“I hope you like living here,” I said.
“I think I will.”
20
I soon took over most of the day-to-day activities of Gertie’s business. As planned, Gertie started an ESL-certification program as soon as Tommy had moved on, so she was happy to see me take over. I still called her in for the big negotiations, but she let me cut my teeth on the smaller deals, and, after she had approved my staging, I was in control of most of the open houses.
My new tenant gave me that dollar a month after all, at first over lunch, and then eventually over dinner. She also gave me books on poodle grooming, chess, and do-it-yourself projects, the latter being Gertie’s idea, who said that we, and by that she meant I, should look into saving money on renovations. And after some time, well, you knew it had to happen—like I said before, every story pretty much ends the same way. But I’m not going to describe that. I mean, you don’t really think that I’m the kind of guy who talks about that sort of thing, do you?
L.A. Success Page 26