‘See you then.’
After Rayne disconnected, Heidi stared at the phone in her hand, belatedly realising she hadn’t asked her friend for advice on the Jem situation and trying to absorb the enormity of the opportunity she’d just been presented.
Everything was happening at once: selling the house, buying the shop, dating Jem. She was finally on her way to becoming the strong, independent woman she wanted to be.
But a small part of her worried whether she’d be as happy if she didn’t have one of those things, namely not dating Jem. A very real possibility if he made good on his plans to leave town.
She’d vowed to never depend on a man again for anything, including emotional fulfilment.
But what if it was already too late?
An hour later, she floated into the real estate agency, buzzing with her news. She couldn’t wait to tell Jem, but when he came out from the back room he had the phone pressed to his ear and held up a finger asking for a minute before pointing to a chair in front of his desk.
Oddly deflated, she sat and cast a cursory glance over his desk. Folders neatly stacked on the left, laptop keyboard without a speck of dust, three pens lined up precisely. It made her glad she’d done a deep clean of her place before inviting him over the first time to do the valuation.
Not that he would’ve noticed the state of her house last night, considering how distracted they’d been and in the best way possible.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said, touching her shoulder before rounding his desk to take a seat. ‘A pushy farmer wanting top dollar in a drought is unrealistic.’
‘Uh-huh.’
Her response was rote, as she still tried to assimilate the warm, charming man who’d been in her bed all night with this coolly detached businessman who sat across from her looking faintly annoyed.
If his closed-off expression hadn’t alerted her this was a meeting about her house, that brief touch on the shoulder solidified it. A kiss would’ve signified … something other than this indifference that had her doubting everything she’d done and said last night.
Had it meant nothing to him? Had she built it up into something special in her head?
‘Right. I’ve got some good news for you.’ He flicked open the folder in front of him and tapped the top document. ‘We’ve already had an offer on your place and while it’s low ball, I’m confident we can bump it up.’
Yeah, definitely all business and it made her want to thump his desk and yell, ‘Didn’t last night mean anything to you?’
‘That’s quick. I thought houses around here took ages to sell?’
‘Sometimes, but you’re lucky. Not long after Karly listed it online we had an inquiry from a couple in southern New South Wales who want to move closer to their pregnant daughter in Inverloch. It’s all about the timing.’
He’d got that right.
With Rayne offering to sell her the shop, that meant she’d be tied to this town more than ever, at a time Jem was ready to leave it. Would they have stood more of a chance if they’d got involved six months earlier?
Then again, that was all on her. She’d been too busy hooking up with wildly inappropriate younger men to contemplate anything beyond a date or two.
‘When will you know more?’
He closed the folder and rested his interlocked fingers on top of it. ‘I’ll be calling them shortly to suss out where they’re at with upping their offer, then we’ll video conference to chat through options.’
‘Sounds good.’
They lapsed into an uneasy silence and Heidi had the sudden urge to sweep his desk clean and lie on top of it to garner some kind of reaction out of him.
This was crazy. A few minutes ago, she’d been cock-a-hoop about her news, busting to tell him about her opportunity to buy the shop. Now she stood, eager to escape the awkwardness and wishing she’d been more circumspect in letting him into her life so quickly.
‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said, standing and holding out his hand for her to shake.
She managed to subdue a sneer, barely, as she glared at his hand and muttered, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ before turning on her heel and stalking out the door.
CHAPTER
32