‘Oooh, that’s lovely,’ Tabitha cooed, running her hands along the cool marble benchtop. ‘Does this come in pink?’
‘In pink?’ the sales assistant frowned. ‘The… the marble? Does the marble come in pink?’
‘Mhmmm,’ Tabitha nodded, smiling politely. ‘I’ll need it to match my cupboards.’
‘Um, I don’t…’ the poor woman frowned slightly, unsure how to tell the richest woman in Melbourne that marble only came in marble-colour. ‘Let me just check… out the back?’
‘Off you pop,’ Tabitha kept smiling, shooing the woman away with her hand. ‘What do you think?’ she asked, turning to me.
My fingers involuntarily clenched around my clipboard as I froze in the spotlight that was her ice-blue eyes.
‘M-me?’ I stammered.
‘You indeed,’ she said. ‘Which one should I go with for my new kitchen design. Melbourne is far too trendy, I feel I’m having to rip out my kitchen every six months at this rate.’
‘Um, I don’t—I couldn’t possibly—’
‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ Tabitha rolled her eyes. ‘You’ve been with me for three weeks! That’s almost a record! Grow a spine and tell me your opinion.’
‘Well,’ I started, casting my eyes around the room. I began to point at a gold-flecked tiling option. ‘Those are quite—’
‘Absolutely not,’ Tabitha cut me off, sounding for all the world like she was fending off her gag reflex. ‘You are barred from sharing your opinion.’
‘Oh, thank god,’ I breathed a sigh of relief.
‘What was that?!’
‘The wind, I think,’ I said quickly, turning away as if to examine where the breeze was coming from. She narrowed her eyes and grumbled to herself slightly.
‘I suppose we should head over there too,’ she said with an exhausted sigh, waving her hand at the bathroom section. ‘It’s almost spring, so I’ll need ideas for new bathroom renovations soon enough.’
‘You renovate your bathroom every spring?’ I asked, in shocked disbelief.
‘You don’t?!’ she turned to me, even more shocked. She shook her head sadly and sighed. ‘I don’t think this is going to work out, after all.’