The House at Brooks Close

Kate and Oliver peered out of the car window at the house on Brooks Close, as they waited for the estate agent who had arranged to meet them there.

'It's got a nice front garden,' Kate commented.

'It's a bit too big,' Oliver said. 'It'll be hard work keeping that in shape.'

Kate frowned, and twisted the engagement ring on her finger.

'We could always pave it over, I suppose,' Oliver continued. 'We could park the car on it.'

'What, and chop down that lovely cherry tree? There's a garage. Surely the car could go in there.'

'The garage is probably the only place I'd be able to lay out my train set without having to clear it away every night.'

Kate rolled her eyes. Him and his train set! 'This must be the estate agent,' she said, as a car pulled up behind them. 'What was his name again?'

'Josh,' Oliver said, glancing at the paperwork on his lap.

A man in a smart suit got out of the other car. He had well cut dark hair and friendly brown eyes. He's eye candy, Kate thought. Not that she should be noticing such things now she was soon to be a married woman.

Oliver got out of the car and shook hands with Josh. Kate joined them on the pavement. 'This is my fiancee, Kate,' Oliver said. Josh shook her hand. Nice, firm handshake, she thought.

'Pleased to meet you,' Josh said. 'Shall we go and take a look inside?' Kate and Oliver followed him up the path to the front door. Josh opened the door and stood aside to let them enter first. 'Nice spacious hall,' he said. 'Through to the left, you have the lounge.'

'It's a good size,' Oliver said, and Kate agreed.

'Through here is the dining room.'

'It's a bit small,' Oliver said. 'I'm not sure my grandmother's dining table would fit in here.'

Kate secretly thought that was a good thing. It would provide an excellent excuse to get rid of that hideous old thing and get a smart modern one, but she didn't want to start that old argument again, not in front of Josh.

'The kitchen,' Josh continued the tour. 'The vendors have taken the cooker, fridge and dishwasher with them.'

'Good,' Oliver said. 'A dishwasher is a waste of space. What's wrong with washing up the old fashioned way?'

Quite a lot, Kate thought, but again, said nothing.

'I'd put a drinks fridge in that space,' Oliver said.

There'd be plenty of time to win Oliver round, Kate thought.

'Utility room, conservatory, study,' Josh recounted. 'Shall we look upstairs?'

Kate went to the window of the master bedroom. 'What a delightful view!' she cried. Beyond the cottage garden with its rose bushes and rockeries, was a tiny brook, flowing right past the bottom of the garden. Beyond it were fields, hills and trees.

'I'm not sure about the river,' Oliver said.

'Why not?' Kate asked. 'It'd be lovely to sit out there on a summer evening with a glass of wine.'

'You'd soon change your mind if it flooded,' Oliver said.

'It's never flooded,' Josh said.

'There's a first time for everything,' Oliver said, 'and as for sitting by it, it'll be swarming with insects.'

'Well, I love it,' Kate said. 'I like everything about this house so far.'

'It's a lovely house,' Josh agreed. 'If I was looking for a starter home right now, I'd seriously consider this one.'

'He would say that,' Oliver whispered as they moved on. 'He's trying to sell it and get his commission after all.'

Kate ignored him and peered into bedrooms two and three as Josh opened the door to each in turn.

Bedroom three was cosy, Kate thought. When she qualified as an aromatherapist, it would make an ideal consulting room. Oliver, however, seemed to have other ideas. 'I could get a rowing machine and keep it in here,' he said, 'and I can't wait to turn that second room into a nursery.'

'It will be a guest room for a while,' Kate said. 'We discussed this. I want to get my aromatherapy practice established before I even think about babies.'

'You're an aromatherapist?' Josh sounded interested.

'Not yet,' Kate said. 'I'm still training.'

'It's her little hobby,' Oliver commented. Kate glared at him.

'The attic is very spacious,' Josh said. 'You might want to consider a loft conversion. A couple of the people on this street have done it already.

'An extra floor,' Kate said. 'You could keep your train set up there.'

Kate secretly fancied an arts and crafts studio, but she was willing to sacrifice that to save the lovely cherry tree in the front garden. Marriage was all about give and take and compromise, after all.

'I really liked that house,' Kate said, as they drove away. 'I think it was my favourite so far.'

'Really?' Oliver said. 'Didn't you like Frobisher Drive? I thought that was a much nicer house.'

'It was all right, but it seemed a bit dark. Why, they had the light on in the lounge, even though it was a bright sunny day outside. They didn't have a conservatory, either.'

'Conservatories are over-rated,' Oliver said. 'Too hot in summer, too cold in winter. I don't see the point of them.'

'I didn't like Frobisher Drive as much as I like this place,' Kate said.

'I want you to be happy, Kate, but I don't like this house.'

Kate sighed. 'We'd better go on looking, then, until we find one we both like.'

'Yes,' Oliver agreed. 'I'll give Josh a call on Monday and fix up some more viewings.'

**

Two Years Later

Kate hummed to herself as she walked up the path to the house on Brooks Close. The cherry tree was in full bloom, a mass of pink flowers, almost as if it was thanking her for defending it against Oliver's plans to cut it down.

Kate had taken on the care of the gardens, front and back, and discovered that she loved gardening. It was both relaxing and rewarding. Her husband didn't need to do any of it.

She let herself in, and placed her bags of shopping on the new, modern dining table. There was no way Oliver's grandmother's old thing would have fitted in here.

She took out the milk and chicken for tonight's meal and put them in the fridge. She put the kettle on and made tea, taking a clean mug from the dishwasher. How Oliver could ever have thought they could manage without one was a mystery to her.

She went upstairs to change, pausing to look out of the bedroom window. She was proud of the way the garden looked, and that view would never get old. A garden table and two chairs now stood beside the brook. She looked forward to enjoying a nice glass of wine with her husband out there, later, while they talked about their respective days at work. 

Kate wouldn't be going out to work much longer - she'd resigned. The thought of going full time with the aromatherapy practice was scary, but she'd been making a success of it, working part time from bedroom three. If the worst came to the worst, he'd just have to support her for a while.

It would be chaotic for the next few weeks - the builders were starting the loft conversion next day, but when it was done, there'd be room for her art studio up there.

She was glad that in all the months she and Oliver had looked at house after house, they'd never found one they both liked, so in the end, she'd got to live in Brooks Close.

'Honey, I'm home!' she heard her husband's voice. Kate's heart overflowed with love for him. It had all worked out in the end. She had the house she wanted, exactly how she wanted it, and the life, and man, of her dreams.

He had a bottle of wine in one hand and a bunch of flowers in the other. He hadn't forgotten that today was the anniversary of the day they'd first met.

'I thought this would go well with our dinner tonight,' he said.

Kate smiled at him. 'It would be very nice indeed,' she said. 'You open the bottle, Josh, and I'll get the glasses.'