Can't Stand the Heat by Shelly Ellis

Author:Shelly Ellis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2013-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

“Where should I put these, Miss Gibbons?” the mousy-looking young woman asked.

Stephanie looked over her shoulder. She had been in the middle of sweeping the hardwood floors and doing some last-minute cleanup of her client’s home when her new assistant, Carrie, came rushing into the dining room carrying a cardboard box filled with flyers that had just arrived from the printer. The flyers included professional photos of the house and all the important details related to today’s showing. Stephanie liked to hand them out to visitors so that most of their questions could be answered simply by looking at the reference page.

Carrie teetered on her high heels anxiously, trying to balance the box in her hands. She blew a curly lock of chestnut-colored hair out of her eyes. It and several other curls had escaped out of her chignon. Her maze of freckles had disappeared completely now that her usually pale cheeks were bright red. The suit jacket she was wearing looked askew, as if it had been buttoned wrong.

Carrie had started the job a few months ago and was working out quite well, but she still looked frazzled whenever they had to do showings like these. Well, “frazzled” wasn’t quite the word. She looked closer to absolutely terrified.

Stephanie smiled. “You can spread them out on the oak table in the foyer and put a stack of business cards next to them.”

Carrie nodded before scrambling toward the dining room’s arched entryway.

“Oh, and Carrie . . .”

The young woman skidded to a halt, almost stumbling on the afghan rug near the dining room table and falling face-first to the hardwood floor. She whipped around and faced Stephanie.

“Yes, Miss Gibbons?”

“Honey, chill out, OK? You look like you’re about to pass out. It’s just a showing. You know . . . people walking through a house eating crackers and asking silly questions. They’re not going to bite you.”

Carrie gave a nervous smile. “Yes, Miss Gibbons.” She then scampered out of the room again.

Stephanie shook her head. That girl really needs to chill out. She looks like she’s going to explode.

Speaking of impending explosions . . . Stephanie wondered if Cynthia had had her Hiroshima-worthy blast yet. Their eldest sister had been so furious at the family meeting today that Stephanie was sure steam was going to pour out of Cynthia’s ears. Stephanie hadn’t seen Cynthia yell that much since they were little girls and she and Dawn had stolen Cynthia’s favorite Barbie and decided to hold it for ransom. Except now, Cynthia was pissed at Lauren because she believed Lauren had taken something else she really wanted. Their youngest sister had managed to seduce Cris Weaver right under Cynthia’s pretty little nose.

Stephanie chuckled, sweeping the last of the dust bunnies into her plastic dustpan. She carried them and the broom back into her client’s kitchen.

It was amusing to see Cynthia finally get her comeuppance. Stephanie hated that even when they were little girls, Cynthia had always believed she was entitled to first dibs on everything: toys and clothes, and later men and money.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.