Alfie The Holiday Cat

Chapter Twenty-One

It was our last few days and since the incident there had been many grown-up conversations and children’s whispers behind closed doors. The adults still had no idea what to do. Polly was adamant they should make Seabreeze Cottage work; she said she couldn’t bear to let the beautiful cottage go when they’d come so far. I tended to agree with her. Claire felt torn between her children who had fallen out of love with the place, and her childhood holidays. She couldn’t bear to see the house which characterised childhood holidays be lived in by someone else. The men, as usual, supported the women but Franceska sided with Polly; she was determined that Seabreeze should be a holiday home for us all and she didn’t want to let Andrea and her family ruin it. She was trying hard to rally the adults to her way of thinking, but with the builders still traipsing in every day (though Liam had been replaced), and the fact everyone was tired, and still a bit down, it wasn’t working.

Colin was profusely apologetic and working his men even harder than usual. Final decorating was going on, and even George was managing to keep out of trouble as the house underwent its transformation, though he was oblivious to the dilemma that we were all facing.

‘OK,’ Franceska said, one evening when the children were in bed, tired out from a lovely trip to the beach. ‘We need to decide, we have less than a week left. Do we keep Seabreeze or not?’

‘It’s the kids I’m worried about, they keep saying they want to go home,’ Claire sighed. ‘But then I think of the lovely time everyone had when we threw that party. We really felt part of the village then. So I’m not sure.’

‘Look, Aleksy is worried for Toby, we all are I know, but he thinks that the girls will continue being mean to all of them and Toby can’t handle it. But I think Toby is doing OK now. The kids love the beach, they like their other friends, so why can’t we move on from the incident?’ Tomasz asked in his usual reasonable way.

‘You know, I think that I might have an idea,’ Jonathan said. ‘We told Andrea we wanted her girls to apologise, well they haven’t yet. How about if we get an apology for all the children and then, when they have assurances that the girls won’t terrorise them any more, they might feel differently?’

‘And this from the man who first wanted to sell the cottage,’ Polly teased.

‘It’s a good idea, mate. But who is going to call Andrea?’ Matt asked.

Everyone, including me, stared at Polly.

Gilbert and I had spent a bit more time together; he was now a fully paid-up part of the family. That was the terrible thing: Seabreeze Cottage felt like our family home, the first place I had managed to have all the humans I loved under one roof, and not only could I not bear to think I wouldn’t come back, we were both worried about him losing his home. However, he was a tougher cat than I, so he was bearing it well.

George was upset because everyone was upset and when he heard the children talking about wanting to go home, he was distraught.

‘But if we go home, then what about Chanel?’ he had asked.

‘George, I’m sorry but you’re a big boy now so I have to be honest with you. If we go home, then you won’t see Chanel again.’

I had realised my mistake immediately, as George looked so incredibly upset. Since then he had taken to spending more time in the bush looking for Chanel, but the whole family had been lying low so there had been no sign of her.

‘Of course I’ll miss paddleboarding and the beach,’ Aleksy said. He had taken to holding meetings in his bedroom with all the children. I wasn’t sure that Summer and Martha really understood but they liked to be involved, even if they did spend most of the time playing with their dolls rather than listening.

‘I will too, but I won’t miss those horrible girls,’ Tommy said.

‘Or me,’ Toby added.

‘No, but there are more of us than there are of them,’ Henry pointed out. ‘So, if they are ever horrible to us again we can stand up to them.’ Henry was perhaps turning out a bit like Polly.

‘Yes, but then their mother upsets our mothers. I know it’s been going on all summer and when Toby ran away …’

‘I didn’t mean to run away, I just wanted to come home,’ Toby said, sadly.

‘Did you hear what he just said?’ Henry asked. ‘He said he wanted to come home, this is our home, our other home, maybe we need to remember that.’

‘Meow.’ I nuzzled Henry, he was clever.

‘Yes, but we need everyone to be happy here,’ Aleksy said. ‘And I’m just not sure that’s possible.’

I felt as if both the adults and children were going round in circles and I could only hope the big apology would do the trick for all of them. It was a lot to pin my hope on but it was all I had.

The grown-ups felt that it would be easier to have all the children in the garden for the apology. Andrea, who had been largely avoiding us, had agreed to anything they asked, she was just relieved not to be in more trouble. And I hoped she felt guilty about Liam too. George had decided that Chanel, on hearing about the girls’ apology, would probably use the opportunity to apologise to him for not falling in love with him — no, no idea how that kitten’s mind worked either — so he had groomed himself and was waiting eagerly for the appointed time.

Gilbert, who went out most days, said he would stay around, ‘just in case’. He really was coming round to my way of thinking as regards humans. As I told him, we didn’t necessarily need them to take care of us but they needed us to take care of them.

So, it was clearly going to be a bit intimidating for the girls and the adults weren’t going to make it any easier as everyone waited on the lawn for them to come over. They did, right on time. The girls were dressed more casually than normal in shorts and T-shirts, and although Andrea looked immaculate she wasn’t quite as dressed up as normal either.

‘Love how she’s trying to look poor for us,’ Polly hissed to her husband.

‘They don’t look remotely poor,’ Matt shot back.

‘Exactly,’ Polly said.

‘Hello.’ Andrea approached us. We did look a bit like a big gang, all gathered on the lawn. Claire was holding onto Toby, because of course he was nervous about seeing the girls, and Jonathan was carrying Summer. Everyone else was standing as if we were in a group photo, the kind they take at weddings.

‘Hi,’ Jonathan said, sounding stiff.

‘Look, before the girls say anything, I would like to say a few words—’

‘Meow!’ George had gone up to Andrea, because Chanel was nowhere to be seen.

‘Oh hello, cat.’ Andrea patted his head awkwardly. ‘I didn’t bring Chanel because I didn’t want to upset your cats.’ She looked at all of us. ‘What kind of cats are they anyway?’

George had lain down, sulking, and put his head in his paws.

‘Um, really? You wanted to say a few words about our cats?’ Polly snapped.

‘Sorry, no sorry. I wanted to say that I appreciate your understanding the other day and I am so sorry for how I behaved. I’m not proud of myself, I know I’ve been terrible and unwelcoming as well as unneighbourly. So, I hope that we can start again.’

I wasn’t sure if I trusted her but she did sound as if she meant what she said.

‘And can I just say, we do appreciate your honesty,’ Matt said.

‘But no more,’ Franceska added. ‘No more games.’ She snuggled into Tomasz, who put a protective arm around her.

‘No, of course not and, with that, the girls have something to say.’

For the first time the girls looked like children. Serafina hung her head and Savannah looked as if she had been crying.

‘We are sorry we were so horrible,’ Savannah said. ‘We didn’t mean it but we thought that if you stayed in the cottage we would have to leave our school and also how would our daddy know where we were? We might never see him again.’

She burst into sobs. As Andrea rushed to comfort her, I felt very sad for her, she must be missing her dad, they both must. I couldn’t condone their behaviour but I did understand a bit now.

We all stood around slightly awkwardly, but then a surprising thing happened. Toby ran towards Savannah and took her hand.

‘I would miss my daddy if I didn’t see him. That’s my daddy.’ He pointed at Jonathan, who looked choked. ‘So I ’cept your apology, but please don’t be horrible again, it’s not our fault.’

Serafina gave him a big hug. ‘Thanks, and I promise we won’t be horrible. We want to be your friends, after all you do have the best games, don’t they, Savvy?’ she said.

‘Yes.’ Savannah was still crying but the gulps were subsiding slightly.

Claire came over to Toby. ‘Well done, Tobe, that was very nice of you,’ she said.

‘It was, you are all very good people.’ Andrea was looking ashamed again. ‘And honestly, girls, it’s not their fault that Daddy isn’t here, I was just cross when I said that, but we need to be nice to everyone.’

‘But, Mummy, you always say nice people never win,’ Serafina chirped up. We stared at Andrea, who had the grace to appear embarrassed.

‘I shouldn’t have said that, and I was wrong, because all these families who live at Seabreeze are nice and look, girls, they are winners.’ Andrea hugged both the girls. ‘From now on we’ll all be nice, even me.’

‘That I can’t wait to see,’ Polly said, then she clamped her hand over her mouth. ‘Sorry, I meant to say that we should all draw a line under this, forgive and forget. Girls, pretend you’ve met our children for the first time and start over, and we should do the same with you, Andrea.’

‘I am so grateful for that.’

The girls chatted to the children, and Summer and Martha begged them to make daisy chains, which they did. The boys, who were less interested in flowers, set up a football game and I felt my heart swell again as they all played beautifully on the lawn of Seabreeze Cottage.

Franceska and Polly went inside to make some drinks and they came out with tea and biscuits, juice for the children and they even brought our water bowl out in case we needed a drink. I did, as I lapped some water; it was very thirsty work all this making friends. It was nearly teatime and I was hungry as well. I hoped we wouldn’t have to wait too long for our food.

Andrea went to get Chanel but said she would be right back. Which reminded me that I needed to make sure that George had a drink, it was so hot. I went, expecting to find him under the hedge on Chanel-watch, but he was nowhere to be seen. Feeling panicked again, I circled the garden, checking all the places he might be, but he seemed to have disappeared completely. I couldn’t believe I had let him go missing again. What kind of parent was I? I ran to find Gilbert.

‘What’s wrong?’ Gilbert said.

‘It’s George, he’s not here,’ I said.

‘I’ll check the house, shall I?’ Gilbert suggested.

‘You can but I’m pretty sure he’s not in there.’

‘Well, where would he have gone?’ As I started to fret, an earth-shattering shriek interrupted me. We ran back to the front lawn to find Andrea had returned, ashen-faced.

‘What’s wrong?’ Claire asked.

‘It’s Chanel, she’s nowhere to be seen and she never leaves home without me.’

I glanced at Gilbert. It suddenly made sense. I had suggested to George that he would never see Chanel again and now look what had happened. He had obviously gone off with her, although somehow I couldn’t see them running away together. More like Chanel running away from him. Oh no, just what had George done?

It was chaos as it always is when humans try to solve a problem. Andrea was hysterical, the girls looked frightened and everyone was talking at once.

Jonathan called order. ‘Look, let’s organise a search. Firstly, you are sure she’s not at your house or in the garden?’ he sensibly asked Andrea.

‘I’m certain, I checked everywhere. Chanel doesn’t leave the garden without me. Oh, what if she’s been stolen?’ Her eyes widened.

It would be a brave person who stole that cat, I thought, but of course I stayed quiet.

‘Meow,’ I said. Had no one noticed that George wasn’t here?

‘Oh goodness, Alfie, where’s George?’ Claire asked.

‘Meow.’ I had no idea, although I was pretty sure if we found Chanel we’d find him.

‘Aleksy, Tommy, can you check the house, so at least if they’re not inside we can rule it out,’ Tomasz said. The boys ran off.

‘Right, Claire, Franceska and Andrea, you guys should look together.’ Jonathan started organising everyone. ‘Matt and I will search, and Tomasz, perhaps you, Aleksy and Tommy can form the third search party.’

‘Shall I stay with the kids?’ Polly asked.

‘Is that OK?’ Claire said.

‘Fine and if either of them come here I’ll phone you.’

‘Andrea, where do you suggest we look?’

‘I honestly don’t know, she doesn’t go out without me.’ She was visibly shaking with distress; she obviously loved that cat very much, which made me soften towards her a bit.

‘How about we go to one end of the village and start there. Jon and Matt go to the other, and Tomasz take the boys to search the beach?’ Franceska suggested, sensibly.

‘OK, good plan.’

‘Meow?’ I said.

‘Alfie, if you come with us you might get lost too,’ Claire said. ‘I’d rather you stayed here.’ She had no chance.

Aleksy and Tommy returned and confirmed that the cats weren’t in the house, so everyone split into their groups, ready to search. Gilbert was with me and I knew as soon as they left we’d go off ourselves, we would be a group. We couldn’t just leave it to the humans, of course.

We set off a little while after the humans, which I thought was the best bet, so they didn’t notice us. The village was quieter, it being early evening, and we soon reached the entrance to the beach, where I stopped, breathless and still fretting.

‘Hello,’ a tabby cat approached me.

‘Hi,’ I replied, still catching my breath.

‘I’m Lily,’ she said. ‘I just moved here.’

‘Well that’s all very nice but we’re in the middle of an emergency,’ Gilbert cut in, sounding gruff.

‘Oh dear. What kind of emergency?’ she asked. ‘Is it to do with fish?’

‘No, I’ve lost my kitten,’ I said. ‘He’s small and ginger and I think he might have been with, or at least chasing, a Persian cat.’ My words rushed out in a jumble.

‘Oh yes I saw them. I tried to stop them for a chat but they just ran past me. Bit rude I thought.’ She tipped her head to one side. ‘I mean, I was only trying to be friendly, it’s not easy being the new cat, I can tell you.’

‘Where, where did they go?’ I asked, trying not to sound irritated.

‘They headed onto the beach. The Persian was running ahead, and the kitten, cute isn’t he? Well anyway he was trying to chase her but he was quite far behind. Little legs I suppose.’

I looked at Gilbert. ‘You go to the beach, I’ll go and round up the humans,’ I said.

‘Can I come?’ Lily asked. Gilbert raised his whiskers but didn’t reply as he took off and she followed him anyway.

Everyone was outside our house, I guess they’d run up and down the road and drawn a blank.

‘Meow!’ I shouted. Then I ran around in circles a few times.

‘I think Alfie wants us to follow him,’ Aleksy said.

‘Don’t be absurd, he’s just a cat,’ Andrea said.

‘No, Alfie isn’t just a cat, not at all,’ Tommy replied. ‘Come on, guys, let’s follow Alfie. He knows what he’s doing.’

I got to the beach first where we found George, Gilbert and Lily, and there were two things I immediately noticed. The stretch we were on was devoid of people and the water was quite high. Not being a fan of water, I ventured onto the sand tentatively.

‘George?’ I asked.

‘It’s Chanel, she’s over there,’ George said, vaguely waving a paw.

‘Where?’ I couldn’t see her anywhere.

‘She’s in the water,’ Lily said. ‘I mean, a cat in water, who’d have thought it? Although of course technically she’s in a boat on the water but still—’

‘Shush,’ Gilbert said. ‘George, explain.’

‘She’s in that boat, Dad, look.’ I followed George’s eyes and he was right. Chanel was looking out of the side of a boat, looking terrified as it floated on the water, and it was moving further and further away from the shore.

‘Oh no, she’s at sea,’ I said. ‘What do we do? How do we make the humans see her?’ I asked.

‘Hold on, they’re coming,’ Gilbert said, calmly. ‘They’ll see her. And I think I can hear her.’ We all listened and yes, there was a sound of a cat crying being carried through the air.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘Well, you said I might never see her again so I went to tell her and she kept hiding from me, so I realised that she wanted to play hide and seek, and anyway, I am guessing that she was hiding in that boat when I followed her but it was already floating away. She’s very good at hiding.’

I tried not to let my exasperation show.

‘I don’t think she was playing hide and seek,’ Lily said.

‘Who are you?’ George asked as if he’d just noticed her.

‘Lily, nice to meet you.’

‘Guys, listen, we need to focus,’ Gilbert said. ‘What are we going to do about Chanel?’

‘I’ll go and get her,’ George said.

‘Don’t you dare, you’ll end up drowned, or worse,’ I said. ‘No, George, I forbid it. The humans will get her.’

At last they all ran towards us, Andrea trying to take her shoes off as she ran like a mad woman. They all lined up beside us and looked towards the water.

‘Why are we staring at the water?’ Andrea said, putting her hand up to shield herself from the burning evening sun.

‘Oh, look, there’s your cat, in that boat there,’ Aleksy shouted. They all looked and finally saw what we wanted them to see.

‘Oh no, oh no!’ Andrea started to breathe funny. ‘What are we going to do, my baby is floating away.’

‘When’s the tide coming back?’ Tomasz asked.

‘Not for hours. She can’t stay out there until then.’ Andrea was hysterical, Franceska took hold of her as if she might faint.

‘Do you have a boat?’ Matt asked.

‘No, of course I don’t,’ Andrea snapped.

‘Look, there’s a paddleboard there, we could go and get her on that,’ Aleksy said, spotting a board on the shore.

‘You can’t go without an instructor, or a life jacket,’ Tomasz pointed out.

‘But someone needs to rescue her, please, please I’m begging you,’ Andrea said. I noticed she didn’t suggest going herself.

‘Oh goodness, I’ll go,’ Jonathan said. We all stared at him. ‘How hard can it be?’ he asked. Claire looked a little horrified. ‘It’s just standing, isn’t it?’

‘It’s quite hard, actually,’ Tommy said. But Jonathan wasn’t listening. He was already approaching the board.

‘Are you sure about this?’ Claire asked, sounding terrified.

‘Sure,’ Jonathan lied. ‘I’ve got to get that cat, and no one else is offering to go.’ He took his shoes off, grabbing the board and the paddle and taking them into the water. I wasn’t sure if I could look. I had a bad feeling about this.

‘I have to rescue my love,’ George said suddenly, and before I could do anything he had run up to Jonathan and leapt onto the paddleboard.

‘My goodness, your kitten’s on the paddleboard!’ Lily exclaimed.

‘Oh no,’ I said to Gilbert, my panic was building. ‘I have to go after him!’

‘No, Alfie, stay here, he’ll be alright, Jonathan will take care of him,’ Gilbert said, giving me a reassuring nuzzle.

But who would take care of Jonathan, I wanted to ask.

‘Oh blimey, George, you’ve made this even harder,’ Jonathan shouted. Jonathan was in the water attempting to get on the board while George was staring out to where Chanel’s boat was. We were all watching from the shore, closer to the water than I liked but I had to be as near to my boy as I could be. Of course George wasn’t making it harder for Jonathan to get on the board, and I remembered how good he was on it when he went off with Tommy, so I tried to stay calm. Especially as the silly kitten seemed to like water.

‘Are you sure he knows how to paddleboard?’ Andrea asked. No one replied. No one needed to. It soon became clear Jonathan had no idea, as he tried to get on the board, and kept slipping off. He finally managed to get on but then fell straight off the other side, almost taking George with him. Luckily my kitten had really good balance. I felt my fur shaking with fear for both of them, but I tried to stay calm, in case I was needed. Not that I had any idea what I could do.

‘Can I help him, Dad?’ Aleksy asked after a while.

‘Sure, you better help him get on, Aleksy,’ Tomasz said, patting his shoulder. ‘But don’t go too deep.’ It was lucky Tomasz said that, because Andrea was on the sand, sobbing in a heap, Franceska trying to comfort her and, well, we might have been here all night if Aleksy hadn’t gone.

He waded out to where Jonathan was, luckily the water was only waist-deep. He held onto the board and the paddle while Jonathan sat down. Aleksy tried to take George but George wouldn’t cooperate.

‘George, come to me,’ Aleksy said, putting his hand out to grab him.

‘Meow!’ George swiped a paw at him. My goodness, he had never done that before.

‘Ow, George scratched me!’ Aleksy exclaimed as he held his hand away from George.

‘For goodness’ sake,’ Jonathan said. ‘If this isn’t bad enough.’

‘Right, Jonathan, just sit on it like you are doing and paddle either side to steer. Don’t try to stand up,’ Aleksy directed, rubbing his hand.

‘No, no chance of that.’ Jonathan looked mildly terrified as he started paddling off. The board was very wobbly and not exactly going in a straight line. I wanted to close my eyes again but, knowing George was on there, I couldn’t quite tear them away. It seemed to take him a very long time to move at all, but he kept trying. By this time Aleksy had returned to shore, soaking wet, and when we all examined his hand, it was only a tiny scratch.

‘He really wanted to go with Jonathan,’ Aleksy said. You don’t know the half of it, I thought.

I couldn’t help but notice that Jonathan and George were already soaked as they made their way, in a very long-winded manner, to the boat where Chanel was. After what felt like hours, they pulled up beside the boat. Jonathan had the paddle in one hand and was reached out to hold the boat with the other. Chanel looked at George and recoiled slightly. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could imagine that Jonathan was saying those words that Claire said ‘not in front of the children’ to him about.

‘Get onto the board, Chanel!’ Andrea was screaming. I wanted to scream too, I wanted George back safe and sound and I could see that if Chanel didn’t get onto the board soon the whole thing would capsize. Although I wasn’t worried about Jonathan — he could swim — I was terrified for George who I wasn’t sure could. Finally, after Andrea had screamed herself hoarse, Chanel climbed out of the boat and somehow Jonathan managed to grab her without falling off. Everyone on the shore cheered loudly.

‘Go Jonathan!’ Tommy shouted and Jonathan started to paddle.

After going round in circles a few times, Jonathan managed to get the board and the cats near enough to the shore for the boys to go and help.

‘Hooray!’ Tommy shouted as he and Aleksy ran to greet the paddleboard. Aleksy held it tight while Tommy grabbed George and Jonathan disembarked, the latter clutching a terrified Chanel.

‘Thank you so much!’ Andrea grabbed Chanel from Jonathan’s arms and tearfully cuddled the cat. I had never seen Chanel look anything but disdainful but now she seemed shocked and shaken up. I almost felt sorry for her. Andrea wasn’t letting her go although she was wet and dishevelled. ‘Thank you so much again, but I ought to rush off, sorry to leave you like this but she’s traumatised, and with a pedigree such as Chanel’s I can’t take any chances. I think I ought to call the vet.’

‘Do you think we should have George checked over?’ Claire said.

‘No, he’s just a bit wet, he’s fine,’ Jonathan said. ‘I, on the other hand, am soaked and also a little bit unsettled from that little jaunt. I need a towel and a beer.’

‘What on earth was she doing in that boat?’ Franceska asked.

Yes exactly, I thought, glaring at George. Hide and seek, my tail.

‘You said you thought it would be a piece of cake,’ Tomasz pointed out, laughing at bedraggled Jonathan.

‘Yeah, you did, mate.’ Matt patted his shoulder.

‘OK, so maybe it’s not as easy as it looks,’ Jonathan conceded. ‘But now can I go and get dried off?’

‘So …’ I started. After being towel-dried in the utility room, Gilbert, George and I were alone. Well we weren’t, because Lily had followed us home for some reason. ‘Tell me why you thought it was alright to risk your life, George.’

‘OK, so it’s like this.’ George grinned. I could see he was mustering all his charm. ‘It was my fault that Chanel was in the boat, so I owed it to her to help rescue her. I’m good at paddleboarding after all, and did you see Jonathan, he was hopeless, he needed me.’

I wasn’t sure if I had the energy to argue. George’s logic was, well, George’s logic.

‘You were very good,’ Lily said. ‘I have to say I’m very impressed.’

‘Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but just who are you, Lily, and why are you here?’ Gilbert asked.

‘I live a few doors down. We’ve just moved into the village, well a while ago, but I’ve only recently been allowed out. It was awful being cooped up inside all this time, but anyway, I wanted to make friends as soon as I got out, and look, now I have!’ Lily grinned.

She was an attractive cat, I thought, and perhaps would be company for Gilbert when we weren’t here; after all she seemed quite determined and not even Gilbert seemed to be able to put her off.

‘Welcome to Lynstow,’ I said, trying not to sound short; I still had things to sort out with George. ‘But, George, why did you scratch Aleksy? He’s your friend.’

‘Ah, yes I will say sorry to him, but he tried to grab me and I needed to go to save Chanel. Now she is bound to love me,’ he said.

‘Oh boy,’ Gilbert said. ‘You’ve got it bad. Real bad.’

‘I don’t really understand,’ Lily said.

‘It’s a long story, and, honestly, you don’t need to worry,’ I replied. I wasn’t sure how we were going to sort this one out. But as it was nearly teatime, I had other fish to fry.

We gathered on the lawn to watch the sunset. Polly and Matt had gone to the village and brought back fish and chips for everyone, including George, Gilbert and I. We were all sitting on picnic blankets, enjoying our meal.

After Gilbert had assured her she could visit again, Lily had reluctantly gone home. He seemed to find her irritating but then he’d been the same with me when we first met. I kind of liked the idea that he would have another cat friend when we were back in London — after all, it wasn’t going to be Chanel, was it?

Andrea had phoned to say thank you, that Chanel was alright but needed to rest. As did we all after our ordeal, I thought, sneaking a look at George. Not that you would know it looking at him — he was nibbling happily on a piece of fish. But as I thought back over the day, I was glad that it ended happily. Chanel floating off out to sea had brought us all together, yet again, and my lad, who yes had probably caused it in the first place, had proven to me how brave and good he was. Toby had shown how amazingly forgiving he could be and what a lovely boy he was. As I watched him feeding George his chips, I couldn’t help but think how similar those two really were. We were lucky to have them both.

‘I can’t believe that George went out to sea with you,’ Claire mused.

‘I think he’s sorry for scratching me, he gave me lots of cuddles and it’s not so bad.’

‘He’s a crazy cat, but you know who he reminds me of?’ Matt said.

‘Jonathan?’ Polly asked.

‘No, Alfie. It’s the sort of mad thing Alfie would do after all. They really are like two peas in a pod.’

‘My goodness they are. We now have two cats who seem far too human at times, or maybe three, after what Gilbert did to Liam,’ Franceska said.

‘Well how lucky are we then?’ Claire finished.

I looked at my boy, he looked at me, and I raised my whiskers, blinking at him. He blinked back. We really were two peas in a pod, if that meant what I think it did. My boy, a chip off the old block. And despite the fact that he had worried me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

‘So,’ Tomasz said. He was holding a bottle of beer, munching his food and looking at the sky. The sun was almost burnt orange as we watched it slowly disappear, as if it was sinking into the sea. It was one of the most breathtaking sights I had ever seen. ‘Do you still want to leave here, this house, and go home?’

‘No way!’ Toby said. ‘Please can we always come on holiday to Seabreeze Cottage?’

‘Yes, I have to get better than Aleksy at paddleboarding,’ Tommy agreed.

‘At least you are both better than Jonathan,’ Claire said, laughing but giving him an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

‘Well maybe next time I’ll get some lessons. I can’t quite see how it can be so difficult when it looks so easy.’ Jonathan scratched his head. ‘I mean, it’s just standing.’

‘I find it easy,’ George whispered to me. I nuzzled him, my infuriating, but wonderful boy.

‘It’s my best ever place in the whole world,’ Summer said.

‘Mine too,’ Martha agreed. ‘Well apart from the other places which are my best ever,’ she added.

‘And we have so many friends here, don’t we?’ Henry asked. ‘Even the girls are our friends now.’

‘We certainly do, love,’ Polly said.

‘I propose a toast,’ Claire said, raising her glass. Everyone raised their glasses, or beakers in the case of the children. ‘To Great Aunt Claire and to Seabreeze Cottage. We are going to have many years of happy holidays here, I just know it.’

‘Meow!’ I agreed. We certainly would.