Ruben didn't want to put pressure on Hunter again by meeting Bree at Greenies, so he decided to take a risk and meet Bree at her house in Toorak where she was more likely to be comfortable and somewhat agreeable. Or at least that was the theory. I didn't like this idea because I felt like it gave her too much power and that was the opposite of what I wanted in this scenario, but Ruben assured me it was the right thing.
I especially didn't like the idea when we got to Toorak and saw her house. Everyone always said 'Toorak' like it was some super exclusive, rich person suburb, but I didn't know exactly how much this was true until I saw it with my own eyes. The ginormous house was protected with a two-metre high, half-brick, half-perfectly groomed hedge fence that spanned the entire front of the property, with an iron-bar electric gate that we had to buzz up to the house to get through. The house itself was made of old brick, wide and double story, with delicate patterns built into the design around the roof and window frames. The garden between the house and fence line was immaculately kept, with perfectly cut grass, and large rose bushes evenly spaced out around the front of the house.
I looked to Jet, who looked torn between gawking in disbelief and screwing up his face at the house positioned in front of us as we walked to the front door. I understood why his face looked like that because I imagine mine looked much the same. The house was impressive, sure; but shy of having character purely from the simple fact that it was an old and beautiful house, it said nothing about the people living inside it. At our house, Ruben had added so much of his personality to the building before we even got there, with wooden details inside to represent his passion for building, dark, sleek colours to represent his boldness, the wraparound porch he had built and Mum had hung plants from, the cacti that grew taller than me, our footies waiting for us out the back on the decking ready for us all to start kicking them around.
This house has none of that. It simply just looked like an expensive house, and I grew so thankful for Ruben and Mum, and the care and attention they gave to making our house a home.
I pressed the doorbell, which even chimed differently to regular ones—longer and fancy and with different tones like a proper song—and we waited for it to be answered.
"Do you think they mow their own lawns, or have someone do it for them?" asked Jet, looking around the front of the property. Jet and I were responsible for maintaining our backyard lawn, so we knew how annoying lawn mowing could be. Even if I could afford to pay someone to do it, it seemed a little bizarre to do so. If you've worked hard to own your own house, and you appreciate and use the space you have, why wouldn't you put the effort in to keep it going yourself? Maybe that was just a value Mum had instilled in me from early on. Similar to her 'You always need to nurture and care for nature, Madden. It keeps us alive with oxygen and food and water, and being outside is good for your health and wellbeing,' as she would say.
"My guess is no, but let's try to stay positive and not jinx this by shitting on her boring garden and lack of knowledge about how to even start a mower," Ruben laughed, as did I, imagining Bree in her fancy clothes and high heels that I saw her wearing when we first met leaning down to pull the starter cord on a filthy, grass-stained mower. "Shit. That's what I just did, didn't I? Right," he said, straightening himself out. "Positive, starting from now."
Bree finally opened the door to see us standing around on her doorstep laughing together in recognition of Ruben's failing positivity, and our laughter faltered pretty instantly when we eventually stopped long enough to see her standing and watching us. She didn't look angry or annoyed, but she also didn't necessarily look impressed either. It's a good thing that I came here with a mission, and that that mission didn't involve impressing her in any way.
"Hi, Bree," I said, offering her a hand shake, which she took instantly. "Your house is amazing." I knew well enough the power of compliments by now, and her house was impressive, regardless of her boring garden and it not being my tastes at all.
YOU ARE READING
When You Know
RomanceMadden Jace Carter has spent his whole life waiting for the day he could finally call his Aunt Sadie his mother. Having been raised from birth by Sadie - a woman who has unfortunately experienced too much of the darker side of life and love - Madden...
