A Clean Pair of Eyes

9: Sold

SOOKIE

"Come on now, 24 is pretty low," I told the prospective buyer who was trying to steal my son's truck. I listed it high on purpose so there was wiggle room. "I'm thinking 32."

"I can't do 32. It's a good truck, I'll admit that. Y'all done good," my buyer said. Derek had money to burn and I knew it. He'd bought from me before. "I can do 26."

I knew the dance too well. We'd volley back and forth until we're finally settled. I'd drop to 31. He'd come up a grand. Eventually we'd settle on 28 or 29 thousand dollars.

"Let's cut to the chase. I can't let this go for less than 29. That's my bottom dollar," I told him.

"Not 28?"

"Nope. My son's tryin' to put money away for college. I can't cheat him."

Derek sighed and ran his hand over his mostly bald head. He hemmed and hawed for a minute.

"Okay, let's do it. I can do 29," he said, extending his hand.

I shook it and said, "Congratulations, Derek, you just bought yourself a truck."

I knew Josh was going to be happy.

Derek followed me inside to my office so we could do the paperwork and I could count the cash. We were a strictly cash business. To be safe I had Remy run it through the counterfeit finder. Derek never cheated me before, but there was a first time for everything. When all was said and done, I walked Derek out to the truck.

"Here you go. She's all yours." I turned over the keys to him.

"Sweet. Thanks, Sookie."

"You're welcome. We'll see you again." I waved as he got behind the wheel of the truck.

I was glad that was all settled.

It would take a little worry off my son's mind. He could afford a decent down payment on a new car, but still put money away for after the baby was born. I was standing in the lot when I took note of Madi coming toward me. I hadn't seen her since the doctor's appointment.

She definitely had a bump showing. I could only imagine what that was like for her at school.

"Hi, Ms. Stackhouse," she said as she approached. "Do you have a little time to talk?"

"Of course. How are you?" I motioned for her to follow me inside where there was air conditioning.

"Tired," she answered. "I want to sleep all the time. Is that normal?"

"Perfectly normal. Your body's working overtime right now. Most days I spent my lunch break napping when I was pregnant," I told her.

"I don't have anywhere comfortable to nap at school. I think I'm going to home school next year," she sighed. "I can work with my Nana if I do it."

"That might be a good idea. Once you see that little baby's face you probably won't want to leave it alone all day," I warned.

"I hope so. It's a little terrorist right now," she chuckled. "I'm hungry, but nothing sounds good. If I eat anyway and it's not happy I end up throwing up. I can't stand the smell of Josh's cologne that I used to love. I hate that my body and my senses aren't my own right now."

"I'd like to say it gets better, but it might not. Can I get you something to drink? When I was pregnant with Josh I drank Strawberry milk like it was going out of style." I didn't even like it, but he loved it.

"No thank you. I came to talk about your guest house," she told me. "Daddy said he talked to you about it?"

"Briefly. He said he was willing to let you move in there. Have you seen it from the inside?"