Free A Perfect Home by Kate Glanville Page A

magical scene below. Ben sat on the old dappled rocking horse, smiling to order, and Oliver and Emily pretended to eat mince pies, which they usually hated, eyes wide with appreciation. Claire stood beside them in her Emily Love apron holding Emily Love oven gloves as if she had just taken the pies from her Aga. Even Macavity the cat joined in and obediently lay in front of the fire beside the children.
    Stefan was keen to concentrate a lot of shots in the kitchen despite William’s protestations that it needed redecorating and was looking shabby.
    â€˜Don’t you want to do more in the living room? It’s just been redone; the floor boards are reclaimed American Oak.’
    â€˜I like the kitchen,’ Stefan said cheerfully. ‘It’s got real charm and sets off Claire’s work perfectly.’
    At first Claire felt embarrassed posing in front of Stefan’s lens, but he and Babette were so friendly and funny that she soon relaxed and got used to the constant clicking. Even William seemed to be enjoying himself. Claire couldn’t remember when they’d last spent so much time together as a family.
    â€˜You could all be top-class models,’ Babette told the children at the end of the afternoon. ‘You’d make a fortune.’
    â€˜Oh, could I, Mummy?’ said Emily excitedly. ‘Could I be a real model?’
    Claire shook her head firmly. ‘Definitely not. This is as far as your modelling career goes.’
    â€˜These are fantastic,’ said Stefan, as he looked back at the shots he’d taken on his camera. ‘The house looks great. What else are we doing today, Babette? Is that it?’
    â€˜I think we’ve got everything with the children and the tree, and we’ve done the kitchen from all the angles I can think of,’ she said. ‘We still need some pictures of Claire in her studio and the empty room shots but they can be done tomorrow. You won’t need me for those.’
    â€˜Where are you going?’ he asked. ‘I thought you were booked into the hotel in town with me.’
    â€˜Didn’t I say? I’ve got to get back to London tonight,’ she said, taking orange slices off the tree. ‘I’m doing a shoot on a houseboat in Putney tomorrow first thing, but you don’t need me any more. I’d better get going because I’ve got a birthday dinner party at my boyfriend’s best friend’s girlfriend’s flat tonight. It’s an eighties fancy-dress do and I think it’s going to be retro nouvelle cuisine; I need to get home to grab myself a piece of toast and a bag of nachos before I go, otherwise I won’t get enough to eat and I’ll get so drunk I’ll never get up for Putney tomorrow.’
    Babette unwrapped the lights from the tree, kissed and hugged the children as if she were their favourite aunt, and drove away in her orange car while Claire, the children, and Stefan stood at the front door waving happily. William had already left them and was busy measuring the space where the summer house would stand.
    â€˜Iced lemonade on the lawn?’ Claire asked Stefan, after she had put out the fire in the living room and he had packed away his cameras and lights. The heat was almost unbearable, even now at five o’clock.
    â€˜Perfect. I think that’s enough hard work for today for everyone and we’ll get a bit of peace and quiet now that Babette has gone.’
    â€˜I don’t think we’ll get much peace and quiet with these three around,’ Claire laughed, as the children suddenly appeared dressed in swimsuits. Emily had dressed Ben in an old pink shiny one of hers with a red and white frilly skirt. He was wearing it back to front and looked like an effeminate wrestler.
    â€˜Paddling pool, paddling pool!’ they shouted together, hopping around her.
    â€˜We’re so hot, I’m melting,’ said Oliver. ‘I’ll soon be just a big wet