The Last Affair by Margot Hunt

Author:Margot Hunt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2019-09-24T13:49:22+00:00

chapter twenty

abby

Abby’s nerves were jangling as she sat in the waiting room of Pool and Associates, the commercial real estate firm where Carter Holliday worked. She’d been surprised to find that the firm was officed in a converted cottage, complete with a porch and flowering bushes planted around the front entrance, rather than in a more modern office building. The front room had a row of uncomfortable wooden captain’s chairs, with a matching coffee table piled high with glossy magazines of commercial real estate for sale. To distract herself, Abby flipped through one or two of the magazines, looking at photos of golf courses and large office buildings listed at staggeringly high prices. It didn’t help. Her palms were sweating. She felt almost light-headed from the stress of being there.

What was she going to say to Carter Holliday? Abby had no idea. She was fairly sure she shouldn’t have gone there without having worked out some sort of plan of action. But she couldn’t resist the opportunity to meet him. She felt an almost kinship to the man. They were both being betrayed by people they loved.

The receptionist—a nice older lady with close-cropped gray hair and bright orange lipstick—had disappeared into the back of the office shortly after Abby arrived for her ten o’clock appointment.

When she returned to her desk, she said to Abby, “Mr. Holliday will be right out.”

“Thank you.”

Abby obviously had no interest in being an intern at Pool and Associates, but she wondered what the job entailed. Did the interns ride along when clients were being shown the properties for sale? Were they left behind in the office to collate files and sort through paper clips? Internships were supposed to provide valuable work experience, but from what Abby had heard from friends who’d had them, a lot of companies just stashed their interns in back offices and either ignored them or assigned them the boring tasks none of the paid employees wanted to touch.

Abby wondered if private investigators took on interns. Maybe that was something she could look into. Imagine being able to shadow a PI for a few months. Although, real life private investigators probably did most of their work online, and Abby had already learned that stakeouts involved hours upon hours of boredom.

A door to the back office opened, and Carter Holliday appeared. Abby recognized him immediately from his pictures on Facebook. She felt another flurry of nerves. He was tall and in decent shape, especially for a guy his age. He’d combed his light brown hair back in a way that she supposed was an attempt to disguise the fact that it was thinning, and he sported a hideous soul patch–style goatee.

“Abby, right? I’m Carter Holliday.” Abby stood and they shook hands. His grip was very firm. “Come back to my office.”

Abby managed to fix a smile on her face. “Thank you for meeting with me.”

“Of course.” Carter chuckled. “Although after all the money I’ve paid your father over the years for three sets of braces, I really should be sending my kids to apply for internships with him.

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