(I'm the female half of my relationship. Carfree, and cranky because this winter has dumped over 90 inches of snow on my not-acclimated self, so I've been stuck walking all winter instead of biking.)

If you have a bike, now would be the time to get it out and use it. The more ride time you have, the easier it gets to identify what it is you want (just as an example, drop bars don't suit every cyclist). And there is no way in hell you're jumping into a 28 mile commute without some bike time. Your wife *is* right that an inexpensive bike will do your commute, and a good one might do it just as well as the bike you want. So if you don't have a bike, an inexpensive one might be the way to go. Used can work, or new can. But blowing $1k on a fully kitted out touring bike when you're not riding at all is a recipe for a bad case of "still not riding". Commuting is great for banging the shiny right off your bike, and it can be just as unpleasant on a bike as it is in a car.

Also, as a sanity check: most car free people, even the ones who do serious bike touring or randonneuring... live closer to work. Biking as your main form of transportation is *tiring* and it takes time to build up a base of miles so it isn't. You're looking at over 10k miles in a year, which is a helluva jump from zero. The new office location would put you at over 13k miles, which is kind of way up there as an annual total. If you want the change to stick, it might be better to start with a goal of biking in 1 day a week for a year. Then start working your way up to full time.