Though that had to be frustrating for her, she was somehow as accepting as I was about her less-than-admirable housekeeping. After a few months of living together, we both knew we were committed to the relationship. We were in love, we started talking about getting married, and we began saving money. Whatever was left over from my paycheck (I was hired by Fromin’s Delicatessen to migrate them over to a point-of-sale system), I would convert into hundred-dollar bills that I stashed in the inside breast pocket of a jacket in our coat closet.