Page 141 of Levi

She turns to smile at her friend. “What do you think, Allison?”

Allison grabs her arm. “Do it! Buy the house and hurry because we need to go back to Seaside to buy something to wear. Oh my God!”

Caroline looks at me, and somewhere in there the meter stops running and starts printing a receipt.

“Draw it up,” she says. “I’ve never bought a house and a Saturday night in the same hour.”

Jonathan exhales through his nose. “I’ll call my office,” he says, and goes to the kitchen to make it real.

Caroline’s gone to the glass at last, Allison already texting everyone she’s ever met. The lawyers will take the week. But the deal is done. She decided and I’ve got it. Won in a staged living room with the same trick I close everything else with.

Find the thing everyone’s calling a problem and put a price on it.

I take out my phone and text Levi.

Dante: I need a big favor.

Levi: Anything.

Dante: I promised the buyer VIP passes to your show tonight to close it. Is that possible short notice?

Levi: Done. Where are you? How many do you need?

Dante: The house. Three passes.

Levi: I’ll have somebody drop them off in a half-hour. Is one for you?

Dante: Only if you want me there.

Levi: I do. They’re on their way.

I walk outside to my SUV and reach into the backseat. An expensive bottle of French champagne rides in a cooler, with four crystal glasses in a fitted case. A deal this size deserves a celebration. I carry it all back inside.

“While we wait on your passes,” I say to the ladies, holding up the bottle, “champagne on the terrace?”

Allison makes the delighted sound again. Caroline glances at the bottle, then at me, and awards me the first full smile of the morning. “You keep chilled champagne in your car?”

“You’re not my first closing, Mrs. Taylor. But you’re the biggest. A celebration is in order, don’t you think?”

The four of us sit on the terrace of a twenty-million-dollar house with dark thunderclouds building offshore, drinking champagne, while Allison photographs everything.

The courier comes up the drive inside the half hour, hands me a padded envelope, and is gone before the glasses are empty. Three VIP passes on lanyards. I knew without asking that Jonathan has zero interest in Lee Streeter. He’s already counting money.

I hand two across the table. “VIP section for the concert.” I take the third lanyard for myself.

I send them on their way happy. Caroline pauses at the door with her hand out again, and this shake is different from the first one. “Good morning’s work, Dante. It’s been a pleasure.”

“The pleasure has been all mine, Caroline.”

There it is, all of it, clean and closed.

And the main thing on my mind is Levi. I’ll be at the venue tonight. The pass puts me through the VIP gate.

I text him again as soon as they’re gone.

Dante: We did it. She’s buying.

Levi: Congrats! Knew you would.