American Honey

I’d gone from loving it to hating it with a passion. Finally, on a Friday morning, I turned in my resignation, and gave notice to my landlord that I’d be moving out in the next thirty days. Just as I was preparing to call my realtor and take the property at the beach off the market I received an email from him stating that an investment comp

any was interested in buying it at full price. I didn’t know how to respond.

Everything was happening so quickly. I’d quit my job, given up my apartment, and now was being offered a contract.

I looked up to the sky, desperate for answers. “What am I supposed to do now?”

It took me five hours to respond to his message. I knew I could take the money and start a new chapter in my life. Maybe this was all meant to be.

The settlement was twenty days later. I packed up my apartment and rented a U-Haul to transport it to the beach, where I was prepared to buy a small house and do some soul searching to find out what I wanted out of life. It was so weird that I’d worked so hard for my career, only to give it up once I was getting somewhere. I suppose life is all about learning, and since I’m still young I had plenty of time to figure it out.

I was nervous on the day of settlement. Aside from meeting with the attorney to put the property in my name after my aunt’s death, I was having to deal with a large investment company in a professional environment. I went out and bought a nice new dress for the occasion. After arriving early, I sat around waiting for both my realtor and the buyer to arrive. Shortly after biting half of my nails off, I saw two men walking in. One was my realtor, and the other was a man with dark hair and a close cut beard. Though he was far away, I could tell he was wearing a designer suit. In his hand was a leather brief case. I could only see his profile, but knew he was a handsome gentlemen. I looked down at my hands, pretending that I wasn’t just checking them out. This was a business deal, not a dating game.

I looked up only when they’d come into the room, giving my attention to my realtor first. Then I turned to shake hands with the buyer and got the shock of my life.

He wasn’t soaking wet, hair disheveled, and shirtless like I’d known him to look. This man was well kept, well groomed, and dressed classy. He didn’t look like someone that would ride a motorcycle with a dew rag on his head. He didn’t appear to be someone with a tattoo covering his entire back.

But it was him…

It was Reed.

He extended his hand to me, before I could address the elephant in the room. “Shawn Reed. Nice to meet you.”

I couldn’t rationalize enough to think of what to say. “Erica Swanson.”

He sat down, acting as if he’d never met me in his life. I watched as he opened up his case and pulled out a folder, never making eye contact with me.

My hands were shaking so bad while I tried to compose myself. “So you’re the buyer?”

My realtor was organizing the paperwork and looked up to answer. “Mr. Reed owns Freedom Investments.”

“Of course he does.” Finally I got his attention, and noticed a quirky half-smile forming at the corner of his lips.

“Is there a problem, Ms. Swanson?”

I folded my hands to keep them from shaking. “Yes, actually there is. Would you mind giving me and Mr. Reed a moment alone?”

“May I ask why?” My poor realtor didn’t have a clue.

“Just a few moments,” I added.

Reed put his hand on the realtor’s shoulder. “It’s fine. Just give us a minute. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Once he’d left the room and closed the door I stood up and leaned forward to be closer to the man that was suddenly sitting right in front of me, trying to buy my aunt’s home out from under me. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He folded his hands and smiled, showing his bright white teeth. “I’m making a business deal, Erica. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Seriously? I haven’t seen or heard from you since you walked out of my house, after making love to me for countless hours, and now you’re doing this? A simple phone call would have sufficed.”

“So,” he leaned back in his chair. “How have you been?”

I pointed toward him. “I’m not selling my house to you, Reed. It’s not happening.”

I sat back down and put my hands over my face, trying hard to not begin screaming at him. When the room remained quiet I looked up to see that he was reaching in his briefcase. He pulled out a folder and slid it across to me. “I had a feeling that this would happen, so I had this just in case.”

I looked up at him confused. “What’s this?”

“I’ll give you a second to read it. Take your time, Erica. It’s a big decision.”