“What would you do with it?”
“Real estate,” he stated instantly.
At that, she stared at him. “Have you checked out the prices of real estate in Vancouver lately?”
He nodded. “I have a small condo,” he shared. “I was looking to get a house but with the current prices?” He whistled, shaking his head. “It’s out of reach at this point.”
“Yeah, the days of owning your own home went out about twenty years ago.”
“I think it’s been longer than that,” he muttered.
“Right, so how is anybody supposed to get anywhere in life right now?”
“I think it takes family at this point,” he suggested. “I know my parents were talking about giving me a hand with the very hefty down payment required, but I’m not even sure that’s a good idea.”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “It sucks, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” he agreed, “when you always wanted to have that perfect little house, picket fence and all that.”
“What about moving up to the valley?”
“If I do,” he replied, “I’d also have to transfer my job out there, so I’m not doing the crazy commute.”
She winced at that. “I get that.” Kate nodded in agreement. “Who the hell wants to spend their life commuting?”
“And there’s just as much crime out there in the valley as is here downtown.”
“Well, I hope not,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Hopefully it depends on where you go. In Burnaby you’ve got an awful lot of gang fights,” she muttered. “I guess the answer is, do what you have to do to suit yourself and your family, and then, if the job doesn’t work out, you can always transfer to get another one.”
“Well, that was a thought, but, so far, I haven’t done anything about it.”
“Good,” she said. “I’m not all that comfortable with everybody else on the team yet. Seems like I’ve only been working with you.”
“And that’s mostly on you,” Rodney noted, “not pulling any punches.”
She glared at him, and he laughed.
“Seriously,” he continued. “You still have a bit of a chip on your shoulder.”
“Do not,” she snapped.
“Do too,” he snapped right back.
She laughed. “See? That’s what I’m used to. Somebody who’ll talk back and put me in my place.”
“And the rest of the team will do that too. You just might not like the way it goes down.”
She agreed. “Well, there’s a way to do it so it doesn’t bite quite so badly or so you don’t feel like they’re taking a lot of joy in it.”
He laughed. “Sometimes taking joy in what you’re doing is very necessary.”
“But not if it hurts other people,” she replied immediately, pulling open the door to the building.
“Excuse me, can we help you?”
Kate turned to look at the nearby security guard at the main entrance. She pulled out her badge and explained where they were going.
He nodded. “That company is on the fourth floor.”