with you sometimes. Like when you stop singing the second you know someone is listening.”
“Any rejection you get when you’re fourteen is going to stick with you,” I said. “But I could have let this go if I hadn’t become the meme for rejection after that. Like, that clip had ten million views on YouTube by the time I graduated from high school. I haven’t even looked at it since then.” I shook the pan to get the veggies moving and glimpsed Chloe pointing up with her thumb to indicate to Jerome that the views had gone even higher.
Whatever. I didn’t want to know. I broke the last two eggs into a bowl, single-handed like Miss Mary taught me, and scrambled them, the fork making an angry hiss as it scraped at the bowl over and over again. I could imagine how much higher the views had climbed based on the number of times I ran into my own face on the internet. Dylan had even brought me a Trivial Pursuit card once where I was an answer in the Entertainment category.
Apparently, America had been bored when I’d had my moment.
“I’m sorry that happened, Ellie,” Jerome said quietly.
“Yeah, me too. So now that the facts are fresh in everyone’s minds, maybe you’ll all believe I did not choose Miles Crowe as a client.”
“So how did it happen?” Chloe asked. “Did he recognize you? Was he trying to make up for being a jackass back then?”
“He didn’t seem like he did,” I said. “And he didn’t explain why he wanted me to be his agent. Brenda ended up being pretty cool about it, but I tried eighty-seven ways to get out of it, and he was basically like, ‘Nah, this is what I want,’ so that’s not super awesome.”
“What are you going to do?” Miss Mary asked. “Be the best real estate agent ever?”
I stopped whisking for a moment to stare at her. “Do you even know me?”
Chloe grinned. “You’re going to make his life miserable until he fires you?”
“No. Good guess, though. That was my first plan.”
“What, then?” Jerome asked.
“I’m going to find him the worst possible property for what he wants to do and negotiate the most expensive possible lease for the longest term possible.” It was the plan I’d decided on as I drove home.
Jerome sucked his teeth. “That’s cold.”
Miss Mary came over and gave me a hug. I waited for her to talk me out of it, but instead she said, “Good girl.”
And that made Chloe laugh all the way through the perfect omelet I plated for her.
Chapter Four
I paced inside of the empty space on Julia Street. I’d arrived ten minutes early for my appointment with Miles because I was always early for appointments. I loathed tardiness, and I was already annoyed knowing that Miles would be late today like he’d been at the office.
If he was more than five minutes late, I would text him that I was leaving and he could book another appointment. Even better if he booked it with someone else.
I checked my outfit to make sure it looked good on the extremely slim chance he did show up. Gray pinstriped trousers with a wide leg, fitted white top, stacked red heels to keep it interesting. Hair in a low ponytail, simple silver pendant necklace with a fleur-de-lis charm.
Pace. Pace. Pace. Walking back and forth inside the front door wasn’t enough to burn off my nervous energy. And there definitely wasn’t enough in the boring beige walls and acoustic ceiling tile behind me to keep my mind busy.
What if Miles had recognized me yesterday? What if that was why he’d chosen me?
Worse, what if he didn’t recognize me yesterday but did today?
I didn’t want to deal with either scenario. I absolutely did not want him to see Gabi Jones. Only the most distantly polite version of Elle Jones possible. I wanted a third scenario to be true: Miles hadn’t recognized me yesterday, wouldn’t today, and would be bored enough with my services that he’d pick another agent or firm.
Maybe running through my affirmations would help. Normally, I focused on business, repeating the outcome I wanted, or naming my goals. Stuff like, “I will close this deal.” Or “I will make my second quarter goals.” Simple ideas that I repeated until they felt inevitable. I’d listened to a metric ton of self-help and sales psychology books that said to do this, and so far, I was meeting all my goals. It basically boiled