“So is this for both of you?” Karen Oswald, the agent, said.
“No, just me,” Violet said. She was pretty sure that Amedeo had given the woman the details of what they were looking for and why. She didn’t want to rehash it. She just wanted to look at places.
Violet had never used a real estate agent. She usually just walked around looking for a vacancy sign on a building. This was all new. Was this how white people did it? Or was this just the suburbs? She didn’t know, but Amedeo had insisted.
“Two bedrooms. For a little more, you can get three and have a guest room or an office,” Karen said.
An office sounded nice. The price probably wouldn’t. Amedeo turned to Violet. “Maybe you should think about that since you work from home most of the time.”
Violet shrugged. “We’ll see.
She had no desire to discuss her financial woes in front of this woman. She had her budget and she couldn’t budge from it.
“This first place is on the third floor which is the top. No doorman, but there are two doors and a gate that you have to get through to get in.”
“Gate? What’s the neighborhood like?” Amedeo said.
“It’s okay during the day. Anything near or in Trenton is okay during the day. It’s night time that’s a problem.”
“I doubt I’ll be going out much at night so that’s not a problem,” Violet said.
Amedeo’s pursed lips told her he didn’t agree. The driver dropped them off in front of a clean building, but Amedeo looked around as if he was going to get jumped any minute. This place was a step up from her last apartment. None of them would be the luxury of Amedeo’s house, but she couldn’t afford that.
“I don’t like it. No reason to go in,” Amedeo said.
“Wait. I want to look,” Violet said.
He gave her a look, but she ignored it. This was her choice and she’d lived in worse. She’d been raised in worse and as much as she wanted better for her child, she wasn’t going to let Amedeo run over her.
The landlord came out and unlocked the doors for them.
Amedeo leaned down to whisper into Violet’s ear. “You want to live in a place where you need this much security?”
“You have a gate around your property. Don’t judge.”
He snorted, but didn’t say anything else. The apartment was indeed on the third floor and the building had no elevator.
“Imagine trucking groceries and a child up all these steps,” Amedeo said.
He had a good point. No matter how lovely the apartment was, she couldn’t see struggling up these steps every day with a baby and a stroller.
The second apartment was in a nice area. Well, a little better. No one hung out on the street corner. No burned out cars sat on the street. The building had an elevator.
“This one, the utilities are not included. You’ll have to pay those,” Karen said.
“Can we get an idea of how much that costs?” Amedeo said.
Karen let them into the apartment. “I can find out. I don’t have that information. Not sure why it isn’t in the folder for this location.”
Two bedrooms. One bathroom that her and her child would have to share. Not a problem. The bathroom was tiled green like a hospital. Amedeo turned his nose up at it. “It’s ugly.”
“It’s clean and safe,” Violet argued.
He shrugged, leaning against the door frame to the galley style kitchen.
“The appliances are brand new in this unit,” Karen said.
“That’s good. Won’t have to worry about anything breaking down,” Violet said.
This one went on her list of acceptable places. She didn’t think Amedeo was convinced.
“How about show us some three bedrooms,” Amedeo said.
“I’d have to go back to the office,” Karen said.
“We can set up another date for this,” he said.
As if Violet wasn’t standing there. “No, let’s look at everything Karen had for us today.”
“What’s wrong with a three bedroom?”
“It might be out of my budget,” Violet said.
Karen watched their discussion as if it were a ping pong match, her head moving back and forth.
“Let’s not worry about that,” Amedeo said.
“Let’s stick to the budget,” Violet said.
“You’re worrying too much about the money,” he said.
She sighed. “I don’t want to argue with you, but there is a budget and I’m sticking to it.” She turned to Karen. “What’s next on your list?”
“It’s a two bedroom a little further out from Trenton.”
“I’m not concerned with the location as long as I can get to shopping and things like that.”