Read Online The Girl From Home by Adam Mitzner - Free Book Online

taking Jonathan and Natasha on as clients because their thirteen-million-dollar budget wasn’t worth his time. His exact words were that he doesn’t work with HENRYs—those who are “High Earners, Not Rich Yet.” He changed his mind upon meeting Natasha, a result she effected in most men, including, apparently, those who are gay, as she claimed Harrison to be.
    â€œIs it on the ocean?” Jonathan asks.
    Oceanfront real estate in East Hampton is the latest status marker Jonathan is determined to possess. It has been an ever-expanding list through the years, along with exponentially increasing price tags. Six-thousand-dollar Brioni suits gave way to the need for a fifty-thousand-dollar Lange & Söhne chronograph wristwatch, and then a $250,000 Bentley (which he leased because cars are a depreciating asset). More recently, he’s required an eight-million-dollar penthouse and expensive artwork to put on its walls. And now he simply cannot live without an oceanfront home in East Hampton.
    â€œNo, but he says that it has an amazing view, and a pool and a tennis court.”
    â€œUh-uh. If we’re going to buy, it’s got to be on the ocean.”
    I’m sorry, but I want what I want .
    â€œThen you’re going to have to buy in 2008,” Natasha says, “because Harrison says that there’s no way we’re going to see the ocean in our price range. Not in East Hampton, at least. If we go more west, maybe . . .”
    â€œNo, I don’t want to do that. East Hampton is where we need to be.”
    â€œPlease. Will you at least just see the house that Harrison is talking about?”
    Jonathan sighs. He knows he’s not going to win this fight. “When?”
    â€œSunday.”
    â€œOkay,” he says. “But no compromising.”
    *  *  *
    Harrison Kaye’s Rolls-Royce actually has vanity plates that read Brkr2stars .
    â€œSo, this house that we’re going to see. It’s being sold by a close personal friend of mine,” Harrison says, looking in the rearview mirror to catch Jonathan’s eye. “I’m not at liberty to say who it is, but she’s an Emmy Award–winning actress. Hell, you’ll figure it out by the pictures, anyway. Claire Danes. You know, from Homelan d ? There, I said it. Anyway, Claire and Hugh Dancy—that’s her husband, and he’s an actor, too. He did something on Broadway a few years ago, and he’s been in some movies, but I can never remember which ones, which is kind of embarrassing because, you know, I see them like all the time. Well, long story short, they already closed on something else and they want to sell before the summer because last summer they rented this place out and they had, let’s just say, a less than ideal experience.”
    Jonathan’s more than happy that Natasha is riding shotgun, because it allows him to tune out Harrison’s babbling. Natasha was clearly right about Harrison’s sexual orientation. Jonathan can’t imagine any straight man being caught dead wearing a pink shirt with matching pink pants, which is Harrison’s getup today.
    â€œSo, Jonathan,” Harrison continues, “like I told Natasha, this place won’t hit the market until next week. But then it’s going to sell in one day. That’s why this is such a great opportunity. You can snatch it up before it’s even officially for sale.”
    The driveway is lined with white pebbles that rattle around the underside of the Rolls. In the distance sits a modernist structure, all glass and angles, even though Jonathan had made it clear he wanted something traditional.
    When they alight from the car, Jonathan signals his displeasure to Natasha with a scowl. Natasha has apparently gotten this message, because she leans into him and whispers, “Oh, come on. Just keep an open mind. Okay?”
    â€œHow much?” Jonathan says to Harrison,