‘What’s this I’m hearing about a renovation?’ I asked my sister as we sat down at our table.
‘It’s just something Mike and I have been planning for a while,’ she said, wrapping her hands around her mug. ‘It’s exciting, isn’t it!’
‘I guess,’ I frowned. ‘But… the laundry?’
‘What’s wrong with renovating the laundry?’
‘It’s just not where I would start in your house,’ I laughed. ‘Your kitchen isn’t even big enough for a dishwasher!’
‘I like washing dishes,’ she protested. ‘And the laundry needs an overhaul pretty badly.’
‘Well, if you need them, I know of some professional laundry designers near me,’ I joked.
‘Already sorted, thanks,’ my sister smiled at me, opening the café menu she’d already ordered from.
‘Right, right,’ I laughed. ‘Wait, are you being serious?’
‘About what?’
‘You’ve got people designing your laundry?’
‘Of course I do,’ she frowned. ‘Why wouldn’t we?’
‘I don’t know, I’ve just… never thought about it before.’
‘They’re flying in tonight, actually,’ she said.
‘Flying in… where are they coming from?’
‘Barcelona, I think,’ she frowned again. ‘Maybe Madrid?’
‘What?’
‘You keep making that confused noise.’
‘Because I’m confused,’ I insisted. ‘There aren’t any companies who can do laundry renovations local to Melbourne?’
‘We wanted that Spanish flair!’ she said, wiggling her hips and laughing. I arched an eyebrow.
‘Cool, all down for the Spanish flair,’ I said. ‘But again – and this is just where I keep getting stuck – why the laundry of all places.’
‘Because we wanted to!’ she said, clearly exasperated. ‘Because it’ll make us happy! Because we’ve been living with a laundry that’s dark and damp and cramped for three years now and we talked about it together and decided that the first thing we needed to be happy in this house that we paid way too much money for is a laundry renovation that’s going to make it useable for years to come! Okay?!’
I gaped at her, blinking slowly as she took a long drink from her mug.
Over our shoulders, the food began to arrive.