Not that she’d been born a blonde, like Deb. Kay was a believer in the adage that what you didn’t like about yourself, you changed. She’d also had a nose job in her twenties.
“Sorry I’m late,” Josie said with an apologetic smile as she jumped out from behind the wheel. “Slept in.” Too late, Josie realized that was a leading thing to say.
Kay’s blond tinted brows lifted in a suggestive fashion. “Really? That sounds promising. Do I take it you had a good night with Angus?”
Josie winced. What to say? Stupid to lie. But truly, she didn’t want to have some lengthy postmortem over what had happened with Angus, even with Kay. Best she get this over and done with as swiftly and painlessly as possible. “Actually, no, I didn’t.”
“Oh? What happened?”
“We ran into a former lover of his.”
“Oh dear. How awkward.”
“You have no idea. The former lover was a man.”
“What?” Kay looked almost as shocked as Josie had been at this discovery. “But…but I didn’t know Angus is gay.”
They’d both met Angus when Josie sought his services a couple of months back to revamp her company’s Web site. And both had thought him a hunk of the first order.
Kay’s shock quickly gave way to outrage. “If he is gay, then what the devil was he doing asking you out?”
“He claims he’s not gay,” Josie said dryly. “He’s just bisexual. Likes both gals and guys, often at the same time, and was I interested in a little threesome?”
Kay grimaced. “Oh, yuck.”
“My sentiments exactly.” As wild as some of Josie’s sexual fantasies were, they were always one-on-one with a heterosexual partner. Still, she had to wonder what it was about her that made Angus think she would be interested in that kind of thing. Perhaps it was the enthusiastic way she’d kissed him back on their last date. Whatever else he had been, Angus had been one very good kisser.
“I’ll bet you’re glad you kept to your no-sex-before-your-third-date rule,” Kay said ruefully before flashing Josie an alarmed glance. “You did keep to that rule with him, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Thank heavens. But last night was our third date and I was considering it. I shudder now just thinking about how close I came to an even greater disaster than my usual. I mean…I’ve picked some dud boyfriends in the past, especially in the bedroom department, but I’ve never picked a risk to my health!”
“A miss is as good as a mile.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “I’m finding it difficult to play the glad game this morning, Miss Pollyanna.”
“It’s the only way, sweetie. After all, there’s no real harm done, is there? It’s not as though you were in love with the man.”
“How do you know?”
“I remember what I was like when I first fell in love with Colin. You haven’t been like that with Angus.”
“Like what?”
“Distracted from your work. You’ll know when you’re truly in love, Josie, and so will I. Because your head will always be somewhere other than on the job. So far, in the time I’ve worked for you, that hasn’t happened.”
“No, I guess it hasn’t,” Josie conceded. “And I’m beginning to doubt if it ever will.”
“It will. There are plenty more fish in the sea.”
“That’s what you always say. But I have a feeling all the really attractive guys in Sydney are gay.”
“Rubbish! Sydney is chock full of good-looking straight guys.”
“Yeah. But they’re already married to clever women like you. And speaking of your being clever,” Josie swept on, deciding a change of subject was called for, “you’re going to have to be a very clever little decorator with this job I’ve lined up for us.”
“Oh-oh. That sounds ominous.”
“I have every confidence in you. After you’ve finished with this place, I’m sure it’ll sell for well over the reserve. Come on. Let’s go inside and I’ll show you our new challenge firsthand.” And she shepherded Kay into the square three-storey red brick apartment building which housed PPP’s new project.
“What’s the reserve price?” Kay asked with worry in her voice within a minute of stepping through the second floor apartment’s front door.
Josie gnawed at her bottom lip. She had to confess that the place looked much worse today than when she’d inspected it on Saturday. Of course, at the time, she’d been in a state of pre-date excitement. On top of that the sun had been shining, making the most of the ocean view and brightening up the starkly empty rooms.
Today was overcast in more ways than one.
“Josie?” Kay prompted as she opened and closed one of the battered kitchen cupboards.
Josie shrugged off the gathering clouds of pessimism, determined not to fall victim to such self-destructive emotion. She’d been there, done that after her divorce, and she didn’t want to go down that road again.
Admittedly, it was hard not to feel some dismay over her personal life this morning. She wouldn’t be human if she didn’t wonder and worry if she’d ever find someone even remotely close to her ideal man.
But no way was she going to let negative thinking creep into her working life. Work was the one thing she knew she could depend on. Work had always boosted her self-esteem and it gave her considerable satisfaction. Which was a lot more than any man had ever given her.
This project had been a good idea on Saturday, and it was still a good idea!
“Four hundred and ninety-five thousand,” she said with renewed conviction.
Kay swung round with wide blue eyes. “You have to be kidding. For this dump?”
“It’s not a dump in the real estate world,” Josie pointed out firmly. “It’s a two-bedroom apartment overlooking Manly Beach. A similar property sold at auction this last weekend for five hundred and seventy thousand.”
“I’ll bet it wasn’t in this condition.”
“No, of course not. Which is where we come in.”
“But you said the auction’s a week from Saturday. That hardly gives us much time. Less than two weeks…”
“It’s more than enough time,” Josie insisted. “And it’s not as though we haven’t done several similar jobs before. We have.” Property Presentation Perfect specialized in this kind of makeover.
Which was what Josie had told the real estate agent on Saturday, backing up her claims with PPP’s photographic portfolio of before and after shots. When he’d still looked doubtful, Josie had made him an offer any astute businessman could not refuse.
“If there’s no sale at the upcoming auction, there’s no fee. If the sale goes through, PPP gets a flat fee of five thousand dollars plus ten percent of the amount achieved over and above the reserve.”
Josie wouldn’t normally have offered such generous terms, but PPP was going through a bit of a slump during their second year of business. Which was one of the reasons she’d had their Web site revamped. Competition for the renovation dollar was very high in Sydney at the moment. With the proliferation of do-it-yourself shows on television, a lot of people now did their renovations themselves, rather than call in professionals.
Till business hopefully picked up again, Josie had started canvassing for work the old-fashioned way, calling on real estate agents face-to-face. She’d started with