Marvin returned to the terrace after the meeting, closely followed by Randy. A presence other than the people seated, stood the hair up on Randy’s neck. Although it disappeared, he felt immediate concern. Did something happen?
Marvin spotted Pauline on the other side and smiled. He walked over to her and sat down. “Change of view?”
“It was a little crowded on that side when I got here. Where were you?”
Randy stared at Marvin’s face. “Be honest.”
“I went for a walk. I didn’t expect you to be out of the meeting so soon.”
Randy saw Pauline’s facial expression and dropped his head. She’s gonna play him. Now we’re in trouble.
“I’ve been out a while. Where did you go?” she asked.
“Down to the front gate and back,” he replied.
She didn’t say anything. Instead, she took a sip of coffee.
“Is Sterling going to have some sort of wrap-up of the weekend?” Marvin asked.
Randy watched her keep a blank expression when she answered, “I hadn’t heard either way. Why?”
“I thought if there was nothing else happening, we might head back. That is, unless you wanted to hit the pool again.”
She turned her head away. Randy noticed an iciness about her. Then it hit him. That feeling I’ve been experiencing wasn’t Miles. It was Tim. He must have met with Pauline, while we were in the presentation. And Marvin played right into his hand.
He grit his teeth. I had to watch Marvin in action. Tim was right here waiting for me to make a mistake. I’m such an idiot. As much as he wanted to disappear, he needed to see what damage had been inflicted and if his assignments could work their way through it.
“We can go home if you want,” Pauline said.
“It’s totally your call. I’m your guest.”
She nodded. “Yes, let’s go.”
Randy sat in the back and watched a predominantly silent drive home. It took a bit for Marvin to speak out, but Randy knew he thought something was wrong.
“Are you okay?” Marvin asked.
“I’m fine,” Pauline replied curtly.
Several more minutes passed before Marvin tried again. “Something’s bothering you. You’ve barely spoken. Did you really want to stay the rest of the day? We can go back if you want.”
“You lied to me. You didn’t go for a walk.”
He sighed. “You’re right. I didn’t.”
“You had a meeting with Mr. Havishaw and the other investors.”
“Yes, I did. I wasn’t expecting to, but—”
“Don’t give me that. You sought me out, knowing I was involved in the deal.”
Randy grinned, shaking his head and looking down. Nice going, Tim.
Marvin’s eyes grew extremely wide. “How could I have known that? I didn’t even know where we were going this weekend until we got there.”
“Am I supposed to believe that? Once you knew, you didn’t say anything. You were going to be in on the deal, but you didn’t bother tell me.”
“That was wrong of me. I didn’t want you to believe exactly what you do now. I had an appointment for Tuesday. This morning happened because of one of the investors. He can’t make it to the presentation on Tuesday.”
“And Mr. Havishaw happened to know you.”
“He recognized my name and caught me looking over the file.”
“You have answers for everything, don’t you?”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
She frowned. “Okay, explain to me how we could be so close, yet in bed you don’t try to build on our relationship.”
Both Marvin and Randy dropped their jaws.
“Seriously? You mean sex? I didn’t want to risk losing you, or at a minimum make you feel uncomfortable if you turned me down, which honestly, I would have expected.”
“No. You used me to make that big deal you needed to advance your career. You even had an in with one of the investors. You were set. That kiss had to be the icing on the cake. Now you can go ahead and dump me. That’s your plan isn’t it?”
“Are you kidding? I—”
“You what?” she snapped.
Marvin sighed again.
“Tell her!” Randy screamed.
“It’s not important.”
Randy dropped his shoulders and shook his head.
Marvin pulled into the apartment parking lot and got out. Pauline exited quickly. He removed her suitcase from the trunk and started to carry it to the apartment.
“I can get it, thank you,” she spewed as she took hold of the handle.
Marvin let go and watched her start walking. “For what it’s worth, I had a good time,” he said.
She stopped for a second, then continued, never looking back.
Tears started rolling down Randy’s cheeks, and he popped out.
Randy arrived in his room and looked around. “At least I don’t have anything to pack.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and bent his head down to rest in his hands.
Miles arrived and sat beside him.
“Here to cast me down, or do you get to escort me to the fiery gates?”
Miles frowned. “So, you’re giving up?”
“Marvin messed it up good. He—”
“Stop right there. Marvin’s intentions were honorable, albeit misguided.”
“Albeit?”
“Would you prefer although?”
“Doesn’t matter. Certainly doesn’t change anything.”
Miles smiled. “True, but you know who convinced Pauline of his false intentions.”
“Yes. Tim.”
“The situation made it easy for him. But he can’t do it again.”
Randy twisted his eyebrows. “Why not?”
“Okay, he can, but not with Pauline. It would be awfully difficult for him to explain to her how he knows where she is.”
“Can’t he disguise himself?” He saw Miles think about that option.
“I suppose he could, but does he think he needs to? He’d be more apt to seal the deal with Marvin. In other words, make sure Marvin gives up.”
“So I concentrate on Marvin and keep Tim away.”
“You can turn this around. I have faith in you.”
“At least one of us does.”
“Being where we are, isn’t that the whole crux of the matter? Don’t do it.”
Randy looked at Miles, confused. “Do what?”
Miles grinned. “Roll your eyes.” He laughed and snapped his fingers.
After Miles standard exit, Randy looked up at the ceiling and called out, “Is there anything like payback up here?”
He made the floor clear to look down at the Earth. The sensation of floating above seemed unusually calming. The sun was setting, and he lost himself as he watched the line of darkness move forward. Lights dotted the landscape behind it. Surprisingly, this meeting with Miles gave him a renewed sense of purpose.
He returned to the matter at hand. I need to stick to Marvin like glue. If Tim gets hold of him, it’s over. But if he manages to reach Pauline again, what do I do?
He suddenly came to the realization that he had the power to sense Tim’s presence. All I need to do is train my mind to recognize him in the presence of either one of my assignments. He concentrated on setting his senses on alert. Rather than take a chance of it not working, he transported himself into Marvin’s home and stayed with him until Marvin went to bed.
Randy took the couch, determined to ensure Tim didn’t have access. His head flooded with questions, but one in particular stood out. I’m playing by the rules, but does Tim have any rules he can’t break? If he did, what punishment could they give that he doesn’t already face?
Randy lay down and closed his eyes. In spite of the added protection he had installed in the form of a presence alarm, he had a restless night. Wondering whether his alarm actually worked haunted him. He was already on his feet, pacing, when Marvin’s clock went off.
Randy accompanied his assignment to work, to which it seemed much more than clear that Marvin dreaded going. Did he lose the sale and the girl?
Marvin entered the building and went straight to his office. He closed the door on Randy, who passed through the wood.
Look at me. I’m Casper. Randy chuckled. He returned to the seriousness of the situation, when Marvin sat behind his desk, elbows on the blotter, and head in his hands. Come on, dude. Snap out of it. You won’t win her with that attitude.
Twenty minutes later, Rodney knocked, then entered, not waiting for Marvin to acknowledge him. “Good morning, Marv. How was... Uh oh. What happened?”
Marvin leaned back in his chair and shook his head. He sighed and hesitated before speaking.
Randy watched intently, wondering how much he would mention. Marvin’s darting eyes told Randy he was searching his thoughts.
Rodney grabbed a chair in front of the desk and sat down. “Come on, Marv. What’s eating you?”
“Ugh... Okay. Everything was going great. Saturday was perfect. Sunday, it all went south shortly after breakfast. She had a meeting with her boss. Mr. Havishaw recognized my name and called me into the conference room with the other investors to give my presentation. I had tried to avoid it, but he told me his biggest investor wouldn’t be able to make it tomorrow.”
“We lost the sale?”
Randy rolled his eyes. Would you be that down in the mouth over a land deal, Rod?
“I don’t know. I think I may have sold them on it. Remember Dave Longquist?”
“The name sounds familiar.”
“He’s the one I sold the Apple Springs mansion to.”
“Oh yeah. Quite a deal that was.”
“Yep. Well, he’s one of the investors, and he remembered me. He knows I’m on the up and up. We’ll just have to see what they think of the property. I think they have a couple more agents to see, and I’m sure they’ll want to visit the land before making a decision.”
“Then we have a shot. That’s good news.”
Randy saw the realization cross Rodney’s eyes. How does your shoe taste?
“What happened with Pauline?” Rodney asked.
“She somehow got it in her head I’d sought her out just so I could get in with Havishaw. I was a little concerned about making the presentation over the weekend, but I couldn’t turn him down when he would have cancelled Tuesday, anyway. I made the mistake of not telling her the truth up front and she blew the whole thing out of proportion.”
Marvin shook his head with a smile.
Randy recognized it as a nervous response to what he had just said.
Marvin continued. “She even accused me of not having sex with her because my whole reason for being there was to make the sale.”
“If she believes that, you know she’s not the one for you.”
Randy frowned. “That’s right, friend... Tell him to forget her and move on.”
“But I really thought she was the one. We hit it off so well. It’s not her fault. It’s mine. I didn’t tell her I was working the land deal. It was a lie by omission. I can’t see any way to fix it.”
“Maybe she’ll come back to you after thinking about it.”
“Miss Organized? I don’t fit her lifestyle. She’ll go back to being perfect and forget about me.”
“If that’s true, you don’t need her.”
Randy rolled his eyes. My God. Did Tim talk to you too? This guy should run for office. He flip-flops more than a candidate. He glared at Rodney. You’re his friend and you’re trying to steer him away and look forward to the next woman who may never come, instead of offering ways to correct the situation. He just told you he thought she was the one.
“Maybe,” Marvin answered. “I’m going out to check on our latest flip.”
Randy closed his hands into fists and started grinding his teeth.
“I was there last Friday. Everything is on schedule. You need to concentrate on the mall.”
Marvin shook his head. “If we get it, you finish the deal.”
Randy saw Rodney’s eyes widen.
“You’re the salesman. I do the behind the scenes paperwork.”
“Exactly. If they contact us, it will be because they accepted the property. That’s where you come in.”
Marvin stood to leave. “I’ll be back before lunch.”