𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 | roger taylor

XLVIII

June 1, 1978

It's not my favorite out of the handful we've seen, but it's not the worst, either. A little overwhelming- all high ceilings and shiny floors, too many bedrooms to count, and a backyard bigger than anything we'll ever need. I shield my eyes from the bright sun, the freshly cut grass stretching on for several yards.

A cool gust of wind brushes over my arms and I shiver. Summer is still easing its way in, but not quite here yet. Although Audrey is still in school, the combination of the warm weather and Roger being on a break has it feeling like the start of something new. They played the final shows of the News of the World tour just a few weeks ago, and although Roger is grateful it's over, he hasn't been able to relax with the next album and tour already in motion. I think dragging me to several potential homes is Roger's way of nesting before he starts to get busy again.

"So, what do we think?"

I pretend to think about it, but just like all the others, it feels weird to picture us living somewhere else. "We don't need all of this, Rog," I say quietly, feeling his arms circle my waist. "There's three of us. Unless you wanted Freddie, Bri, and John to live with us, plus their families. Maybe even my parents, I think they could squeeze in."

He chuckles. "You're so hard to please. This is what, the fourth place we've seen? The first one wasn't open enough, you hated where the second one was, the third had stairs that you thought were too dangerous, and now... it's too big?"

"Exactly." I turn to face him. "I can't believe you haven't figured out my plan yet."

"Which is?"

"I'm going to find something wrong with every house you show me. We'll be looking for so long that in the end we'll just decide to stay put," I explain. "Someday you'll understand that the house we have now is perfect-"

"No. No, it's not," he interrupts, shaking his head. "It's way too small. You know I can afford whatever you want, so why would we stay? We can't grow there."

"We've been doing just fine, haven't we?"

He scowls. "Just try to keep an open mind. If you really want, I'll find a few more places we can look at. A little criteria from you would be nice, so we can avoid wasting our time?"

I grin, following my sudden urge to say something cheesy. "It's not wasting time when I'm with you."

Unfortunately, Roger's reactions to my rare, corny proclamations are always the same. He sees through it, taking it as something I truly mean, which I guess in a way he's right. His face melts into a puddle of sweetness, all the hardness from the day fading. I swear, I could give him all the compliments in the world, and he'd react like this at every one.

Learning to love each other again has been easier than I expected. The initial awkwardness didn't last very long, and it was all uphill from there. All the time he now spends with us has certainly helped- if only we could decide on a home and make it official. He's sick of having to go back and forth from his flat to our house, he claims.

"I still think the third house we saw was perfect," Roger says now, as we begin to drive away from the obnoxiously large one. "It was smaller than this one, a nice spot. And if you're really concerned about the stairs, we can replace them."

"You call that smaller? Maybe by a single bedroom, smaller."

He starts to say something snarky in response, then smirks. "We should bring Audrey to the next one, see what she thinks."

"Absolutely not."

"Why? You think she'll like it too much?" he asks. "You won't be able to say no to her if she does."