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but only for a moment.

Carmela glanced through her glass wall out to the reception area where Rhiannon was helping Brandy hand out bottled water to waiting clients. She shook o the initial disappointment and smiled again. “Yes, we happen to be in the o ce together. Can I grab her for you?”

“If you don’t mind. I’d like to talk to both of you,” he replied, sending Carmela’s heart into irregular palpitations.

Even though the call was muted, Carmela still held the phone to her chest to make sure he couldn’t hear her as she whispered Rhiannon’s name and waved frantically at her while sprinting down the hallway.

Rhiannon turned slowly, looking at Carmela like she was trying to figure out how she sprouted a second head. “What are you doing? Are we playing charades?”

“Luca’s on the phone,” she mouthed silently, pointing to the cellphone in her hand.

“Is he holding you hostage? Why are you being such a weirdo?” Rhiannon whispered, earning a glare that clearly displayed her lack of amusement at being mocked.

Without another word, Carmela spun on her heels and motioned for Rhiannon to follow her to her o ce where she closed the door behind them. Sitting next to each other in the chairs in front of Carmela’s desk, she propped the phone up in front of them and put it on speaker.

“Luca, que tal?” Rhiannon greeted in Spanish.

As they exchanged pleasantries, Carmela watched Rhiannon come alive. She did her best to stifle a smile. And failed.

After Luca said something apparently hilarious, Rhiannon tipped her head back and let out the kind of open mouth, full body laugh that made Carmela’s pulse race. In all her life, Carmela had never been that relaxed. That comfortable in her own skin. Once she’d composed herself, she glanced at Carmela and winked, before bringing Luca to the point of his call.“Fabrizio told me it’s not done for me to contact you directly,” he admitted in accented English.

Carmela inched forward in her chair, unsure what he might divulge. If he was still represented, they needed to be

careful what they said.

“I told him tha

t I work too hard to let anyone steal my good news,” he replied with a chuckle. “Maybe it was the intoxicating company at your lovely party, but I’ve been thinking it really is time to make a change. Miami Beach is full of tourists and tra c. I’m coming to Palm Beach,” he said before explaining that his agent would follow up with an o er he was confident Yeardsley would accept.

When they’d hung up, Carmela and Rhiannon sat in stunned silence until Rhiannon finally spoke. “Did we really sell that freaking house?” she asked, her voice shaky.

Carmela turned her head slowly and looked at Rhiannon, whose face was nearly colorless. Shock and surprise left Carmela truly unable to process the development. “I think we might have sold that freaking house.”

“I can’t believe your planting seeds nonsense really worked,” she joked after a beat.

Carmela smiled through the queasy feeling. “It doesn’t usually work so fast,” she admitted, still unable to believe they’d really made substantial progress in closing the deal.

A few minutes later, Carmela’s mailbox dinged. They jumped up in unison to look at Carmela’s computer. Holding her breath, they stared at Fabrizio’s email before Rhiannon took the plunge and clicked it open.

Carmela turned her back. She couldn’t look. Even it was a fallacy, she needed to believe that if she didn’t know what was in the email she wouldn’t have to deal with it. Magical thinking, she knew, but was powerless to stop it.

“Oh . . .” Rhiannon whispered as if she’d just been sucker punched.

“Is it that bad? A real low ball?” Carmela asked, blood pumping in her ears as heat flooded her skin and weakened her knees.

Instead of responding immediately, Rhiannon dropped into Carmela’s chair, her eyes fixed on the screen. “It’s a full price o er,” she whispered through pale lips.

“You’re kidding me.” Carmela whirled around, barely able to make sense of the letters on the open document.

Having read thousands of o ers, she focused on the most relevant part out of habit. “Holy shit . . . it’s a full price o er,” she repeated before leaning against the credenza behind her.

After snapping out of her trance, Carmela leaned over Rhiannon and read the o er carefully. It didn’t bother her that Rhiannon didn’t get up from her chair, or that her face was painfully close to hers as they reviewed the terms together. She’d never really worked with anyone so closely before and it was kind of nice to share the experience with someone who felt exactly the same way she did.

“So the catch is that he wants Yeardsley to throw in all the furniture for free,” Rhiannon said as she leaned back in the chair while Carmela slid on the edge of her desk.

“I knew that full price when the house has been sitting there without an o er was too good to be true,” she replied.

“Let’s see what Yeardsley wants to do,” she added before they called him together to present the o er.