Seven : House Hunting

Jonah slept that night on Ana's couch.  He was cramped and woke frequently at unfamiliar sounds.
The following morning Anastasia went off to work. 

She returned late that afternoon to find Jonah eating a piece of leftover birthday cake.  She was grinning as she sat down beside him.

"I've had an idea." she began.  With his mouth full of cake, Jonah just turned to her and nodded.

"My lease on this place is almost up.  It's small, it's too hot at times and the plumbing is ancient and unreliable.  Now that I don't have to stay quite so close to base, I was hoping to move.  Only problem is I don't have much of a deposit.  What if we pool our resources?  Find somewhere together.  Get one of those townhouses that's two units in one.  Together but separate.  We could take out a mortgage.  A long term investment; instead of renting.  We'd be close but have our own space.  Then, when we sell, we'd split it.  Or whatever."

Anastasia said all this fairly fast.  It was clear her mind had been going over the possibility all day.  Jonah briefly wondered if she'd got any work done.

"Whoa" Jonah held up a hand.  "I'll think about it.  We should probably talk to some people.  Like Mum's mate in property law; what's his name?  And goodness knows what the market is like out here."  Despite himself, Jonah started smiling.

Not long after, Ana had immersed herself in local property listings on the Internet.  She stopped long enough for a dinner that Jonah had cooked and a quick shower.  It was about eleven when Jonah looked up from the sofa to tell Ana that they wouldn't solve this in a day and to get some sleep (so he could too).  He was relieved to find she was side-tracked with a game of tetris.

Three weekends and about a dozen open homes later, the Rodgers pulled up to another property.

Cedar floors. The entries opened onto hallways with large arches to the living area more arches leading to the dining room and then kitchen.  Both units had similar layouts, almost mirror images along the shared, central wall.

The kitchens were large with plenty of storage space.

The downstairs bathrooms were modern and clean.

There was a communal courtyard space in the middle of the property, opening onto downstairs rooms.

Ana checked out the backyard with it's veggie garden all laid, but empty at present.  There was a set of monkey bars too.  Clearly this had been a family friendly home at one point.

One of the rooms in the left hand unit had been done in a whimsical print that must have belonged to a child. 

 Upstairs were the master suites, with their own bathrooms.

Jonah found more of the same white tile as downstairs and a convenient shower bath combo.  Ana immediately fell in love with the corner spa bath in the remodelled bathroom on the other side.

There were some beautiful views from the deck.

Ana and Jonah decided they had found a winner. 

And less than a month later they were spending their first night in their new bedrooms.