Page 49 of This Is How It Started
“Yeah, I could go for that.” Campbell grins. “Can’t remember the last time I had one.”
Probably here, eighteen years ago. But I don’t say it. These days, Campbell and I avoid talking about the past, pretending that our history isn’t fraught with complications. The fact that we’re still friends at all is a minor miracle.
“Grab me the peanut butter.” I go in search of a loaf of bread in the pantry and wrap my arm around the sugar canister, dropping everything on the counter.
Ten minutes later, we’re back at the island, enjoying the most decadent sandwich in the history of sandwiches.
“It’s better than candy, right?”
“It is candy,” Campbell says. “We’re eating candy for lunch, and I’m totally down with that.”
We crack up, and it feels almost normal to be laughing again, the way Campbell and I used to.
“It’s my dirty little secret,” I tell Campbell and grab the jar of peanut butter. “I bet this isn’t even organic.”
“I bet the bread is filled with GMOs. And guess what?” Campbell says. “It’s freaking delicious.”
I choke on my soda, which goes up my nose. Well, it’s actually Brooke’s soda. For a nurse, her diet is pretty crappy, except for her gluten-free toast. But who am I to talk? I’m eating half a C&H factory. Campbell at least is drinking milk. As a kid, he used to drink it by the gallon. My mother used to make weekly trips to Costco for milk alone and send one container home with the Scotts.
Campbell lost his mother when he was just three to metastatic breast cancer, and Shana Gold never met a tragedy with which she didn’t become absorbed. She likes to think of herself as Campbell’s surrogate mother.
“So I’ve got some bad news,” I say. “You want it now or after we’re done eating?”
“We’re not getting the house?”
“That depends. An agent I trust, who’s been doing this a long time and knows the market like no one else does, thinks you need to go fourteen percent over asking.”
Campbell lets out a sigh. “That’s more than a hundred thousand dollars. Holy shit.”
“Yeah, I know. We could go less and take our chances. We can even look for something else.”
He pushes his plate away and looks at me. “What do you think we should do?”
I let out a breath, uncomfortable with being thrown into this position. It’s probably why I suck at real estate. I can hear Niki saying, “Everyone needs a little push. Clients don’t know what they want. They’re relying on you to tell them.”
But this is Campbell we’re talking about. And while I’m sure he and Jess make a nice living, this is a lot of money even for a millionaire.
“I can’t tell you what to do, Campbell. Only you and Jess can make that decision.”
“What would you do if it was you?”
Ugh, it’s such a hard choice. Josh and I agonized over whether to wait until the market calmed down but at the same time worried that it would only continue to get worse and we’d be priced out of the city. It was a legitimate fear. For as long as I’ve been in real estate, the prices have continued to soar. Case in point: my parents could never have afforded this house today, even though my dad made six times the salary he had when they bought the house.
“If I loved the house and I thought I could make the payments without being miserable, I would do it,” I finally say. “Especially if I was an amazing carpenter with the talent to make it a dream home. But that’s just me.”
If a face can shine, his does, and I instantly know I’ve said the right thing.
“Yeah, I can make it pretty outstanding. Jess will be impatient, though. She’s not exactly a roughing-it kind of girl, and it’s going to be a mess for a while. She wants something that’s move-in ready, so we can focus on having—” He stops, and we both look away, cognizant of all the things we’re not saying.
“Sorry,” he says in a low voice and reaches for my hand, which I snatch away.
“You want to go ahead with the offer, then? We don’t have to do fourteen percent. We can do whatever you feel comfortable with.” My tension is cloaked in professionalism.
“Let’s go big.” He drums his fist on the marble countertop.
“Let’s go big,” I repeat but feel three inches tall.
Chapter 19
