After their graduation trip, Paige and Emily sat down to look at the budget before they started apartment hunting. Because they had both gotten athletic scholarships for their undergraduate studies, and Emily lived at home and worked part time while she earned her master's degree, they had almost no student-loan debt. Their cars were both paid off, but both had a lot of miles on them. Since they were going to live in Philadelphia, where limited parking and the ease of getting around on foot or on public transportation made it easier to get by without a car, they decided to sell or trade-in both of their cars and get a used car with fewer miles, for emergencies, trips out of town, and nights when Paige had to stay late at the office.

"So, we should be in pretty good shape?" Emily said it as a question; optimistic, but seeking confirmation.

"We're in very good shape," Paige affirmed.

"And, you've got to think that the amount of rent that we can get for a whole house Rosewood should be enough to cover a nice apartment in Philly."

"Well, it's not quite that simple," Paige said. "Remember, we still have to make mortgage payments on our house."

"Oh, yeah," Emily said, her optimism fading. "Are we going to be able to afford to live in the city?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah, we can afford it. You know, my company gave me that relocation bonus for coming back from San Francisco, and that covered my mortgage payments for six months. I kept paying down the principal, so we're ahead. And we can find some ways to save money, so that we can afford a reasonable rent payment."

Emily sighed. "Paige, I can get a part-time job. My parents raised me to be a hard worker!"

Paige squeezed Emily's hands. "I know, Em. But, as I said, I'd like for us to budget ourselves so that we can live on one income. It's always best to budget for less than you have. That way, when the unexpected happens, you don't go under."

"Okay, but…" Emily shook her head.

"But what, Emily?"

Emily knew that she could tell Paige anything, even if it sounded selfish. "But will we still be able to afford to have fun? I mean, it would be a shame to live in Philadelphia just to be able to say that we live there, and not be able afford to take advantage of all of the fun things about living in a city every once in a while - the restaurants, the clubs, the shows..."

"Yeah," Paige said, smiling into Emily's eyes. "You're absolutely right. And I don't think that it's going to be a problem. But, if it is, we'll adjust, you know? I think that we can do it without dipping into your income, but, if it ends up that we're just living like misers, counting every penny, we'll recalibrate. As long as we're putting money in savings every month. That's the important thing."

Emily rubbed Paige's shoulder and said, "Okay," softly.

"So," Paige said slapping her hands on the table in an attempt to restore the enthusiasm to the conversation, "Are you ready to look at some apartments?"

Paige spoke with some of her co-workers who lived in Philadelphia and arranged for them to show Emily and her around their buildings before they started talking to any of the buildings' leasing agents. There were a lot of factors to consider: Neighborhoods, parking, amenities, the type of space, the type of building, and, of course, cost.

They ended up getting a loft in a converted warehouse in Old City, not far from the Delaware River. They didn't have a pool, but they had a view of the water. When the weather was nice, they could move their work-outs outdoors, running the Ben Franklin Bridge instead of a treadmill. Another benefit in the summers that they could see the fireworks from Campbell Field, after the Camden Riversharks' baseball games.

Hanna was adamant that she should be the first person to see their new place. "After all," she insisted, "if it weren't for me, you two losers would never have gotten together in the first place!"

Paige and Emily couldn't really argue with that, and, besides, no one else was campaigning to be the first to see their place, so they arranged to meet Hanna for brunch at Sabrina's in the Italian Market section of the city. It was the original location that the owners of the Sabrina's where Hanna and Emily went for brunch with Paige when they ran into her in the city, before Paige and Emily got together, opened. This location was closer to their loft apartment, and had a different energy; younger and hipper.

"Whoa!" Hanna exclaimed once they got back to the apartment after brunch. "This place is so Boho!" Hanna put her hand on Paige's shoulder, batting her eyelids at her. "Paige, Emily can pull this off, but you're going to have to up your hipster game if you're planning to live in this neighborhood!"

"That's why I have Emily in my life," Paige said, pulling Emily in from the side for a hug. "She helps me up my hipster game."

Hanna rolled her eyes. She took Emily by the hand to explore the apartment. It was an open-plan loft, with one giant room sectioned off into a living area, a dinette, and a large, modern kitchen. On the other side of the interior wall was a single bedroom connected to a bathroom, and a storage area. There were six massive windows, fourteen feet tall by six feet wide, sheathed in pale parachute-like curtains that came with the apartment. "We've got to do something about that, girl!"

By the time Hanna and Emily completed their circuit of the apartment, Hanna had come up with a pretty extensive shopping list. "Your fiancée and I are going to go pick up some things," Hanna announced. "You can come if you want, but…" Paige put her palms up at shoulder-height, shaking her head. She didn't mind shopping with Emily, but she wasn't quite ready to find out whether or not all of Spencer's horror stories about shopping with Hanna were true.

When Emily kissed Paige good-bye, she said, "It's probably going to go over $250, Paige."

Paige gave her the thumbs up. "Go for it!"

Paige and Emily established a rule: Neither one would spend more than $250 without getting the other's consent. It had been Emily's idea. As much as Paige told her that they had everything in common, Emily couldn't help thinking about the fact that money is what breaks up most couples, and she wanted to be sure that they kept themselves accountable to each other.

The exception to this rule was gifts. In order to be able to keep gifts a surprise, they were allowed to spend more than $250 without consulting the other, but this was more or less a formality. Neither of them was likely to spend more than $250 on gifts for the other.

Hanna and Emily returned hours later, laden down with home decorating supplies. Paige had started on dinner for the rest of the girls, who were set to arrive later in the evening. Hanna and Emily got to work doing as much as they could before dinner. Unfortunately, replacing the horrible curtains would have to wait until they had more time, more help, and a ladder.

The apartment was a big hit with Aria and Spencer. Hanna showed them around as if it were her place – or she were the third roommate - while Paige and Emily got dinner on the table. Afterwards, everyone relaxed on the couch with a round of coffee. They talked about mainly about Paige and Emily: What it was like living in Philadelphia, Emily's new job, and the plans for decorating the new apartment.

It got late, and Aria and Spencer got ready to say good night. Hanna, of course, was sleeping over. She wanted to be their first sleepover guest. "But I don't want to be the first one who has to bang on the walls because you guys are going at it too loud," she warned them, adding, "Hashtag, 'chill out lovebirds.' "

"Do we wake her?" Paige whispered.

"Good luck trying."

"So, we leave her?"

"Yeah. Leave her. We'll just bring her back a muffin and some coffee."

"Good," Paige said. "I think I've had enough of the H Train for one weekend."

"I can hear you, you know," Hanna rasped.

"Oops," Paige said with a shrug of her shoulders, not feeling guilty at all.

"It's okay, Paigey," Hanna said smugly as she snuggled back into the couch. "I know that you love me."

Ezra moved into Paige and Emily's house in Rosewood and, over the course of a few months, Aria moved in with him. Ezra and Aria made it known that Paige and Emily were always welcome to come by and use the pool, and the pool became a feature of many of their long-weekend trips to Rosewood over the summer.

Paige and Emily had a little over a month to make their loft into a home before Emily started work. Like most schools in Philadelphia, Arch Street Academy opened the day after Labor Day. Emily was eager to get her classroom supplies and decorate her room. "Anyone would think that you're one of the students, the way that you're preparing for the first day of school!"

Living with an elementary school teacher was an eye-opening experience for Paige. She had never stopped to think how much of their own money schoolteachers pour into classroom supplies and decorations, especially at a small, private school like Emily's. She had also never considered how much time teachers spend working outside the classroom - grading papers and putting report cards together. But the biggest shock that came with Emily's job was how much Paige missed their Wednesday lunches together. Even after they moved in together, and after they moved to Philadelphia, they had kept up the tradition of going out for lunch on Wednesdays.

Paige, who liked to tease Emily about the fact that she got to slack off in the summers, found herself looking forward to those summer, when Emily didn't have to work and they could go back to their Wednesday dates. Summer had never been Paige's favorite season, growing up in Miami. That was one of the reasons that she had taken a job up north. In Miami, summer meant oppressive heat and hordes of tourists. Now that summer meant the resumption of her Wednesday dates with Emily, it became Paige's favorite season.

Emily called Paige's office when she got home from school on a Monday afternoon. The end of the school year – Emily's first year as a teacher – was approaching, their wedding plans were in full swing, and they needed a break.

"Hey, Beautiful," Paige said enthusiastically when she picked up her cell phone.

"Hey! Is this a good time to talk?" Emily was still a little leery of calling Paige at work. Even though it had never been a problem with Paige, Emily couldn't help remembering how poorly Samara reacted whenever Emily disturbed her at the office.

"It's always a good time when it's you on the line! Did you get it?"

"I got it! Are you still free?"

"I'm still free!"

"Oh, terrific!" Emily was beaming. "Okay, I just wanted to let you know! I'll see you in a little bit. I love you!"

"I love you, too, Em. I can't wait for this weekend."

Emily had become friends with one of the counselors at her school. As the summer approached, Emily talked with her about how much she loved the shore. Emily reminisced about spending time at Spencer's parents' place in South Jersey, and mentioned that she and Paige would like to find a rental themselves. Her friend told her that her parents had a place on Long Beach Island that was free in the first weeks of summer, and that she and Paige were welcome to spend a weekend there.

When Friday came around, Paige and Emily were bubbling over with excitement for the weekend. Paige's enthusiasm quickly waned when she got her introduction to something that she had never encountered before: Shore traffic. Emily had grown accustomed to it growing up and was able to deal with it. She just turned the radio up and started a dance party in the car. It was a dance party of one for most of the trip, but she finally got Paige to play along for the tail end of the trip.

Still, Paige wasn't in the best of moods when they finally got to the house. "This place could use a couple of coats of paint," she said, as soon as they pulled into the long, gravel driveway beside the house.

Emily shrugged. "It'll be fine. We're not dong a photo-shoot with it," she pointed out, rubbing Paige's stomach as they walked up to the door. "We're just staying here for the weekend."

"How do we even get to the beach from here?" Paige naïvely thought that all shore houses were right on the beach, the way that Spencer's family's house was.

"It's a couple of blocks…" Emily looked around to get her bearings, "that way," she said. "And they left us their residents' beach tags," she added, still enthusiastic.

Paige found more things to criticize once they got inside. Emily's recurring themes were that the place was free, and that they were lucky to have a place where they could get away together for the weekend. She was determined not to be deterred by Paige's critical attitude. She was confident that Paige would come around, eventually.

After they got all of their luggage put away, they got changed, and Emily took Paige for a walk along the beach. Even though they had run into a lot of shore traffic, the section of the beach near the was relatively quiet. The sand was shimmering in the twilight, and it didn't take long for Paige to fall under the spell of the ocean and her fiancée. They stopped under and empty lifeguard station and Paige kissed Emily gently as she held her close. Emily smiled at the fact that Paige had decided to relax and enjoy the weekend. They walked hand in hand back to the house and cuddled up next to each other on the couch.

"I'm sorry that I was so grumpy, Emily. This place is great. I'm really glad that you got it for us. I hope that you don't think that I'm ungrateful for it."

Emily smiled weakly. "Do you really like it?"

"I really do. I'm not just saying that."

"Great," Emily said shyly as she sat up and put a bit of distance between Paige and her. "Because it's ours. I.. kind of… bought it."

Paige laughed out loud, knowing that Emily was joking. Emily had turned her body away from her, and Paige assumed that it was because Emily couldn't keep a straight face after what she said.

When she heard Paige laugh, Emily turned to face her, with a look that was a mixture of sorrow, guilt, and a little bit of fear. She was biting the tip of her little finger.

"Wait, are you serious?" Paige hugged Emily, laughing now with joy over the fact that they had a house at the shore. "You bought us a shore house?" Emily nodded tentatively. "How is that even possible?"

Emily explained that her friends' parents had inherited the house when one of her uncles passed away. Her parents lived out west, and they had no interest in the house. They were trying to find someone who would buy it, and all that they wanted was the $24,000 in taxes that were due on the house. "So," she explained, still having a hard time looking Paige in the eye, "I wrote her a check for $2,500, as the downpayment. But she said that she'd hold onto the check till I talked it over with you. I mean, I know we're supposed to talk it over before we spend more than $250, but this could be like a wedding gift?" Emily took hold of Paige's hands, pleading with her eyes.

Paige needed more than just Emily's hands. She held Emily incredibly tight, kissing her with all she had. "Emily, you're amazing. Incredible. You're unbelievable."

"I know that it needs a lot of work," Emily said, as she shifted position in Paige's arms, "but I thought that we could do a little bit at a time. And we'll have lots of help. My Dad said that he can come down, and Hanna, Aria, Spencer and the guys will probably want to come, too."

"I can't believe that you got us a house!" Emily saw tears starting to form in Paige's eyes and wiped them away with her fingers. "God, Emily – you really do make my dreams come true!" Paige kissed Emily's forehead.

"So you're not mad? It means that we have to take out another loan…"

"Oh, that's nothing. $25,000? We can take that from our retirement account and pay ourselves back with interest." Paige sensed that she was starting to get all geeked-out over accounting again, so she reined herself in. "We've got a shore place!" she yelled, pumping her fists in the air. Emily was finally able to relax. She had been sure that things would work out, but she didn't like doing anything behind Paige's back. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Emily smiled. That was a question that she knew the answer to. "You came back to me," she said with a sweet kiss.

"So, you know what this means," Paige said after things calmed down.

Emily sighed. "What does it mean, Paige?" she asked mechanically. She wasn't sure where Paige's mind was going, but she could tell from the way that she wiggled her eyebrows that it involved some kind of innuendo.

"It means eight new rooms for us to christen!"

Emily raised her fists to the sky and threw her head back, yelling in mock-frustration, "Hanna!"