I see is my boss in a three piece suit, and Mrs. van den Berg sitting on the sofa in his office. They both stand up to greet me. I quickly wipe away the stray stands of hair still plastered on my face from the whirling winds outside. Mrs. van den Berg’s silver hair is pulled back neatly in a bun, and her blue eye shadow is very prominent on her eyelids. She is wearing a tweed pantsuit with piles of gold jewelry draping from her neck, wrists and fingers. She pulls me in for a tight hug, giving me a clear view of Clint standing behind her with a furrowed brow and face of contorted disappointment.
“I’m so sorry I am late.” I gently pull away from Mrs. van den Berg, “Today is my birthday. I was stuck on the phone with a bunch of different family members. You know how it is when it comes to family.” I chuckle, watching Mrs. van den Berg smile in agreement.
“Well we’re so glad you could make it dear.” She says and motions me to sit down beside her.
Clint clears his throat and slides down onto a armchair, “Well Megan, I suppose this is a formal congratulations for the impeccable job you did on Mrs. van den Berg’s listing -”
“We already opened the champagne dear” Mrs. van den Berg interrupts, passing me a bubbling glass of pink champagne.
“Thanks” I reply and take a sip, then add, “I tried calling you earlier.”
“I know dear, I got the message. I called Clint right away. I wanted to see you in person.” Mrs. van den Berg says with a smile.
I am so confused. This is not how I normally deal with clients. But then again, this isn’t just an everyday listing or an everyday client. Well for me anyway. Ben on the other hand, has million-dollar listings all the time, but I don’t recall him having lavish follow up meetings with champagne…
“You know, I normally wouldn’t ask someone to pop in the office on a Saturday just for some celebratory champagne.” Clint apprehensively looks from me to Mrs. van den Berg. I choke a bit on my drink and wonder where this is going, “But, because of the great work you did, Mrs. van den Berg asked I set up a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss your future representation on a few other properties she has and is ready to sell.”
I just sit there frozen, utterly speechless.
“Well dear? What do you say? I just adored how hard working you were, and you were able to negotiate above and beyond what I expected for my property. How about we try to sell a few more? I just don’t have the energy like I used to, to manage all this real estate.” Mrs. van den Berg gives me a wink.
“I would love to” I squeal and thank her a million times over. I am happy to see Clint’s grumpy and wrinkled face change to sheer joy.
“Megan” Mrs. van den Berg says and gently places her hand on mine “When Ben Romano turned down representing my listing, I thought he was crazy. He insisted you were the woman for the job and spoke so highly of you. I am so glad I listened to him dear, you are great at what you do.”
I hesitate, and then say with outright confusion, “Ben turned down your listing and referred me to you?”
“Yes dear” Mrs. van den Berg smiles completely oblivious as to why my fingers are trembling beneath hers.
“Did you know about this Clint?” I ask, feeling a surplus of unidentified emotions welling up inside of me. I blink away the tears forming in the corners of my eyes.
“No I didn’t” Clint says looking more puzzled than I feel.
I am stunned. I cannot believe Ben would pass up on a property like that, and he did it for me. I must have heard Mrs. van den Berg all wrong. I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone. This can’t possibly be what is happening right now. Am I getting Punked? I quickly scan Clint’s office, waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out of Clint’s closet, where I know he keeps his jacket, booze and secret stash of condoms. But nothing happens.
Then distracting us all, my cell phone starts ringing. I pull it out of my jacket, even more shocked to see Jessica’s number flash on my screen. I must be dreaming. First Ben passing off a