satisfaction of admitting she was right. It wasn’t like that would translate into a sale.
After a sweep of the tidy six-bedroom house to make sure all personal e ects were hidden from view, Carmela unleashed the photographers. Once they understood what she wanted, she joined Rhiannon in the kitchen and slid onto a stool while Rhiannon rested her back on the sink.
“So, I was thinking we should do our first open house right away,” Rhiannon announced before chugging half a bottle of cold water. “Are you available this Saturday?”
Carmela glanced up from her phone intending to laugh but caught sight of the earnest expression in her disarming bright eyes. “We don’t do open houses for a place like this. A broker’s open will be good since we don’t know any realtors in the area. After that, it’ll be appointment only after the interested party provides proof of funds. Every listing draws people who are only curious, but the higher the price, the worse it is.”
As she talked, Rhiannon typed away on her phone, causing Carmela to stop abruptly. “Am I interrupting you
here? Because I can save my breath if you don’t want to learn.”
Rhiannon stopped typing and glanced up at her before showing her the phone’s screen. “I’m taking notes,” she said with raised eyebrows.
“Oh,” she replied, flooded with embarrassment at her incorrect assumption.