Chapter 19
19
J ace sat at his kitchen table reading over the paperwork he was emailed from the title company. He was mostly checking his name, spelling, his address, the address of the thrift store, and the totals. The closing costs were nil. He wasn't having an inspection. He wasn't having a title policy issued. He wasn't having anything done because he was bulldozing the place the second he could. It all looked good to him. The selling price was the same and correct.
All he had to pay for was the deed and the title company's fee. The seller had to pay Margo's fee, which he was happy about. She was doing a pretty fine job. She had emailed him this morning forwarding the title company paperwork and told him to look it over. Call me when you're finished . That last little sentence gave him a thrill. Call me when you're finished.
At just after eight o'clock, he called his bank to double-check that they were ready to wire the money over on Friday. They agreed they were ready to do that. They just needed the wiring information from the title company. He could get that to them.
And then he called Margo. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't excited to talk with her. As a matter of fact, the second he heard her soft, low sexy voice greet him with, "Hello" chills ran up the back of his neck.
"Good morning."
"Good morning," she replied.
"So I just read through the paperwork you forwarded from the title company. Thank you. I've contacted my bank. They're ready to wire the funds. They just need the wire transfer information."
"Okay, I'll make sure they get that this afternoon. Tomorrow at the latest."
"Good, thank you. I'll wait to hear from you about that. If you would just let me know when the title company has contacted the bank with that information, I'd appreciate it."
"Will do. I'll just ask the title company to take care of it. Sometimes, numbers can get transposed when they go through too many hands, so I usually let them do their job and take care of that. Just email me your bank's name, the phone number, and who you deal with there, and we can have the title company take care of the rest from there. They'll copy you and me on the email."
He chuckled. "Will do. I like letting someone else do their job."
She laughed. "Me too. It's kind of nice, isn't it? Not having to do everything."
"That it is." He was silent for a moment, his stomach tightened. He let out a breath and said, "Margo, I know we have a date tonight. Did you want to keep it?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I want to keep it?"
He shrugged, though no one could see it. "I thought maybe you asked me because Sierra was there."
She let out a long breath. "I'll admit it prompted the question at first, but as the night wore on, I became more and more excited about our date."
He smiled so big his cheeks stretched. "Good. I've been looking forward to it. I thought we'd go somewhere outside of Blossom Springs so we could both just sit and get to know each other. With both of us owning businesses in town, it's kind of hard not to know someone wherever we go."
"That's a fact. I like that idea. Thank you for thinking of it."
"Of course. So..." He hesitated, then decided to go for it. "Did you find the necklace?"
She huffed. "No."
"Oh..." he tsked. "Shit. I'm sorry."
"Well as I've told my sister every time a new issue comes up, or a new surprise presents itself with this whole ridiculous situation, it helps me get over the grief that much easier. I'll tell you I had no idea I was sharing my house with such a lying piece of shit. No idea. It's like he was a complete stranger."
"Yeah, I can't imagine how that must feel, and I am sorry for that Margo. You don't deserve it."
"Well, thank you. I do appreciate that."
"Okay, well, I'll see you at six o'clock tonight. I'll pick you up. We'll just do casual. How about that?"
She chuckled, and it sounded good. "Casual sounds great. I can't wait. Thank you. Talk to you later. Bye."
He hung up the phone, and he wished he could sit and talk with her. He wanted to know more about her. Why did she like real estate? What were all the things that he wanted to know about her? Mostly, what he knew right now was that he thought she was stunning and smart, and her poise through this turmoil, as he looked at it now, the few terse words she had spoken to him were nothing compared to what he would have done had the shoe been on the other foot. She was handling this far too gracefully. But it spoke about her class and her demeanor. And he wanted to get to know her so much better.