Chapter 39 Make Her Believe
MAKE HER BELIEVE
“You and your big attorney,” Calvin said to her ten days later when they met in the parking lot of Kelly Law. “Not sure how your parents can afford this firm, but I guess with the sale of the building it’s all good.”
Anya clenched her jaw and told herself not to engage with the prick that had been riding her ass about this closing for a month.
Her mother hadn’t been the one to hold it up. Neither had Sally and Paula. They had issues with the inspection and then the bank, and lastly Sally’s attorney.
Matt had been more than accommodating squeezing this in the last minute this morning for the buyer’s attorney and realtor while it was taken care of before he had to go to court.
Kelly Law was on the women’s way, and they were having it here.
“Does it matter to you why my mother has Matt as her attorney?”
Her father was still in rehab. Not happy about it, but it’d be another week if not more.
His ribs were in a good spot. At least enough that his strength was improving. He could shift himself from the wheelchair to the toilet and gained some of his dignity back.
“I guess not,” Calvin said. “Just find it odd. I’ve been telling you for months that you have to up your game to get the buyers. You need to look successful to be that way.” Calvin’s eyes dropped to her outfit.
She never looked disheveled or cheap in her eyes.
Just because she refused to lease an expensive luxury car for show over the payment of a modest sedan shouldn’t determine her success.
Her clothing was simple but classic. They weren’t high-end pieces, but middle of the line and bought on sale or the clearance rack. No one needed to know that.
She multi-purposed everything she had to make it stretch.
There wasn’t anything wrong with that in her eyes.
“I’m doing just fine my way,” she said, opening the door to go in. She would not stand out here like an idiot waiting for her mother or anyone else.
She had two more houses under contract. She never expected to have one transaction a week. That was crazy. Her first year, she’d only had five. Last year was eight. This year she had nine already, counting her parents. It was a slow start to the year, but it was booming now.
In her mind she would not count her parents’ building. She didn’t have to work for it. It was handed to her.
Looking at industry averages and the tight market, she was doing damn well. She hadn’t realized how hard she could be on herself when it came to her self-worth.
Matt made her believe in herself and that confidence helped more than whether she wore two-hundred-dollar pants.
Her ninety dollar ones that were seventy percent off on clearance were doing the job just fine!
A hundred dollars for pants was cheap in Calvin’s eyes, but she didn’t care what his opinion was.
“Anya,” Maxine said. “So good to see you again. Matt is getting picked on in the office about what happened.”
She rolled her eyes. “It was sweet. You know him. He’s the hero now.”
“He’s walking around with his chest puffed out,” Maxine said. “In a playful way. Thankfully his eye looks much better.”
“Only a tint of yellow remains,” she said. “I offered to give him some foundation.”
The appalled look was so worth the suggestion. She rode him hard about covering it up to get him to laugh about it.
“We heard about that too. Eileen will be up in a minute to bring you to the conference room, unless you want to go back on your own? You know where everything is.”
“We can go back,” she said. “Calvin, are you staying here waiting for Sally and Paula?”
He’d been intensely staring at her during her conversation with Maxine. It was just her rotten luck that the people buying her parents’ building had Calvin as their realtor. “I’ll come back with you.”
She walked past Maxine with a smile, knowing Calvin was on her heels.
On the way, several staff were waving and saying hi. Matt’s father walked down the hall and winked at her.
When they were in the room, she walked over and put her purse down, then made herself a cup of coffee from the machine.
“Do you want one?” she asked.
“Sure,” Calvin said. “What’s going on?”
“With what?” she asked. She knew what he meant but was going to make him come out and say it. “The coffee machine?”
“No. Why everyone is being so friendly with you.”
“I’m a friendly person,” she said. Talk about insulting.
“You’re too friendly,” Calvin said. “Too nice. You have to harden up to make it big.”
“I like her soft,” Matt said, walking into the room. “That’s your opinion. Matt Kelly.” Her boyfriend shook hands with her jerk co-worker, then moved closer to her and gave her a kiss. “Hey.”
“Hi,” she said.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ve got to take care of something.”
“We’ll be here. It’s early yet, but my mother is on the way.”
Matt walked out, his smirk in place.
Anya knew what he was doing. He was putting Calvin in his place for all the trash talk and self-esteem shots she’d taken at the hands of the prick since she’d been employed.
She could do this. She had it.
In the bigger picture, she enjoyed what she did and loved the flexibility.
Just like she loved the few shifts she worked at Fierce. She’d filled in for someone yesterday, expecting Matt to be upset, but reminded herself she was already working most weekends showing houses.
Just because she was doing well the past few months didn’t mean it was sustainable. Spring and summer were always excellent months, the winter not as much. Might as well build up for that time.
“Are you dating your attorney?” Calvin asked. “Isn’t that a huge conflict of interest? Not that I can figure out how you crossed paths with him unless it was through your mother.”
The condescending tone wasn’t lost on her.
That someone like Matt wouldn’t be interested in her for a lot of reasons.
“First, yes, I am,” she said. “I have been for a few months. Not that it’s any business of yours, but I’ve known Matt most of my life. We grew up together.”
Calvin looked her over again. “You did?”
She snorted out a breath and rolled her eyes, then turned her back on him.
She would not continue this conversation.
Calvin had an opinion of her that she came from nothing because he knew she job hopped and didn’t finish college.
Her colleague had an appalling habit of digging into the background of people he worked with to get under their skin.
If that was what it took to be one of the top sellers in the area, she’d take her sales record over being a horrible person.
“Anya.”
She turned when her mother came in. “Hi, Mom. This is Calvin Peters, the buyer’s realtor.”
“Nice to meet you,” her mother said.
“The same,” Calvin said. He had his head buried in his phone, dismissing her mother. “Sally and Paula are on their way. Their attorney is too. I’ll go up front and wait for them.”
When he was out of the room, her mother said, “Why did you curl your lip at his back?”
“He’s such a dick,” she whispered.
“What did he say this time?”
Her mother knew how she felt about her coworker. “More of the same. Then Matt came in and gave me a kiss. The staff had already been talking to me as Matt’s girlfriend and he was confused and asked what was going on.”
“You wouldn’t have told him.”
“Nope. I don’t owe him anything. But then Matt came in with a smirk, kissed me, and said he’d be back.”
She knew her boyfriend did that on purpose.
Part of her was slightly annoyed that he was the gorilla coming in pounding his chest to show his dominance.
The other part of her had to admit it felt nice to have a man in her corner.
Someone to stand up for her and with her.
Twice now Matt had done that.
If she had to pick the perfect boyfriend trait, that wasn’t one she would have zoomed in on.
But it’s one she was thrilled he had.
“You don’t look upset over that,” her mother said.
“You can wipe that smirk from your face. I’m not.”
“In the past you would have been.”
“I know. That’s testimony to how far I’ve come. The old Matt doing that would have annoyed me. The new one that I love made me realize he can still have parts of himself inside, but I’m looking at them in a different light.”
“Good for you, Anya. You’ve both shown such growth.”
An hour later, the closing was complete and her mother had almost a million dollars wired to her.
It was nice to see her mother so happy over the breathing room.
The debt was cleared from her parents’ name.
Looking down at the check in front of her for her commission, she knew that feeling well.
It was almost what she’d earned last year alone.
“You can’t stop smiling,” Matt said. He’d left to get another file and returned to meet with her mother and her.
“It’s awful, isn’t it? I’m looking at this check and am so excited over it.”
“That isn’t awful. I felt the same way with my first big win. You can’t believe you did it. It’s a relief, a sense of accomplishment, and pride.”
“I’m more excited over this than my first sale, but I know I wouldn’t have gotten it if it wasn’t my parents’ building, so I’m not going to get too excited.”
EJ was already throwing a fit over it, but there wasn’t much he could do.
She earned this money. It was her job. She was wrong to want to waive it.
Her brother was back on the other side of the world and with any luck no one would talk to or see him for a long time.
Her mother threatened to have him removed from their will completely over his stunt and that was enough to send him packing back with his tail between his legs with a red face and tears in his eyes.
EJ knew he got lucky that Matt didn’t press charges, halting his return to his job and life in Australia.
She’d like to think EJ learned his lesson, but he never would. As long as her brother stayed there and limited his communication with her parents, it was all she could ask for.
She was positive her mother would stick to her guns and remove EJ from their will if he did anything like this again. It was a threat that carried weight with substantial consequences.
“You have every right to celebrate,” Matt said. “Both of you do. Here is the paperwork for the lawsuit. The funds are in the DA’s hands. It will be released to you within a week.”
Her mother’s shoulders relaxed and tears filled her eyes. “Thank you for everything, Matt. I’m not positive we would have gotten everything back and then all the interest she’d earned on the investments in the process.”
“Don’t forget to mention I got the legal fees covered,” he said. His smile was wider than hers.
Matt hadn’t wanted to take the money from her parents, but it was his job too. Getting the firm’s thirty percent tacked on to what was owed just let her parents get the full amount they deserved.
The fact Shelly had more money hidden away only sweetened the pot.
Her father’s ex-employee had been lying about her financial struggle for years while she sat on some big nest eggs.
All that would be gone and Shelly was going to have to wait on the results of her sentencing.
Her mother signed the necessary documents and then pushed them back to Matt.
“It’s been a wonderful week,” Anya said. “Mom, you and I need to go get a nice celebratory lunch today.”
“We can do that,” Amber said. “I’m going to get on my way, but I’ll text you soon. I’ll see how your father is this morning and share the good news.”
“Give him a hug for me,” she said. “I’ll stop over in a day or so.”
She didn’t go daily like her mother. She didn’t want to upset her father’s routine since she had never seen him daily prior.
“I’ll be back,” Matt said.
He got up with his papers and left. Anya stood with her purse. She could go see him in his office and not stay in this room.
Grace came in when she was ready to leave.
“Hi, Anya. I haven’t seen you in a few weeks. Congrats on the sale and closing. Even the win for your parents.”
“It’s for them, not me,” she said. “But I’ll pass it along.”
“It’s for you too,” Grace said. “I tell Matt all the time, that you’ve got to put the past behind you and grow. You two have figured it out. Both of you have grown and it does my heart well to see you together. Your mother and I always joked about it in the past.”
“She told me that too,” she said, smiling. “We’ve got a good thing.”
“I told him that. When he saw Macy again last month, I was annoyed. The nerve of that woman to come in here and ask Matt for help and then say what she had out loud trying to tarnish his name. I took care of that though. Us mothers, we know our kids.”
Anya had no idea what Grace was talking about but wouldn’t give away that Matt never told her. “You both do.”
“I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.”
She took a few deep breaths.
Matt returned. “What’s wrong? Your face is red.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you saw your ex recently?”
His head shrank back. “Because it was business. I don’t talk business with you.”
“You didn’t take the case,” she argued and crossed her arms. “That isn’t business.”
“Who told you this?”
“Your mother. She came in here praising how far we’ve come and said she knew it all along. I think she assumed you told me, but you hadn’t.”
“It has nothing to do with us,” he said. “Why are you mad?”
“Because I’ve told you so much about my life and my exes. I would have said something to you if I saw one of them. But nope, you have one coming into your office asking for help and then threatening you on top of it and can’t share it with me? What? You don’t think I’m strong enough to handle it?”
“The way you’re acting tells me no,” he said. “You’re treating me as if I cheated on you rather than coming face to face with a woman from my past that used me and was going to do it again. You’re acting like the victim.”
“Victim! You know, I was just thinking of how much you’ve changed and now I realize how wrong I am. You’re still being a jerk.”
She turned and marched out of the office before he could say another word.