Alfie The Holiday Cat

Chapter Twenty-Two

Andrea invited us to her house for a farewell tea. We all went except for Gilbert, who cried off. He had accepted our families but he wasn’t interested in the neighbours, and I didn’t want to push him. I also had a sneaking suspicion he was going to see Lily. He pretended he wasn’t interested in making friends, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. I think he had a bit of a soft spot for her after all.

While George was sad to be leaving, he was very excited about tonight. It was his last chance to spend time with Chanel, and he was determined to make an impression. I dreaded to think what that might involve. However, I was going to be there and I wasn’t going to take my eye off him, so there would be no repeat of the other day.

We all made our way next door. The children were excited, the adults far more relaxed and even I felt jubilant. The cottage was coming on a treat and the adults had decided that as they’d forgiven Andrea it was only fair they forgave Liam too, so he was back working and he was doing an amazing job now he wasn’t trying to burn the place down.

Both the children’s and adults’ floor, as well as the en suite and main bathroom, were now complete. The builders had started work on the small living room which the adults thought would be a ‘snug’ for them, a sort of cosy TV room with a wood-burner and two nice sofas in, it would be a child-free space apparently although I doubted it would be cat-free. The main living room would be done after we left and would open onto the lawn and serve as a big family room. There would be a large TV in there, cleverly hidden in a cupboard, along with a DVD player and another fire. I wasn’t keen on the idea of fires at first, what with Andrea’s aborted plan, but then I realised they would be lovely and welcoming and cosy. The kitchen was also being refurbished after we’d left. They were going to knock through from the small dining room at the front, which we never used, to make a huge kitchen/diner, which would fit us all comfortably when we were here together. Seabreeze Cottage was soon going to finish its transformation into our family second home, a home big enough for my family — which was all of us.

‘Welcome,’ Andrea said. She was wearing her trademark posh-looking dress and heels, but the girls were wearing shorts and T-shirts. Summer and Martha ran up to them and begged them to play hairdressers. The boys shuffled around, until Andrea led them to a game called swing ball and let Aleksy organise a tournament.

There was a long table, which had flowers on it and looked very nice, set with plates and glasses, which the adults all sat at. For once, Andrea put Chanel down and as she sat in the shade by the house, George approached. I followed him. I needed to make sure this didn’t end badly.

‘When are you going?’ Chanel asked. She flicked her tail angrily.

‘Are you going to miss me?’ George asked, raising his whiskers.

‘Not at all. Look, I nearly ended up having to live at sea because of you.’

‘Hey that’s not fair,’ I cut in. ‘My kitten saved you.’

‘After he followed me relentlessly and in the end after I kept asking him to leave me alone, and he wouldn’t, I ran off. I hid on a boat to get away from him, and then I fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the water, so yes he may have helped save me but he also helped put me there in the first place.’

‘But I was just playing with you.’ George looked so innocent, and sweet.

‘Chanel, George is young, and well yes he’s much younger than you, but can’t you see he just likes you?’ I tried.

‘I really do,’ George added.

‘Look, I’m sorry but I’m pretty much a house cat. I like my beautiful house, my beautiful owner and the children, I don’t like anyone else.’ She really was one mean cat.

‘Don’t you get lonely, and don’t you want to play with us?’ George asked.

‘I certainly don’t get lonely and I am not interested in playing with anyone,’ she huffed.

‘OK, fine, I get it, you don’t want to be friends with us,’ I cut in. ‘But perhaps you could learn to be civil. After all, if our humans can all get on then the least we can do is to try too. And we will be here a lot after all, so we may as well get along.’

‘OK, but now I shall go and sit on Andrea’s lap. Oh, and thanks for saving me, but in future I would appreciate it if you didn’t stalk me.’ She glared at George.

‘Has anyone ever told you what lovely eyes you have?’

Chanel hopped onto the safety of Andrea’s lap so I led George to the table. He headed off to see the children who were seated at their own table so I went to curl up at Claire’s feet. I could hear the conversation from there and I could also keep an eye on George who was licking ice cream off Summer’s spoon. I pretended not to see that one.

‘So, when will you be back?’ Andrea asked.

‘I’m coming down in a few weeks to supervise the last of the decorating but I think I’ll probably come on my own as it will be a lot of work,’ Polly said.

‘So, I’ll be left looking after the kids,’ Matt said.

‘You’ll have plenty of help,’ Franceska said.

‘Yes and the cottage really is spectacular thanks to Polly, it’s really been a working holiday for you, hasn’t it?’ Claire said.

‘I’ve loved every minute and it’s for all of us. Andrea, I’m not sorry that you didn’t get our cottage but I am sorry that you still have problems with where to live.’

‘Thank you, Polly. I mean, I really don’t know what I’m going to do. My husband is saying the house has to go on the market, my solicitor is trying to sort it out, but I’m a bit lost for what we can do, and I also don’t really want to accept the settlement he’s offered but again, I’ve been in such a mess I just can’t think straight.’

‘But this house is enormous,’ Tomasz said.

‘It is and I was wondering.’ Polly sipped her wine. ‘I know you can’t stay in the house as it is, but have you thought about turning it into apartments which you can either sell or rent out? I mean, you could do it easily, although it might take time, and your husband will probably like the idea because you’d make money.’

Andrea looked at her, as if seeing her for the first time. ‘I’m not sure,’ she said, but she looked as if she was thinking about it.

‘That way you get the ground-floor apartment — it’ll be big enough for you and the girls — and you have two others. I know it’ll be a come-down but you get to stay in the village and it won’t be financially crippling. I guess if you present it to your husband as a business deal he won’t be able to argue. Or if you get your lawyer to argue the financial sense of it at least.’

‘Would it be easy to convert?’

‘You’d be surprised at how easily, listen, let me look, maybe later, but think about it.’

‘It’s a great idea, Pol,’ Jonathan said.

‘Maybe it might work … Polly, please do have a look, I’m not sure how it would work, but I’m open to anything. I’m desperate still.’

‘Of course, I’m sure we can sort something out,’ Polly replied.

‘Well thank you, I really don’t deserve friends like you,’ Andrea said.

‘Maybe not, but you need friends like us,’ Claire finished.

It was dark when we left Andrea’s but George and I went straight to the sand room to find Gilbert. Summer was rapidly drawing to a close. The evenings were coming in more quickly and colder, as were the early mornings. It was still nice here, but as September dawned we could feel that summer was saying its final farewells, as were we. It was nearly time for us to go.

‘Are you ready?’ Gilbert asked.

‘Yes, we are.’ We followed him out of the house.

We sat on the top of one of the sand dunes watching the moon.

‘I’ll miss you two, and the humans,’ Gilbert said.

‘We’ll be back before you know it, but this has been a wonderful summer.’

‘The best summer ever,’ George said. I hated to point out that it was really his first proper summer too.

‘Are you sure you’ll be OK here alone, I mean without us?’ I asked.

‘Of course. The builders are still going to be around, and that lovely lady Shelley is going to look in on me. And that tabby Lily, well she’s alright as far as girl cats go.’

I looked at him with suspicion. ‘Wow, Gilbert, you’ve gone from not needing any friends or family to having a lot,’ I teased.

‘It’s your fault, Alfie. You made me get used to it. And also by the sounds of it your families will be here a lot, so I guess we’ll see loads of each other.’

‘You don’t fancy London then?’ I was being fanciful I knew but I quite liked having Gilbert as part of our gang.

‘Nah, I’m a country and beach cat. I like this.’ We all looked at the moon and agreed with him, after all what was not to like. ‘And who will look after the scary sheep and watch Liam?’ He sounded emotional, and I felt how far we had come from the gruff cat who hadn’t even wanted to tell me his name.

I loved it here, I thought, as I breathed in the sea air. I loved how the sun twinkled on the water during the day, and the moon lit up the whole sea at night. It was so beautiful, like a light show. It had been a very eventful summer, but then what did I expect? After all, my life was eventful. But we had come through it again, stronger than ever, my kitten, my families and me. And we had added to it with Gilbert.

‘We’ll be back before you know it,’ I said. I missed Edgar Road, I missed my friends and Tiger but I would look forward to coming back, very much.

‘I can’t wait to come back,’ George said. He stared at the moon as if hypnotised by it.

‘And in the meantime, I promise I’ll look after Seabreeze Cottage for you, no actually for us.’

‘For us,’ I replied and I couldn’t have felt prouder.