Ainsley made a sound in his throat, and she knew this was the right track to set him upon.
“Think about it. Something on the ground floor, no steps for Fitz ever again. Especially now that he’s getting to be an old man. We’ll be close to so much culture. You can take the train to the office on the two days you’re in the office and catch up on all your podcasts. And we’ll never have to pay rent to a soul-sucking capitalist landlord again.”
She loved their status quo.
It was impossible to believe it had been several years since they’d brought Fitz home, changing their lives entirely. Ris knew it sounded like an overstatement, that she was attributing too much to one dog, but it was the truth. His little life was so tiny, his vial of sand so slight, but he’d made the biggest impact. Everything had changed.
The new normal they’d instituted on a temporary basis when he’d come home with them, insisting that being home all the timewastemporary until he’d settled in, giving him that patience and time, had morphed into something different.
They werehometogether, and rather than it feeling like a consequence of things they had cut out, it had become something they were actively choosing. So many of the things that had filled their schedules for the sake of filling them gradually dropped away. Not entirely. They still had their individual interests and hobbies, but these days, it all felt more intentional.
Chosen, rather than the luck of the draw.
Gone were the days of throwing one hundred different hobbies at the wall to see what might stick, of being afraid of silent rooms and empty corners. They still loved learning new things and regularly took workshops and classes, but they were vetted carefully, often taken together, weighing the pros and cons of both distance and travel, and how invested they truly were.
Ainsley was still in the band and had been persuaded to join the balalaika trio several times for limited engagements. He’d even tried his hand at performing solo, tiny little venues, intimate and cozy, playing the music he’d been writing in those past few years. It was softer than she expected, introspective and moody, a little bluesy, and she loved it immensely. Loved how happy it made him, more importantly.
She still did ballet in Cambric Creek and occasionally joined that studio for a jazz dance class, but she’d let go of the hot yoga and dance in the city. All of the ancillary energy she had been putting into various yoga, pottery, and language drop-ins had been funneled entirely into A Soft Place.
They still went to museums and the symphony, they still explored and experienced art, went to the farmer’s market and the little dive bar on the corner. They were still, by all definitions, an active couple, but there was an intention behind the way they chose to spend their time that had been previously absent, letting their actual passions guide them, rather than a passion for merely keeping busy.
And the unintended side effect of being home together meaningfully was that it opened her eyes to the real Ainsley, stripped down and changeable, not as carefree as she’d once thought, but also no longer as guarded. Ris wasn’t sure if it was a consequence of the time that had passed or her letting go of the orc she thought she needed him to be.
Fitz had hardened to the city. The sound of traffic no longer terrified him, although pigeons were still treated like the dangerous threats they were. He jumped up onto the sofa and napped the afternoon away while they were at work, howling for hours on end no longer. He liked coming with them to Cambric Creek on weekends, tail wagging, walking carefully behind them at the market, scarfing down an ice cream, and then snoozing in the back seat as they returned to the city. They’d discovered theirretired racer stilllovedto run, covering the entire length of the wide-open field at the community park in the blink of an eye.
Time and patience had changed everything — for all of them.
Ainsley called their current home their ešu evolution, the third iteration of their relationship, and said it felt right.
They’d had their loosey-goosey introductory phase as a new couple, going through the growing pains in finding what they both wanted. They’d gone through that early stage of cohabitation, never home, always busy, passing in the doorway with a kiss. And now, Ris was almost embarrassed to admit it, but she felt very settled. And stranger still — she was happy with it.
“I’m not saying I want to go home and pull out moving boxes, babe. But all this work on getting a house for the group . . . I just feel like we need to start thinking about the future forus. Especially since you’re on the verge of getting us thrown out of the building anyway.”
Ainsley sputtered at her words, the exact reaction she’d been seeking. “Oh, I am beingattacked! On every front! That is awildmischaracterization of the facts. Excuse me for standing up for our lathe-and-plaster-bound comrades.”
Their rent had been raised the previous year. Aggravating, but not that unusual for the city. They’d grumbled, but renewed their lease. But then they’d learned that their building and several others on the block had been purchased by a massive, faceless corporation whose entire business model was predicated on buying up real estate and upending housing markets.
She was reminded of that very first night together on Clover’s patio, when he’d told her he’d been arrested at a labor protest for a factory at which he didn’t even work.And that wasn’t even personal. Ainsley had instigated several other tenants into joining him in organizing an attempted rent strike. The leasingcompany made a concession of a six-month suspension of the increase, at which point they had the option to agree to the new rental terms or vacate the lease. And even though they loved the home they’d created together and enjoyed the neighborhood, every day in the building since had had a storm cloud over it.
Ainsley had made a copy of his ill-gotten elevator key for every single unit in their walk-up, slipping them under the neighbors’ doors.
“That’sourelevator. They’re charging us more and haven’t doneanything to improve the building. No gatekeeping the elevators on my watch. Fuck ‘em.”
“Honestly,” she continued now, deciding to just roll with her impromptu intro of the idea. “The whole vibe here is more up your alley anyway. They’ve passed ordinances against corporate property buyouts. The condo where I used to live, they made you rent for a full year with active residency before you were even allowed to buy, just to prove it wasn’t a B&B scheme. No chain stores. I don’t think there’s even a Blinxieburger. It’s allvery‘fuck the man’.”
“I mean, you don’t need to convince me, Nanaya. You know I already love this place. I know this community is important to you . . . I thought it was super expensive. I realize I’m a desirable white-collar professional, but are wethatwhite-collar? I get it, someone’s gotta pay for all that crunchy goodness somehow, but I also really like the shape of my 401k.”
She laughed, wrapping her arm around his. “I mean, yeah. It is. Houses are insane. The whole real estate market here moves lightning fast. But I’m not suggesting that we need to buy a five-bedroom colonial with acreage. I was able to afford my condo on my own. They have really nice townhouses, too. Honestly, with our combined salaries, we could afford a house, but I’m not sure I want that. What would we do with more space?”
“I’vealwayswanted an excuse to get into model trains. But a townhouse would be nice . . . I don’t know, you had me bricked at screwing over the soul-sucking overlord. Just say the word, and I’ll buy that flyfishing shit.”
“You’re an idiot. Although if we had an extra bathroom, you’d have somewhere to put your 93 different jars of styling wax.” He had finally settled into a style for his grown-out hair, and the pompadour he’d chosen came with the benefit of added drama, depending on how much gel and wax he used. “Think about it, though, okay? I just think it’s something we should start considering before our lease is up. I don’t want to be forced into re-signing in a panic, and I really don’t want to re-sign at all.”
“Well, since we’re confessing things, I was searching for rent-controlled buildings just the other week. Because I agree, I don’t want to re-sign the lease. I love our place, but I don’t want to be under a corporation’s thumb. So I guess we should start looking, huh?” He looked down, Fitz cocking his head. “You want to be a suburban boy, Fitzy?”
Fitz swished his tail in response to his name, but held back on offering an opinion.
“Do you think he’ll adapt well?”
