Rental yield?
For Seth, owning property wasn’t about financial return, but emotional return. He didn’t measure real estate in terms of square footage but in terms of lifestyle.
It was the reason he’d chosen his place on the edge of the nature preserve.
He’d seen the potential. Not for a financial killing but for a future that was good. Somewhere he could plant roots. Somewhere to make memories. And yes, somewhere to have a family one day. He still wanted that. Maybe, on one level, he’d always wanted that.
Todd was on the phone again, so Seth opened the French doors and walked onto the balcony. The house faced over dunes that sloped down to a wide sandy beach. He’d played there with his sisters, acted as referee as they’d quarreled and argued about things so small and insignificant he couldn’t even remember them.
All he heard now was the gentle hiss of the waves as they hit the sand.
He heard footsteps behind him and felt Fliss’s hand on his arm.
“That man is driving me insane. Is he really your only buyer? Because if it’s okay with you I’d like to kill him. I promise to keep the blood to a minimum. I thought I might push him off the balcony or drown him in the pool, along with that damn phone of his.”
He hadn’t thought he was capable of smiling today, but he found he was smiling. “I guess he has a job to do.”
“His job right now is to look at this
house.”
“He’s not going to buy the house, Fliss.” And it was only now, when it was obvious it wasn’t going to happen, that he realized how badly he’d wanted this part to be over. If Todd walked away, he’d be faced with endless months of dealing with a Realtor.
Strangers would tramp through the house, leaving footprints on his memories.
Fliss tapped her foot on the floor. “If he put the phone down for five minutes he might be able to focus long enough to fall in love and decide to buy it.”
“Guys like Todd Wheeler don’t fall in love with houses. He thinks only in terms of return on investment. He’s not seeing a potential home, he’s seeing eight thousand square feet of oceanfront property with easy access to a heliport.”
Fliss narrowed her eyes. “Hmm. We’ll see about that.” She stalked back into the house, leaving him with no choice but to follow.
Not that he was afraid she actually would drown Todd Wheeler in the pool, but he wouldn’t put it past her to do some damage.
She marched through two of the upstairs bedrooms before she finally tracked down Todd and Chase in a guest room overlooking the gardens.
“Excuse me.” She planted herself in front of Todd and offered up a friendly smile. “Could I talk to you for a moment?”
Seth paused just outside the doorway and saw Todd frown.
“Sure.” Then his phone rang and he glanced down at it. “I need to answer this, so if you’ll excuse me—”
“No, in fact I won’t.” Her smile fixed, Fliss removed the phone from his hand. “My advice is to make them wait. They’ll be more interested.”
Guessing that it wouldn’t do much to ingratiate himself with his buyer if he laughed, Seth moved out of sight.
He couldn’t be bothered to call Todd out, but it seemed that Fliss intended to.
“You should focus all your attention on the task at hand,” she said, “which is deciding whether or not you’re interested in this house. Because once you walk out of that door, it will all be over and let me tell you, if you lose this place you will kick yourself. And if I were your wife, and frankly I’m glad I’m not because I would never want to be in a threesome with a cell phone, I might be tempted to kick you, too. You will never again have the opportunity to own a property with as much potential as this one.”
“I’ll need to talk to an architect before I can assess that.”
“I’m not talking about its potential as a building project. I’m talking about its potential to add quality to your family life. I’m helping you to see something you don’t seem capable of seeing by yourself.”
“Look, the property is great, but it’s not the only property on the market. There are several larger beach properties I have to see.”
Seth felt a thud of disappointment. It was as he’d suspected.
“Larger?” Fliss obviously wasn’t ready to give up. “How many children do you have, Todd? Ten? Eleven?”