*
Jennifer Delgado was glad to be home.
It had been a hard day. She worked for a local real estate office and two of the other girls in the office had called in sick. There for four properties to be shown and Jennifer had to pinch hit and show three of them. The last prospective buyer had expressed a lot of interest in the house, which was good, but spent two hours inspecting the property, which was bad. It meant that She didn't get back to the office till almost 7:30. Her boss Ms Robertson, was the only one left.
"How did it go?" the elderly gray haired woman asked.
"I think we've got buyer. He's going to bring his wife down Thursday and make a decision."
Her boss smiled. She liked Jennifer. She was perhaps her best agent. She always seemed to sense exactly what the shopper was looking for and could showcase those details to the customer. It certainly didn't hurt that Jennifer was a stunner either. She had a voluptuous figure that she dressed to show off well without looking blatantly sexual. Men certainly liked looking at her; their wives appreciated the sense of style in which she dressed. Both liked her quiet sales confidence.
"Thanks for picking up the slack with Carol and Robyn out," Ms Robertson said. "I know the Trent house is my listing, but you've done all the heavy lifting on it. I'd like you to show it Thursday when the man brings down his wife."
Jennifer was surprised by her boss' offer. It wasn't usual at all for a listing agent to let another agent show a house when a purchase was this likely, but Jennifer knew she could close the deal. Her boss knew that, too. And the old biddy got her cut from a sale no matter who closed it.
"OK. He said it would be in the morning. I'll clear my calendar."
"Good," Ms Robertson smiled. "And since you worked so hard, why don't you take tomorrow off. Robyn promised her little one would be feeling better and she'd be in. Wednesday's normally your half day, so take the afternoon, too, with my blessing."
The younger woman smiled. Her boss could be nice sometimes. "I certainly will. Thanks. I can catch up on things around the house."
Her boss put her arm around Jennifer's shoulder as they walked towards the door. "Well, you earned it today. I appreciate your hard work. I really do... Now, you go on home and kick back. Just make sure you call deShondra tomorrow afternoon to confirm the appointment time on the Trent house for Thursday. I'll shut off all the computers, set the alarm, and lock up. I'm certainly going to have a restful evening."
"Me, too," the agent promised. "Goodnight."
Her boss waved from the door and watched her get into her Honda. Then she turned to close the office. She realized how lucky she was to have good help.
Once Jennifer settled behind the wheel of her Honda, she realized how tired she really was. Her feet ached (although she always wore sensible low heeled shoes when showing a property), her skin felt gritty from the long day, and her eyes when she looked at them in the mirror were bloodshot.
Bless Ms Robertson for that extra time off, she thought, as she started the car and headed home.
It was a quick twenty minute drive to her cottage. Jennifer lived on a quiet cul de sac that was far enough out of town to feel like the country, but not so remote that she couldn't pop over to a grocery store, a home care center, or a liquor store without driving forever. She was lucky to have the little place; it had actually been listed with Ms Robertson's agency and she'd gotten it at a good price. That was three years ago, right after her divorce. Jennifer had gone back to school and gotten her real estate broker's license. Her first job interview had been with Ms Robertson, she'd been hired on the spot, and bought the cottage three weeks later.
She pulled in to the driveway and shut off the car. For a couple of minutes she just sat there, glad to be home. Slowed by fatigue, she got out of the car and went up the front steps of the bungalow. The mailbox was empty. The afternoon paper was lying in front of the door where the delivery boy had tossed it. Jennifer wondered why she continued to subscribe to a newspaper. This was a morning paper and she never had time to read it till after work, so everything was old news. Besides, she could find everything she needed to know from the internet.
Still, there was something about a physical newspaper. Maybe her habit was a carryover from her dad. He subscribed to the paper and he always read the paper in his favorite chair when he got home, second only to kicking off his shoes. Jennifer wasn't quite so regimented, but she was more like her father than she cared to admit.
She tossed the paper on the love seat and went to talk to her birds. She had two parakeets. She'd have preferred a dog, but her long work hours didn't allow for that. So she settled on her birds. Mary Sweet and Jerry Neat, she called them. They greeted her as usual with song, although she had to admit that maybe they sang just as much when she was at work. She had no way of knowing.
She opened the cage and let the two parakeets flit around the room. In her small kitchen, she let the water drip in the sink. Mary Sweet dropped down and stood under the faucet. It was her daily bath. She would bathe and then fly over to one of the curtain rods or lamp shades to dry. Then her mate would take his turn under the faucet. When they had flown around the room for the exercise, they always went back to their cage to and she shut them up again for another twenty hours.
Jennifer went into the bedroom and removed her blazer. She hung it in the armoire. Her home was elderly and had almost no closet space, so she made do with armoires and wardrobes. Then she pulled her blouse out of her skirt and went to look for something to eat. The cupboard wasn't particularly bare and there was food in the freezer, but nothing appealed to her. She decided to call out for some Chinese food. There was a place on Belvedere that was good, cheap, and they delivered. She took a package of pork chops out of the freezer for tomorrow and went to call in her order.
It took fifteen minutes for the delivery boy to get to her place. By then, she'd gotten out of her work clothes and into a comfortable gown and robe. She was trying to find something worth watching on television when the doorbell rang. She paid for the food, tipped the boy, and ate off a TV tray in front of the boob tube. She had satellite TV and paid for almost three hundred channels, but there was never anything on that she wanted to watch. She put it some travel channel, muted the sound, and watched the changing scenery with the careful disinterest of a cat while she ate her moo goo gai pan.
It was nearly 9:30 when she finished supper. She rinsed out the empty food containers and put them in the trash. She said goodnight to her birds and covered them. She brushed her teeth. Used the john. Brushed her long black hair at her dressing table in the bedroom. Then hung her robe on the hook on the back of her bedroom door. She remembered she hadn't checked the locks at front and back, so she went back down the short hall. Front door secure. The same with the back.
She returned to her bedroom. Jennifer turned the ceiling fan on low, pulled back the covers, and settled into bed. She lay on her back, watching the slowly turning fan blades and their shadows move across the ceiling, listening to their soft whirring. She hated total darkness, so she always left the bathroom light on and the door open. Her own bedroom door she closed partially, so some light spilled into her bedroom from the bathroom across the hall.
As she lay in bed, she thought about her day. Mostly she thought about that last showing. The potential buyer's name was Girard. Paul Girard. He was being transferred down from Dallas. He and his wife, kids grown and out of the nest, were looking for a nice house in an established neighborhood. The Trent house was perfect. The widow woman who owned the house had gone into an assisted living center and had no close relatives. She was selling the house as is, furniture and all. Usually that was a drawback, but the Girards were downsizing and didn't need all the furniture they had. They were more likely to sell everything in Dallas and save the expense of moving. Old Mrs. Trent was a woman with impeccable taste and the money to indulge it. Her home was decorated nicely, no junk or bric-a-brac to collect dust, carefully chosen colors, expensive yet comfortable furniture (it always amazed Jennifer how sometimes the most expensive furniture could be some of the most uncomfortable), and a modern well laid out kitchen.
Paul Girard had realized that the furnished house was a bargain at the listed price. He thought his wife would agree. Jennifer could almost smell her commission. As she showed the house, pointing out the features she knew would appeal to the prospective buyer and his wife.
It was always uncomfortable for Jennifer to show furnished homes. She knew men thought she was attractive (read: sexy). Showing a bedroom, with that large bed so handy, was an occupational hazard. The real estate agent had been propositioned more than once, the man wanting to put that bed to good use. She'd always refused. Not because she was a prude or chaste, but she didn't want the problems that would grow out of that little roll in the hay. Since her divorce, she'd dated occasionally and been in two satisfying but brief relationships. She had cooled the men off when the subject of marriage came up. Been there and done that. She had no desire to walk down any aisles any time soon. Nor was she willing to have a man move in with her. She worked hard, made good money, and didn't want some man who didn't offer more than she currently had.