This is the second story for which I'd like feedback. It features the same characters five years later.

Regards

Matthew.

MARTINA DOESN’T WANT TO LIVE HERE ANY MORE

“Martina I’ve been wondering” said Thomas “that now that we’re older and we’ve been going out with each other for five years…”
“…and known each other for about ten”. She said
“That we shouldn’t move on in our lives and live together. I want us to live together”.
“Oh Thomas” she cooed “I’d love to do that but… I don’t see how we’ll be able to afford it”.
“Well” he said, looking coy, “I got that inheritance money from my grandma a couple of months ago and,” he reached into his jacket pocket, “my numbers came up on the lottery”.
“You never did!” she exclaimed
“Five numbers, a nice five-figure sum. Enough to change my life and your life and certainly enough to buy a significant part of something major like, say, a house!”
Martina screamed in delight and threw her arms round Thomas.
“Then you’ll do it?” he said “you’ll move in with me, we’ll buy a house together?”
“Yes!” she said

Martina went home that night like she was floating on air. This had made a lovely, surprise suffix to her 18th birthday a couple of days before and now, with Thomas’s money, she could see the wonderful future laid out in front of her.

“Mum, Dad!” she said as she breezed through the front door “Thomas asked me to move in with him, we’re going to buy a house together!”
“Not so fast young lady!” said her dad.
“Now Gerry, let’s wait and she what she has to say” said her mum
“Go on then, what did he say to you?” he said
“Well, he wants us to buy a house and move in together and I said I would it’s great isn’t it? I’m going to be living with him!”
“And just where are you going to get the money to pay for that? We won’t be able to support you fully as much as we want to, you know that. We’ve got three children, two of which are still fully dependent on us and we have to support all of you equally”.
“Yes, yes, I know I’ve got two twin brothers but it’s okay. Thomas got five numbers on the lottery so there’s enough money there to pay for it”.
“No”.
“What!”
“No”.
“No he really has won the lottery and everything, he showed me the ticket. He say’s he’s got a five-figure sum from it and wants to spend it on a house for the two of us and…”
“No I don’t doubt that he’s won the lottery, I’ll check with his dad later, but there’s no way we’re going to let you buy a house and move out from here at this stage”.
“Stop being such an old scrooge! Why not?”
“Martina, we love you. But owning a house is a massive responsibility and is something that is very hard to do these days. We want you to be old enough and mature enough to be able to cope with all the responsibilities”.
“I’m 18 dad! It was my birthday the other day. I’m an adult now, I think I can look after myself now don’t you”.
“No Martina, you can’t really” said her mum
“What! I can”
“I don’t think so, not properly. Just because you can drink, smoke, vote and drive doesn’t mean that you’re also capable of looking after yourself or not being dependent on someone else in one way or another”.
“I-I don’t think you love me any more!”
“Of course we do! We just don’t want you to go getting carried away with yourself just because you’re in love. We’re warning you not to do too much too soon because otherwise it’ll not work out the way you had both wanted it to and you’ll just end up disappointed”.
“But no, listen, I’ve been thinking. What about all that money you’ve got tied up in those properties you’ve got. I was thinking you could just…well…sell one of those and then you’ve got the money there to be able to help us out with moving into our new house and paying for it and stuff. Or instead, we could just move into one of those houses straight away, cleanly and everything; no messing about”.
“We’re not going to just drop everything because you’ve told us to” said Gerry “I’m sorry but it doesn’t work like that! Besides, those properties that I own are there as a long-term investment. Eventually the money will all come back to you, James and Richard anyway. And that’ll be a lot of money by then, even split between the three of you. That’s when you can go off and buy your big house and all the stuff to go with it; not now”.
“That’s our legacy to the three of you” said mum
“Is it!? You just don’t want me to have any fun that’s all!”
“Alright, suppose you two did by a house and you did move in together and we did all club together to buy you everything that you’d need. What would you do next? You can’t wash you own clothes for example, can Thomas do that?”
“Erm…we’d learn”
“And what about the other domestic things like cooking and cleaning? Who’d do all that eh? You get home from work, knackered at the end of every day and what’s the first thing you do? At the moment it’s get something out the fridge and watch the telly isn’t it. How would you feel if suddenly you had to start cooking dinner, put some clothes in the washing machine, wash the pots, empty all the bins into the big bin outside…?”
“I’m sure we’d work something out”.
“Take the blinkers off and look round a little. What happens when that something stops? It’s continuous, you don’t just stop doing all that stuff 6 months down the line and we don’t want you to come crying to us when you’ve had enough of the boring domestic stuff that you’ve got to do if you’ve got your own house”.
“People break up over that sort of stuff y’know. When they can’t agree on who’s doing what or who’s paying what. D’you want that to happen to the two of you? We think you make to good-a couple to have to break up over such a silly little thing”.
“Now you’re just trying to scare me. It seems like such a good idea to me. Why can’t I move in with him?”
“There’s nothing stopping you, but just trust us when we say that it’s not what’s best for you right now. In a few years maybe, but not at this moment in time”.
“Aww, but…”
“Look, why don’t I give his dad a ring and we’ll all get together round the dinner table and we can talk about this properly okay?”
“Alright”.