Chapter 38: Because it's gonna feel like heaven when we're home
You thought Kate and Gladys were serious about finding a house before, but that has nothing on the renewed vigor the two of them throw into the search the next day. By the weekend you're definitely regretting giving them the go-ahead. Or you would be, if it wasn't for the way Kate's eyes shine when she looks at you.
On Friday afternoon you both clock out early and Kate walks you to a real estate office where an agent drags you around to house after house and while you could afford each of them, you wouldn't want to live in any of them. Some of them don't even have electricity. Getting your own house should be better than this, it should be like the feeling you had standing outside that cottage in the stupid film reel. Instead it feels like trudging through the relics of other people's empty lives.
By the third one Kate is still trying to be optimistic but you know she can tell just how much you don't want to be doing this right now. You've been polite but she knows you well enough to know that you're disappointed. She asks, before you go in, if you'd rather try to get a loan, get something more upmarket, but you shake your head. The wheels are in motion already, and you'd rather be free and clear, once you find a house that isn't distressingly full of mold.
The third house has no washroom, just a shack with a hole in the floor. When you leave, you can tell Kate's mood is dropping so you try to prop her up with a smile. She smiles back, and this might not be impossible after all.
The fourth house is worse than any of the others and you decide to go home without looking at the last one on your list. It's on the other side of town and the sun is starting to set, and it'll be open again tomorrow, unlike the others. If you're lucky you'll be able to get Gladys to take you in the Packard.
You're too disappointed and upset to notice Kate shutting the door behind you.
"We don't have to do this," she starts, but you cut her off.
"Getting cold feet, huh?" you ask.
"About you? Never. But I thought it'd be… easier."
"Me too." She turns to leave but you say her name quietly and she turns back to you. "Kate," you say again, "we've only been looking for a week." She sighs and steps towards you again.
"But it feels like I've been waiting forever." She says, slipping her arms around you and resting her hands on your lower back so she can look you in the eye.
"Pretty sure I've been waiting longer than that," you remind her; she kisses you then and the way she tastes is enough to make you want to forget all about waiting for some privacy. But you pull away as quickly as you can, which is a considerable time, after all. "Can you wait just a little longer?" You ask, trying not to notice the way her hands are stroking your lower back, or the way your hands have come to rest on her neck and shoulder and are perilously close to slipping down her chest. She's breathing heavily but she nods and you're glad she did because the rooming house expands in an explosion of loud voices and shrieks and almost kills the mood.
Almost. She leans back in and when she leaves a couple of minutes later, to avoid suspicion, you find yourself pinning your hopes on that last house you haven't seen.
Author's note: Title from Wailin Jennies song. Again, you guys are fantastic, but the actual best part of my day is when I wake my cockatoo up and she's so pleased to see me that she starts dancing because I have never known anyone so excited to see me that they burst into dance upon being awoken. Reviews are a close second, though.