Keep It in the Family by John Marrs EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: John Marrs
- Language: English
- Genre: Domestic Thrillers
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3.4 MB
- Price: Free
MIA, 2018
Sitting inside Finn’s van, we stare at the property to our left. He turns off
the ignition and the silence is palpable. Neither of us knows what to say
first.
‘So,’ he eventually begins, ‘this is going to be our home?’
It’s as if he wants me to confirm information he already knows. I try to
muster up something suitably enthusiastic, like, ‘We’re going to be so
happy here’ or ‘This is our dream home’, but my reply is more succinct
than reassuring. ‘It is,’ I say.
He responds with a slow nod as he tries to comprehend what we have
done. Then we fall silent again as the enormity of the task before us sinks
in. I feel nauseous.
I catch a glimpse of the rest of the high street in the wing mirror. We
walked and drove along these roads a handful of times over the last year
agreeing it was exactly the kind of village we wanted to move to. Our
criteria were straightforward: the place could be no more than a fifteenminute drive from the town centre and train station, it must have shops and
a pub, it couldn’t be too overlooked and had to be surrounded by plenty of
long countryside walks for when we get that dog we’re always promising
ourselves. Stewkbury ticked each box.
The only sticking point – and it was a biggie – was property prices. If
you don’t want to live in an identikit new build, then be prepared to pay for
the privilege. And we didn’t have that kind of money.
Neither Finn nor I had noticed this two-storey, five-bedroom, detached
Victorian house in our previous recces. It only appeared on our radar when
my monster-in-law saw it advertised in an online auction-house brochure.
She and my father-in-law were going to put a bid in to renovate it
themselves, but it was perfect for Finn and I. And after a fair few
arguments, they eventually – albeit reluctantly – agreed to let us make an
offer for it.
And before we knew it, we were sitting in a draughty hall bidding on
it against half a dozen strangers.
When the auction began, Finn’s knuckles were as white as his face. It
was as if he was having a premonition of what lay ahead of us. Tearing
apart and rebuilding this house was going to put an end to our Mr &
Mrs Smith boutique hotel weekends away, my spa breaks with the girls, his
Sunday morning football league with the lads, along with gigs and
overpriced gym memberships. Goodbye fun, hello hard graft.
House buying hasn’t been an easy process for us. When we married
five years ago, we sold my flat in London and moved into Finn’s terraced
house in Leighton Buzzard. But the two-up two-down wasn’t spacious
enough to start a family. So we sold it and moved in with his parents, Dave
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