will.’
Then I turned round and walked away.
Three Months Later
Cath and Simon’s Fancy-Dress Party
April 2006
Cooper
It was just after six on the Saturday of Cath and Simon’s party when I finally arrived home shattered after having spent the afternoon trudging round jewellery shops on Kingly Street trying to find the perfect engagement ring in order to propose to Laura on her birthday at the end of the month.
I was about to head straight upstairs and hide the box when Laura called from the living room.
‘Coop? Is that you, babe?’
‘Yeah.’
‘The internet has gone off again. Can you fix it for me?’
Stuffing the engagement ring deeper inside the pocket of my leather jacket I made my way to the living room to find Laura sitting at the dining-room table with her laptop in front of her. She stretched her arms out towards me for a kiss. ‘Hey, you. Did you get anything good?’
‘Nothing much,’ I replied as I squeezed her tightly and kissed her on the lips. ‘So you’ve killed the internet connection again?’
‘It wasn’t me. I didn’t touch it.’
Leaning over her shoulders I studied the screen for a moment before solving the whole problem with three clicks of the mouse.
Laura laughed. ‘I was just about to do that.’
‘Bet you were,’ I replied noticing what was on the screen: one of those last-minute-holiday-type booking websites. ‘What were you looking at anyway? Holiday porn?’ I sighed and rubbed her shoulders affectionately. ‘I don’t know why you do this to yourself when you know we can’t afford it.’
‘But that’s just it,’ replied Laura. ‘There are lots of deals on here and we’ve got loads saved up already. There’s stuff on here that’s dirt cheap. We could be somewhere better than this dump by next week if you let me make a booking.’
‘We’ve been here before, babe,’ I replied, willing the conversation to end as soon as possible. ‘The money we’ve saved isn’t there for a weekend at a posh hotel, or a new car, or even some cut-price holiday in the sun. It’s for a house. A house for me and you. And I don’t understand why you don’t get it. House prices round here are going through the roof. And if we don’t buy soon then we’ll never get a place of our own.’
Laura stood up from the table abruptly and walked over to the bay window. She stood glowering out into the dark street. ‘And would that really be so bad?’
‘So you’re saying you want to rent forever?’
‘It has its plus points.’
‘Like?’
‘Well, for starters not having to save up for deposits that only half of us are interested in.’
‘Right, so it’s just me that wants to stop messing around and put down some proper roots?’ I sat down on the sofa and tried my best to stay calm. This wasn’t what I’d been expecting from the evening at all. I’d just spent a month’s wages on a engagement ring. I was planning to ask Laura to marry me. All I wanted to do was sort out some kind of a future for the two of us and she was making me out to be the bad guy.
I looked up at her. ‘So you’re telling me you’d rather trade sorting out our future for a week’s holiday that’ll be nothing but memories the minute we land back at the airport?’
There was a long pause and I sensed that she was about to drop some kind of bombshell. ‘Well . . . if we’re putting all our cards on the table then the truth is I was actually thinking a little longer than a week.’
‘What? Like a fortnight?’
She shook her head. ‘I was actually thinking more like a year. Come travelling. Coop! You’ve never been. You’ll love it. We could have the best time. We could go anywhere you wanted: Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan . . . you name it.’
‘I think we’re a bit long in the tooth to be taking a gap year.’
‘People our age do it all the time.’
‘Do they now?’ I hated sounding like I was Laura’s dad but I also hated listening to her banging on like a
Then I turned round and walked away.
Three Months Later
Cath and Simon’s Fancy-Dress Party
April 2006
Cooper
It was just after six on the Saturday of Cath and Simon’s party when I finally arrived home shattered after having spent the afternoon trudging round jewellery shops on Kingly Street trying to find the perfect engagement ring in order to propose to Laura on her birthday at the end of the month.
I was about to head straight upstairs and hide the box when Laura called from the living room.
‘Coop? Is that you, babe?’
‘Yeah.’
‘The internet has gone off again. Can you fix it for me?’
Stuffing the engagement ring deeper inside the pocket of my leather jacket I made my way to the living room to find Laura sitting at the dining-room table with her laptop in front of her. She stretched her arms out towards me for a kiss. ‘Hey, you. Did you get anything good?’
‘Nothing much,’ I replied as I squeezed her tightly and kissed her on the lips. ‘So you’ve killed the internet connection again?’
‘It wasn’t me. I didn’t touch it.’
Leaning over her shoulders I studied the screen for a moment before solving the whole problem with three clicks of the mouse.
Laura laughed. ‘I was just about to do that.’
‘Bet you were,’ I replied noticing what was on the screen: one of those last-minute-holiday-type booking websites. ‘What were you looking at anyway? Holiday porn?’ I sighed and rubbed her shoulders affectionately. ‘I don’t know why you do this to yourself when you know we can’t afford it.’
‘But that’s just it,’ replied Laura. ‘There are lots of deals on here and we’ve got loads saved up already. There’s stuff on here that’s dirt cheap. We could be somewhere better than this dump by next week if you let me make a booking.’
‘We’ve been here before, babe,’ I replied, willing the conversation to end as soon as possible. ‘The money we’ve saved isn’t there for a weekend at a posh hotel, or a new car, or even some cut-price holiday in the sun. It’s for a house. A house for me and you. And I don’t understand why you don’t get it. House prices round here are going through the roof. And if we don’t buy soon then we’ll never get a place of our own.’
Laura stood up from the table abruptly and walked over to the bay window. She stood glowering out into the dark street. ‘And would that really be so bad?’
‘So you’re saying you want to rent forever?’
‘It has its plus points.’
‘Like?’
‘Well, for starters not having to save up for deposits that only half of us are interested in.’
‘Right, so it’s just me that wants to stop messing around and put down some proper roots?’ I sat down on the sofa and tried my best to stay calm. This wasn’t what I’d been expecting from the evening at all. I’d just spent a month’s wages on a engagement ring. I was planning to ask Laura to marry me. All I wanted to do was sort out some kind of a future for the two of us and she was making me out to be the bad guy.
I looked up at her. ‘So you’re telling me you’d rather trade sorting out our future for a week’s holiday that’ll be nothing but memories the minute we land back at the airport?’
There was a long pause and I sensed that she was about to drop some kind of bombshell. ‘Well . . . if we’re putting all our cards on the table then the truth is I was actually thinking a little longer than a week.’
‘What? Like a fortnight?’
She shook her head. ‘I was actually thinking more like a year. Come travelling. Coop! You’ve never been. You’ll love it. We could have the best time. We could go anywhere you wanted: Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan . . . you name it.’
‘I think we’re a bit long in the tooth to be taking a gap year.’
‘People our age do it all the time.’
‘Do they now?’ I hated sounding like I was Laura’s dad but I also hated listening to her banging on like a
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