She laughed. Ping-Pong.
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Do you play?”
“As a matter of fact, I was pretty darn good at it, back in the day.”
“We should play sometime,” he said.
Maddie drew in a sharp breath and nearly choked. She didn’t understand her reaction. He wasn’t asking her on a date.
“You two should totally play,” Schuyler urged. “In fact, I think we still have a Ping-Pong table somewhere around here. Mom never gets rid of anything. She just learns new techniques to masterfully store everything. But I digress. We should have a Ping-Pong date night. It would be so much fun. Totally retro. My money would be on Mads, though. She was pretty good at it. Or at least she was the most competitive out of all of us. She’s always hated to lose. She still does.”
Maddie impaled her sister with a look, to which Schuyler seemed oblivious.
Not true! Okay, maybe it’s a little true.
Even so, she wished Schuyler hadn’t said it.
“It’s a date, then,” Zach said. “The loser will buy the winner’s beer one Friday at the Thirsty Ox.” He turned and started walking away, but stopped and turned back. “And the loser has to tell the other winner five personal things.”
The next morning, Maddie glanced up from her computer and saw her sister Valene standing in the doorway of her office.
“Do you have a moment?” Val asked. “I have some questions about the McKinney listing on West Pine.”
Maddie’s eyes flitted to the time at the bottom of her computer screen. When she’d gotten to her desk at 7:30 this morning, her father’s executive assistant, Rae Rowley, had phoned and asked her to clear her schedule at 11:00. Maddie had been a jumble of nerves for more than three hours this morning, doing everything she could to distract herself. Why hadn’t Val come to her sooner?
The 11:00 meeting was the meeting. The one she’d been waiting for since she’d joined the firm. Probably longer than that—since she was born.
She’d been reading an email about a career day event sponsored by the local school system. She’d volunteered to share everything she knew and loved about the real estate business with elementary schoolkids, but today she was reading the material to distract herself more so than to prepare for the annual event, which was next month.
The diversion had worked because now it was 10:55.
“I’m supposed to meet with Dad in five minutes.” She smiled a knowing smile and her younger sister’s mouth fell open as realization dawned in her eyes.
“Is this about...?” Val made circles with her hands, as if she were indicating something that was too big to put into words.
“I think so,” Maddie said. “I hope so. I guess I’ll find out in about—” She glanced at the time again. “Four minutes.”
Maddie stood and gathered her leather folio and her lucky Montblanc fountain pen. It had been a gift from her father when he’d promoted her to vice president.
“I’m sorry I can’t talk right now. Unless it’s super quick and you want to walk and talk. Or we could meet later?”
“Oh, my gosh, don’t you worry one bit.” Val reached out and gave Maddie’s arm a little squeeze. “My questions can wait. This is much more important. This...” She made the all-encompassing hand circles again. “This is our future. Fortunado Real Estate’s future. And I am thrilled that I know about your promotion before anyone else.”
Maddie shrugged. “It isn’t official just yet.”
“We all know it’s coming.” Valene pulled Maddie into a hug. “Okay, chief. Go in there and show him who’s boss.”
Val let go and grimaced, shaking her head as if trying to erase the words. “Well, you probably don’t need to show Dad you’re the boss. He already knows. Oh, you know what I mean.”
Sweet Val. She was young and a little naive, but her heart was in the right place and she had such good instincts. It would be a great morale booster for her if Maddie could find some way to reward her—maybe a token promotion—after things settled down. Maddie filed that thought away to revisit soon. Right now, she had a meeting to attend.
She and Val chatted as they walked down the office’s main hall toward the formidable double doors at the end of the passageway.
“The long and short of it is the McKinneys and I are wrangling on the listing price for their house,” Val said. “They think we should ask $200,000 more than what I’m recommending for the property.”
“Did you base the price on comps in the area?” Maddie asked.
Valene shrugged. “Really, there’s nothing quite like it in the neighborhood. That’s why I need your advice. They say their home is special—”
“Everyone thinks their home is special,” Maddie said. “And I’m sure it is, to them. But at that price, we’re edging close to $185 per square foot. It would be a record for that neighborhood.”
By that time, they’d reached their dad’s office and his assistant spoke before Val could. “Your father is expecting you, Ms. Fortunado. Please go in when you’re ready.”
“Thank you, Rae,” Maddie said and turned her attention back to Val. “I’m sure they don’t want to price themselves out of the market. I’ll stop by your desk after I’m finished and we can figure it out. But I need to go. I don’t want to be late.”
She hated to leave Valene hanging, but of all people, Val knew it wasn’t a good idea to keep their father waiting. Especially not today. Besides, this was a good exercise for Val. If she was going to succeed, and Maddie had all the confidence in the world that she would, her sister needed to learn how to steer the client toward a reasonable listing price. It took practice, but she’d get the hang of it.
“No, you certainly don’t want to keep him waiting.” Val said the words with a lilting songlike quality. “Not today. Not for this meeting. Good luck.”
Maddie breathed through a hitch of anticipation that had become almost Pavlovian since her father had allowed himself to introduce the R word into his vocabulary.
Retirement.
He’d committed to it yesterday when he’d made the big announcement. Now he was about to seal the deal by putting the rest of the plan in place.
Lately, her parents had been talking about spending more time together. They wanted to travel; her father had been promising he would cut his hours. But even after the barbecue, when he hadn’t named Maddie as his successor, she wondered if he’d really go through with it. Something felt a little off. One step at a time, she’d reminded herself last night as she’d tossed and turned while reliving the announcement.
She’d never seen her mother as serious as she’d been when she’d said the cruise around the world would sail with or without him. Barbara didn’t draw lines in the sand very often, but when she did, she didn’t play. That boat was leaving on June 4, and she would be on it with or without him.
Barbara Fortunado was possibly the only thing Kenneth loved more than Fortunado Real Estate. Sure, he loved his kids, but he’d go insane if his wife was away for four months. Still, he was an all-or-nothing man. There would be no semiretirement for him. There was no way he could stay away from the office that long without making a clean break.
Even if he had sealed the deal on his retirement yesterday,