AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 28
When someone says they need to have a chat with you, in Annabelle’s experience it was never good news. So when her parents said those very words to her, her heart sank right down to her turquoise painted toes.
She supposed she was correct and that her mum and dad were going to tell her it was about time she moved out, and they’d found just the place.
Her mum grabbed her hand and sat her down on a kitchen chair. Her mum and dad sat opposite. They were both staring at her intently, indulgent smiles on their faces. If her heart could have sunk even further it would have done – it wasn’t going to be easy bursting their happy little bubble when she explained to them that she couldn’t possibly afford to live anywhere other than in this house, until she secured herself paid employment.
What if they insisted she went? If that was the case, she guessed they’d probably offer to help out with the rent, which was all well and good, but what if it took her a while to get a job? How long would they be happy to subsidise her for? At least if she was living in their house, they weren’t having to shell out a fortune in rental fees. Annabelle had no idea where she stood when it came to claiming benefits, but she thought she’d better look into it pretty sharpish, and she made a mental note to add it to the list of the things she needed to sort out.
‘Your dad and I have been thinking,’ her mum started, and Annabelle raised her eyebrows. ‘It’s not ideal, you living here with us,’ May continued, and Annabelle’s eyebrows raised another notch.
You don’t say, she felt like retorting. She knew she was imposing on them, but what choice did she have? It wasn’t ideal for any of them.
‘We’ve made a decision,’ her mother said, and her dad nudged her.
‘Go on, tell her,’ he urged, and when Annabelle saw how excited he was, a wave of guilt threatened to rise up and swamp her.
‘I’m sorry Dad, Mum, this can’t have been easy for you,’ she began, but before she could say anything further, her mother flapped her hands in a sort of pipe-down gesture.
Annabelle duly piped down. She may as well let them get on with it and say what they had to say.
‘We’ve found a nice little flat!’ her mother cried. ‘You ought to see it!’ Then she giggled and added, ‘Silly me, of course you’ll see it! Anyway, it’s in one of those little streets just off the seafront. They claim it has partial sea-views, but you’d have to be a giraffe to crane your neck far enough to see anything of the sea, but never mind, it’s perfect. It’s on the top floor of a pretty terraced house – you know the sort of thing, Regency-looking and whitewashed, with big Georgian windows.’
Annabelle blinked at her owlishly, trying to envisage a property with so many diverse features. Clearly, architecture wasn’t her mother’s forte.
‘It’s got a lift, so that’ll be handy for when we get older and can’t manage the stairs quite so well, although, I must admit, traipsing up and down them will help keep us fit, if your dad’s knee doesn’t play up.’ She leaned forward and whispered, ‘He says he hurt it playing badminton with a couple we met on the cruise, but I think it’s old age.’ Her voice returned to a more normal level as she continued, ‘It’s got two bedrooms, and a brand-new fitted kitchen, wooden floors throughout, but that could get a bit noisy, so I’m thinking lots of large rugs… and both bedrooms have en suites, plus there’s a little cloakroom just off the hall. You’d be surprised how big these apartments are when you get inside them.’
May paused for breath and Annabelle took the opportunity to say something.
‘Twobedrooms?’ she asked. ‘How’s that going to work?’ There were three people in her little family, and it would have been all right for her children to share a room if they were the same gender, but with her having one of each the kids should really have a bedroom of their own.
‘Two bedrooms are plenty,’ May said.
‘Not in this day and age, Mum,’ Annabelle replied. ‘The children are going to want their own space.’
Her mum and dad looked at each other, frowning, then they looked back at Annabelle.
May said, ‘But they’ll have their own space. I expect Izzie will have to make do with the smaller bedroom, since she’s the youngest, but I don’t see that being too much of a problem, do you Terence?’
Terence shook his head. ‘You’renot finding it too much of a squeeze, are you Annabelle, so Izzie should be fine.’
Annabelle scrunched her face up. Either she was being incredibly dense, or there was something she must have missed in this conversation. ‘What has me sleeping in the box room got to do with anything?’
‘But you won’t have to, will you? You can have our room, Jake can stay in what used to be your old room, and Izzie can have the box room. Actually, calling it a box room is a bit of a misnomer, isn’t it? It’s not that small. One of the reasons we bought this house all those years ago, is that all of the bedrooms are a generous size. It just so happens that the third room is the smallest, but you can easily fit a single bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers in it, and have space to spare.’
Annabelle still wasn’t getting it. ‘I’m confused,’ she said. ‘How am I going to fit all three of us in a two-bedroomed flat, and still be able to give the children a room of their own? Am I supposed to sleep on the sofa?’
‘What are you talking about?’ May asked. ‘Youwon’t be fitting in a two bedroomed flat –wewill. Your dad and I.’ She pointed to Terence and then back at herself. ‘We’re moving out.’ Her face fell. ‘I thought you’d be pleased.’
‘I’m still confused,’ Annabelle said. ‘What do you meanyou’re moving out?’
‘I told you,’ her mum said. ‘While we were away, we had a good long chat and decided it would be better if we gave you this house and we bought a smaller place.’
‘What?You can’t do that!’
‘Why ever not? You’re our only child, so when we die you’ll get everything anyway. You might as well have it now, when you really need it. What do we want with a three bedroomed house with just us two rattling around in it? It’s more to clean for a start, and the garden is becoming a real nuisance. Your dad is forever mowing it, or weeding it, or trimming it. We were already thinking about downsizing before you moved back in with us, and when we sold the house we were going to give you a nice lump sum for you to do whatever you wanted. As I said, you might as well have it now. Besides, if we hang onto it and either one of us has to go into a home, the government would take nearly all of it to pay for our upkeep, and I’ll be damned if we’ve worked all our lives and scrimped and saved, just so the state can take it.’
‘Have you been talking to Beverley?’ Annabelle asked.
