Authors: Traci Tyne Hilton
“No fair,” Ben interjected.
“Ben.”
“Just kidding.”
“I am going to hit the road. I have a list of Victorians for sale in town—there are only five right now in the Eastside and none at all on the West. There is one in Northeast. I’m going to go visit them all and check them out. I’ll see you both back here at
. Of course, if I sell a house while I’m out I’ll call.” Mitzy shrugged on her faithful purple blazer with the Neuhaus logo embroidered on the pocket and headed out. Research was legitimate busywork. She really just needed to get out of the office and be around houses for sale. It was almost as good as being around people buying houses.
She packed all of the folders from the active file into her Birken bag (a gift to herself after she had her first million dollar profit year) and left. The gray day was wet with spring rain, so she hit the road with her top up. She headed to her Victorian first.
“This is the one you want?” Alonzo asked his sister Carmella.
“Yes. It’s perfect.”
“How on earth is it perfect? It’s a dump.” He was completely unimpressed with the property she had brought him to. But he had been impressed by her quick decision making. Very rare. Apparently she had had her eye on it for a while.
“It has good bones, Al. It is the right size, plenty of bedrooms and room enough to add more baths. Can you imagine? A huge kitchen, a sun porch. It’s still got an acre and a half of its own property.”
“It’s blocks off the main road, needs a complete renovation. It’s nowhere near any tourist attractions. It is on a street of boring residential homes. Nothing about this place says bed and breakfast.” Alonzo tromped through the muddy driveway. Working with his sister always gave him a headache.
“Do I have to spell it out for you, Alonzo? I can’t believe you can’t see this. First, it is set back a romantic distance from the street with a tree-lined roundabout drive. Second, there’s room for a gazebo in the back and the property is edged on three sides with a bit of a forest for seclusion. And honestly did you not see what I saw when we turned on
Baltimore
?”
“Apparently not.”
“Historic
Old
Church
.”
“Historic
Old
Church
?”
“Yes.”
He turned his head to the intersection of Baltimore and
Smith Blvd.
He could see the corner of the old stone building with its modest parking lot. He couldn’t quite see the steeple because of the many trees. “Okay, what about the church?”
“Weddings. And wedding nights. I think all they do over there anymore are weddings and anniversary parties and that stuff. Maybe they have church there, I wouldn’t know,” Carmella said.
His mind was working quickly now. He bounded around to the back to view the property better. “You said there’s a gazebo back here?” he hollered to his sister.
“What?”
“A gazebo?”
“What?”
“Get back here and talk to me!”
She huffed her way to the back of the property. “Yes. A gazebo back here. And we could trim up the trees. We could make this a real park back here.”
“Yes. I see.” He scanned the property making mental adjustments. “We could dig a pond right over there.” He pointed off towards the corner of the lot.
“That would be fabulous. Now you are seeing it. You get married at
Old
Church
and we can give you a discount on pictures in the back yard. Book your honeymoon night here and you can have the location for your photo sessions for free. We could even work out special deals with photographers,” Carmella said.
“Brilliant.” Alonzo pulled a notepad out of his pocket and began scribbling notes. “What’s the asking price?”
“That’s the best part. It’s a short sale. So…” She told him the price, a little red faced and embarrassed with pride. She knew it would seal the deal for him.
“Short sale. Hmmm.” He wrote a few numbers down on his pad. “Short sale isn’t good. It could take a year to get this going if we try to go a short sale. You know, this property is worth almost twice that price as a business. Let me check out the zoning and talk to the listing agent. We might be able to offer a price good enough to get moving on this faster.” Alonzo heard a car pull up into the gravel drive. He paused, listening.
There was a big truck in the bucolic drive of the run down Victorian. That was slightly annoying to Mitzy. She supposed, being a listed property, other people could come see it now. But she had a mother hen attitude at the moment and wanted to cluck the weasel away from her nest. She sat in her Miata for a few minutes gathering her thoughts and prepping her reactions.
Mitzy caught sight of someone out of the corner of her eye.
She popped open the door of her car and climbed out.
Alonzo, though he knew who was getting out of the car, couldn’t keep himself from admiring the long legs that stepped from it. He took a deep, admiring breath as the legs led up to…ah. That wretched purple blazer. The blazer in all the ads, the blazer that kept him awake at nights—or was that gave him nightmares? Whichever. It was the blazer of stereotype, the blazer with the big shoulder pads that went with the bouffant hair. And right above the shoulder pads was a pretty, but angry, face.
“Good morning, Mitzy.” Alonzo forced himself to smile. The possibilities behind this coincidental meeting were not endless. She was probably the listing agent on the property. He was going to have to be nice.
“Mr. Miramontes,” Mitzy said. She decided territorial was the best way to act right now. Make it a foregone conclusion that this was her property. “How can I help you?”
“Please, call me Alonzo. And this is my sister, Carmella.” He indicated his sister who was peering into the front windows of the house.
Carmella was a statuesque brunette with hair piled on her head. Her jeans were tight and she was wearing heels. Mitzy decided not to analyze the relief she felt when he said sister. Though she suspected even if it was his sister she was probably also his type. Recognizing that for the very weird thought that it was, Mitzy tried to pull her mind back to the property.
“Carmella and I are interested in the property. Do you have some time to talk about it?” He leaned on the decrepit rail of the front porch, assuming nonchalance that none of them felt.
Mitzy squared her shoulders and stood tall. She was ready for conflict and not about to let her guard down to him—no matter how smoldering his eyes and deliciously thick and wavy his dark hair. The broad shoulders were—well—she wouldn’t consider his shoulders at the moment. She didn’t have time.
“That’s nice of you to help your sister. Carmella, I’m Mitzy Neuhaus. How are you?” She smiled at the sister. Taking the business out of the hands of Miramontes seemed the right first move.
“Mitzy Neuhaus?
The
Mitzy Neuhaus? I love you! You were fabulous on the radio with that awful Johnny. Have you ever thought about getting your own show? It would be incredible.”
Alonzo shuffled his feet and cleared his throat. Why did everyone who met Mitzy go into raptures like this? Ridiculous.
“I’m so glad this is your property, Mitzy. I’ve always wanted to meet you. What do you think of this house? It’s amazing right? But what’s your professional opinion?”
“It is a fantastic property, and really a steal right now.” Mitzy tried to skirt around telling an actual lie. “It needs quite a bit of work though. Are you looking to move soon? I know of a few really great deals that are move-in ready.”
“Oh no, I’m not moving. This is an investment.” Carmella smiled at her brother, her face full of gratitude.
“It’s quite a property to set up as a rental,” Mitzy said. “I don’t know if you could get enough in rent to take care of it properly. Not with all of this land.”
Carmella laughed warmly. “Oh, it won’t be a rental. It will be a business.”
Mitzy made herself smile at Alonzo. “This is a residential property.” She narrowed her eyes. “And I have an interested buyer already lined up.” All thoughts of skirting lies flew. This was her old money mansion, not a business investment for some Miramontes scheme.
Alonzo eyed her carefully. Mitzy wasn’t confident. She was mad. Something wasn’t entirely above board. He took a wild stab. “Residential, eh? It’s zoned residential? Even with that church on the corner? And, what is that? He craned his neck to stare down to the end of the long street. “Isn’t that an auto shop on the other end?”
“This is a family friendly street. Kids can ride bikes here. It’s a terrible idea to turn this house into a business.” Mitzy just barely kept herself from stamping her foot.
“Oh, but you’d like it. It’s going to be a bed and breakfast!” Carmella’s cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled.
Mitzy took a deep breath. She did not want to make this worse my crushing Carmella’s dream.
“You can’t deny that it is a great location and building for a bed and breakfast.” Alonzo walked over to Mitzy, and stood near her. He leaned close and said, “Isn’t it romantic?”
Mitzy almost slapped him. She took three long steps backwards.
“Do you have an offer on the property or not?” Alonzo asked, switching his tone to business neutral.
Mitzy paused. “There isn’t an offer as of yet.”
“Then we will fax you the papers immediately.” He almost turned to leave, when something on her face made him stop.
She chewed her bottom lip. She had to tell them.
“We should fax the papers to you, shouldn’t we?” he asked with a sneer.
“Well…” She hesitated.
“I think we are done here.” Alonzo walked purposefully to his pickup.
Carmella hurried after him.
They drove away, leaving Mitzy kicking herself for losing face. And possibly losing the house. The gala was coming quickly. There might still be time. She doubted, but she had to keep trying.
Alonzo tried to drive more carefully this time, even though he was mad. His neck was still sore from his recent accident, and he was in no mood to crash his pickup.
“Do you think we can still get the house? I mean, Mitzy is the best there is. I’m afraid if she doesn’t want us to have it, we won’t get it.” Carmella chewed on the green coffee stirrer from her to go cup.
“It will be fine.”
“Are you sure? I mean, she really is the best. If she thinks it’s a bad spot for a business, maybe it is a bad spot for a business. Who else would know if not her?”
“She is not the best. She just advertises a lot.” Alonzo gritted his teeth. He really felt like smashing something at the moment.
“Oh come on. I don’t know what your problem is. She is too the best. Everybody knows her. Everybody sings her jingle.
When you need a new home, you can call Neuhaus, New Homes!
What’s not to love? She’s got kitsch factor like nobody.”
“She’s not kitschy. She’s tasteless. She’s just…she’s just…annoying. She’s really annoying.” He braked hard at the light and regretted it as his head jerked forward.