The House By The Beach

When Shane walked in front of the house for the first time, he gasped to see how big and beautiful it was. The front porch was enormous, and it could fit a big party on it easily, the plants grew so tall and thick along the fence that he could barely see the house from the road, and they were trimmed delicately like an art show. There was a huge chair in the front of the house, like the kind of chair he only saw at the state fair or farm festival. 

“Come, let me show you the inside.” His wife noticed how impressed he was with the house; she pulled his hand and walked in with him.

As they walked in, Shane immediately fell in love with this house, the antiques sitting quietly on top or inside of the shining furniture, the abundant sunshine piercing through the big windows, not to mention that he could see the beach from the backyard by standing in the middle of the lobby.

“Is this real?” He turned to his wife Ashley.

“Yes baby, it’s ours now.” She had the biggest smile on her face. “And that’s going to be your office.” She then turned around and pointed at a room facing the front of the house. It was bigger than the master bedroom they have now.

This morning when she told him that she had a surprise to show to him, he was not quite sure what she meant. They have been married for almost ten years and it was always him preparing all the surprise for her, he threw out a surprise party for her thirty five years old birthday last year, he brought her to her favorite French restaurant in the city on their five year anniversary, and he has been planning a surprise trip with her and the two kids to Spain next year for their ten years anniversary. They went there when they were dating, she loved it there so much that she said her biggest dream was to go back with their kids one day.

He did not blame Ashley for not surprising him at all, in fact, he did not like surprises, especially in front of other people, and Ashley knew it. When they were still dating, she planned a party to celebrate his birthday, and he had to force himself hard to overcome the uncomfortableness and show how happy he was when he saw a full room of people jump out of nowhere and screamed like it was their birthday that day. Ashley was not a gift preparer, but she would take care of the house like she was the only one who was responsible for everything, because of that, Shane knew that Ashley loved him and the kids as much as he loved her, whenever people asked him what birthday gifts he got from her, he always said she was the best gift he could ever have.

And this morning, after they dropped off the kids at his parents’ house, Ashley insisted on driving, which was a sign that Shane knew something was behind it. He always drove, it was not because of how much he loved driving, but because he knew how much Ashley disliked driving. They also had a small fight before they left the house, Tom, the seven-year-old, threw a tantrum when they told him not to fight with his little sister, and Shane told him to stay home if he didn’t stop it, but Ashley said he was too harsh on him.Shane admitted that sometimes Lily, their four-year-old daughter, could be a little bit spoiled, especially by him. Ashley told Tom that mom and dad had very important things to do today, so he’d better behave so he could go to grandparents’ house. That was when Shane was curious what she meant by that, he thought Ashley just wanted to have a date like what they normally do at a weekend, luckily Shane’s parents only lived less than twenty minutes away from them, so they always asked them to look after the kids whenever they needed a break, he thought it was a little exaggerated when she told Tom that.

As Ashley was driving, Shane didn’t know where she was driving to, he thought they were just driving back home and then planning for the day. But Ashley obviously knew where to go to.

“I have a surprise for you,” said Ashley on the driver’s seat, “don’t worry, no one is going to be there.”

“Where? Home?” asked Shane.

“You can say that.” Said Ashley.

“But this is not the way home.” Shane knew it was the opposite way from their home.

“Just be patient, honey.” She then put her right hand in his left hand. It was late summer and not quite hot anymore, but he could tell she was sweating a little bit.

As they drove in the neighborhood, Shane said to Ashley, “I wonder what do the people living here do, like do they have a real job? You know what I mean?”

It was a very well-known neighborhood in the area, all the houses had long driveway, you could barely see the whole house by passing by, and you could not even tell if anyone lived there. What was amazing was almost every one of them had some access to the beach, and it was said those beaches were private ones.

Ashley did not answer his question, instead she asked him a question, “What if we move here?”

“Oh yeah, after we win the lottery.” Shane laughed.

“But do you want to?” asked Ashley.

“Not really, I don’t want to be neighbors with those assholes.” Said Shane at once.

“How do you know they are assholes?” Ashley raised her pitch.

“You can’t afford house like this without being an asshole. This is how the world runs.” Shane sounded emotional.

“Come on, Shane, they may have worked hard to get there.” Said Ashley, “I know what your parents have gone through, but you can’t judge people like that.”

Shane didn’t grow up in Westwood where they live now, his dad worked as a blue-collar factory worker and his mom was a teacher in an elementary school, not the same school Shane went to though, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go to the same school where his mom worked. She was extremely strict with both of her children, Shane could never forget how many times she had physically punished him and his younger brother, sometimes he had to take the blame even though it was Kyle, his brother, who made the mistake. Their dad never punished them for anything; he was always easy on them like he accepted them for whatever they had done or whoever they had become. Surprisingly, both Kyle and him lived close to their parents, and they were closer to their mom than their dad, even Shane could not understand why sometimes. It seemed like the older his mom got, the gentler and more caring she turned to, and all the unhappy memories were not even worth being brought up.

Shane would never forget the day when his dad came home with so much anger, Frank, Shane’s dad, his company let go quite a number of factory workers that day, Frank was not among them, however, he had been working for the company for over ten years and they always told their employees that all the employees who contributed to the company was a part of the family and they would never give up anyone, that was true for many years, they only fired employees who were slacking or making troubles. No matter how many challenges the company faced, they always went through it without the need to cut people off. That day was different, the company just had a new leadership not too long ago and though they promised everyone nothing would change, the change still came without any notice. Frank was one of the lucky ones who got to keep the job, but he was not happy, he would rather let him go with others.

“What are you thinking? Honey.” Ashley squeezed his hand and asked.

“Nothing, just something about my parents.” Said Shane flatly.

“I didn’t mean anything negative about your parents, but a lot of these people didn’t get rich by robbing or stealing people. They probably work as hard as we do if not harder.” Ashley sounded bizarre to him today, Shane knew there was something behind it. Ashley’s parents were far from being called wealthy, but their financial status was much better than Shane’s parents’. Both her parents had mid-level management corporate jobs before they retired and moved to Florida. Before they moved there, they asked Ashley if they wanted to move to Florida, “The weather would be great for the kids.” Ashley’s mom had said that more than what Shane wanted to hear. Ashley was not opposed to that idea, but Shane just couldn’t stand the political environment there, not to mention the hot and humid summer through most of the year, he didn’t mind visiting them there a few times a year though.

When they got married, Shane knew that her parents were not very enthusiastic about it, he was a sales rep for a small company when they got married and Ashley had had her own interior designing business for a couple of years, he didn’t know what Ashley liked him the most, he asked her the question before and she told him that his kindness was what made her feel like home. Shane wouldn’t think he was the kindest person, he knew at least a handful of guys that were more kind than himself. He had to admit that till this day he still did not know why he married Ashley, till this day, he still thought she was pretty and hot, at least most of the time, but he also knew at least a handful of girls that may be hotter than Ashley. Though he was very attracted to her and he had never thought about building a life together with another woman. Now Shane was a director in the same company, and he was able to afford the family without the need for Ashley to work, he could feel that he was finally more included in the core of her family.

“Here we are.” Said Ashley as she drove in a long driveway.

“Are we visiting someone today?” asked Shane, he was not happy that Ashley didn’t tell him about this plan, nor was he in the mood to meet anyone he didn’t know, especially in a neighborhood like this.

“Oh no, honey, we are just here to take a look at this house.” Said Ashley excitedly.

“Hold on, Ash, what’s the point of looking at this house?” He didn’t step out of the car, the front of the house looked amazing, he thought only some of his customers could afford a house like this, not even Ashley’s parents. He also knew Ashley, she liked to buy things that are not necessarily needed, though mostly inexpensive stuff so he wouldn’t say much about her spending habit. But this obviously would not be an inexpensive expenditure.

“What if I told you this house is already ours?” Ashley looked at him with a big smile on her face, like a little girl waiting for her prize after she answered the question correctly in class.

Shane didn’t say anything, he just looked at her like she was crazy and then walked out of the car. Now he definitely had to take a look at the house.