I was a little weak in the knees after that last encounter with Carol. I also was a bit taken aback by her response to me after our fun. She actually seemed a bit mad at me. But who really knows what is going on in the mind of someone else.
So I rushed to get my shopping done in that grocery store and had to really quickly get back to the apartment. I had to rush if I was going to meet my real estate agent at the house she wanted to show me.
Well, just as I feared, I was not going to make it on time. I was running very late and she called me.
"I'm over at the house, are you almost here?"
"Well, um, I am just about to leave the apartment, but I will get there in about twenty minutes. I lied.
I could hear the anger in her voice as she said, "I have an appointment after ours so please get here as soon as possible."
She had that tone they take when they are really mad at you, but don't want to piss you off because they want you to buy something from them.
At any rate, I didn't want to start over and find a new agent. So I quickly put the cold things into the refrigerator and left everything else out while I rushed to the car.
After a bit of quick driving, I was there about fifty minutes late.
There I saw the agent for the first time. She looked at me with her cold narrow brown eyes. She had messy brown hair and two small gold earrings in her ears.
"Hello, I'm Louis Washington."
For a moment she looked at me before she began to speak with a slight french accent. "Hello Mr. Washington, my name is Danielle Colin."
I could tell from her voice and her eyes that she was maybe in her early fifties. Only her face showed that she was not in her thirties or maybe even her twenties. Her face certainly showed that she had lived many years, but her nice petite body begged to differ.
Her voice still showed some irritation, but her face seemed to show a genuine and kind heart. I smiled at her apologized. "Forgive me for being late, but I ran into some car trouble along the way." I lied, but isn't everybody supposed to do that?
She smiled and said, "Well, I had you scheduled for two and a half hours, but all we can do is forty minutes. It is good that you met me at this house so that we can see at least one. We will have to reschedule."
I smiled and said. "That's fine."
"I think I can learn about your likes and dislikes over these few minutes." She said.
She pulled out a key and we walked to the front door of a house that was obviously not in my price range. It was a 5 bedroom with 3600 square feet. I was looking for a 2 bedroom with maybe 1000 square feet, but I think Danielle was looking at my income not my needs when she set me up to see this house.
We walked in and the house immediately opened up. There were stairs going upstairs and a kitchen straight to the back. Danielle was walking around talking about the features of the house. I guess I was kind of despondent. She then asked me, "So is this not what you are looking for? Do you like the house?"
"I don't dislike the house it is just way more than I need to commit to right now?"
"I'm sorry, I saw your portfolio. You are married and expecting children." she began to say.
"I don't know what you were looking at, but I am going through a divorce, and I don't have any kids."
She looked down and said, "That corporate office messed up again. Or course this is much bigger than you need. She reached into her portfolio and pulled it out and looked at the top of a set of papers. She then said, "Patrick Price. You are not Patrick Price." She then threw her hands up and said, "I must apologize, I...uh...this is for."
She pulled out another set of papers and then she dropped the papers and then dropped her portfolio and papers were all over the ground. She was then starting to fight back tears.
"Oh no, calm down, it's not that deep." I tried to reassure her.
She then tried to center herself and then she told me, "I haven't been the same since..." She stopped and then continued, "It is no excuse, but last month my husband died." She said.
I walked over to her and began picking up the papers that had fallen.
"I shouldn't have said, please forgive me." She said again.
"I don't know what it is to lose your spouse through death, but I do know things can really hurt when you are forcefully separated from your spouse. A few days ago I walked in and interrupted my wife and another man"
"Damn, I guess you do understand loss." She said.
I took the portfolio out of her hand and threw it on the kitchen counter and then led her over to the couch. I said, "Yes, I understand, and we have about forty minutes for you to tell me about it."
"No...no...that's just so unprofessional, I can't bother you..."
"It's not bothering me," I smiled.