Even her brother, with whom she had increasingly grown close over the past few months, had commented on the change in Sarah.  She’d tried to laugh it off, when he first made the observation.  “John, don’t be ridiculous,” she said, punching him fondly on his arm, as they relaxed in her apartment, waiting for her partner, before they would all head out to watch a Knicks game.  “I’m still the same silly sister who’ll complain about getting a nail broken…”

“No..no.. you’re not. You’ve been helping me make good decisions.  And, for one thing, at least you’re not dating losers anymore.  That last one was  just a total c*&t, Sar,” he said, smiling back at her.  He was glad to have at least one person in his corner whose head was squarely screwed on now.   Heaven knew he had a ton of issues of his own to work through, and Dad was as remote as ever.  He wondered why Sarah had suddenly straightened out.

Sarah wiped her eyes, and begun to quickly shuffle through papers Bette had given her.

After a few minutes, she reshuffled them into some order, and announced, “Okay I think we can look at around 3 of these today.  We can look at the other 2 tomorrow.”

Bette nodded, as she finished off her tea.  She glanced over at Tina, who was in the middle of hers.  The sitter would be coming any minute now.

Sarah said thoughtfully, while looking at one of the papers, “Let’s start with the nearest one, which looks like it’s a three bedroom period house, with a garden, and is just off of Central Park, about 15 blocks from here.  I’d guess it would be on one of the quieter streets.  Hmmm… good pick, Bette.”

She continued, “Then we should see the one advertised as a triplex penthouse with panoramic views of the Park.  Hmm… private elevator access, four bedrooms, open plan dining, living room area, separate study, and roof terrace.  Plus, comes with parking!  Two spaces!”

Tina pointed out, “We don’t own a car, though.”

“Never say never.  Got a baby now, you know!”

Bette and Tina shrugged their shoulders.  Sarah looked at the remaining paper, “The last one spans the two top floors of a mansion-type building, which itself is just four floors in all.   They call it a duplex penthouse, but in reality, you’ll get about half the building, really.   So much more space than most anything we’ll be looking at.”