The cardboard boxes were stacked so high in Sarah and Leo’s cramped apartment that they’d begun using a flat-screen box as a makeshift dining table. For six months, "The Spreadsheet" had been their North Star, tracking every cent saved by skipping takeout and enduring another year with Leo’s rattling 2012 sedan.
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They drove to the house in silence. Leo unlocked the door, the click echoing through the empty entryway. There was no furniture, just golden rectangles of afternoon light stretching across the hardwood floors. They sat on the floor in the middle of the living room, leaning against each other. "We're not tenants anymore," Leo whispered. The cardboard boxes were stacked so high in