‘This is it,’ Lisa sighed dramatically, sprawled across the couch. ‘This is how I die.’
‘You’re being very dramatic,’ I rolled my eyes.
‘You would be too, if you were about to die,’ she shot back, lifting her head slightly to shoot daggers at me.
‘It’s a bit of heat!’ I laughed. ‘What were you expecting when you moved to Brighton?’
‘I don’t know,’ she huffed. ‘Something modest. Not fifty degrees in the shade.’
I rolled my eyes again, but let it pass.
‘Look, I’ve got someone coming to fix the air conditioning unit,’ I told her. ‘So just relax for the next hour – and try not to stain my couch.’
‘Babes, this couch was stained when you bought it,’ Lisa informed me. ‘What sort of service do you get out here?’
‘Service?’ I raised an eyebrow.
‘Yes, service,’ she repeated. ‘Which company do you use when you need an air conditioning service for a Brighton home?’
‘Oh, I don’t use a service,’ I said.
‘What do you mean?’ Lisa asked, her hand hovering over her clavicle. It took me a second to realise she was unironically clutching her pearls.
‘I just know a guy,’ I shrugged. ‘Josh.’
‘As in your brother, Josh?’ Lisa’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
‘Josh is a very common name,’ I grumbled. ‘But also, yes.’
‘Why are you paying that idiot?’
‘Hey!’ I shot back. ‘He went to TAFE, he knows what he’s doing.’
‘I thought he dropped out?’
‘Kicked out,’ I begrudgingly corrected her. ‘But that’s beside the point. If there’s someone who knows anything about heating and cooling services in the Malvern area, it’s him.’
‘Right, right,’ Lisa’s eyes narrowed. ‘Except… we’re not in the Malvern area!’
‘Pffft,’ I batted her concern away. ‘How much different can it possibly be?’
Lisa sighed deeply and slowly peeled herself off the couch, rising to her feet.
‘Where are you going?’ I asked her.
‘Out,’ she whispered. ‘Seeing as this house will never be cool again.’
And she left.