May 2017

"So Callie, have you found any places that are promising yet?" Ben asked as he plopped mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Not yet. Shannon's been helping me," she replied. "But its so much harder than I thought it would be. Its so freaking competitive."

"I looked for my place for six months," Shannon offered. "And this was before every influencer and their mother was flocking to L.A."

"The place in Long Beach is opening up shortly," Ben offered. "You're welcome to stay there."

Callie shook her head. "No. I need to be closer to the city and the studios. Plus, I couldn't take money from you."

"You're assuming I wouldn't charge you rent?" Ben asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

Callie rolled her eyes. "Its really the location. Long Beach is really out of the way for me. Its not close to the studio or my friends. But thanks for the offer," she said.

Shannon's phone vibrated in his pocket and he shifted in his seat to check it. "Huh," he said simply.

"What?" Callie asked, leaning closer to him.

He steeled himself against the smell of citrus from her shampoo. "My mom just sent over a listing she found in Sherman Oaks. A few blocks off Ventura." He handed her his phone and looked over her shoulder as she flicked through the interior images. "Its a midcentury modern place - like mine. Looks like its in pretty good shape."

"For 1.4 million it fucking better be!" Callie exclaimed. She sighed and handed him his phone back. "I'm never going to be able to afford to buy a place where I need to be."

"Sherman Oaks is a nice place to live, Cal," Ben interjected. "Frankly, I'd feel better about you living there than living in Santa Monica."

"I know," she said in exasperation. "But I'll need to sell both of my kidneys and rent out my uterus several times to afford anything decent on my own."

"I know a guy that can help with the kidney part," Jonny joked from the other side of the dining table.

Callie rolled her eyes and glared at her sister. "Thanks," she replied sarcastically.

"You know Cal, I've actually been thinking about expanding further into the L.A. area with properties," Ben offered. "I know you said you didn't want to live in one of my houses, but what if I kicked in some money to find a great place and then bought you out in a few years' time?"

"That's not actually a bad idea, Cal," Shannon said.

"This way you'd get a decent place to live and in a few years when you can afford a nicer place of your own, I can take over and then it'll be added to my properties," Ben continued. "Plus, I'll have you there to manage it and with any luck when you decide to sell, you'll be famous enough to allow me to charge more rent," he added with a teasing tone.

Callie considered the offer for a second, pushing peas across her plate. "Its not that I don't appreciate the offer, Dad," she started. "Its just that if you put money in, it won't feel like my house. It'll feel like I'm living in your house again, like I'm a teenager."

"To be fair, Cal, its not like you can't afford these places," Shannon said. "You just don't want to spend that much."

"Its not like I'm rolling in the cash, Shannon," Callie answered. "I've had a few roles that have made me stand out. I don't have enough money to afford a long term investment of that size, especially if I can't get work."

"What if I was a silent investor? And I split the profits with you?" Ben suggested. "What if we went in on a place together - equally - and you get all the decision-making power for remodels or anything like that. Then if you ever decide to move, I will take over managing it for renters? Or, in a few years you can repay me for my half. If you move, you'll get half the profits and won't have to worry about a thing."

"And if I end up becoming an irrelevant has-been?" she asked.

"I'll buy you out and you can use it to buy yourself a nice cardboard box to live under an overpass in the nice part of town," Ben joked, sticking his tongue out at her.

Callie relented. "Fine! Fine," she said, throwing her hands up in defeat. "You win. But I don't know how the hell you can afford to put any money toward a house in Los Angeles. You could barely cover Avril's tuition without Keanu's help."

"I sold the building on National in Logan Heights," Ben said. "I have more than enough money to pay Keanu back and help you out with a new property."

"But I thought you loved that building?" Callie asked in disbelief. "I thought the retail space was exactly what you wanted."

"It was...five years ago. Now I want to focus more on residential properties. I think its easier to manage than commercial. The garage is doing so well, I'm actually thinking of expanding into Los Angeles anyways. If I can find a place that works and things do well, I'm going to leave Eddie in charge of the one down here and try my luck in sunny Los Angeles," Ben explained.

"I didn't realize you'd been planning all of this for so long," Callie said slowly.

"I haven't made any concrete plans," her father replied. "I've been thinking a lot and slowly looking for the right opportunity to make some moves. But its definitely not a done deal or solid plan. It just doesn't make much sense to stay in this big house once Jonny goes to college."

Jonny snorted. "You're assuming I'm going to college. That's funny."

A withering glare from Ben cut her laughter short. "Well you're not staying here with me until you're thirty. So it makes sense to downsize. And since it seems like all of my kids are moving out of the area, it doesn't make sense to stay here."

"What about Mamie?" Callie asked. "You can't seriously think she'd be okay with moving at this point in her life. All her friends are here."

"That's another thing - Mamie doesn't want to stay here any longer than necessary either," Ben said softly. "For the longest time, her entire life focused around you girls. But now that you're grown up, you don't need her as much. She's been thinking about getting a smaller place. Or even moving back to France."

Shannon looked between Callie and Jonny, trying to gauge their reactions. Mamie was essentially their mother. It would be like losing a mom all over again for Callie if Mamie moved.

"No," Callie said after a second. "I'll only accept your offer if you look at places that allow her to move in with you."

"Cal, maybe now isn't the best time to have this conversation," Shannon said softly. "Let's take a break, okay? The important thing is that you're getting the money for the house and we can start looking at new places."

Callie nodded, but didn't say anything.

"So Shannon, how is Seattle treating you?" Ben asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's great. A little less sunny, but its nice to have so much more clean air around and to be so close to nature and all that," Shannon replied, taking a sip of his water.

"Avril will have to get used to the clouds then," Ben said.

"Why?"

"She's transferring to the University of Washington for next year," Ben explained. "I guess they have a program she really likes, so she's moving there."

"That's great! I think she'll really like it up there," Shannon said with a smile. He could still feel the annoyance dripping off Callie, but he chose to ignore it. "Is she living on campus?"

"I'm not sure yet. I think she's trying to figure out if she can afford living on her own or if she wants to try to live on campus," Ben said.

"Well, if she wants to, I have extra space in my place," Shannon offered. "I'm happy to have her stay with me until she finds a place if she doesn't end up living on campus. Or hell, she could even stay with me for the entire year. I don't care. I won't even be there for a few weeks in the fall."

Ben smiled. "You sure? A bunch of college kids cramping your style?"

"It'll just be the one, right?" Shannon asked. "It doesn't bother me."

"I'll let her know. She'll be happy to hear it," Ben said.

Shannon looked over at Callie, who still seemed caught in her own world. "Well, we should get back to the city," he said, standing to clear his plate. "Traffic is going to be murder if we wait any longer."

After hasty goodbyes and promises to call to set up a time for house tours, Callie and Shannon left.

***

A few days later, Callie, Shannon, Connie, Ben, and Jess from the real estate office were standing outside a house in the Hollywood Hills near Laurel Canyon.

"This is a three bed, two bath, 1,783 square foot ranch style home built in 1952," Jess said. "It is listed at $2.35 million, but I'm confident we can get it down to $1.95. It needs quite a bit of renovation to modernize it. Its really quite a steal for this neighborhood."

"Great - let's get inside," Ben said.

The realtor led them through the gated entry and up wide brick steps to the front door. The house was all light brown stucco and dark brown wood accents with red brick pathways that had been faded with time. Mature trees surrounded the lot and a high fence hid most of the lot from the street - not that anyone was going to stumble across this house, hidden up in the hills on a narrow winding road.

"This house has original hard wood floors, but they'll need to be refinished," Jess continued, leading them into the front room of the house. "Being that this is an older home, many of the rooms are smaller and cut off, but it offers a perfect opportunity to customize and make it yours. "

Their foot steps echoed in the empty rooms. They were greeted by a large fire place that looked dated, but suited the house.

"This is your front room, living room, whatever you'd use it for. The fireplace is fully functional, but the current owners haven't used it in a few years. Behind it, the dining area with large French doors that open to the patio and back yard area," Jess said as she guided them through the home. "The kitchen is just through there and it has been updated," she added.

"When? In the nineties?" Callie asked with a chuckle.

She wasn't wrong. The kitchen was all beige and stainless steel and really needed a facelift.

"The layout and flow is good though," Connie offered. "And it has great natural light."

"I don't mind it actually. New cabinet fronts and hardware and it'll look loads better," Callie said, surveying the room.

"And this is where you could open the space up a bit more," Jess offered. "The kitchen was designed to be an eat-in, but the dining room is literally right over there. You could open the room up and even extend the kitchen a bit more if you wanted to. Or turn this into a little office area."

They made their way through the kitchen and out onto the patio. The summer breeze blew gently through the trees.

"The pool is heated, but would probably need to be serviced. The current owners really haven't used it in some time," Jess offered. "But you can see - loads of space for a house in this neighborhood. Plenty of outdoor entertaining space and room for the dog to run around."

"Not a lot of grass though," Callie said disapprovingly. "Right now he has a small yard to run in, but at least he has grass."

"You could certainly rip up some of the patio and put some in if you like," Jess said.

Slowly, they made their way through the house to two bedrooms and one bathroom.

"I thought there were three bedrooms?" Callie asked.

"There are," Jess said with a conspiratorial smile. "Along there," she pointed to a narrow brick walkway along the side of the house. "Is an in-law suite or guest suite. It has its own en suite and a kitchenette. The current owners put it in to give their kids a place to stay when they came back to visit."

Callie led the way down to the double doors with a "Rodeo Drive" street sign tacked above them. A large Spanish-style fireplace with blue tile held court on one wall while a rainforest themed wall paper clashed on the opposite wall. A kitchenette stood in a nook with small windows and an en suite bathroom could be seen through an open door. The room was dark, but it could be remedied with some bright lighting.

"Aside from the offensive wall paper, its not that bad," he said. "It would be a great space to use for whatever you wanted."

"I know," Callie beamed. "I really like it."

"It has great potential and this seller is interested in selling quickly," Jess said, consulting her notes. "I'd suggest coming in at 1.8 even and going from there."

"We'll take it," Callie said decisively.

"It'll be a bit of work, but we can definitely fix it up," Ben said. "Its a great investment."

Shannon nodded, happy to have finally found something Callie liked. The house had its quirks and it reminded him of Jared's first Los Angeles house in a similar area. It was quirky but had its charm. He was most excited about the fact that Callie would be closer to him whenever he came back for a visit.