Page 15 of The Last to Know

Ron gave her a proud smile and a thumbs up.

“Is this almost done? Customers on the phone,” Dani said, chewing gum like a snapping alligator.

“Yeah, just got to refill the oil chamber and give it a run for ten minutes—make sure the seals are good.”

“Great, I’ll tell her four, then.”

“Okie dokie.” Caz grinned just as her phone buzzed.

Grace: Love you too! Hahahaha

“Git,” Caz muttered before shoving the phone back into her pocket and dropping back down onto the trolley. But she grinned and murmured as she slid back under the car, “My git.”

From the outside it looked nice enough.

There was a red door at the front and to the right of the building, with a little roof to shield you from the rain while you tried to get a key into the lock and open it. To the left of that was a large bay window, with two more windows above.

It was detached, with room for two cars to park out front—exactly how Grace described it.

“So, it literally came on the market this morning. We haven’t even done the photos yet, but Grace had already given us all the heads up on what you guys were looking for.” Pete smiled at her as he pushed the key into the lock and turned it.

“Yeah, she seems pretty excited about it.”

They stepped inside to a long hallway. A set of stairs led up the right side, with wooden flooring all the way through.

Clean, tidy, and potentially perfect.

“Alright, well to the left here is the lounge. Double aspect windows and door through to the dining room. A wood burner in the fireplace is working and all up to standard,” Pete explained, as Caz wandered around the empty room.

“Nobody lives here, then?”

“Nope. Basically, they’re a couple and they both had a property, so, living in the other and selling this one.”

“That’s nice.” Caz smiled and poked her head into the dining room. “It’s not a divorce or…someone died?”

Pete chuckled, before continuing on, “Single aspect window—not the biggest, but certainly sizeable for a decent table and chairs.”

The dining room led through to the kitchen. Nothing fancy, but liveable. Units lined two walls into the corner, a breakfast bar protruded from a third wall, and a door led out to the garden behind it, with another door leading full circle, back into the hallway.

She glanced out of the window and saw a small, tidy grassed area. She imagined Grace out there, looking back at her and waving, belly swollen with a baby, a toddler running around her legs, laughing, and Caz felt a sensation of pride and love rush through her.

“So, all doable,” Pete was saying.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Oh, I was saying it doesn’t really need much, maybe just change the décor…all doable?” He smiled. “Want to see upstairs?”

“Yeah, I guess…I’m not really an expert, though.”

“No, that’s Grace’s forte. She’s had a definite spring in her step lately, too… All down to you I guess.”

“Oh, well, then I suppose I must have a spring in my step, too, then.”

“Indeed. Shall we go on?”

So far, Caz noted, every wall was either white or a muted pastel, and she quite liked it as it was, imagining Grace’s corner sofa in the lounge and her own TV on the wall. It was easy to imagine them living here, but she didn’t want to get hers or Grace’s hopes up. They were well away, financially.

She followed him out into the hall again, noting a smaller room off to the side of the kitchen with a desk and bookcase, an office of some kind. With a Harry Potter style cupboard under the stairs with room for hoovers and other annoying things nobody wanted to look at, and a tiny toilet and shower room squeezed into a space that backed onto the dining room.

---