‘Do you love it?’ I asked, sliding across the empty hardwood floors with a huge grin on my face. Jean looked at me with a frown.
‘It’s okay, I guess?’
‘Okay?!’ I asked, bewildered. ‘It’s incredible! Hardwood floors! Four bedrooms, two baths! A five-minute walk to the train station, a ten-minute commute to the city! And under our budget!’
She shrugged, a frown still firmly attached as she glanced around the room.
‘Jean,’ I pleaded, all but falling to my knees. ‘I saw a baby bird in a tree out there. I took a picture. It was literally picturesque.’
‘Birds are loud,’ she said.
‘You know we currently live next to a construction site, right?’
‘I find the jackhammers quite soothing, actually,’ she murmured, not able to make eye contact with me.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked her, my turn to frown. ‘Why don’t you like it?’
‘You’re going to think it’s stupid.’
‘Quite possibly,’ I grinned. ‘Tell me anyway.’
She worked up her courage with a deep breath, then let it out in one go: ‘Foxtelbox.’
‘What?’
‘The Foxtel box,’ she elaborated. ‘I paid good money for my Foxtel box at my current place.’
‘And that’s a problem because…’
‘Because I don’t want to give it up. You know how much I like my Foxtel.’
‘Just get it moved,’ I laughed. She frowned at me.
‘What?’
‘Get it moved!’ I said, still chuckling. ‘There are companies that do Foxtel relocations around Melbourne. It’s not that big of a deal.’
‘Won’t that be expensive?’ she asked.
‘Not as expensive as getting a new one,’ I shrugged. ‘Or how expensive it’s gonna be when I eventually break that jackhammer.’
‘So you’re telling me–’
‘Jean, I promise you, it’s not that hard. Some people will just come around and do the whole Foxtel cable installation.’
‘In that case…’ she said, a grin beginning to widen across her face.
‘We can make an offer?’
‘Let’s do it!’
We ran to each other, hugging excitedly in the middle of the room.
‘Those birds do have to go, though,’ she whispered in my ear.