4. Jay

4

JAY

A fter dropping off Sam at school for eight in the morning, I headed to the office. Thank God Pam was there to field phone calls and organize my life. She'd been with me for the last six years and had been a stellar find. There was always too much to do in this business. Setting up appointments for the rest of the week, preparing sales offers, working on clients who might give me their house to sell, and prepping my calendar; the list of chores went on and on. I didn't really want to admit it, but I desperately needed Pam.

I was also severely distracted by Cade Ivanov. I kept revisiting the photos saved in my phone. There may have even been some late night, self-love inspired by a certain ghost-busting individual after Sam had gone to bed.

Not only did the man beg a bucket-full of questions regarding his job, but the idea of him sitting across the desk from me already had me hot under the collar.

I needed to cool my jets. Physically, he was everything I looked for in a guy, but I didn't know him from a hole in the ground. He might be Prince Charming to look at, but he could easily be the ugly stepsister in the personality department.

I doubted it, but you never knew.

Anticipating, or perhaps hoping that Cade would be nothing but sunshine and light, I ensured the properties he had singled out were set up and confirmed. I had allotted enough time for a good tour of each, and I had compiled every possible piece of information regarding the properties in question, including a plotted-out route that made the best use of our time. We were going to start out in the city with a condo — a surprise listing that I had tucked away and not found on the current market, then the updated ranch which was literally just down the street from my home. I hoped we could have lunch at the best Chinese restaurant we have in town — they did an incredible and inexpensive lunch buffet — and then we'd drive out to the country and take a look at the two acreages.

Lunch would give me time to debrief on the first two places and get a better sense of what Cade was looking for in a home. Then after we visited the last two, I would set up a follow-up appointment with him to come back to Camrose, and we would tour more houses. Unless of course he found "the one". Hard to say. A lot of folks say the first place you see is often the home meant for you.

But the pièce de résistance was a bi-level home that had only come onto the market in the last twelve hours. Granted, the realtor who owned the listing was my competition, but the property held promise and I wanted to ensure Cade knew I was diving through every potential listing to find him the most suitable home available in the Camrose area.

"Pam," I called out.

"Yes, Jay?" She wheeled her office chair around as she looked at me with eager eyes.

She had on a low-cut blouse and proudly displayed the girls. She wasn't shy and made it known that should I ever take up an interest, she would be more than happy to reciprocate. A pentagram medallion sat nestled on her bosom.

I had never shown any interest in her overt displays of womanhood, or her obvious penchant for the occult. If she had half a second, she'd get her claws into Cade which was only one reason why I wanted her out of the office running errands.

"Could you run over to the Burgar bi-level and set it up? Stacey will have the keys at her office. It just came on the market and the lock box hasn't been put onto the property yet. Stacey knows you're coming. I called her earlier this morning."

"So, just open the house up and turn the lights on?"

"That'll be perfect. Leave the keys on the kitchen counter, then text me when you're done. We won't be there until late afternoon and at this time of the year it'll be getting dark already. I hate winter."

Sighing, she hoisted herself up from the chair and shimmied on her coat.

She left without saying a word, but I knew she'd have everything tended to for my late afternoon visit. I expected her back in the office to man the phones and internet until the shop closed up for the day.

She was a sex kitten, but she was reliable and trustworthy.

Cade showed up less than twenty minutes after Pam left. Which was perfect. It gave me time to organize myself, comb my hair, make sure I looked decent, brew a fresh pot of coffee, get the most comfortable chairs situated in the conference room, and still look like I wasn't sitting in wait anticipating the handsome bear's arrival.

The door chime sounded.

From within the conference room, I peeked my head around the corner and spied the muscled gloriousness.

"Hello, Mr. Ivanov." I came toward him with my hand extended.

He gripped my hand tightly and gave it a single, manly pump.

"Please, call me Cade." He smiled, showing gleaming white teeth and a twinkle in his eye.

"Cade it is."

"You must be Jay?"

"That I am. I'm so glad we got your phone call. Come into the conference room. I've set up everything in here. We can evaluate the listings I've chosen for today's tour. Would you like a cup of coffee? It's Kona, from Hawaii. It's cold out, and I don't live without coffee in the morning." I was rambling at this point.

Get it together, Jay. But, my God, the pictures on the internet do not do this man justice.

"Ah, thank you. Coffee would be nice." He followed me into our meeting room.

"You can hang your coat up there if you wish. How do you take your coffee?"

"Black but sweet, please?"

"No problem." I poured him a cup, then handed it to him. "There's sugar and sweetener packets on the cupboard over there." I nodded in the right direction. "So, I don't want to get too personal, but it's not often we get folks from the city wanting to relocate down here. Why the move?"

"Ah, yes. Well—" He glanced at the floor with a flush to his cheeks.

"It's okay, Cade, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I try to get to know my clients. Sometimes a little personal information helps in being able to find the perfect home."

Cade grimaced as he hung his head. "I'm guessing you know who I am?" He reached up to his throat where an unusual necklace hugged his thick neck. It looked like a blue eyeball.

"Famous ghost-busting medium?" I cocked an eyebrow and smiled.

He let out a heavy breath and pursed his lips, "Yeah, that."

"Look, I cast no judgement. Can't say as I understand, or believe, but from what I read online, you go to people's homes and help them feel more comfortable in them. Whether I believe in the bogeyman or not, the reality is, you're doing good for the people that hire you. There's no shame in that."

"Wow, I love you." Cade furrowed his brows at me. "I've never had anyone condense my occultist job into such a positive, heart-warming spin. I think you're my new best friend." He chuckled.

I smiled, somewhat sheepishly, then gestured toward a chair. "Have a seat, let's take a look at some of what I've pulled for you. Everything is set up and ready for your inspection…along with, I hope, a couple surprises."

Cade pulled the chair out, set his coffee down, then took a seat. After shifting around and getting comfortable, I handed him a pocket folder with the listings and my business card.

"Shall we review?"

"Sure." He took a sip of his coffee, then smiled. "This is really good."

"I hate shit coffee. It took me months to find this brand. I first discovered this when I went on my honeymoon years ago."

"Oh, you're married."

"Divorced. Better friends than lovers."

"Ah, that happens. Well, at least you were able to maintain a friendship with her."

"Well, we have a son together, so maintaining civility was necessary, but she's actually an awesome woman of the world. We were young and discovered we wanted different things."

Cade gave me a half-hearted smile.

I pulled out the first property listing and began to go through the details. He nodded at everything I said but failed to make eye contact with me. I couldn't tell if he wasn't happy with what I had put together, or if something else had shifted.

"Maybe it would be better if we got in the car and saw these in person?" I added.

"Sure. Let's go," he said, but the enthusiasm had evaporated.

I drove around town, taking the scenic route, trying to entice some spark of happiness back into Cade's rather stunning green eyes. "And that's the old bowling alley. We have a good bunch of people our age who are part of the mixed couple's night. That's on Tuesdays." Then, as we swung down Main Street I pointed out one of the local coffee shops. "That's Roasted. It's a coffee and cannabis shop. They have incredible pastries and pretty damn good coffee. The coffee clutch meets there every third Wednesday of the month. You might not believe it, but there's a pretty healthy LGBTQ+ crowd here."

"Wait, a gay group?" Cade perked up.

"Oh, hell, yeah. It's not the only queer activity either. I enjoy our monthly meetings."

"Ah, I thought—" His eyebrows knit together and raised as he turned and looked at me.

"I'm bi. It's been a while since I've had a fuzzy bear in my bed, but yes, bring on the boys!" I winked at him and gave him a playful bump with my elbow.

His mood instantly changed, as a smile slowly spread across his bearded face.

"That's better. You have a great smile."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm a shit. When you said you were married I instantly assumed I was moving from the city to a homophobic, small rural town. My bad. I should know better, but…" He shrugged, then flung his hands out as if surrendering, "I need to get away from the city. I wasn't looking forward to leaving the connection to the community. It's not like I go out often, but it's nice to have the option. You know?" He glanced at me, hoping I did understand.

"I get it. Listen, I won't lie. There are some real shitty people here, just like what you'd find anywhere else, but for the most part, it's a good little city, with very respectful and welcoming people. I've never had a problem. I won't lie though; the dating pool is pretty shallow." I drove as I talked. We bantered back and forth, and the original friendliness Cade had shown when he walked into my office returned.

"Looks like Camrose has all the amenities of a big city?" he asked.

I nodded a few times, "It's not bad. Honestly, I might drive into Edmonton once a month for something specific, but you can get just about everything here." I slowed the car down to a crawl and pointed toward the first property on our list. The new building housed over twenty luxury condos.

"A condo?" Cade asked.

"This is special. This isn't even on the market yet. The family contacted me last week and wanted to put it up for sale, but we're waiting for them to strip it of its contents first. It is definitely sporting a grandpa vibe right now."

Cade furrowed his brows and squinted.

I turned the car off, unbuckled my seat and had opened the car door. "Come on, let's go have a look."

I entered the condo and placed the key ring on the granite countertop in the kitchen and started to turn on a couple of lights as Cade wandered into the unit. He cautiously stepped into the living room and walked toward the bay window that had a gorgeous view of Mirror Lake. Then he paled as his eyes went wide.

"They found his body hanging from the light fixture?" he asked.

"Ah…I mean…Mr. Sinclair had terminal cancer. Nobody expected him to take his life quite the way he did, but everyone knew he was palliative. It was easier for the family to place him here where he could get regular home support?—"

Cade cut me off, "Abso-fucking-lutely not." He stormed out of the condo.

I quickly gathered the keys and shut the lights off, exited the unit, and as I shut the door and locked it, I saw Cade several feet away, leaning over, hand clutching the weird eyeball necklace, bracing himself with his other arm above his head, palm against the wall.

I went over to him.

He was hyperventilating.

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Cade, are you okay?"

"Mr. Sinclair is rather annoyed with his children for shoving him into this place when the Marler Drive residence would have continued to suffice. He would have preferred to die in the home his parents had bought."

Nothing Cade said was a lie.

Mr. Sinclair had been a curmudgeon, and the kids were desperate to get rid of the old house on Marler, and now the condo, but as it was a new build, and Cade hadn't owned property before, I thought it would be a great entrance into home ownership.

Evidently, I hadn't considered the history.

"I'm sorry, Cade. I?—"

"No, it's okay. Sometimes there's nothing there, you know? But lately, they're all around. Everywhere. It's why I came out here. To escape from the constant intrusion of their presence in my life. It's why I'm looking for a new home. Something that's barely been lived in. Less chance of history. I just want to have some alone time…and Mr. Sinclair wasn't going to give me any."

He breathed in deeply and let it all out in a rush of air.

I patted his shoulder. The muscle was tense. "Okay. I'm sorry. Let's try and find you something that will work for you. I promise, Cade, we will look at every property available to me in order to find you something ghost-free."

"I'll settle for a friendly ghost, but anything empty of the afterlife would be amazing."

I winked at him again, while pulling up on his elbow, encouraging him to stand up. "We'll find you the perfect home. Let me take you to the ranch house down the street from us. It's been kept up, is beautifully decorated, and as far as I know, completely devoid of anyone who died on premises."

Cade nodded.

I gestured to the condo building's elevators as we made our way to the next destination.

First home down, and a complete fail. I had to admit, the man knew more about the history of the home than he should have, or what would have been available in the newspapers. I'd only known because of connections within the community, and well, gossip.

Perhaps this ghost-busting thing wasn't as hooey as I had originally thought.