014 House Hunting (3)

Rose turned her ire on the Realtor who now didn't have the guts to pretend she was looking anywhere else.

Rose stormed up to her, pressing expensively manicured nails into her chest. Anna stumbled backward from the force of the push that came from a single one of Rose's fingers.

"Did you take my Goddaughter to a chicken coop?"

Anna laughed nervously, looking to Eden for support.

"It was all in good fun wasn't it Eden?" Anna said, her tone pleaded for help, she didn't want to lose her star client and potentially remove money from the company's account.

Eden stepped forward with her face like a storm cloud.

"No, it wasn't, you deliberately wasted my time, Ben's time all so you could play a prank. You tried to make a fool out of me but really the only fool here is standing right in front of me," Eden's cold words cut through Anna, she looked at the faces of both women and tried to plead.

"Let me make it up to you, there are some more houses I would-"

"No thank you, I don't think me or my Goddaughter will be working with Green Acres anymore," Rose said already turning to head towards the exit.

All of a sudden a tall man stepped out from behind one of the offices. He was about Rose's age, dressed in a form fitting suit that accentuated his broad shoulders. He had stark white hair that showed his age but very few wrinkles on his youthful face and an equally gray mustache above his lip.

The man's bespectacled gray eyes scanned the room trying to find the source of the commotion. He saw three women, one of them his Realtor, the other, his star client, and a chubby girl.

"Ladies what's the matter, we're supposed to be selling homes and making dreams come true," He said.

"Mr. Green," Anna said in a panic, she ran from Rose, trying to take refuge behind her boss. He rolled his eyes.

"Anna, not you again. I swear if this is another case of discrimination you're suspended," Mr. Green said sternly.

"W-Well,"

"It is another case of discrimination," Eden said, shooting Anna a withering look. "Unless your worker wants to tell me why she thought it would be funny to take me to houses below my budget because I didn't look classy enough for her,"

"Anna," Mr. Green said through gritted teeth.

"It was harmless, she's just taking thing too seriously you know how fat people are," Anna said brushing off her misdeeds.

"What did you just say about my God daughter?" Rose yelled about to lunge at the woman again.

Anna eep'ed and tried to hide once again only to be moved away by her boss.

"What did you just say about the client?" Mr. Green said in an exasperated tone. "How many times have I told you appearance doesn't dictate class, I've told you this on five separate occasions,"

"It seems to me that there's only one thing to do about this matter Mr. Green, either you help my God Daughter find a house in her preferred location personally or you nip this thing in the bud and fire her," Rose said pointing a finger in Anna's direction.

"What's it going to be? If you down I'll never work with you again and you know how important my business is to your housing agency,"

"Now Rose there's no need to be that way, I'm sure an apology will fix this and I will personally take you,"

"Even after she said such things to your client? You said she's done this different times. She's a liability to your company," Eden said calmly. "Mr. Green I'm not going to tell you how to run your business just as I presume you wouldn't tell me how to run mine,"

Eden looked to Anna who seemed smug that her boss would protect her from one of their return clients. She swayed on her feet like a child who had just been told off but would get no real repercussions from her actions.

It reminded her startlingly of Lily.

Eden continued.

"That woman's going to get you in trouble one day and I'd hate to see a reputable establishment like yours shut down in lieu of such a wildcard. Sure she may be a good Realtor to those who fit her standards but how many return customers or recommendations have you gotten after a client has dealt with her?" Eden finished. "Now if you could show me some apartments in downtown Meadowlark I'd appreciate it,"

Mr. Green looked to Anna who didn't have a hint of remorse on her face, now that he was here she felt like she could get away with anything. What Eden said was true, she was a liability.

Time and time again the woman had offend people both young and old, wealthy and impoverished alike. Green Acres always sought to provide homes to even the most desperate and Anna stood against that with her discriminatory ideals.

"I'll do you one better, a two for one." He turned his gaze back to Anna, "Clean out your desk, you're fired,"

Anna's mouth hung open in disbelief, she stammered then forced a business smile, spreading her arms wide as if to ask if he was serious.

"Sir, I couldn't quite hear you but it sounded like you said I should clean out my desk?"

"Yes Anna, you're done. This was the last straw. Not only did you insult the quality of our work, you insulted the client directly to her face, her God mother's face, to my face,"

Eden watched in satisfaction as Anna croaked like a frog trying to defend herself. It was almost enough to make her laugh.

"Well I'm sorry she can't take a joke," Anna said.

"You had to go and make it worse for yourself," Eden said placing a hand on her waist. "Quit embarrassing yourself,"

"Aren't you even sorry you insulted her?" Mr. Green asked. The older man stared at her with a pitying expression as if he was looking at something pathetic. Surely this couldn't have been the person he left all those people in the hands of.

Anna looked between all the faces of the people in the room. No one was on her side. Quietly she retreated to the offices to get her things.

"You'll pay for this," She spat as she left.