Getting Organised. Carolyn Caterer

acquaintances about her cooking and the lovely house, Serena was quite surprised one day when Charles arrived home a few weeks later and announced it was about time they moved.

      Serena was taken aback; they had lived in this house for the past ten years and had extended it to meet their requirements. So, although it wasn’t the biggest house in the world with just the four bedrooms, it suited them fine, especially once the children were away during term time and particularly now that Martha was in Australia and Alex was in South America working on his Spanish. Part of her had wondered if, with the children practically grown up and unlikely to return on a permanent basis, Charles would start to wind down and they could perhaps spend more time in their holiday home. It seemed however that she had misread her husband and he had other ideas in mind.

      She listened quietly as usual to Charles as he set forth his reasons for this announcement:

      ‘The housing market is pretty buoyant and I think we deserve it darling. I have just had a good bonus and it would be nice to have a property that is perhaps more in keeping with my job and the expectations that surround it.’ He looked at her expectantly as she raised an eyebrow very slightly, indicating that she wanted to hear more.

      ‘This wonderful house has just come up a few miles away; it is perfect. Not in the middle of nowhere but with a good size garden around it, so it is quite secluded. Think what you can do with the landscape?’ he said this as he passed the details of the house towards her across the dining room table where he had seated himself with a glass of Chablis.

      Serena glanced down at the brochure that sat before her and noticed that it was a six bedroom house with an acre and a half of garden, a nice driveway up to the front, which was designed in such a way that the house could not be seen from the road, so it was in fact very private, just as Charles had pointed out. It had a huge kitchen, which looked like it had never been cooked in by its present owners, a stunning dining room and living room, a games room (no doubt that held some appeal for Charles) and a second living room that would make a nice TV area. This, she had to admit, was a good selling point, as she hated having a television in the living room of their current house as she felt it killed conversation. Finally, there was a study which she knew would also appeal to Charles, as he liked to have his own private space in the house, even if he wasn’t around enough to really make good use of it.

      Charles observed her carefully as she looked at the brochure (she noted that there was no price printed anywhere so she knew the house must be expensive), but if Charles said they could afford it then she wasn’t going to argue.

      She did wonder about all the work that would go into looking after it though, but Charles seemed to be reading her thoughts as he suddenly piped up:

      ‘I know it is bigger than this house, but we can up the number of hours the cleaner does, plus we will get a gardener in to maintain the lawns and anything else you think might need doing. Oh and won’t the kids just love the tennis court?’

      Serena knew that at this point the deal was sealed. The kids loved to play tennis and with this ace up his sleeve Charles would have them on his side immediately, no matter how much she might object. She hesitated to ask him if the purchase was his way of encouraging the children to either return soon, or spend more time at home once they were back in the country? Both Martha and Alex were very resourceful and she couldn’t see either of them living off their parents but, in the short term, it had to be considered in the light of the decreasing number of jobs that seemed to be available. On the other hand England hardly seemed the place for Martha to pursue her interest in Oceanography when the climate in Australia and the opportunities it provided seemed far more appealing.

      The thing was Serena didn’t object at all. She felt that maybe this was what she needed; a change of scene to quell the restlessness inside her, and a new home would be a good project for her. She would undoubtedly want to redecorate and re-carpet and put her own stamp on the property. She knew that there would be plenty of things to sort out and Charles would not deny her that pleasure, he would merely write the cheques when she presented the invoices. As long as she stuck to his budget he pretty much let her get on with things. She was looking forward to having a blank canvass to work with as she had decorated their current home so many times that her interest was beginning to wane over the years.

      Knowing that it would be somewhat pointless to argue with Charles once he had made up his mind (and bearing in mind that his resounding success was a lot to do with his great negotiating and persuasion skills) Serena decided that a move would be a good thing and enquired when they could go and view it.

      ‘No need to do that, I viewed it myself last week, put an offer in and it has been accepted. I’ve instructed the same agents to sell our house and they already have a potential buyer, so it looks like this was all just meant to be. Darling this is going to be a wonderful opportunity for you and a great place to live for us and the kids and maybe one day, the grandchildren. I really think it will bring us closer together.’

      Serena wished she had his confidence, for at this moment she had never felt more lonely in her life.