Wags To Riches (16 page)

“Something smells good” I say as I walk in.

“Hope you like it” Adam says, putting a ladleful of pasta into a bowl.

“I’m sure I will,” I say as he places two delicious looking bowls of pasta on the counter and we sit down.

I pick up my fork and get stuck into dinner.  “This tastes great,” I say.  “Mmm – it’s really nice!”

Adam chews some pasta for a moment. “Mm - not bad if I say so myself,” he says thoughtfully.

“Thanks for doing this Adam – it’s lovely,” I say.  “You’d make someone a lovely wife” I add grinning and Adam laughs.

  “Would you like to come and see my house?” he asks, “After I’ve fixed your shelf of course.  The gardeners and the interior designers have all finished now and it looks brilliant”.

“Oooh yes - that would be great!” I say enthusiastically.

“You could stay over if you want” Adam continues, looking up at me and smiling. 

I grin back.  “Okay” I say. 

“I hope you like my house” Adam goes on.

“Oh I’m sure I will - I mean you go out with me, so you’ve obviously got impeccable taste!” I reply and Adam laughs.

We drive for about half an hour, leaving the city centre behind and going into open countryside - past fields and several large detached houses.  “It’s down here,” Adam says as we turn into a narrow lane.  We drive down the lane and then turn up another road lined with trees on either side.

“
Another
lane?” I ask.  “Where is this house?”

Adam laughs.  “No Gail, this isn’t a lane.  This is the drive!”

“Oh right,” I say hastily.  Gosh.  The car tyres crunch through the gravel as we arrive at a huge pair of black iron gates with gold spikes on the top and a large initial ‘F’ woven into the ironwork.

  “Nice aren’t they?” Adam says happily, “Had them installed the other day.  I’ll just punch the code in.”  He lowers the driver’s side window and reaches out to the keypad.  “There’s an intercom on here as well, for people to buzz the house” he continues as the gates open smoothly.  “This is it” Adam says as the house comes into view.  It’s a huge, modern red brick building with reproduction Georgian pillars outside the front door.  There’s a lawn in front, shaped into a perfectly manicured circle and in the middle of which is a large stone fountain shooting water at least ten feet into the air.  I look up at the house.  It must have at least fifteen windows on the front and goodness knows how many rooms.

“So - what do you think Gailey?” Adam asks.

“It’s fantastic!” I say, feeling quite overawed.

“Come on, let me show you inside!” Adam says and jumps out of the car.  I follow him in as he opens the front door and we step into a beautiful reception area with laminated floor, creamy coloured walls and a huge oak staircase in the middle of the room.  Over the staircase is the biggest chandelier I have ever seen in my life.

“Gosh!  Isn’t that lovely?” I say, looking in wonder at how the light sparkles off the crystal droplets.

“Yeah – it is nice isn’t it?” Adam says, looking up at it.  “Come on, I want to show you round”.  He takes me by the hand and we walk towards one of the doors that lead off from the reception area.  “This is the dining room,” he announces, opening the door.  There’s a huge caramel coloured wood table in the centre of the room, surrounded by ten chairs and a rectangular mirror across one wall.  “It’s great isn’t it?” Adam says.

“It’s lovely” I say.  Goodness me - I don’t think you could even get this table
in
my dining room, never mind seat ten people round it.

“Let me show you the lounge, it’s amazing,” Adam calls as he opens a set of double doors.

Bloody hell, he’s right.  This room
is
amazing.  The walls are painted the same lovely creamy colour as the reception area and there’s a cream leather settee and two matching armchairs placed round a large glass coffee table.  The furniture rests on a huge ivory furry rug that covers half of the room, the other half being highly polished oak floorboards.  On the far wall is the biggest television I have ever seen in her life. It takes up most of the wall. I walk over to it and shake my head.  “Adam, why did you get such a small television?” I ask jokingly, “I bet you can hardly see this from the sofa!”

Adam grins at me.  “It’s fantastic isn’t it?  There’s a waiting list for these you know” he adds as he stands and admires it.

“I bet you feel like you are actually
in
the film, don’t you?” I ask.

“Yeah!  It’s great” Adam replies, “And there’s surround sound as well – see all the speakers?”  He gestures at the tiny silver brushed metal blocks placed discreetly round the room.  “Let me show you”.  He picks up the remote control, switches on the television and immediately the sound seems to be all around us.  The news is on and I feel like I am actually
in
the studio with the newsreader.  It’s a big change compared to when I watch TV at home and I have to thump the set in exactly the right place on the top if I want to watch ITV1.  Still, that TV’s got character.

“That is great Adam!” I say loudly over the television.  “Oh gosh!  Look at that fireplace!” I say as I notice it for the first time on one of the other walls.  It looks like a large picture with a brushed steel frame, but instead of a static image, there are several flickering flames inside the frame.  “That is gorgeous!” I say in wonder, moving over to it, “It throws out some heat doesn’t it” I add as I warm my hands in front of it.  “I bet it will be lovely to just lie on the rug in front of the fire and watch telly on a cold winter’s night” I continue, turning to look at Adam.  That would be lovely - perhaps with some hot chocolate as well.

“Oh definitely!” Adam replies.  “Now follow me”.  We walked back into the reception area and stand behind the staircase.  “Now tell me what you think of this” Adam says smiling as he flings open a set of double doors and in front of me ripples a beautiful turquoise swimming pool.  It’s
fantastic
.

“Wow!” I squeal, clapping my hands over my mouth, “You’ve got a swimming pool!  Oh how fantastic!  I love swimming you know!  Can I have a swim in it sometime?” I ask Adam, who seems pleasantly surprised by my reaction.  “I would go more you know,” I continue, “but it’s always so packed and I hate plasters floating past me!”  Oh, I’m
so
glad I said that.  What a lovely image.

“Ugh!” Adam says, wrinkling his nose in distaste.  “Well, you can use it as often as you like Gailey and I can guarantee there will be no floaty plasters”.  He walks half way round the pool.  “Hey – have you seen what’s on the bottom of the pool?” he asks grinning.

“No.  What?” I say walking to stand next to him.  On the bottom of the pool, laid in dark blue tiles is a picture of a footballer kicking a football. 

“That’s great!” I say.  It’s not really what I’d have picked, but if he likes it, that’s all that matters.

“Great isn’t it?  They only finished it last week,” Adam says, beaming at it. 

I look around and notice that apart from where we came in, all the other walls are just solid sheets of glass.  Even the roof is mostly glass, with wooden beams running across it.  It is pitch black outside.  “Adam” I ask, “is the garden all round outside?”

“Yeah, we’re right at the back of the house.  Hang on,” he says, walking over to a silver button on the back wall.  “I’ll put the outside lights on and then you’ll be able to see the garden.  Go and stand near the far wall”.  I do as he asks, Adam presses the button and the inky blackness outside is suddenly flooded with light.  Gosh - the garden goes on for miles!  “If you press the edge of that middle panel” Adam says, walking towards me, “the door will open into the garden”.  I do as he says and as if by magic, the panel starts sliding back.

“I’ll bet this will be fantastic in the summer,” I say as I step out onto the patio.

“Oh yeah, it will be” Adam says, walking up to me.  “I’ll show you the garden when it’s light– I’ve got the rest of downstairs to show you now and there’s all upstairs yet!”

“Okay” I say smiling.  This is like a really good version of ‘Through the Keyhole’ – only this is somewhere I would actually want to live, not like some of the house they used to have on that show.  They looked like they had been decorated in the dark.

We step back inside and Adam presses the button to close the panel.  “I’ll show you the kitchen” he says and leads me into the biggest kitchen I’ve ever seen.  It’s bigger than the kitchen used to be at my primary school.  It’s all stainless steel, very minimalist and not a pan rack in sight and to my absolute delight there is also a floor to ceiling glass doored fridge, filled with nothing but champagne. 

“That.  Is.  Fantastic!” I say slowly, tearing my eyes away from the fridge to smile at him.  It’s like a dream, this house.  It’s amazing!

“Well I don’t want to run out do I?” Adam says and winks at me.

After the kitchen, Adam shows me the gym, a really nice study and then a games room where he proudly points out his trophy cupboard and explains what all the different cups and shields are for.  There’s also a full sized snooker table in here.  “I didn’t know you played snooker” I say, rolling a couple of the balls down the table.

“Yeah - a bit” Adam replies, “I thought it would be nice to have a few of the lads round - have a few games one night and a few beers you know?” he says, resting his hands on the edge of the table.  “Now follow me – I’ve saved the best for last”.  We walk back through the kitchen – I am sure I am going to get lost in this house - and into a beautiful conservatory that, like the swimming pool, overlooks the garden at the back of the house.  I can hear the trees rustling gently outside.  It’s not finished though as there is a large hole in the middle of the floor, with bags of cement all around and a bright orange mixer standing on one side.

“What’s happening here then Adam?” I ask.  “Are you having a new floor put down?”

“No I’m having a hot tub installed!” Adam says beaming, “with under floor heating all round and everything!”

“A hot tub?” I ask incredulously.  “Isn’t that a bit cheesy - Seventies James Bond type thing?”

“Exactly!” he says laughing.  “I know it’s cheesy but I’ve always wanted one, and it is going to be so cool!  I didn’t want a boring old conservatory- I thought I’m going to have a bloody hot tub in mine!  Picture the scene,” he says, as he stands behind me and wraps his arms around me, “After a match – which Grandmere win of course – we can just jump in here, grab a glass of bubbly and lie back and look at the stars” he murmurs into my ear, “wouldn’t that be great?”

I wish he wouldn’t do that – it’s giving me goose bumps. “I suppose that might be alright” I say casually and laugh.

The house is just as lovely upstairs as downstairs.  Adam shows me one beautiful bedroom after another, all ensuite and each with carpet so plush my feet just sink into it.  “Well – just one more room to show you” Adam says and I follow him out onto the landing and down to a door at the end.  “This is the master bedroom,” he says as we walk in.  The whole room is white – white walls, white ceiling with a big white bed in the centre of the room.  There are floor length windows along one wall, two of which are slightly open, making the voile panels flutter gently in the breeze.  A white table with distressed gold edging stands on one side of the room.  It has a large glass vase full of white lilies on top which gives the air a lovely, delicate perfume.  Two more doors lead off from the main room and another huge antique chandelier, like the one downstairs, hangs down over the bed.

“It’s beautiful Adam – it’s really lovely!” I say looking round, thoroughly impressed.  It’s like something out of a fairytale palace.

“Thanks,” Adam replies, looking pleased.  “I wanted everything to be perfect and I got this designer to come in and help arrange everything.  I wasn’t too sure about the vase of lilies though.”  He nods towards the vase.  “I thought it might be a bit girly, if you know what I mean”.

“I think they’re lovely,” I say walking over to them and taking a deep sniff.  They smell gorgeous.  I then walk over to the two doors on the far wall.  “Where do these go?” I ask.

“This one is the bathroom,” Adam says and opens the door on the left.  I follow him into the most beautiful bathroom – all white and pristine with little bluey-green mosaic tiles on the walls, grey slate tiles on the floor and two glass sinks at one end with a huge mirror running the entire length of the other wall.  I look round, open mouthed.  “Wow” I say.

“And this one,” Adam calls as he walks out of the bathroom and along to the other door “is the dressing room”.  Dressing room?  I must see this.  I go out of the bathroom and into the other room.  All around the room are built-in wardrobes and Adam opens a few to show me rows and rows of clothes all neatly arranged and little drawers for things, belt racks, shoe racks – there was even somewhere to put dirty washing.  There is also a freestanding mirror at the far end of the room and I hastily smooth my hair down after noticing my reflection.  “This is amazing,” I say wide eyed as I look around.  “Fancy having a whole room just to get dressed in!”

“It’s great isn’t it?” Adam says smiling.  “And look – there’s space for all your things as well,” he adds, sliding a couple of wardrobe doors back to reveal acres of empty space.  “So if you do want to leave some things here you know, all this space is yours”.