"Okay." Casey said, sipping her breakfast tea. "There are four properties today. How do you want me to list them? Price, size or man-toys?"
"I'll go with man-toys." Derek replied and took a bite of his bacon sandwich.
"First, is the penthouse with the balcony and hot tub."
Derek shook his head. "I want something with grounds. You know, somewhere for Robbie and Lizzie to kick my butt at soccer and a pool…definitely a pool."
"Well that rules out two of the properties." Casey said, laying the printouts to one side. "Leaving two. Two seems a manageable number. You want me to call the realtor and set up a viewing?"
"Sounds good. I'm not going over to London until tonight anyway so anytime up till four. Will you come with me?"
"To look at the houses or to London?"
"Both."
Casey nodded. "Mom already invited me, and to be honest I don't trust you with something as important as buying a house. You'll pick the one with the gym and media room and completely forget about issues such as maintenance charges and crime levels."
"There's a house with a media room?" Derek sat up and paid attention.
Casey groaned. "I knew I shouldn't mention that. That house is in an area which is a bit rural. You don't have neighbours to watch the place while you're away."
"Casey. These are multi-million dollar houses. You don't need neighbours to watch over the house. You pay beef-cakes large sums of money to wear a uniform and carry a nightstick."
"I know. It's the principle of the thing."
Derek chuckled. "You never change do you?" It was said with an affection she wouldn't have expected from the Derek of her teenage years, but they had grown up since then: moved on, become better friends.
"I change…I used to plot how to get away with your cold-blooded murder, but I don't anymore." She grinned.
"I'm glad to hear it. Did you come up with anything?"
"Yup." She said standing up to go and get dressed. "Poisoning your bacon."
Derek stared at the half-eaten sandwich in horror.
"Mr and Mrs Venturi! How lovely to meet you!"
"But I…" Casey started. Derek smirked.
The suited man in front of her ignored her and put an arm around Derek's shoulders. He had researched Derek only enough to know that he was a pro-hockey player with a serious amount of money to spend. He made assumptions and hadn't even bothered to look for a wedding ring.
Derek glanced over his shoulder at the smartly suited Casey, looking every bit the business woman in contrast to his jeans and t-shirt. He smiled to himself and turned back to the guy beside him. The two men walked towards the house trailing Casey with her clipboard and carefully printed out questions and checklist.
"So. As you can see we have this lovely circular driveway and fountain with space for four cars to comfortably unload at the same time. There is a side driveway to the triple garage which also has accommodation above it for your security team."
Derek nodded as though he was used to this but the reality was he had never bought a house before - only rented apartments. His eyes were still goggling at the size of the property which Casey had assured him – after consultation with his accountant – that he could afford.
"The front of the house is in a mock English-Georgian style with stone facing and large windows. Shall we go take a peek inside?"
I want more than a peek. Casey thought. We're going to do this thoroughly or not at all.
"And inside we have a lovely bright atrium with white with black lozenge marble floor and a wide sweeping staircase. We'll start downstairs I think and then move up to the bedrooms."
They moved through the house, having several "peeks". In fact, Derek thought if the guy didn't stop describing it as "having a peek" he was going to be quite piqued himself. Casey was busy ticking and crossing things off on her clipboard. She was gradually getting used to being referred to as Mrs Venturi – and also quite used to being ignored…until she started asking the awkward questions then the realtor glared at her.
So far the house was like all the others they had seen, ticking most of Casey's checklist: grounds (Derek), a good-sized kitchen (Casey), enough bedrooms for the whole McDonald-Venturi clan to stay at the same time (Both), Pool (Derek), Media room (Derek), low crime (Casey), minimal maintenance charge to a reputable maintenance contractor (Casey). In fact, Derek had wondered for an amused moment who was moving into this house, him or Casey?
The thing that was missing for Casey was the wow factor: something that made you go all wobbly at the knees and make you pay over the odds. They hadn't seen it on the previous houses, and so far, after they had covered the ground floor and the pool/gym house, they hadn't seen it here.
They went back into the house to ascend the massive staircase, Derek hanging back to talk to Casey.
"What do you think?" He asked in a whisper.
"It's nice, but no wow factor yet. Do you like it?"
"I love it. But then I loved the others too. And that last one had that bowling lane…" He shrugged. "Maybe the wow factor is in the bedrooms." He said with a smirk. Casey snorted and he laughed throwing the possessive arm around her again.
The realtor was saying something about bathrooms as he walked, leading them along the corridor at the top of the stairs, white panelled doors on both sides. He stopped at the far end.
"There are two bedrooms which could be used as Masters." He said. "But the current owners use this one and I'm sure you'll see why when we get inside."
He threw open the door to the room, and they stepped inside.
Casey gasped. It was a modern take on the four-poster bed theme, but all light and bright rather than heavy and canopied. The walls were pale pastel green and the wardrobes and interior doors were the same white wood and panelled. A warm oak four poster bed dominated the room but the thing which immediately caught Casey's attention was the set of open doors leading onto a balcony.
"Oh!" She gasped drifting across the room and through the doors. The sight which met her eyes was truly beautiful.
Below the balcony was a garden, beautifully laid out and tended but with the wildness of an English country cottage. It was a riot of colour and in the warmth of the summer weather, the smells weaving the way up to her nose were heavenly.
Inside, Casey could hear Derek asking the realtor the questions she had primed him to ask at this point for all of the properties, but she didn't care about the answers. He would choose which ever property he liked.
But it was this one which had won Casey's heart.
After several minutes of leaning on the railing of the balcony, Casey sensed she wasn't alone and turned to see Derek standing beside her.
"You okay?" He asked, concerned.
"Yes. It's just…"
Derek put an arm around her. "It's just you like this balcony, don't you?"
"It's not that, Derek. It's the garden. It's just so…Frances Hodgson Burnett."
He frowned. She smiled. "The Secret Garden."
"That the one with the love triangle?" He asked and because she knew Derek, she knew that he knew the book she was talking about. And that the characters were young children.
"Do you always have to be so obnoxious?" She demanded.
"Probably." He smirked. Casey ignored him and turned back to look at the garden.
"We should go down and look at it." Derek said softly, knowing he was breaking across her concentration. She smiled at him.
"Really?"
"Sure."
The realtor showed them the way and then left them to it. The garden did indeed have a wall around it and as they walked, they could hear the trickling of water from somewhere. Casey tugged Derek's hand pulling him towards the sound, but she couldn't find it…until Derek swept back a cloud of ivy to reveal a tiny fountain.
She laughed and it went straight to her eyes in the form of a twinkle.
"Wow!" She exclaimed. "The house is nice, lovely even, but I never expected this. It's breath-takingly beautiful!"
"Yes. It is." Derek murmured, but they weren't talking about the same things.
.
They walked through the garden for a few moments and then Casey realised they had been there longer than anywhere else in the house – and that she was still holding Derek's hand. She dropped it quickly, embarrassed.
"Sorry. We should go."
"Yeah." Was his only response.
They walked back down the path to the house again, ready to meet the realtor.
"What do you think?" The guy asked as they reappeared.
Derek glanced at Casey who was looking back towards the garden.
"I think I'd like to make an offer."
Her head shot round quickly to look at him. Derek ignored her.
The suited man beamed.
.
Later as they drove away from the house, offer accepted and the wheels set in motion, Casey turned to Derek.
"What about the bowling alley?" She asked.
He scratched at the side of his nose. "What use is one bowling lane? I like to play in teams."
By the time the end of the summer approached and the preparations for the hockey season were underway, Derek was moved into his house. Of course, that involved the purchase of lots of furniture since he had always rented furnished before, but Casey loved the shopping trips.
That summer he saw more of her than he had since he had left for Vancouver, and more than ever he was glad he had made the decision to move to Toronto.
Shortly before he left for Vancouver, Casey and the rest of the family helped him move, and from the laughter and joy as everyone mucked in to help, he wasn't the only one happy that he was home in Ontario.
In the midst of the confusion of moving, they grilled food on the terrace out the back, and as the warm afternoon drew to a close, Casey took Nora to see the garden.
Her mother loved it as much as she did. When Casey described how Derek had looked around the house and made the decision after seeing the garden, Nora had looked suspiciously at her step-son. He had coughed and changed the subject leaving her with half an idea in her mind.
Casey remained with Derek when the rest of the family left, because they had a two hour journey home, and hers was fifteen minutes. As the car left the house, Nora turned her head to look back at the door where Casey was standing beside Derek waving. They weren't touching, weren't even close but Nora's half-idea grew in her mind.
"Look at all the boxes!" Casey said when the family were out of sight and they had returned indoors. Derek groaned.
"Leave them till tomorrow. We'll get an early start and unpack then."
Casey glanced at him. "We?"
"Yeah. You and I both know you're dying to let loose on my kitchen cupboards and set up some system or other."
Casey blushed and Derek laughed.
"Busted, Babe!" he said making his 'Bs' hard and forceful. Then he moved to sit on the large staircase. "Are you staying?" he asked lightly.
"I haven't got my toothbrush and stuff."
"Nora stocked up. There's a bag around here somewhere. Stay Case. We'll set up the TV in my room and watch a movie. Then you'll already be here in the morning for the early start."
"Your room?"
"I've only got the energy to make one bed tonight."
She narrowed her eyes. "Mom did that for you, as well you know."
Derek chuckled and stood up. "Yup and I can't be bothered to make you up one of the spare rooms, so you'll have to sleep in my room."
"And where will you sleep?"
"With you. We've slept in the same bed before."
"Not through choice, Derek."
"Casey." He whined. "What do you think I'm going to do? Jump you?"
"Well it's been a while since you had sex and your libido is probably…"
"You do realise you sound like Queen Victoria right now don't you?" He interrupted. "Now get your ass upstairs and clean your teeth while I figure out a: how to set the house alarm and b: where the fuck the TV went to."
Casey sighed, wishing that she could think of an appropriate come-back but all she could manage as she started up the steps was a history lesson.
"Actually, Queen Victoria was far from a prude. She had sculptures of naked men and women all over her home, and paintings of ladies in the nude which rumour had it were actually posed for by her ladies-in-waiting. And of course she and Prince Albert had a very vigorous sex life. Hence all the children and…"
"Jesus Casey! Are you trying to kill me. Get! Now!" He half-shouted. Casey, shocked, darted up the stairs as quickly as she could…and then back down again to grab a shopping bag from the top of a pile of boxes.
"Toothbrush." She said by way of explanation before running up the stairs again.
It took him a while to figure out the alarm system: a while and a false alarm which he then had to phone through to the call centre to assure them that all was well. In the meantime, Casey had realised that Edwin had connected the flat screen TV in Derek's room, so the missing TV was already screwed to the wall.
Derek came up the stairs looking tired, happy and evidently hungry because he was carrying a bag of chips. Casey looked at the food with a raised eyebrow.
"It's the off season, Casey. Everyone relaxes a little on the off-season."
He grabbed pyjamas and changed in the en-suite and by the time he came out, Casey was tucked up in bed.
He was proud of the way the shock of suddenly seeing her there didn't show on his face but he cursed himself inwardly. These "moments" with Casey were different moments. They weren't the playful banter between friends of their college years, they were definitely something more. Derek wasn't sure where this whole life path was going or if he wanted to stop it. Correction: If he even wanted to stop it.
"What?" Casey asked from her position propped up in his bed.
"You seriously don't want to know." He muttered, and pulling back the covers, climbed in beside her.
The playful banter resumed quickly as they picked holes in the movie. Casey fell asleep against Derek's shoulder halfway in. Whilst he turned the TV and adjusted his pillow so that he was lying down, the movement hardly dislodged her in her sleep.