Weeks before their wedding, Conner had moved from his studio apartment in Brooklyn into Zoe’s palace on the park. He didn’t bring much, mainly personal items and a few small pieces of furniture. The pull-out couch he had used as a bed in his one-room apartment had been left behind. Though he had been in Zoe’s place hundreds of times, it wasn’t until the day he moved in and dropped his bags in the large entrance foyer, that it finally felt like his home. She remembered him walking slowly through the entire apartment, room by room that day.

“What are you doing?” she had shouted from the kitchen as he walked past her.

“I can’t believe I live here. This place is amazing.”

“You act like you’ve never been here before.”

“I was only a visitor before. Now, I’m a resident,” said Conner smiling, “living here with the love of my life.”

Zoe had smiled back and they got busy finding space for all of Conner’s things. She loved having him there and not being alone anymore. The next few weeks were consumed with the last-minute details of the upcoming wedding and they had talked of nothing else. It was on their honeymoon in Key West that Conner first suggested fixing up the apartment.

“We’ve got this amazing home but it’s in disrepair. Don’t take this the wrong way, but it looks pretty tired,” said Conner. “When was the last time anyone did any work on the place?”

Zoe shrugged. It had always been that way and she hadn’t noticed it was “tired”.

“The entire apartment needs painting,” said Conner. “I noticed tiles are broken in a couple of the bathrooms and should be replaced. The wood floors are scratched and dull and need sanding and refinishing. I think we should put marble counters in the kitchen and replace the old white appliances with stainless.”

“That’s all going to cost a lot of money,” said Zoe. “Our basic carrying costs are already steep.”

“With my salary, and the money you still have left from your father’s inheritance, we can start making changes, a little at a time,” said Conner. “We can do all the painting ourselves, maybe even the floor sanding. This apartment is our biggest asset, babe. We have to take care of it and right now, it’s a wreck. The place is falling apart.”

After further discussion, Zoe came around to her husband’s way of thinking. Conner is right, she had told herself. The apartment hasn’t been updated in forty years.