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DARCY
“Oh my God! Look who it is!”
The shrieking from the other side of the room drew my attention. What was going on over there? I was hosting an open house, which was going great. The home was filled with potential buyers, and I was starting to think we might even have an offer in before the end of the day! But then, all those potential clients started rushing out of the kitchen, heading back to the front door.
“What’s going on?” I asked Liz, my best friend and partner in our real estate firm.
“No idea,” Liz shrugged. “Maybe check it out?”
Liz popped another cookie into her mouth and returned to inputting email addresses into our database. Clearly she wasn’t concerned. We were set up at the kitchen island, available for questions as people milled about the house. The kitchen was open to the living room, but we couldn’t see the front door from where we stood.
“Fine, but if you hear me scream, come get me,” I laughed.
I left my clipboard on the counter and crossed to the entryway. I had decided to wear heels, something I rarely did, and I heard them click across the beautiful hardwood floors of the house. Hardwood floors and bay windows were the details that filled my life these days. With a few more sales Liz and I could buy another office building in the neighboring town. We were looking for ways to expand our reach.
“Pleeease can I have a picture?”
The commotion from the other room was only getting louder. I tucked my blonde hair behind my ear—a nervous habit. I had no idea what I might find, and I was hesitant to find out.
“Alright, ladies. Let’s take it easy.”
The voice stopped me in my tracks.
Is that ...? But, no, it couldn’t be—the last I knew he was somewhere in Singapore. Surely Liz would have told me if he was back in town?
As I crossed into the entryway, a few women looked back at me. A redhead directly in front of me even stepped aside, looking a bit embarrassed to be caught trying to get the man’s autograph. And there, standing half a head taller than the women around him, his dark, curly hair covering his eyes in a way that looked accidental but was perfectly intentional, was Callum Jones.
I gasped when I saw him, horrified to see that this drew his attention toward me. His eyes caught mine, and there was a spark of recognition. Was that a smile? I felt my face flush hot, and I instantly turned around. I almost tripped as I rushed as fast as I could back to the kitchen.
“Liz!” I hissed, trying not to make a scene in front of the guests who hadn’t ambushed Callum Jones at our open house.
“What?” Liz asked, avoiding eye contact. She was far too relaxed, as if she were feigning innocence.
“What is your brother doing at our open house?”
“Is he here?” Liz asked, but she could barely get the words out before breaking into a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you!”
“You didn’t think you should let me know your rock-star brother was planning to walk through the front door of our open house today?”
“Actually, I told him to pick the back door. He never listens to me.”
“Liz!”
“Alright, I’m sorry. I knew you would be upset. But he wanted to say hello to you.”
“He’s here to see me?”
Liz didn’t respond right away. Instead, she began rearranging the cookies on the plate in front of her, as if it were a crucial task for the success of the open house.
“I thought you might be excited,” Liz shrugged, avoiding my gaze.
“Excited?” I cried out, a bit too loud. One of the guests exploring the living room looked over at me with concern but quickly looked away. I needed to calm down. I took a deep breath and tried to bring my mind back to the room and the job in front of me.
You’re a professional realtor, I reminded myself. Don’t let some jerk from your past ruin everything in front of you.
This was a mantra I had been repeating a lot lately. After breaking up with my fiancé six months ago, I had committed to work and myself. I didn’t have time for men to complicate things when there was so much to accomplish in front of me. And this commitment to my job and our business was actually working. The past three months had been filled with positive steps forward for Dream Home Realty with unprecedented business growth. No way could I let a surprise visit from Callum Jones destroy everything I had worked so hard for.
