Alfie The Holiday Cat. Alfie In The Snow. A Friend Called Alfie

4. ALFIE THE HOLIDAY CAT

Prologue

I was dreaming about pilchards when I felt a tail tickling my fur. I opened one eye to see George, my kitten, hopping around my bed excitedly. I opened the other eye.

‘Wake up, Dad, it’s Christmas,’ he purred in my ear. I raised my whiskers. It felt far too early to be awake.

‘Wake up, everyone!’ Summer’s voice shouted, shattering any peace and quiet. ‘It’sChrissssmass.’ She had joined George and they were both jumping around, making me feel quite dizzy.

‘Meow,’ I replied. I saw shadowy darkness poking through the landing window, but I knew no one would be getting back to sleep. When Summer made up her mind, no one stood a chance, and George was turning out to be the same way. The door opened and Claire, wrapping her dressing gown around her, emerged with a sleepy, tousled Jonathan on her heels.

‘Goodness, it’s only five,’ Claire complained.

‘But Santa’s been, I know he has,’ Summer shouted. ‘So, it must be Christmas time right now!’ She stamped her little foot. George tried to stamp his paw but he hadn’t mastered that.

‘Where’s Toby?’ Jonathan said, picking Summer up and giving her a hug. ‘Happy Christmas, my little princess.’ She snuggled into him.

‘Meow,’ I replied. He was still in bed. Toby was the only sensible member of the family, it seemed.

It was George’s first Christmas ever and Toby’s first with us, which meant it was one of the most special Christmases ever in Edgar Road. We had all been full of excitement and expectation, although Summer had been the most excited, with George a close second. Toby had been a little hesitant. Claire and Jonathan said it was because he hadn’t had a good life up until now. Toby had been adopted by us. He was five years old and, although Claire and Jonathan hadn’t shared details of his life so far, I knew he had been taken away from his parents and had lived in foster care before he came to us. That meant he had had more than one home up until now. Claire said to him, to Summer, and to me and George that we were his forever family and he had a forever home with us now. I understood that better than most. I had had a life before here too, although that did seem so long ago now.

When I first came to live on Edgar Road, I had also had a home before. My home had been happy, full of love, but my old owner died leaving me homeless. Instead of being put in a shelter I had taken matters into my own paws and I’d taken a treacherous journey to Edgar Road where I learnt many things along the way, and then I became, as I am today, a doorstep cat. This means I have more than one home and more than one family to love me and love in return. It so happens that I mainly live with Claire and Jonathan now — this is my forever home too. But they used to live separately, and I lived with them both until I brought them together and they got married. I also have two other houses I visit and we’re all great friends, more like family even. Claire and Jonathan, with Summer and Toby; Polly and Matt who have two children, Henry and Martha; and Tomasz and Franceska, my Polish family who have two sons, Aleksy and little Tomasz. They are my families, and since George came to live with us as a tiny kitten — I adopted him — they are his families too.

But back to Toby; he had obviously had a traumatic beginning in life and although he was loved and safe now, it was a big adjustment for him. When he first came to live with us he cried every night. Claire would go and cuddle him, Jonathan would read him stories and in the end George took to sleeping in his bed, right beside him. He does that every night now. Toby sleeps really well with George beside him, it’s the only way he will sleep I think. I worried at first that Summer might mind, she is a madam and she thinks that George is her kitten, but actually she’s been very lovely about sharing. Although she tried to demand a goldfish, which is a terrible idea. A fish where two cats live, whoever heard of such a thing?

So Toby and George have a very special bond, which I like to think is down to me a bit. They were both the newest members of the family, which helped to bind them, but of course we all love them both very much. It is clear, though, that George has been instrumental in helping Toby to feel at home— he’s a chip off the old block it seems — and now he’s settled in it feels as if Toby has always been with us.

Before Christmas, when Claire and Jonathan tried to get him to write to Santa and ask for presents, he was reluctant. In the end Jonathan got a catalogue with lots of toys in it and they went through it together; it was a slow process as Toby didn’t want to ask for anything. And this is the heartbreaking part: he told George, when they were in bed one night, that it was because he thought if he asked for things he might get sent away. When George told me this I felt my heart shatter, and trying to convey that to the humans wasn’t easy but in the end they seemed to get it. I did have to work quite hard, and George shredded the catalogue in the process, but I think they began to understand.

Jonathan and Claire sat Toby down and told him he was their son now and that nothing he could do would change that. They also showed him Summer’s list — although she couldn’t yet write, she managed to draw pages of toys she wanted (it was pretty much an entire toyshop), and in the end they managed to coax a letter to Santa out of Toby. Jonathan explained that Santa would bring him a special present but Mummy and Daddy would buy him some as well. This seemed like an alien concept for Toby but he seemed to understand a little.

Claire went to Toby’s room, where he was waking up, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

‘Is it Christmas?’ he asked.

‘It is, darling,’ Claire replied. ‘Now shall we go and see if Santa’s been?’ She kissed him and engulfed him in a hug.

‘But what if he hasn’t?’ Toby asked.

‘I know he has, and do you know how I know that?’ Claire asked. Toby shook his head. ‘Because I have it on good authority that you were on his good boy list,’ she said gently. She was such a good parent, to all of us.

‘Really?’

She nodded, then picked him up and carried him downstairs.

Summer had already bounded ahead with Jonathan trying to hold her back as she rushed to open the living room door. George had almost flown down after them and I trotted behind Claire and Toby.

I was trying and failing to restrain George. The run-up to Christmas was exhausting for parents, I had heard that before, but this year I experienced it first-hand. George, as well as being full of excitement, loved the shiny baubles on the Christmas tree. He liked to look at his reflection in them— no idea where he gets his vanity from — trying to use his paw to get them off the tree, and on occasion he succeeded. He had been told off many times by Claire, Jonathan and me for playing with them, and there had been breakages. He also liked to try to hide under the tree, jumping out to surprise us, which had meant that the tree had been relieved of a few of its branches and quite a lot of pine needles. (By the way, having to get the pine needles out of George’s fur had been pretty much a festive full-time job.) Jonathan moaned about the mess, Claire complained about the broken baubles, and I had possibly lost enough of my lives with the shock of having him jump out at me on numerous occasions. There was nothing we could do to stop it, however, except keep a close eye on him, keep the living room door closed and Claire had moved his favourite mirrored baubles higher up the tree.

Jonathan stood at the door. We all crowded around.

‘I should check that Santa really has been,’ he said. He opened the door a crack and George skirted through — honestly there was no keeping him back once he saw the tree. I noticed that Jonathan switched the Christmas tree lights on before fully opening the door and, as they winked and twinkled, we all made our way into the living room where a mountain of presents waited.

Before the children could dive in we all stopped.

‘George!’ Claire shouted. George, it seemed, had spotted the mirrored baubles straight away and launched himself at the tree, jumping about half way up. It seemed to play out in slow motion as he yowled, having not thought it out, and ended up clinging to some of the branches. He had got his paw tangled in the lights and the bauble that he had been after fell to the floor with a thump, eliciting another cry. As the tree began to lean to the left, it looked as if it might fall. I didn’t know what to do as I stared on in horror.

‘Yowl!’ George shouted.

‘Daddy, do something,’ Summer cried. Jonathan sprang into action, grabbing the tree and pushing it back upright. Claire batted her way through the piles of presents to secure it again, emerging looking a little dishevelled with pine needles in her hair. And as I meowed anxiously for George to let go, he did, managing to disentangle his paws from the lights and falling into Toby’s arms. Toby appeared surprised as he caught him, and then as George nuzzled him to say thank you he smiled.

‘Oh George,’ he said.

We’d been hearing that a lot since the kitten had become part of the family.

I looked at Jonathan. I was ready for him unleash his anger, using words unsuitable for children or cats, but instead he grinned.

‘It wouldn’t be Christmas without a near disaster,’ he said. ‘Nice catch Tobe.’ Claire hugged him. Relief flooded me, from my paws to the tips of my whiskers.

‘Right, kids, presents.’

Summer instantly dived into her pile. Toby hung back a bit, but Jonathan took his hand.

‘Shall we go and see what Santa got you?’ he asked. Toby nodded. Shock graced his face, as if he’d never seen anything like it before. He probably hadn’t. Neither had George, who was now playing with the wrapping paper that Summer discarded as if it was the best present in the world and as if he hadn’t just nearly ruined our beautiful tree. I turned my head to Claire. She had tears in her eyes as she pulled out her phone and took pictures of the children, my kitten and Jonathan by the Christmas tree. I felt emotional as well as I went and rubbed against her legs.

‘Oh, Alfie, this is the best Christmas ever,’ Claire said as she picked me up. I blinked at her and purred my agreement.

‘I really need coffee,’ Jonathan said, as the children took a break from present-opening.

‘Mummy, Daddy, I love Peppa Pig,’ Summer announced as she played with her Peppa Pig playhouse. Toby was playing with a remote control car, exclaiming that it was the best present in the whole world. Jonathan went and put his arm around Claire.

‘This is such a whirl, I’m exhausted. But I’ll make us coffee and then I’ll give you your gift.’ He kissed her.

‘What about George and Alfie? Can we give them their presents first?’ Claire said.

‘Oh yes, come on, boys, we’ve got a special Christmas breakfast for you.’

I really hoped it was pilchards.

As George and I tucked into our pilchards— they were big juicy ones from the fishmonger — we enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet.

‘This Christmas business is quite overwhelming,’ George said. ‘All that stuff everywhere. Although I really like the paper and the boxes.’

‘I know, and we are the lucky ones, George, look at us, fish for breakfast, a stocking full of toys and cat treats for us to enjoy later, a loving family and not to mention that after a big lunch we will get some yummy turkey. Honestly, you will see what a lucky kitten you are this Christmas.’

‘Of course I’m lucky, I’ve got you.’ George nuzzled me and I grinned. I was the lucky one actually.

I had an idea.‘George, would you like to give me a Christmas present?’ I asked.

‘Course I would. Dad,’ he replied, sweetly.

‘Please, no more climbing the Christmas tree.’ I had my paws crossed.

‘Oh, I can do that. I promise I won’t climb it ever again. It was too scary when I thought I might fall down.’

Breakfast was a distant but lovely memory by the time we went outside for a breath of air and also in the hope that we would see Tiger, my cat girlfriend, who George thought of as his mum. It was becoming parents to George that had brought us together, and we were very happy in our roles and our relationship. I had been madly in love once, with a cat called Snowball who lived next door. At that time Tiger and I were only friends. But when Snowball moved away, leaving me heartbroken, Tiger did all she could to help me and when George was adopted as my kitten, she took on a motherly role, which made me see her in a different light. I was an older and, I liked to think, wiser cat by then, and so a relationship with Tiger was what I needed. We had been friends for a long time, she kept my paws firmly on the ground and I made her more adventurous. We complemented each other and being parents to George, who liked to get himself into scrapes, was definitely a bonding experience. He kept us both on our paws.

The cold nipped at us as soon as we entered the garden, but we kept going. The sky was thick and grey, it was early still. I could tell that it was going to be a crisp winter’s day, there was a little frost sticking on the grass, which made walking quite uncomfortable, cold and wet. We didn’t hang around, as we ran to Tiger’s.

We lurked at her back door, under a bush, out of sight of her humans in case they came out. They didn’t mind George but they didn’t like me being around. I couldn’t think why; most people seemed to think I was quite a charming cat. Before long I heard the clang of the cat flap and Tiger emerged.

‘Tiger mum!’ George bounded up to her and they nose-kissed. It always melted my heart to see the love between them, I was a softy when it came to those I loved, humans and cats alike.

‘Happy Christmas,’ I said, trying to keep my emotions in check.

‘To you both too,’ Tiger replied. ‘Gosh, you are early though, I had barely woken up. Anyway, George, how is your first Christmas so far?’ she asked with a swish of her tail.

‘Well, Santa brought me wrapping paper and we got pilchards for breakfast so so far it’s the best day ever!’ George’s enthusiasm was so refreshing; I know it taught me a lot. I loved the way that he made me see things through his eyes, as if I was seeing them for the first time. That was the joy of kittens and children if you paid enough attention to them.

‘And he jumped on the Christmas tree and nearly sent it flying,’ I added. George conveniently left that out.

‘Oh, George,’ Tiger said, but she didn’t sound cross, she was amused. I was the disciplinarian in this parenting duo.

‘How is your day so far, Tiger?’ I asked.

‘It’s barely started! But you know, my family have a very quiet Christmas. We haven’t exchanged gifts yet, although I get one of those cat stockings every year so, surprise! Thankfully they are cooking a proper Christmas dinner but really Christmas is for the kids, isn’t it?’ She nuzzled George.

‘It is, you should see Toby, he’s so happy now. I think he was so scared by the whole thing, I don’t think he’d had very good Christmases before, which is really upsetting, but he’s playing with his toys and he’s having a lovely time now.’

George was playing with a leaf which was wet as the frost had melted and drops kept falling onto his head. We laughed as he tried to brush the water away, indignantly, with his paws.

‘And Summer?’

‘Summer is Summer. She’s obsessed with this pig called Peppa, and she’s got toys, games and all sorts. She’s still our little ray of sunshine. They’re all happy, which makes me happy.’ I snuggled into Tiger and grinned. Life was good right now, and Christmas was just the icing on the (fish) cake. I was always conscious of the fact that me and all my families had been through tough and challenging times, so when things were good I had learnt to appreciate them. I was an optimistic cat but even I knew the good times didn’t always last. In fact they rarely did.

‘Well, long may it last,’ Tiger said, echoing my thoughts. ‘Are you seeing your other families today?’ I swished my tail; I had told Tiger, but she had a terrible memory.

I had three families altogether. Claire and Jonathan’s was my main home, but also on Edgar Road lived Polly and Matt, Henry and Martha. Franceska, big Tomasz, Aleksy and little Tomasz (who now insisted on being called Tommy) lived a few streets away but I had met them on Edgar Road when I first moved here and they moved from Poland. Aleksy, being the oldest of the children, was my first child friend — he and I are still best friends actually.

‘Well Polly and Matt have gone to Manchester to spend Christmas with their parents and Tomasz and Franceska have gone to Poland. It’s very exciting for them; their first Christmas back there since they moved to England. I miss them but they’ll all be back before New Year. We’re all going tobe together on New Year’s Eve in fact.’

‘Does that mean you get turkey again?’ Tiger’s eyes were wide with envy.

‘I hope so!’ I grinned. I hadn’t thought of that.

‘And have you heard from Tasha?’

‘We Skyped her yesterday.’ I was a cat of the computer age after all. Although it was Claire who’d actually called her on the computer, I’d sat on her lap so I could see her and Elijah.

Tasha was Claire’s best friend and one of mine. Her son Elijah was almost the same age as Summer. She had gone through a bad break-up with Elijah’s dad and lived on Edgar Road for a while, becoming another family for us. Then Claire did something called matchmaking with a friend of Jonathan’s called Max, which worked out a bit too well as she moved to somewhere called Dubai with him. He got a very good job there and she said she and Elijah needed a fresh start. I was happy for her, but sad for me. We missed them very much — Claire and me especially — so every week she calls them on the computer and we chat. They are all very happy, so although I miss them, I am pleased at the same time.

Saying goodbye is a fact of life. I have had to do so more than your average cat, so I should know. It doesn’t get any easier but you learn to accept that it’s necessary sometimes, I guess. It always hurts but there is nothing to be done. Life is like that, it moves all the time, it rarely stands still and so we have to move along with it. I am trying to teach George that, but it’s not an easy lesson to learn.

‘Right, well I better get this little one inside. Fancy a stroll later?’ I asked Tiger as I tried to get George’s attention. He was chasing his tail and totally ignoring me.

‘Yes, call round after lunch and we can go and see if anyone else is hanging out.’

‘You’re on.’ I nuzzled her goodbye and finally managed to get George to stand still long enough to tell him we were going home.

I was exhausted as I lay curled up on the armchair, resting. Claire and Jonathan were clearing up, and then I expected they would snuggle up on the sofa to watch a film or something. The children were in bed, exhausted after a day when their excitement levels knew no bounds and George was the same. He was sleeping with Toby, of course. I checked on them earlier and he was lying next to Toby on the pillow— they looked so cute together, I felt choked with emotion again. I looked in on Summer who was clutching one of her new toys to her as she slept. She looked angelic.

I was so full of lovely food, so I felt sleepy too. This really had been the best Christmas I’d ever had. I gave a thought for all of those I loved in my life: Margaret my first owner, Agnes my sister cat, all my cat friends, Snowball of course, and I also gave thanks for all I had now. I was the luckiest cat in London if not the world.

‘So, what’s this last surprise?’ I heard Jonathan ask. I opened one eye and saw that he and Claire had entered the room. Intrigued, I woke up properly, stretched out and went to join them on the sofa.

‘Here,’ Claire said, handing him a photograph. I peered at it over his shoulder. It was a picture of a house, a shabby-looking house. It was quite big though, I thought as I looked at the windows. In front of a large wooden front door stretched a lawn, which was overgrown, and the house was cream with peeling paint.

‘Please don’t tell me you’ve bought a house?’ Jonathan said, holding the picture, blinking at it in confusion.

‘No, of course not. I’ve been desperate to tell you but I got the idea that today, Christmas Day, would be the best time to surprise you.’

‘Surprise me with what exactly?’ Jonathan was suspicious but then I couldn’t blame him. Claire tended to spring things on him. And when he objected she would normally wear him down. It was the same with the adoption. She wanted to adopt so badly but Jonathan was reluctant, but she persuaded him, and of course he’s delighted she did as he loves having Toby, but you get the idea.

‘So you know we went to the funeral of my Great Aunt Claire, the woman I’m named after?’

‘Yes, Claire, that was about three months ago.’

‘I know, but it takes time, you know probate, but recently her estate was sorted out and it turns out she left me this cottage in Devon.’

‘She left that to you? A house?’ Jonathan looked again at the photo.

‘I had no idea she still owned it.’ Claire’s eyes gleamed with excitement. ‘You see we used to go there when I was a child for holidays but when Aunt Claire got dementia she went into a home, and I assumed that the house had been sold. But no, it was there, empty all this time. She probablyforgot she owned it.’

‘How can someone forget they own a house?’ Jonathan frowned. I guess it was a big thing to forget.

‘Well she did have dementia remember, and her accountant took over her affairs, or whatever you call them … Anyway Dad told me that she wanted me to have the house because I loved it so much when I was young. It’s called Seabreeze Cottage and it’s right opposite the beach.’ Claire had a wistful look. ‘I remember the best holidays there as a child, spending days on the beach, playing on that lawn, eating jam sandwiches in the big old kitchen …’

‘So why didn’t you tell me?’ Jonathan narrowed his eyes.

‘Jon, we’ve been given a house, it doesn’t happen every day!’ Claire pushed and I knew there was a but.

‘But?’ he echoed my thoughts.

‘OK, so the reason I didn’t tell you was that we don’t know what state it is in. Mum and Dad went down there for me and they said it’s been neglected and is in need of a bit of work. They took these photos.’

‘So how much work are we talking?’ Jonathan flicked through the photos.

‘We don’t know exactly yet. When all the paperwork is done, I can get quotes, we can even go there, but at the moment I’m not sure if I’m honest.’ She chewed her lip as she did when she was nervous. I went and sat on her lap.

‘And what do you want to do?’ he asked.

‘Well, obviously it depends on the cost and everything, but ideally I want to keep it. I just felt as if I’d been taken back to my wonderful holidays as a child and I want that for Summer and Toby, more than anything. Imagine, Jon, weekends away, summer holidays by the sea, it would be wonderful for us all.’

‘Darling,’ Jonathan turned to his wife, ‘I know this cottage means a lot to you and it would be lovely for us to have a house by the sea but you know how feasible it is. You’re not working at the moment and yes I have a good job but with the kids’ education, and everything … My guess isthat the kind of money we probably need to put into this cottage might be a step too far for us right now.’

‘I know and I thought you’d say that. I just dreamt of my children having holidays like I did as a child.’ She looked wistful. Jonathan softened and put his arm around her.

‘If there was any way … Listen, honey, has it been valued?’ I saw tears in Claire’s eyes. Christmas wasn’t ending quite as planned after all.

‘Jonathan, I’m not sure I could bring myself to sell it. It feels like selling my childhood.’ Claire was nothing if not dramatic. I think she got it from me … or vice versa.

‘Well, listen, let’s have a think, find out what exactly is involved, but you know unless we get a large mortgage, one which would make me feel very uncomfortable, I don’t know how we can do it.’

‘Oh, we’ll find a way. I’m sure.’ Claire didn’t appear as confident as she sounded but as they settled down to watch a film I could almost see her mind whirring. I looked at the picture again. A cottage by the sea. I had been to the seaside once, it hadn’t exactly gone according to planbut I did have a lovely time. I could picture us all, sitting on the lawn, George chasing butterflies, Toby and Summer playing, Claire lounging in a deckchair with a book, and Jonathan lying on a picnic blanket. It was like a perfect idea, and one which suddenly I wanted for us more than anything. I looked at Claire, who still seemed to be deep in thought, as was Jonathan, and I said a silent prayer that they would find a way to make this work.

After all I quite fancied being Alfie the holiday cat.

Chapter One

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‘I’m going to miss you all,’ Jonathan said, in a moment of tenderness as he kissed Claire.

‘We’ll miss you, but be honest, you’ll love the peace and quiet, and then when you come down for the weekends you’ll be flavour of the month with the kids.’

‘And with my wife?’

‘Of course.’ She smiled and snuggled into him. I purred from my place on the armchair. It was summer now and a lot had changed since Christmas. An awful lot.

Claire had got her way. Sort of. As if there had been any doubt. She had been very clever about it, though even I, cat of many successful plans, was impressed with this one.

Seabreeze Cottage was going to be our holiday home for now. And now the summer holidays were upon us, we were all decamping to Lynstow and Seabreeze Cottage for the school break. And I meanall. It was beyond exciting.

After Christmas, unbeknown to Jonathan, Claire had persuaded her parents to take a friend of theirs to Seabreeze, and do what they called a survey. It turned out that they needed to do some work on the roof, but otherwise the house was structurally sound. However, the interior needed a lot doing to it, new heating and hot water system, and all sorts of modernisation. There was also a big attic which could be converted, so Claire had got together a rough idea of how much the work would cost and then had presented this to Jonathan, who just couldn’t see how they could afford it unless he sold some vital organs, whatever that meant.

Claire was despondent but over drinks just after New Year, the women from my other families, Polly and Franceska, had a brainwave. Or actually Polly did.

‘Hey, Claire, this sounds fantastic. What’s the village called again?’

‘Lynstow in North Devon. It’s on the estuary, perfect for sailing, windsurfing or paddleboarding. The village itself has three pubs, a lovely village shop and a caf?. It’s changed a lot since I was last there, which was over twenty years ago, but Mum and Dad said it was still charming.’ Claire sounded wistful again, I knew she was thinking of the childhood summers she had spent in Lynstow and I knew how much she wanted it for her children. To be honest, the way she spoke about it, I was desperate to go there too. And I’m a cat, who certainly wouldn’t be doing any sailing or anything to do with water, actually. But I am a romantic and I was definitely caught up in the romance of it all.

Polly asked to see the details, and Claire pulled out her folder with the pictures and the details from the builder in it— she was nothing if not organised. Polly sipped her wine and looked over it, then passed it to Franceska.

‘It is so pretty, my boys would love it here,’ Franceska said.

‘I agree,’ Polly said. I could almost see her thoughts racing. ‘And I can see the potential. This could be such a beautiful house with a bit of love. And of course I could manage this project easily.’

‘That’s what I keep saying to Jonathan. If we did the work it would be worth so much more money, not that I want to sell it ever. As I said, I would love it for Toby and Sum, and you guys could join us for holidays — it’s got five bedrooms at the moment, but the attic is huge and ripe for conversion. There’s only one bathroom but the builder said that it would be easy to put in one en suite and one in the attic, and three bathrooms would be plenty. I mean it’s a big house. When I was little I thought it was enormous, because it was so much bigger than Mum and Dad’s house. I thought it was the biggest house ever.’

I rubbed against Claire, I didn’t want her to be sad, because I knew how much she wanted this. But I also understood Jonathan. They couldn’t just magic up money, that was a human problem I had learnt about in my life. Thankfully not something us cats needed to concern ourselves with.

The women lapsed into silence as they all sipped wine and Franceska nibbled an olive.

‘This might sound crazy but here’s an idea,’ Polly started. Claire looked at her hopefully. ‘Of course we all live in London, and we all want our children to see there are beaches and countryside out there, but it’s expensive going away, even in the UK. We went to the Lake District last holidays, and the cottage we rented cost more than a five-star hotel in Spain.’

‘I agree, Polly, but I don’t understand what your point is?’ Franceska interjected.

‘Oh yeah, sorry it’s the wine. So here’s my mad idea. How about we pool our resources? I can help re-design the place as you know and I am also used to dealing with contractors. As I’m freelance now I can devote time to it and Franceska, your restaurants are doing really well, so I thought,mad I know, but if we all chip in maybe we can restore Seabreeze and use it for our holidays. Like a sort of joint holiday home.’

I was amazed when I heard this. A holiday cottage for us all— I assumed she was including me and George of course — and I meowed loudly to show I for one thought it a very good idea.

‘Alfie approves,’ Claire laughed. ‘And now I think of it, imagine if our families shared the cottage?’

‘But it is your cottage, Claire, and there is an issue of ownership if we get involved, no?’ Franceska said sensibly.

Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. After all I’m a cat, not a solicitor.

‘I have thought of that,’ Polly said. She seemed to have done a lot of thinking in a very short space of time. ‘We get it valued now, then whatever we each put in gives us a share but not the main share, which stays with Claire. I was thinking that one day it will go to her children and, well, in our ideal world our children will carry on like we are, the best of friends, but anyway we can get it all done properly and above board. I know it’s unorthodox but it could work, we could make it work. And of course it would have to be done legally, that would be the only way the men would agree to it.’

‘Ah the men.’ Claire looked a bit perplexed.

‘Firstly, in my wildest dreams I didn’t think we would have a holiday house.’ Franceska suddenly sprung to life. ‘I didn’t think we would have all this but for the boys it will be so amazing. It would be like a timeshare for us, we could all use it together or at other times and if we need to make money we could always rent it out. We need to show it to the men as a business proposition. An investment for all of us and our futures and our children’s futures. Right, how much money are we talking?’ Franceska was now caught up with enthusiasm.

And just like that my three favourite women formulated a plan.

I felt proud of them, it was as if they had learnt their planning skills from me— and OK, some of my plans do go a little awry but they always end up successful. Anyway, they weren’t going to leave anything to chance so they cooked a fantastic dinner — Franceska was the best cook so she took charge of food. The children were all asleep; they were having a sleepover here which I was excited about, as was George, who was asleep with Toby and Henry, who was sharing his room. Aleksy wasn’t asleep; I had been to see him and he was playing on a computer thingy, but that was our secret. So, after the food and quite a lot of beer and wine, the women swooped in with what they called their presentation, which Claire was in charge of. It was funny how formidable they all looked, standing there in a row, with the men almost quaking with fear. As well they should — they didn’t stand a chance.

‘But you mean we would all own the house?’ Jonathan scratched his head as they finished talking.

‘Yes, but obviously to different degrees. The input from us would give us a share but a minor one, and we’d do it all legally. So for example if we wanted to sell or get our money out we couldn’t just do that,’ Polly expanded on the legal side, which I couldn’t concentrate on; I was eyeing up the leftovers and wondering how long I’d have to wait before they would remember to give me some.

‘So we all go there for holidays?’ Tomasz asked, his eyes narrowed.

‘We could do! Imagine, Tomasz, the children get to see the sea and the countryside when they’re not at school. And we thought that we could all go this summer, us women and the kids, and then when you could get time off work you join us, that way we can supervise the work and the kids will loveit, it’ll be an adventure.’

‘But hang on, it sounds as if the house is going to be a building site this summer, will that be safe for the children?’ Matt asked.

‘It’ll be safe but obviously a bit chaotic,’ Polly said. ‘Listen, I’ll manage the restoration and I’ll do it so there’ll be minimal disruption. The children will be out all day when the builders are in, there’s so much to do: the beach, trips to the countryside, the older ones can learn to surf or paddleboard. Honestly, I’ll make sure the house is safe.’ Polly gave Matt’s shoulder a squeeze.

‘And if you all agree, we can get essential work done before the summer,’ Claire chipped in.

‘You’ve thought this all through, haven’t you?’ Matt said, shaking his head.

‘If you mean have we anticipated all of your objections, then yes,’ Polly replied with a wry smile.

‘Look, between the three of us we can afford to get the cottage looking amazing again,’ Claire started. ‘We’ve done the figures and, worst-case scenario, we will have added value and can sell it for a profit for everyone. Best-case scenario, we enjoy it with our families, together at times,on our own at others, but we will have a holiday home and the children will get to enjoy beach life the way I did growing up.’

‘But it was valued for more than I expected,’ Jonathan said. ‘So I still think the sensible option is to sell.’

‘This way, though, Jonathan, we can do it up and sell it for even more if we decide to,’ Polly persisted. ‘But we all think that this summer, when we get the work done, we’ll all fall in love with it and won’t want to let it go.’

‘Just look at the figures, I promise they make sense.’ The men all studied the spreadsheet that Claire thrust at them.

‘But are you sure it’s habitable for the children?’ Matt reiterated, looking worried. And for cats, I wondered.

‘Well, not exactly, but the summer holidays aren’t for two months so we thought we could all take it in turns to go down before, just the adults, and each time we could do what is needed to make it habitable. We can buy beds, appliances, make sure the water and heating works, we’ll get it ready for the summer and also get some alone time.’ Polly raised her eyebrows at her husband.

He shrugged, defeated. Honestly, these women had thought of everything and my whiskers stood up with pride.

‘We can do this!’ Claire added with a smile.

‘You make it sound like a fantastic idea,’ Tomasz said. ‘And now I take more time from work I can come and join you more I guess.’ He looked at the other men for reassurance.

‘I can arrange to work from home on a Friday and come down for weekends,’ Matt said.

‘Hold on, how do we even get there?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Ah, well we’ll be taking the cars but there’s also the trains. The station is only a forty-minute drive away, direct from London, so really there’s no problem.’

‘Have I been stitched up again?’ Jonathan asked. I jumped onto his lap and yelped. Of course he had. Everyone laughed.

‘Well the house will be quiet, no Claire, no children, just me, Alfie and George this summer.’ I suddenly looked up.

‘Oh no, darling, Alfie and George will be coming with us. It’s their holiday cottage too.’

I purred with delight. Yay! We were going on holiday.

‘Claire, you do know it’s strange the way you take Alfie and now George everywhere with you, as if they were dogs?’

I yelped. How dare he compare me to a dog?

‘They’re part of the family and, anyway, Alfie came on holiday with us before, didn’t he?’

I put my head down, as a bolt of sadness hit me. We went on holiday with Snowball, my then girlfriend, before her family moved her away, leaving my heart broken. It was all OK now but I still remember my last holiday with a pang. Actually, perhaps this was going to give me new holiday memories, which would mean the old ones would properly fade away. It was about time, after all.

‘Well yes, but you know, George hasn’t been away from here before,’ Tomasz pointed out.

‘Yes but Alfie will take care of him and anyway how will Toby sleep without George next to him,’ Claire said, indicating any debate was over.

As I finally got my leftovers they discussed the finer details. Everyone, even Jonathan, seemed a little swept away with excitement now. I certainly was, my fur was tingling with the thought of the adventures that awaited us. We were all going to decamp to Seabreeze Cottage for the summer, and we would all spend a lovely, perfect, English summer by the sea. Yes the men had been ambushed, but really it was all for the best.

‘I’m not sure Seabreeze or Lynstow know what’s going to be hitting them,’ Matt said.

‘Edgar Road decamps to Devon,’ Polly laughed.

‘And you know, it will be so great for the children,’ Franceska reiterated.

‘Meow!’ I clambered up her, nudging her with my nose.

‘And the cats of course,’ Claire finished.

Chapter Two [Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_005.jpg]

‘As you’re all off tomorrow, today I’m going to take you and the kids out for lunch and then I thought we’d go to the dinosaur museum,’ Jonathan announced proudly.

‘Yay!’ Toby said.

‘Will Peppa Pig be there?’ Summer asked.

‘Can I go too?’ George asked me. I told him no.

‘I’m not sure Peppa will be there but there will be lots of dinosaurs to see, darling,’ Jonathan said.

‘Sounds good to me. I’m nearly all organised anyway.’ Claire grinned. Truth be told she had been pretty much packed for weeks. Claire was nothing if not well organised. She had made lists and more lists and, well, possibly even more lists before we headed off to Devon for the summer. I was glad at times like this that I was a cat. All I had to do was to make sure that George and I were clean and ready to go.

As everyone left, I ate some biscuits, had a drink of water and then cleaned myself.

‘George, you might want to give yourself a quick groom,’ I suggested.

‘Why, Dad?’

‘Because we are going out to enjoy our last day. With the rest of the neighbourhood cats,’ I told him.

‘Goody!’ He started licking his fur. We had a group of friendly cats on Edgar Road. As well as Tiger, there were Rocky, Elvis and Nellie who all lived on our street and we often hung out together. They were a good bunch who always helped whenever we were in trouble — like last year when George was catnapped by a woman who snatched quite a few cats in the area and they all rallied to help us. Other cats had come and gone but we were the core Edgar Road cat gang and they were all incredibly important to me.

While Jonathan had a day planned for the rest of the family, Tiger had planned something for George and I. She told me because she didn’t trust surprises; they normally went wrong. I couldn’t argue with her, they did tend to, in our world anyway. She told me to bring George to the recreational grass at the end of our road. It was a small patch, tucked away from the street and where us cats converged regularly without being bothered by humans. Or dogs for that matter.

We made our way to the end of the street and found all our Edgar Road cat friends waiting for us. It was like a party. A leaving party, I guessed.

‘You’re all here,’ George exclaimed excitedly, bounding from cat to cat.

‘Of course we are,’ Rocky said, gruffly.

‘We wouldn’t miss a party,’ Nellie added, nestling into George. If Tiger was George’s mum then Nellie was like his favourite aunt.

‘Although I nearly didn’t make it, I was eating one minute, then the next I fell asleep. Must be old age.’ Elvis wasn’t a young tom, and I could sympathise with him. Sometimes I found myself drifting off to sleep these days. I wasn’t as young as George, but then I wasn’t ready for old age yet — there were lives in this old cat yet!

‘Well I’m glad you did make it,’ I said warmly. Tiger looked very pleased with herself.

‘We have been friends for a long time now,’ she said. ‘Since Alfie moved here really, and it’s just amazing to see that we’ve all remained friends.’ It was true we had.

‘It’ll be strange without you guys this summer,’ Elvis mused.

Just then there was a rustle in the bushes and my friend Dustbin, who lived with Franceska and Tomasz, or more accurately in their yard, appeared. He was a feral cat who worked for the restaurant in return for food, a job which suited him perfectly. When I first met him I was a little intimidated by this wild cat, but he had a heart of gold.

‘Wow, Dustbin, you’ve come!’ I was touched. He lived a few streets away and was always busy keeping the rodents under control. Not my kettle of fish, or rats more accurately, but Dustbin loved his work.

‘Wouldn’t miss it, Alfie,’ said Dustbin. ‘Seeing you and the boy off. It’s going to be strange not having you popping round.’

George and I stayed with Franceska’s family quite often, which meant we got to spend time with Dustbin. He was a truly good friend.

‘It won’t be the same without the lad,’ Rocky said, sounding emotional.

‘Um, you do know we’re going away for a few weeks, not forever,’ I said, wondering why everyone was so emotional.

‘We know that,’ Nellie said. ‘But you know how much we see of each other. It will be strange not to see George. And you too, Alfie,’ she added as an afterthought. Despite the fact that some said I was quite a vain cat, I was used to playing second fiddle to George.

‘We’ll be back here before you know it, and then we can tell you all about our summer.’ I tried to lift everyone’s spirits.

‘Yes, we’re going to the seaside,’ George explained.

‘I know and not many cats are lucky enough to go to the seaside,’ Rocky said.

‘I am so very lucky,’ George said. ‘But now I want to play hide and seek.’ He ran off before anyone could answer. The rest of us cats looked at each other, indulgently. There were only two bushes but we always had to pretend it took us ages to find him. That was what you did with kittens.

We spent a lovely afternoon, seeking with George, playing with leaves and sunbathing. When it was time to go, I knew I would miss each and every one of my friends, but then I also knew we were going to have such a great time on holiday that time would fly by. We would be back before we all knew it.

I still felt a bit emotional as I sat on my back step with Tiger that evening. George had gone to bed with Toby, and Tiger and I were going to say our last goodbye. According to Claire, we were going to be gone for about six weeks. I didn’t know exactly how long that was but it sounded like a fair amount of time. I had been away before but not for this long and we were leaving the others behind. I kind of understood now that being left was the hard part, although of course we were coming back.

‘Don’t you go going off with any of those seaside cats,’ Tiger said, not meeting my eyes.

‘Don’t be silly,’ I replied. ‘I have all I need back here. Yes, we are going to have a lovely holiday but you know my job will be looking after George. Goodness knows what mischief he could get up to, not to mention the humans.’

‘Of course. I know it’s supposed to be a holiday but I’ve got a feeling you’ll have your paws full. Look after our kitten, won’t you?’ her voice urgent.

‘Oh, Tiger, I know you’ll miss him, but I promise I won’t let him out of my sight.’ Just thinking about that made me feel tired. Hopefully it would be a bit relaxing as well. What was I thinking? Looking after George was the least relaxing thing ever. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

‘I know you’ll take care of him, but take care of yourself too.’

‘I’ll miss you, Tiger, and I will really look forward to seeing you when we get back.’ I wasn’t sure how to express myself, but I was trying.

‘Good, and make sure you do miss me. Alfie, I love you more than all the cat food in the world.’

‘And I love you more than pilchards.’ I nuzzled into her neck. We stayed there for what seemed like ages in comfortable silence. That was what I liked about my relationship with Tiger; we knew each other so well, nothing needed saying, and that was how I liked it.

A shadow loomed over us and I looked up to see Salmon. He used to be my nemesis, but since George went missing in the summer we had called a truce. It had been the worst time of my life not knowing where my kitten was and all our cat friends had rallied to help, as had Salmon. He was very fond of George, if not so much me.

‘Salmon,’ I said. Tiger scowled; she still wasn’t his biggest fan. To be honest he was a bit of a busybody, like his owners who ran the neighbourhood watch and lived opposite us. They made everything that was going on in Edgar Road their business.

‘I was going to say goodbye to the lad but I’m guessing he’s in bed?’ he said, sounding gruff. He didn’t really know how to be friendly, but it wasn’t his fault.

‘He is, Salmon,’ I said, kindly. ‘But I’ll tell him you came by. Are you alright?’

‘Yes, just so you know I’ll look after things while you’re away. I mean, you know, keep an eye on things.’

‘What things?’ Tiger asked.

‘I’ll make sure everything is OK, Alfie,’ Salmon said. He raised his tail. ‘My owners are going to see yours to say the same. Anyway, have a good trip and hope the lad enjoys himself.’

I raised my whiskers at him and then he left.

‘You could be friendlier,’ I said to Tiger.

‘And you could be less so,’ Tiger retorted. ‘Anyway, I better get back, supper will be waiting. Bye, Alfie.’

She sounded sad but I didn’t prolong the farewell, I understood how she felt, and I knew that by snapping at me, it would make it easier for her. I hated goodbyes too, even temporary ones.

When I let myself back in through the cat flap, Claire and Jonathan were on the sofa together. The doorbell interrupted them. I went to wait by the door, having been warned that it was Vic and Heather Goodwin, Salmon’s owners.

‘Oh God, we don’t even get five minutes’ peace,’ Jonathan muttered as he opened the door.

Before he could say anything, Vic and Heather were inside the house, a skill they seemed to have. Without being asked they made their way to the living room.

‘Well this is a surprise,’ Claire said, standing up. I went to join her, as did Jonathan. Vic and Heather always made us feel guilty for some reason, as if we had done something wrong. That was always how it was with them. And Claire and Jonathan didn’t invite them to sit down — they weren’t being rude but they’d done that once before and Vic and Heather had stayed for hours; we all thought they were never going to leave and Jonathan said if they’d stayed any longer they would have claimed squatters’ rights! It was always better not to be too welcoming — we’d learnt the hard way.

‘Well, dear,’ Heather said. They were both wearing matching blue shirts today; they were always coordinated. ‘We wanted to reassure you that, although you are going away, your house is in safe hands.’ She grinned, slightly menacingly, I thought.

‘Well yes, it’s in my hands,’ Jonathan replied, tetchily.

‘Oh we know,’ Vic laughed, ‘that you’ll be here some of the time, but with your big important job and then when you are going to stay with the family … Where is it you’re going again?’

‘North Devon,’ Claire stuttered, terrified; I wondered if they were going to ask for the address.

‘Perhaps we should have the information — you know, for emergencies,’ Heather said.

‘What emergencies? I am going to be here most of the time, you know,’ Jonathan reiterated.

‘I’ll give you my mobile number,’ Claire said, reluctantly. ‘Just for emergencies and of course Jonathan and I are very grateful that you’ll be keeping an eye on the house while we’re away, thank you.’

‘Um, yes, but when I’m here, you’ll know because there will be lights on, so you don’t need to worry,’ Jonathan said. He grimaced. I could imagine that was because Vic and Heather’s binoculars would be trained on the house from across the road. Not that he had anything to hide, but I had learnt through the years that humans liked privacy rather than being stared at by neighbours.

‘Of course, we just want to make sure that your house is safe when it’s empty. Imagine if you came back from your holiday and found it burgled.’

‘It’s unlikely,’ Jonathan said. We had alarms on the house, it was very safe apparently.

‘It’s more than unlikely with us on the case, you see. Now we really ought to get moving, we need to go and see Matt and Polly to give them the same reassurance.’ Vic smiled. ‘Oh but, Claire, if you could just scribble your number down?’ he added.

Once Claire had given them her number, and they left, Jonathan turned to her.

‘They’ll be calling you whenever anything, I mean anything, happens,’ he teased.

‘Well at least I know you’ll behave yourself. Being watched all the time.’ Claire giggled, I purred.

‘I hadn’t thought of that, although of course I’ll behave myself. I’m looking forward to some peace and quiet, but I will miss you all,’ he quickly added.

I knew what he meant. Our house could be chaos and sometimes Jonathan said going to work was his way of relaxing. I would miss him though, I was used to him always being there and he had very good taste in cat food and cashmere jumpers, which I would‘accidentally’ use to sleep on.

‘Shall we warn Matt and Polly?’ Claire asked.

‘No, why let them escape the fun of the Goodwins? I think we should have a last drink and then go to bed. You’ve got a long drive tomorrow.’

‘I’m so excited to see the cottage again. It’ll be beautiful when we’ve finished.’

‘I know, darling.’ Jonathan put his arm around her. ‘It could be amazing but please, let’s just all keep our heads out of the clouds. You, Polly and Franceska are all in love with the idea of having this holiday cottage — and I do understand — but if it gets too expensive … And of course the school holiday is just under six weeks, we don’t know how much you’ll be able to get done.’

‘I know, darling, but it won’t. It’s all going to be perfect, I just know it is. Our families will have this wonderful second home and our holidays will be so good for the kids, it’s just like a dream come true.’ Claire had that faraway look in her eyes, which meant she was already at Seabreeze Cottage. ‘Great Aunt Claire would love that we’ve filled it with children and cats too.’

When Claire made up her mind, it was impossible to argue, and Jonathan seemed to agree with me as, shaking his head, he went to put the kettle on.

Chapter Three [Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_006.jpg]

Car journeys are not on my list of favourite things. Being hustled into a pet carrier usually heralds destinations you certainly don’t want to visit — like the vet. But to go on holiday, it was necessary. Claire had got a carrier that was big enough for both of us, plus some snacks if we got hungry on the way. George was so excited, he wouldn’t keep still, which made the journey a little bit annoying as he kept falling into me. I was battered and bruised in no time.

‘George, just settle down,’ I chastised, not that it did me any good.

We left London in the first week of the school holidays. We were in Claire’s car with Toby and Summer, driving in convoy with Polly and her children, and Franceska and hers. All three cars were packed up with our belongings too. Jonathan had huffed and puffed a lot when Claire barked instructions at him as he squashed everything in the boot. George and I were on the front seat next to Claire but we were too low down to see anything from the carrier. I thought I would try to sleep as much as I could, it seemed a good opportunity to rest, but George had other ideas.

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ he asked for the millionth time.

‘Yes,’ I said, with no idea if that was true but I’d heard Claire saying the same to Summer and Toby, so I guessed it was an appropriate parental response.

‘Tell me about the seaside?’ George asked as he finally sat down.

‘Well I only went there once and that was a different seaside I think. But there were big birds, seagulls, which you need to watch out for as they’re not very friendly. And of course we keep away from the water at all costs.’ As I repeatedly warned George about the perils of the seaside that I knew about, I hoped there weren’t any others. But I knew I wouldn’t let George out of my sight. I had done so once and it had all gone horribly wrong, with him being catnapped, and he could be a bit of a pawful. Also, the fear of not knowing where my boy was had been unlike anything I have ever experienced.

‘I will do, Dad. But what can we do there?’ he asked. I actually didn’t know.

‘We’ll do what we do at home, look after our humans and enjoy ourselves in any way we can,’ I replied vaguely. Sea air would do us good, I knew that much. Well, that was what everyone said.

The journey seemed to go on forever, I was beginning to feel impatient. We stopped a few times so the children could eat, and when we did, we were allowed out of the cat carrier, although not out of the car, so we could move around a bit.

I had to be careful, because I had an old injury from when I was hurt in Edgar Road, saving Claire from a horrible man, which bothered me at times, and as I’d been sitting for so long, my bad leg was stiff. I was fine, although I had to be careful, but it was a stark reminder that people weren’t always good. I snuck a glance at George and hoped he would never encounter anyone like that. But then, I smiled. George was standing on his hind legs looking out of the car window, paws against it, as people stopped and took photos of him.

‘Get down, before you fall,’ I chastised him. He loved attention. By the time Claire got back to the car with Summer and Toby, he’d acquired quite a crowd.

‘Oh gosh,’ Claire said. ‘I better get them back in the pet carrier.’

‘Lovely kitten,’ someone said to her and she smiled and thanked them. She strapped Summer and Toby into their car seats and then I ushered George into our carrier and we settled down again.

‘Not far now,’ Claire said, as she started to drive off. But, of course, we had heard that before.

It felt like we had been in that pet carrier forever when we finally stopped. I couldn’t see anything at first, but then Claire lifted the carrier out of the car and put us on the ground and I saw that we were on a lawn. It was still light outside too, although the sun was dulling.

‘Can I let them out?’ I heard Aleksy’s voice.

‘Yes, but make sure they don’t run off,’ Claire warned. Aleksy opened the door. George sprang out, but Aleksy scooped him up. I walked out behind him, sniffing the air. Yes, it did smell different to that in London, and I looked around. Wow, I could already see that it was pretty lovely here.

Claire had parked her car next to Franceska’s at the edge of the lawn, where there was a kind of parking area. Then there was a fence, not too high, but with a gate which we had walked through. The lawn in front of the house was bigger than it looked in the photos, and as it was enclosed, it would be our playground. The cottage was detached and there were lush bushes surrounding the garden. The lawn looked neat and tidy, and the grass felt warm under paw. I turned and looked away from the house.

‘Wow,’ George said, joining me. We sat side by side for a moment taking in the view. There was a road, but on the other side of it was a sandy beach, which stretched to the water, glimmering in the sun. It was beautiful. Toby and Summer were jumping up and down.

‘Can we go to the beach now?’ Toby asked.

‘Well, darling, I’ve got to get unpacked and it’s nearly teatime,’ Claire said. ‘And we need to wait for Polly to arrive too.’

‘I tell you what, Claire, I take the children over, they’ve been cooped up in the car for so long and then you have some time to get organised,’ Franceska offered.

‘Yes!’ Toby grinned.

‘Come on, Tobe,’ Tommy said, taking hold of his hand, and they all headed off towards the beach.

Claire had her arms full as she stood next to us on the lawn watching them run off.

‘Right guys, come inside and I’ll get you fed,’ she said. I purred. ‘I know, it’s so beautiful here, isn’t it? I can smell my childhood,’ she said, before heading into the house.

Claire opened the door and George and I ran between her legs to explore. On first glance the house was a bit of a shock, compared to what we were used to at home. The carpet was shabby and almost threadbare. As we made our way through the entrance hall, I noticed the walls were all peeling. With George following me, the first room I came to was large and square with two big windows overlooking the lawn; I guessed this was the living room. As George jumped on the windowsill, I padded around. It had two big old sofas and two floral armchairs in it— I knew from the humans’ conversation that they had got them from a charity shop, just until they furnished it properly. There was an open fire on one side, and an old coffee table. It was a nice room, or it would be. I was happy to see there was also a television in the corner. I wasn’t sure how the children would have lived without that. I left the room and went to the next room, which was smaller, with two small sofas in it and a fire. Again the walls were peeling, and the carpet was thin. It had a window to the back of the house, where I could see a courtyard. I guessed the lawn atthe front was the main garden, and that was enormous. Anyway, the empty room held little interest so I went back to the hall and saw George there.

‘What do you think?’ I asked.

‘It’s a bit empty,’ George said. It wasn’t but I knew what he meant — it was un-lived in.

‘We’ll soon make it our home,’ I told him. There was another smaller room at the front of the house, on the other side to the front door, again it was empty, and next to that was a large kitchen. A massive table dominated the room, and although you could tell it was old fashioned — there were no fixed cupboards like we had at home — the kitchen felt a bit like the life of the house already. Claire was boiling a kettle and she was arranging cupboards. I was about to go upstairs to continue my tour of the house when a noise from the front interrupted me.

‘We’re here,’ I heard Polly call out.

‘In the kitchen,’ Claire replied. Henry and Martha ran in first, and made a fuss of both me and George.

‘Hi, love,’ Polly said, as she appeared. ‘Thank goodness we’re finally here.’

‘Bit of a drive, wasn’t it?’

‘Well the traffic wasn’t great, but then it is the start of the summer holiday.’

‘Cuppa?’ Claire asked.

‘Love one. Where is everyone else?’

‘Frankie’s taken the kids to the beach, they were stir crazy after being in the car for so long.’

‘Can we go? Please?’ Henry asked.

Polly groaned.

‘OK, come on then.’

‘I’ll put the tea on hold.’ Claire grinned. ‘But how about some food for you two?’ She looked at me.

‘Meow!’ Yes please.

I forgot about the tour of the upstairs, as we settled down to eat. The cottage had a nice feel about it, I decided. The rooms were big and, despite being old and a bit run-down, it was very light. I don’t know why but I thought that cottages were meant to be small and gloomy. Well that was what Jonathan said, until he’d visited of course. Seabreeze felt a bit like its name. It was big, it was bright, and when the work was done I knew it would be lovely. It was definitely a bit shabby now but I felt excited about the summer, not only were we going to have a lovely holiday but Seabreeze would be transformed into a dream house, I just knew it.

The children came back all covered in sand which they scattered like stardust through the house until they all emerged in the kitchen.

‘I was thinking, shall we take them to the pub for tea?’ Claire asked. ‘It’s just none of us are quite unpacked, and it might be easier.’

‘Cool,’ Aleksy said. The other children were all jumping about with excitement.

‘Look at all this sand,’ Franceska laughed. ‘I suppose we need to get used to this.’

‘Well, in my plans,’ Polly said, ‘which I’ll unveil properly later, I thought the utility through there,’ she pointed to a door at the back of the kitchen, ‘could be the sand room — and we can knock through so you come in the back door directly into it. That way the sand is containable. Oh, and that’s where the downstairs loo is too,’ she said. ‘Which works now, by the way, although needs replacing.’

I looked. I hadn’t noticed the room before, but now the door was open I could see it was actually quite big.

‘You’re a genius, Pol,’ Claire said.

‘Wait till you see what else I’ve got planned. I’m not sure that we’ll get it all done this holiday but we’ll give it our best shot! Anyway, pub sounds good to me. I’m too exhausted to think about cooking,’ Polly agreed.

The children were all ushered into the utility space where sand was emptied from shoes and clothes. Then they said goodbye to us and were off.

‘Right, George, while we’re alone I want to get the proper measure of the house.’

‘OK, Dad. I might nap, I’m a bit sleepy,’ he said. I followed him to the big living room where he curled up on the windowsill. The sun was setting but it was a warm spot. I went back to the downstairs rooms and wondered what the two empty rooms would be used for. The back door, which I was delighted to see had a cat flap in it, was right next to the wall where the utility room was. I decided not to go through it yet, because although he was asleep I didn’t want to leave George alone in the house. Instead I headed upstairs.

The stairs were uncarpeted and at the top was a big open landing. I decided which way to go and found myself nudging the door of the furthest room. It was a medium-sized room in which they had put two sets of bunk beds. I guessed this was for the four boys. The window looked out onto the sea, and I thought how lucky the boys would be to wake up to that. I also guessed it was going to be George’s room as he’d have to sleep with Toby. Luckily, if he did have to sleep in the top bunk, George wasn’t afraid of heights. I was a bit, but that’s a whole other story. I made my way to the room directly opposite which was a smaller room. There were two beds, both with pink covers. For Martha and Summer. They had got the short straw as the view out back was of other houses and fields, but then there were only two of them. Next to those rooms at the back of the house was a big bathroom. In it was an old fashioned bathtub, with a shower hose, a toilet and a sink. Again, it had all seen better days. I went to the rooms on the other side of the landing, and at the front was the biggest bedroom. It had a lovely view out over the front, and it also had a sink and a toilet in a small room off it. I knew this was what they called the master bedroom and Franceska and Polly insisted it was Claire’s room. There were two other small rooms behind it, which Polly and Franceska were staying in. All beds had been set up, and although it was going to be a bit of a squeeze, it was big enough for all of us. Just. I saw there was a staircase leading up to a door and I had heard them talk ofan attic room, but I couldn’t get through the closed door to explore that.

I tried to quell the feeling of disappointment. Yes the location was spectacular but the house really did need a great deal of work. I tried to imagine how it could be but being a cat it was too hard. I just had to put faith in Polly that it would be like home when finished and of course the beach looked lovely, I couldn’t wait to go and explore that, having no real experience of sand. I went to find my kitten. It was time to try to enjoy the holiday.

I walked back into the kitchen and smelt something funny. There was no sign of George, or of my humans as I went to investigate. I nosed around the utility room but couldn’t see anything. However, the smell was distinctive; it was the smell of cat, but not George or me. I wondered if some of the local cats had been round when the house was empty. I shook my fur, maybe I was just imagining things. There was no sign of any cat, just the smell. I reluctantly left my investigations to go and get George.

‘Meow!’ I said loudly. He needed to wake up or I’d never get him to sleep tonight.

‘Yelp!’ George jumped and fell off the windowsill, landing on his tail.

‘Sorry,’ I said, trying not to laugh. ‘I just wanted to wake you.’

‘What’s up?’ George asked, licking his fur.

‘Nothing, I thought we could go out for a quick explore before the others came back.’ I was itching to get another sniff of that sea air.

‘OK, but can we go to the beach like the children?’ George asked.

‘No, not tonight, I don’t want Claire to worry if she comes home and we’re not here, but soon, I promise.’

For now we contented ourselves with jumping out of the cat flap, and making our way round to the front of the house. As we sat on the edge of the lawn staring at the sun setting into the water, I was mesmerised. Yellow sand seemed to sparkle, as the water rolled softly, filling the air with a salty aroma. It was intoxicating. The bright orange sun looked as if it was floating on the water, and the sky was alive with colours of orange, yellow and the electric blue of the beckoning night sky. The smell here was different to that in Edgar Road. It smelt of salt, and sun and combined a heady aroma which made me want to sit there and sniff the air; which was what I did.

I understood why this meant so much to Claire. It was the most beautiful view I’d ever seen and I was so glad, so thankful, as George sat next to me, that I got to share it with my kitten. And it hit me, that we were really on holiday, our first holiday together.

Chapter Four

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I was woken by George tickling my head with his tail yet again. I had opted to sleep on Claire’s bed, which was pretty comfortable, and also, I liked being near her when it was the two of us. I guess I felt that, without Jonathan around, I was her protector, the way I was when we first met. Claire was my first human on Edgar Road. She moved there after getting divorced and she was very sad when I first met her. I was lonely, she was lonely, it was as if we were meant to be together. She cried a lot and I comforted her, which in turn comforted me. We have an unshakeable bond and I love all my humans, I really do, but Claire will always have an extra special place in my heart. In a way it was meeting her that led me to meeting my other families, and then in turn I led Claire to them too.

It took me a moment to remember where I was, before I realised that we were by the sea. On our holiday, in our home which, if all went to plan, would be our holiday home. I leapt up excitedly. Claire opened her eyes.

‘Hey, boys, are the children awake?’ she asked, just as Toby and Summer came running in.

‘Mummy, Mummy,’ Summer shrieked, jumping on Claire and as Claire laughed, Toby climbed next to her and hugged her.

‘Did you sleep well, Tobes?’ she asked, stroking his hair.

‘I did, Mummy, George kept me warm,’ he said and I looked at George, proudly. I saw the sun streaming in through a small gap in the curtains and I couldn’t wait to see the sea again.

‘Right then, who wants some breakfast?’ Claire said, moving the covers and getting up.

‘Me, me, me,’ Summer chanted, jumping on the bed, sending me up and down with her.

‘Meow,’ George said loudly. Claire laughed.

‘Right, children and cats, let’s get you fed.’

It was so nice, us all being together, I thought; the kitchen was full of chatter and laughter. Yes, I missed the men but I could see this house, or cottage, or whatever it was supposed to be called, working already. Franceska was making a cooked breakfast, Claire was making coffee and Polly was organising the children around the table.

‘Mum, can I help?’ Aleksy said, as he joined his mum by the stove, which worked but had definitely seen better days. It looked a bit like the stove that my first owner Margaret had and I knew that that was very old.

‘Yes, darling, you can be in charge of toast.’ Luckily we had a new toaster.

‘And I’ll help you, Aleksy,’ Tommy said. Everyone was getting on harmoniously. It seemed that Lynstow, Seabreeze Cottage and the sea air were having a magical effect on us already. The children generally got on well but they also bickered a fair bit too. But not today.

‘Toby, do you want to play snap?’ Henry asked. Toby and Henry were of similar age, and Henry had been so sensitive in befriending Toby that he had made me proud. They were great friends, although it was more like Henry was his protector, because Toby needed it. Toby had made great progress since being with us, but he was still scarred and vulnerable and we all had to be mindful of that.

But all my children were wonderful and I had done a good job with them, if I did say so myself. Aleksy, who was the oldest at nearly eleven, looked after them all and Tommy who was a bit younger, but actually almost as big, did too. In fact, all my children looked after each other. The older boys definitely looked out for the younger ones, and Summer and Martha as the youngest were taken care of by all. Honestly, no one would ever hurt those girls! Jonathan joked that if they ever dared get a boyfriend, the other boys would definitely scare them off! But it filled my heart to see how our families had grown and bonded, and really the idea of us all being together like this for our holidays was a dream come true.

‘What are the plans for today?’ Aleksy asked, as he spooned up a forkful of beans. I was sitting on his lap, hidden from view because the humans didn’t like us being so close to food, but anyway, apart from the egg, I wasn’t that keen on his breakfast anyway. George was sitting at Summer’s feet. She used to throw her yoghurt and George developed quite a taste for it. Although she didn’t really do that any more, he still lived in hope.

‘Well I thought we would all go to the beach. We’ll take a blanket for us adults and you children can take buckets and spades and just enjoy the sand.’

‘Can we go in the water?’ Tommy asked.

‘If the tide’s in, but it might be cold,’ Franceska said, reasonably. It was sunny, we could see that, but also it looked as if there was a bit of a breeze as the trees in the garden swayed gently.

‘Anyway, we’re only across the road if we need anything from home,’ Claire pointed out. ‘Pol, we’ll pop back for lunch and to see how it’s going.’

‘Of course, can’t wait to get them working,’ Polly said, referring to the builders who were due to arrive shortly. ‘Right, Henry, Martha, you be good for Claire and Franceska.’ They both nodded.

Last night, after the children had gone to bed, Claire, Franceska, Polly and I had sat around the kitchen table, discussing plans for the house and drinking wine. Well I’d actually lain on the table, and dozed while half listening to them. Polly had already hired the builders, and they had done some of the work before we arrived — although, as the cottage looked as if it needed a lot more, I wasn’t sure what. But anyway, they were now going to be working under Polly’s supervision.

First job was to get the utility room knocked through to the back door so the sandy children could be contained. It had now been christened the‘sand room’. Apart from that, the main job they were starting on was the attic that I hadn’t seen. They were going to turn the space, which was apparently huge, into two bedrooms and a bathroom, which would be the children’s floor. The idea was that the boys could sleep up there in one room, the girls in another and a bathroom would adjoin the two rooms. They were keen to get that done so the children had their space first. Being a parent myself now, I was learning that parents were like that — always putting the children first. I knew from ‘discussions’ with the men that the house wasn’t being done up extravagantly but Polly knew how to get the best without paying the earth, and they had persuaded the men that if it was worth doing it was worth doing as well as they could. Basically it was costing a lot of money, but at the same time it would definitely be worth more than it was now by the time they finished. It made economic sense, Claire kept saying, but I had no idea what that meant. I just hoped that it was a bit brighter and more comfortable when they finished. All this cat needed from his holiday home.

However, they were all confident that at the end they would have a gorgeous second home and I know Claire spoke dreamily of the children all holidaying here with their families one day. Cynical Jonathan muttered often that it would be sold at some point but I knew when he came here again with the children and saw how much we loved it he’d fall in love too. Anyway, I digress. I watched as the breakfast dishes were cleared away, and then when George went to play with the children, I cleaned myself up and got ready for our day.

We had been out for a runaround and seen the children off for their trip to the beach but I’d had to restrain George once again. He was so eager to go but I’d told him we needed to check it out together, to make sure it was safe for cats. After all, I could see that water was involved, so we needed to be cautious. And Claire hadn’t suggested taking us so I didn’t want to take anychances.

‘George, we’ll go a bit later so we can check it out properly,’ I said sensibly.

‘But I want to go now,’ George persisted.

‘George, be a good kitten, we can’t just do what we want, you know that. Anyway, I promise if you are good today I will take you later.’

‘OK,’ he conceded but he didn’t really like having to give in.

I was just about to lead George back in the house when a van pulled up outside. A stocky man got out and made his way towards us.

‘Well hello,’ he said, bending down to stroke us both. We both purred and nuzzled into him. He was big and burly, with not much hair. The front door opened and Polly emerged clutching a mug.

‘Hey, Colin, nice to see you,’ she said. She was wearing flip-flops, her hair was tied back and she was smiling broadly. Polly was beautiful, she used to be a model, and I saw Colin’s eyes light up at the sight of her. She had that effect on people.

‘Alright, Mrs, I mean Polly. How are you?’ he said, striding towards her. We trotted along after him.

‘Good, although chaotic. Right, come in and we’ll go through the plans again. When are your men getting here? We really are on a tight schedule.’ Her forehead wrinkled in worry.

‘I’ve got three lads and the big van on the way, don’t you worry.’ He was cheerful with an accent I hadn’t heard before, but it was nice and friendly; a Devon accent maybe?

We followed them as they headed to the kitchen where Polly showed him what she wanted doing with the utility.

‘That won’t be a problem. I see what you mean, you want to knock through so you come in the back, straight in there, and don’t get a desert of sand in the house.’

‘Exactly. We’ve got six children, as well as the two cats, it can get messy.’

‘So, you’ll be using the cottage a lot then?’ Colin scratched his head.

‘Yes, that’s the plan. As there are three families there’ll be someone in the cottage most of the year I expect. I mean, holidays definitely but also weekends — we want to use it, not just have it empty most of the year. We want it to be a home.’

‘That’s good, Seabreeze needs some love, that’s for sure,’ Colin said.

‘It’d be good to get the downstairs toilet cordoned off.’ It was in the utility space but there was no door on it.

‘Right you are.’ He seemed agreeable. ‘We won’t order a new toilet until we order the rest of the bathrooms though, to keep costs down.’

‘That’s fine, if we can get a door that’ll do for now.’ Polly beamed. She was in her element. Since going to study interior design when the children reached a certain age, Polly had bloomed. She’d been modelling before she had Henry, and then she’d been a full-time mum to him and Martha. When she first arrived on Edgar Road, Henry was a baby and Polly was suffering from postnatal depression. It had taken a while but she’d recovered, thankfully. Last year, when Matt was made redundant from his job, Polly had thrown herself into interior design work. She had worked long hours in that job, it’d been difficult for both her and Matt, but now she freelanced, which meant she got to pick and choose her jobs a bit more carefully and, although she had some work to do, she was able to do most of it while sorting out the cottage, which was definitely lucky.

I felt exhausted as I followed them round, listening again to what was going to be done. It was another good thing about being a cat, we got to live in houses (well the lucky ones did) without having to worry about all this.

‘Right, well when the lads get here we’ll get stuck in. It might be best if the kids stay out of the way, and the cats,’ he said, pointing at George and me. ‘We don’t have hard hats to fit cats.’ He laughed at his joke, although I didn’t get it.

‘Don’t worry, the children will be out as long as this weather stays, and the cats are very clever,’ Polly said, picking George up.

‘Fingers crossed the rain stays off,’ Colin said.

Yes, paws crossed. If we had to stay out of the way at least the sun should be shining for us.

Shortly after that, a larger van pulled up. It blocked all our cars in, not that we needed them, and three men, younger than Colin, each with more hair, jumped out. Suddenly there was a lot of noise and bustle. It was clear we would be better out of the way. I looked at George, and thought perhaps we could risk checking the beach out now.

‘Remember, George, don’t leave my side and be very vigilant,’ I said as we slid under the gate.

‘Yes, Dad, of course,’ he replied. His fur was bristling with excitement, I could see how much this meant to him. We stood on the pavement, there were cars driving slowly past, as the road was quite narrow, and there were lots of cars parked on the road opposite. When it was safe we crossed. Weboth jumped up onto a wall and looked out onto the beach.

Wow, I had never seen anything like it. There was a lot of flat sand, but also these sandy hills which looked like a lot of fun. The sand was yellow in colour, there was grass poking out of the hills, and in the distance I could see the water but it looked as if it was miles away.

However, before we could go further I spotted a real danger.

‘Oh, George, look, there’s a dog,’ I yelled, moving closer to my boy protectively. I saw a solitary dog running around in circles nearby. How annoying, the whole beach could have been ours but a dog was going to ruin it. However, just as I was going to get George and run back to the cottage, a man came up to the owner.

‘I’m afraid dogs aren’t allowed on the beach during the summer months,’ he said, pointing at a sign post behind us.

‘But Trevor loves the beach,’ the owner replied, looking distraught.

I wanted to squeal for joy. Dogs weren’t allowed on the beach and there was no sign about cats.

‘I’m not scared of dogs, Dad.’ George puffed his little chest out and I moved closer. George claimed not to be scared of anything, which of course scared me. As the owner put the lead on the dog and dragged him, huffily, off the beach, we prepared to join the others.

‘George, I am not going to say this again. Dogs are silly creatures, of course they aren’t as clever as us cats, but they are bigger and if they’re off the lead they might try to hurt us. We can’t risk that.’

As if to prove my point, the dog, Trevor, barked aggressively as he was being led away from the beach.

We went to join our family. As we started walking on the sand, I turned to George.

‘It’s a bit weird,’ I said, not really able to articulate what it actually felt like.

‘It’s, like, very sinky,’ George said, as his paws disappeared into the yellow, grainy stuff. It took us a while before we could actually walk properly, but we finally made our way to our families.

‘Oh, Alfie and George, I’m not sure that cats are supposed to be on the beach,’ Franceska laughed.

‘No dogs aren’t allowed,’ Toby pointed out. ‘I read the sign.’

‘Good boy,’ Claire said. ‘But is there a sign for cats?’

‘No, no sign for cats,’ Toby replied.

‘Toby, can I bury your feets?’ Summer asked, approaching with a spade. Toby nodded and put his feet out in front of him for her.

‘OK, Alfie, George, sit down here with us and don’t get into any trouble,’ Claire said, pointing to the blanket next to her. Trouble? What on earth could she mean?

We spent a very lovely morning on the beach. It was warm but at times there was a pleasant breeze that ruffled our fur. George let Summer bury his paws but then he didn’t like it and squealed a lot. George and I did attract a few funny looks and some people came over to talk to us but Claire and Franceska told them that we liked to go everywhere with them. Some people even took photos of us. And best of all there were no seagulls.

I lay down to enjoy the sunshine as I kept an eye on the children and my kitten. Aleksy was supervising building a very elaborate castle, Tommy was running down to get wetter sand from further down the beach and running back, Summer and Martha were looking for shells to decorate it, and Toby and Henry were in charge of something called a moat. Wow, I thought, this was really something special. Even George was now getting used to the sand and was only sinking a bit, but that was alright because all the children took delight in rescuing him. As I lazily watched everything going on, I felt as warm inside as it was outside.

I did feel a bit hot though, something which didn’t seem to bother George, who was basking in the sun. Aleksy was showing off his latest building — it was a sand igloo and he cleverly explained how it was hollow inside. I had to say, with its domed top and entrance hall, it looked quite inviting. While they were finding more wet sand to add to the sides and top, I thought I would see if I could fit in. I wiggled through the entrance with ease. Wow, it was cool, and just comfortable enough. I could hear everyone chattering outside as I lay down and decided to shut my eyes for a quick cat nap.

A little while later, after a refreshing nap, I opened my eyes but I couldn’t see anything — it was pitch black. I tried to move but I couldn’t, there was pressure pushing down on every side. I wiggled in fear, but I was surrounded by sand. I could barely breathe and I panicked, which made it even worse. The sand igloo must have collapsed, I needed help, now. I opened my mouth to yowl and it filled with sand. As I attempted to spit it out and tried again, I started meowing as loudly as I could, until I was exhausted and my mouth grainy with sand. Finally I could hear voices outside, so I yowled some more, hoping to draw their attention. I tried not to panic any more than I was, as the more I moved the more trapped I seemed to be. I couldn’t even swish my tail.

I was breathless from all the screeching and although I could breathe, I was feeling more terrified by the minute. Even my voice was sounding wrong as I squealed again. If someone didn’t come soon I might be living in a sand igloo forever, being washed out to sea, possibly ending up in a far and distant foreign land! I heard the voices coming closer and finally a glimpse of daylight through a crack in the sand.

‘See, Aleksy, I told you Alfie must be in there,’ Tommy shouted. ‘My goodness, he could be hurt!’

‘Oh no, poor Alfie, I didn’t know, I’m so sorry.’ Aleksy’s voice was distraught. They kept digging until I was free, and Aleksy took me in his arms, brushing the worst of the sand off. I slowed my breathing down and the panic began to subside. I had to blink a few times so I could see andadjust to the bright light.

The children and George surrounded me, full of concern. Franceska appeared with some drinks, while I tried to shake the rest of the sand off my fur and catch my breath. Claire approached with Summer and Toby— they’d been for a paddle in the water.

‘What happened to Alfie?’ Claire asked. ‘I turn my back for five minutes.’ She shook her head.

Five minutes? It was far longer than that, more like hours. Being buried in sand had now been added to my near-death experiences. Others involved a bad man hurting me, almost being run over crossing the road, nearly drowning in a lake, being stuck up a tree— oh and once I was nearly attacked by a seagull. George nuzzled me, whispering that he was so happy to see I was alright. I felt slightly embarrassed; I was constantly warning George of trouble yet it was me who’d put himself in danger.

‘He’s OK, he was in my sand igloo and then when we were making another castle, it sort of collapsed. We didn’t know Alfie was in there.’

‘It’s usually George who gets into trouble these days,’ Claire pointed out. I rested my case.

‘We’re exhausted,’ Claire said as Polly appeared on the lawn. Claire had told us all it was time to go home for a bit to get lunch. I was quite pleased as I was still recovering from being buried alive. Earlier, I had wanted to take George to explore the sand hills, which I heard were called sand dunes, but Claire wouldn’t let us out of her sight now. And although I wouldn’t let my experience put me off the beach, I knew I would be more careful from now on.

‘Chasing the children round in the sun has taken its toll but they love the beach already,’ Claire continued.

‘And the beach loves us,’ Franceska laughed, brushing sand off her legs.

‘Right, well let’s have a picnic lunch out here. It’s a bit dusty in there, although by teatime the kitchen should be usable,’ Polly said, coming over to join us.

‘What are we doing about lunch then?’ Claire asked.

‘I thought we could get sandwiches, crisps and cold drinks from the village shop,’ Polly said. ‘I daren’t go into the kitchen. Aleksy, do you want to help me? You can also choose some treats for everyone.’

‘Yes, I’ll help.’ Aleksy stood up proudly, as he went with Polly.

‘Any special requests or are you happy with whatever?’

‘You know what the kids like, and I’m happy with anything. Do you want some money?’

‘No, I’ve got some. Right, let’s go.’

‘Yelp!’ I said. I wanted something too.

‘I’ll see what seafood they have for you two, of course,’ Polly laughed. ‘After all, we are by the sea, so they should have something nice.’

She bent down to give me a pat and I purred. I deserved a treat after my ordeal.

We passed a lovely afternoon on the lawn. It was too hot for us to go back to the beach, I told George. In truth I wasn’t ready to revisit it just yet, I was still feeling a little bit anxious. We could see so much from here in the shade of a lovely bush. I did ask George why he hadn’t noticed I was missing earlier but he just raised his whiskers and said he was far too busy digging holes, as if that was the most natural answer in the world.

As we watched, there was even more activity on the beach; children, and people on the water, which had moved closer up the beach— Claire said it was the tide coming in. There were some flat boards that people seemed to be standing on. I didn’t know what they were, having not seen them before.

‘Can I learn to paddleboard?’ Aleksy asked. Ah, that’s what those people were doing.

‘Yes,kochanie,’ Franceska said. ‘We’ll find out how to do it and then you and Tommy can learn.’

I hoped they would be careful, water was tricky and although I knew humans seemed to quite like it— the bath, a swimming pool, the sea — us cats sensibly steered clear.

Aleksy set up a game of football for the kids as us adults relaxed on a blanket. Polly went to check on the builders every now and then, Claire dozed off and Franceska read her book. I watched George chasing the football around, pretty unsuccessfully, but I knew he would sleep well tonight. In fact, the sea air was making me sleepy again.

‘Dad,’ a voice woke me. I looked up to see George standing there. I must have nodded off.

‘George.’

‘Everyone’s gone inside for tea, the builders have gone and I think it’s our teatime.’ I glanced across at the beach again to see it was emptying. The sky was still bright but I felt hungry so, yes, it must be teatime.

‘Let’s go then, George, come on, round the back.’

We went through the cat flap and saw there was a doorway into the utility room which hadn’t been there before. It was a bit messy but not too bad as we made our way into the kitchen via the ‘sand room’. It was good because it took a while for George and I to shake even more sand off our fur — it sure did like to stick and I didn’t want Claire to insist on bathing us.

Before we headed into the kitchen I stopped. There was a funny smell again, I could have sworn it was a cat but there was no other feline here apart from me and George so I couldn’t understand it. I had a good poke around in the corners but there was no sign of anything, just the smell. I didn’t like it though. I lingered for a bit longer, double checking around as I heard George being greeted in the kitchen. Then I heard a lot of laughter. Reluctantly leaving my search, I made my way into the kitchen where I saw George sitting on the kitchen table near Summer. Claire was shrieking but everyone else was laughing. I took a closer look. All the children had ice-cream cones and George had his face in Summer’s.

‘Look, George likes ice cream,’ Henry said, giggling. Summer was holding the cone out to him.

‘Don’t encourage him, Sum, and you can’t eat that now,’ Claire chastised, taking the cone off her. But the damage had been done. George was covered in ice cream, and as he licked the ice cream off his face a big grin appeared either side of his ice-cream-white nose.

‘This is special local ice cream, made from clotted cream,’ Polly explained, reading the tub she had taken it from.

‘It’s delicious, but I’m not sure we should be feeding it to the cats,’ Franceska said.

‘It’s very cold but I really do like ice cream,’ George said to me when no one was listening.

I licked a bit off his head. Um, actually it wasn’t bad, I could see the appeal. I saw Claire put the rest of Summer’s ice cream onto a plate by the sink. I jumped up and started licking and George joined me. Franceska took her phone out and started taking photos.

‘Only we could have cats who get to eat Devon’s finest ice cream,’ Polly laughed.

‘Meow,’ I said, as I lapped up the creamy, cold mixture. It was delicious.

‘Well I suppose it’s their holiday too,’ Claire finished. ‘Although I am still not sure they should be allowed it.’

‘Surely the odd treat?’ Franceska said, giving me a big smile.

Our holiday was suddenly looking up.

Chapter Five

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We were all having breakfast in the kitchen when there was a loud, persistent knock at the door.

‘Is that the builders already?’ Claire asked, looking up from where she was trying to coax Summer to eat some fruit. All the children were sitting nicely at the table, and George was licking porridge off the floor. I was trying, and failing, not to notice him doing so.

‘They’re not due for an hour, I’ll go,’ Polly said, making towards the door. I went with her. As she opened the door, we both were taken aback for a moment. Standing on the doorstep was a very glamorous woman, who I first thought was carrying one of those tiny dogs but on closer inspection it was actually a cat. A Persian, I thought, very pretty, but she took one look at me and waved her tail in a hateful way, hissed and started squirming.

‘Chanel darling, behave,’ the woman said as the cat wiggled in her arms. I stood my ground; this was my ground after all.

‘Hello?’ Polly said, looking bemused. The woman was tall, very slim and wearing a dress and really high heels. Her blonde hair was long and very neat and she was wearing make-up. I felt a little sorry for Polly — although she is the most beautiful woman I know, she didn’t look great in an old T-shirt, cropped leggings, her hair piled messily on top of her head and there was no make-up on her face. The cat was as immaculate as her owner but I didn’t like her, she was hostile and, I decided, as she hissed at me again, more than a little bit mean.

‘Sorry, sorry.’ The lady’s voice was confident and a little too loud. ‘Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Andrea. I live next door and, well, I wanted to come and meet you, with Chanel of course. I didn’t realise you had a cat though,’ she said giving me what I can only describe as a ‘look’. It was a bit disdainful.

‘Oh, hi.’ Polly looked at the woman unsurely. ‘Nice to meet you. I’m Polly, this is Alfie. We actually have two cats here,’ she explained.

‘Meow,’ I said, trying to tell Chanel I wasn’t scared of her. She looked at me as if she’d like to kill me.

‘Right, so are you living here now?’ Andrea asked. Her grey eyes narrowed and she tried to peer round the door into the house.

‘No, not exactly. We’ve just arrived but we’re on holiday. It’s a long story.’ Finally Polly found her smile.

‘Right, well no time like the present.’ And somehow Andrea managed to manoeuvre herself around me and Polly and into the house, Chanel still in her arms.

‘Um, everyone else is in the kitchen,’ Polly said, but Andrea had headed that way already.

Claire was sipping coffee, the children were squabbling and Franceska was trying to clean up but she kept tripping over George who was insistently scrabbling around her feet.

‘George, stop,’ she chastised.

‘Children, shush,’ Claire shouted.

‘Um, everyone, hello,’ Polly interrupted. As they all turned to look at Andrea, everyone went quiet. Even George. ‘This is Andrea, she’s our neighbour?’

‘Well yes, I live in the next house to your left, Beach Villa, and I’ve come to welcome you.’ She didn’t sound welcoming. Chanel glared at me and George. George was now still and staring at Chanel, his eyes wide.

‘And you’ve got a cat?’ Aleksy said, looking puzzled. ‘We love cats.’

‘Yes, sorry Chanel is like my baby, my third baby as I have two daughters, but I take her everywhere. I wouldn’t have brought her here if I knew you had cats, she doesn’t care for other felines.’

‘Meow,’ Chanel concurred.

‘Right, well I’m Claire, this is Franceska and these are our array of children.’ Claire smiled, and held out a hand but Andrea was unable to take it because she was still trying to contain a squirming Chanel.

‘Lovely to meet you all. I would stay but I think darling Chanel is a little uncomfortable.’ As Chanel was hissing and wriggling that seemed to be a bit of an understatement.

‘Right,’ Claire said, uncertainly.

‘But I tell you what, I’ll pop back this evening, on my own,’ she glared at me as if it was my fault, ‘with a bottle of something fizzy and we can have a proper chat.’

‘Um?’ Franceska said.

‘Well we are in a total mess, what with builders and everything.’

‘So I see, never mind, I’m happy to slum it,’ Andrea trilled. ‘I’ll be back about eight, I’m guessing all these children will be in bed then.’ She laughed, but it sounded a bit menacing. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.’

Before anyone could say anything else, she and Chanel were gone.

‘My goodness,’ Claire said.

‘What on earth was that?’ Franceska said.

‘And we thought that we were the sophisticated Londoners, coming to a little Devon village,’ Polly said. ‘She looks right out of Knightsbridge. As did her cat.’

‘Chanel. What sort of name is that?’ Claire mused.

‘Did you see the collar? I bet it was real diamonds.’

‘Oh God, and she’s coming back tonight. I don’t know why we didn’t say no.’ Franceska trembled.

‘We didn’t get the chance … Anyway, it’ll be nice to meet some local people,’ Polly said unconvincingly.

‘Do you think we’ve got time to get our hair done?’ Claire quipped.

‘Well, I didn’t bring my ballgown with me but I feel that I should have done now,’ Polly giggled.

George was scrabbling at my legs to get my attention.

‘What?’ I hissed.

‘That cat, Chanel, she’s beautiful,’ he said. He looked a little enraptured.

‘But not nice, she didn’t like us, did she?’ I pointed out.

‘But everyone likes me. I’m going to be her friend. She’s so beautiful, the most beautiful cat in the world.’

I saw then the look in his eyes, which reminded me of myself when I first saw Snowball. My George had developed his first crush.

Andrea was soon forgotten as the builders arrived. One of them was going to finish the doorway into the newly christened‘sand room’, while the others went up to the attic. According to Polly they worked hard and didn’t drink too much tea — which was apparently a good thing for builders, especially as we had a tight time schedule. As the weather was good, Franceska and Claire once again took the children to the beach. George and I lay on the bonnet of Claire’s car — it had the highest roof — and watched them from our vantage point. We said we’d probably go to the beach later but, as it was so close, we didn’t feel the urgency any more. So curling up together on the car sunbathing and watching the world go by was definitely a pleasant way to pass the time.

There were a few dogs around, although of course not on the beach, and they were thankfully on leads. It was a busy, lively village; cars kept appearing, looking for places to park, children jumping excitedly out, also lots of people cramming the pavements, all wearing summery clothes and chattering excitedly. I saw that Aleksy had set up some kind of ball game and children were approaching him to play. I hoped they would make some nice friends this summer, I hoped George and I would too—

‘Oh it’s you,’ a hostile voice interrupted me. I looked up to see Chanel standing on the street.

‘Hi, hey, how are you?’ George gushed. She narrowed her eyes, swishing her tail angrily, and then turned her attention back to me.

‘I never go out on my own, not outside my garden anyway, so it’s a very big deal that you have made me come here,’ she snapped.

‘I didn’t make you do anything,’ I replied, still trying to sound friendly.

‘Who do you think you are, coming here?’ she hissed.

‘Well, I’m Alfie, this is George and this is our holiday house,’ I said, not unkindly. I was a firm believer in using charm. Especially with difficult creatures. Chanel was clearly a difficult creature.

‘Not for long,’ she said, again flicking her tail. ‘Mark my words, your days are numbered,’ she hissed before turning and leaving.

‘What on earth did she mean by that?’ I asked. I felt suddenly as if something might be wrong with this otherwise perfect set-up. I blinked, had I misheard her? Her voice had sounded menacing and her words threatening.

I looked at the children, all playing in a big group, Claire and Franceska looking on happily. I saw Polly come to the front door with a cup of tea and make her way over to join them and I saw George preening himself, checking his reflection in the wing mirror of the car. Surely our days weren’t numbered, whatever that meant. Our holiday had only just started.

‘Oh wow, Dad, I think she likes me,’ George said.

‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ I asked. I didn’t want to burst his bubble but that cat really didn’t like either of us. I remembered back to when I first met Snowball. She had been quite immune to my charms and I hadn’t given up. But then, this cat, well she was no Snowball, or Tiger for that matter, she was just downright horrible.

‘It was the way she looked at me, I could just tell,’ George sighed. I raised my whiskers but held my tongue. I had a horrible feeling that George’s first crush was going to teach him a lot about love — the hard way.

That evening, the house was alive with the sounds of happy children. I pushed Chanel to the back of my mind as they chattered on about their new friends and how tomorrow Aleksy and Tommy had their first paddleboarding lesson. Summer was cross because she couldn’t go but, as Claire pointed out, she was too little, and Toby was still a bit scared of the water. Back home Jonathan had started taking him to swimming lessons but it was early days and I totally sympathised with how he felt. Really, I was sure it was more sensible to be scared of water than toactually want to be in it. The builders were long gone but Claire was still trying to clean up the dust, which seemed to be covering everyone and everything.

‘Oh God, I need to shower before the queen gets here,’ she said. I figured out she was talking about Andrea.

‘You know, I think we need to try to get the plumbing sorted soon, the shower is a bit lacklustre,’ Polly said, her head back in the plans. ‘I’m thinking we can fix it temporarily before we get all the bathrooms done.’

‘Polly, you are a marvel with all this house stuff, honestly, I wouldn’t know where to start,’ Franceska said.

‘Yes, well I can’t cook remember,’ Polly laughed, giving Franceska a hug.

‘Also, I have spoken to Colin and we are going to have a shower set up outside, with hot water, to hose the worst of the sand off the kids before they even go into the sand room. What do you think?’

‘Genius,’ Claire said. ‘I love it.’ But then shehad just spent the best part of two hours sweeping both sand and dust up.

‘This is going to be the best holiday cottage ever,’ Franceska said. ‘I am so happy we all did this.’

‘So am I,’ Claire agreed, a dreamy look on her face. ‘I bet Aunt Claire would be so happy that it was filled with love.’

‘Oh gosh, it’s nearly seven. Right, Claire, we’ll round up the younger ones and get them washed and ready for bed. Frankie, can you continue with the clearing up?’ Polly said, jumping up.

‘I can, but I’m not sure it’s going to make much difference,’ Franceska said, taking the broom from Claire and shaking her head at the mess.

By eight, the children were in bed, apart from Aleksy and Tommy who were in the living room watching a DVD. They were the oldest after all so they were allowed to stay up later than the others, especially as it was school holidays. George had gone to bed with Toby as usual and I was hanging out with Aleksy until I heard the knock at the door. I sprang up from Aleksy’s lap and went to the door, arriving just before Claire.

Andrea was standing on the doorstep looking dressed for a night out. She wore a dress, again, high heels, her hair was swept up onto her head and she had a lot of make-up on. The smell from her was so strong I felt as if I’d swallowed a mouthful of perfume; it wasn’t pleasant.

‘Andrea, how lovely to see you again, come in,’ Claire said, stepping aside to let her in.

‘Likewise,’ she replied, but didn’t sound as if she meant it.

Claire led Andrea into the kitchen where Polly and Franceska were sitting around the table. Wine glasses had been put out, candles lit and, although it wasn’t exactly immaculate, it was tidy and clean-ish at least.

‘What a charming kitchen,’ Andrea said, wrinkling her nose, as she greeted the others.

‘Did you know my Aunt Claire?’ Claire asked.

‘No, she’d gone before we moved into the village, but she was spoken about. It was a big annoyance to the village that the house was empty for so long. We tried to do something about it but we couldn’t seem to get to the bottom of who owned it … Until now.’

‘Well my aunt was ill, and I think whoever was managing her affairs just did as per her instructions. I used to come here as a child,’ Claire explained. Andrea handed her a bottle, and she opened it, pouring four glasses.

‘Sorry we don’t have flutes, only wine glasses.’ Polly looked embarrassed.

‘Well, as I said earlier, I’m happy to slum it,’ Andrea said, before laughing. Her laugh sounded a little tinkly and fake.

‘I’ll add them to my list,’ Claire said through gritted teeth. She was making a list of things they still needed as she went along.

‘How long have you lived here?’ Franceska asked, changing the subject.

‘Ten years. My husband and I moved here when I had my first child.’

‘How many do you have?’ Polly asked.

‘Two, both girls. Savannah is ten, obviously, and Serafina is eight.’

‘Lovely names. And what is the village like now, obviously I haven’t been here for so long,’ Claire said.

‘It’s a great village. There’s a lovely school for the girls and obviously we live on the beach.’

‘Not in those shoes,’ Polly said, before clamping her hand over her mouth.

‘Oh I don’t go to the beach much, all that dreadful sand. But I watch the girls from the safety of my garden. You could do the same.’

‘Of course. And we think the village is lovely. We went to a nice pub when we last visited, The Lynstow Arms.’

‘The food’s good there, of course us locals try to avoid it during the holidays, you know, it’s full of tourists,’ Andrea said, without a hint of irony, even though she was addressing tourists.

‘You must find that annoying,’ Claire said, stifling a grin.

‘To be honest, we think this is a lovely village and community and we like to keep it that way. We find it unfortunate that Londoners come in and buy up the properties which they hardly ever use. It’s sapping the soul from the village.’ She said this without a hint of niceness, I thought as Icurled up on Claire’s lap. I didn’t like the turn this was taking; it reminded me of my earlier conversation with Chanel.

‘Well the good thing is that this house has three families so we’ll use it loads. Weekends, school holidays, you’ll probably find there’s someone here most of the time.’

‘Not quite the same though, is it? You are not going to be a full-time part of the community. Seabreeze Cottage will still be empty a great deal of time.’ Her voice had turned cold and I saw Franceska looking alarmed.

‘We want to become as much a part of the community as we can,’ Claire pushed.

‘Absolutely, and we have so many school holidays, as you know, our kids will grow up here as well,’ Polly added.

‘I’m sure you mean well. With your building plans and hundreds of children, not to mention the cats, but the point is that I am here to make you an offer.’

‘An offer?’

‘What kind of offer?’

‘I want to buy Seabreeze Cottage. I want to buy it off you right now.’

‘But we’ve started work on it,’ Polly said.

‘Then stop. Sell it to me, go back to London and if you want to come on holiday then rent somewhere but let this house, this amazing property, go to someone local.’

‘But you already have a house, so it’d be a second home for you too?’ Polly suddenly sounded annoyed.

‘Look, I can’t explain everything now but if you sell me this house it will be a home, you can trust me on that one.’ She sounded sincere, I almost believed her.

‘That’s a lovely idea but you know this is a family home for me,’ Claire explained. ‘And my Aunt Claire was a big part of this community and she wanted me to have the cottage, so that’s what I am going to do.’ She crossed her arms; nice but firm.

‘I will pay you above the asking price.’ I noticed a hint of desperation enter Andrea’s voice.

‘I’m sorry, Andrea, but it’s not for sale,’ Claire said, stroking me.

‘Everything has a price,’ Andrea said, staring at Claire with cold grey eyes.

‘We don’t,’ Polly said, going to stand near Claire’s chair. ‘We want this to be a family home too, but for our families.’

‘We’ll see. I want this house.’ Andrea stood up and glared at each of the women, any hint of friendliness fled. ‘And I always get what I want.’

I now understood what Chanel meant. If Andrea had her way, it seemed our days here would in fact be numbered.

Chapter Six

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Thankfully we had made it to the end of our first week on holiday relatively unscathed. Despite the threat from Andrea, so far we were all still here and on the whole having a lovely time. Although Polly, Franceska and Claire had been a little shaken by Andrea’s words and her vague threat that she would get Seabreeze Cottage, they had eventually pushed it to the back of their minds and decided she was as much hot air as she was big hair. They said they wouldn’t let anyone ruin our perfect holiday. Or get her manicured hands on Seabreeze Cottage, whatever that meant.

Polly had been surveying how much they had got done with the building work and had a review with Colin. We had only five weeks left, so she said they were doing well but couldn’t afford any delays.

And thankfully, as it was Friday, the men were coming down for the weekend. Even Tomasz was leaving the restaurants for a couple of days, although to be fair he had managers now and, although he liked to keep a very close eye on them, he was far more willing to take time off nowadays. There was a time when he’d spent so much time at work his family hardly ever saw him, but they seemed to have resolved that, thankfully. I was excited, I’d missed Jonathan, Matt and Tomasz and it would be lovely to have the family all together again for a couple of days.

Unfortunately the weather had turned and although it was warm it was raining. Claire suggested taking the younger children to the local town to have a look around, so they weren’t in the way of the builders, and Polly said she was happy to leave them for a bit and go with her, while Franceska was going to stay and try to get everything organised for when everyone came. Despite the fact it was raining, Aleksy and Tommy begged to be allowed to put on wellies and coats andgo to the beach, which she said they could, but she would be watching them and they weren’t allowed to go too far. They had more freedom here than they did in London, but that was village life, apparently. And Aleksy was very responsible for his age; I thought it would do him good to have more independence to be honest.

Unlike George.

George begged to be allowed out to see Chanel, but I told him no. Not only was it raining but also she was horrible. He argued and whined, a bit like Summer, but I stood firm. I said that when the rain stopped I would take him out for a nice walk but not before. He ran upstairs and sulked under Toby’s bed. Kittens!

I decided to help Franceska— or at least keep her company. She seemed happy and I knew that she was looking forward to seeing Tomasz, just as the others were looking forward to seeing their husbands. It hadn’t been a bad first week, but it was strange without our men. In fact it made me the man of the house.

While Franceska was watching Aleksy and Tommy play on the beach, I went to the utility room. The builders had finished downstairs for now and were in the attic. I was careful to keep out of their way. They were all very nice, but they had big feet and tools which looked quite dangerous. The utility room was a bit of a draw to me still, there was definitely an alien smell which kept bugging me. I sniffed around, and felt baffled. I still could have sworn it was the scent of a cat, but not me or George— or even Chanel. And although I hadn’t seen another cat around here, the scent hadn’t faded while we’d been living here. It was a mystery.

I fleetingly wondered if, when I was sleeping with Claire, another cat was sneaking in through the cat flap and I decided to stay up tonight to make sure. Jonathan would be with Claire anyway and he wasn’t as keen on me sleeping on their bed as Claire was — I knew he’d probably banish me to my bed on the landing. I felt a little bit better having a plan of sorts, and I was determined to get to the bottom of the smell, so I decided to go and check on George. Boy that kitten could sulk for England, I thought as I made my way upstairs.

I looked in the boys’ room, but there was no sign of him. Not under the bed where Toby slept, or on the bed itself. He hadn’t climbed up onto the top bunks either. I felt a bit panicked as I ran around the rest of the upstairs, even braving the builders to check the attic, but he was nowhere to be found. I boundeddownstairs, checking every room, but he wasn’t there. My heart sank. Not only did I feel panicked but I also believed I knew exactly where George was.

I remembered Andrea saying she was in the house to the left, so I turned in that direction out of the house, feeling the rain soaking into my fur straight away. Wasting no time, I crawled under a hedge, where there seemed to be the best access, and found myself in the neatest garden I’d ever seen. Andrea’s house wasn’t like ours, it was taller, squarer, the windows were huge. It also looked a bit grander. Why on earth would she want our house when hers was definitely more suited to her? Thankfully, I found George huddled under one of the windowsills. He was sheepish when he saw me.

‘Sorry, Dad, but I was going to come back before you’d noticed I’d gone.’ Yes, that would work. Honestly, my boy still had a lot to learn.

I wasn’t sure how to play this. I knew that he was besotted with the awful Chanel but also I needed him to understand that he shouldn’t be out on his own. After all, the last time I left him alone he’d been catnapped, but I also knew that he was a little older now and would want more freedom, a bitlike Aleksy. Being a parent was so hard, getting the balance right was difficult.

‘George, I do understand you wanted to see Chanel, but we are in a new place and we don’t know it very well, so I would be happier if you stayed with me, at least for a while.’ I hoped I didn’t sound too angry. ‘But if you have to go off then you must tell me exactly where you’ll be.’I tried to be conciliatory.

‘Oh, Dad, I am sorry but she is so beautiful, and I just needed to see her lovely face.’ Oh boy, he had it bad.

‘And have you seen her?’ I asked, softening. I was a romantic cat and so I didn’t want to underestimate his feelings. I understood about love, after all.

‘Yes, she stood at the window! She was making a lot of noise but I didn’t really know what she was trying to say.’

I guessed she was telling him to get lost.

‘Did she sound angry?’ I asked, treading carefully.

‘Well some might say she did, but I think she was just teasing me. Although she did wave her tail at me angrily before she jumped down and ran off. I sat on the windowsill for a while but she didn’t come back.’

‘And you got soaked.’ Oh my poor boy. ‘Look, George, come home with me now, get dried off and warm and I promise that as soon as it clears up we’ll go for a lovely walk,’ I coaxed.

‘OK, I will see her soon though, won’t I?’ he said.

‘Yes, son, you will.’ We ran back to the hedge, and I saw George safely through the gap. I was about to follow him when something, or someone, caught my eye. At the back of the house, Andrea was standing under a wooden shelter with what looked like one of our builders. I crawled a little closer, straining my eyes. I was sure it was one of the younger ones, Liam, I think he was called. He was wearing his scruffy builder clothes and a big jacket. She was laughing and then she put a hand on his shoulder and he turned red. What the hell was he doing with her? I was about to move closer when George called out.

‘Dad, come on, I’m hungry.’

I took a last look at Liam and Andrea and wondered what on earth they were doing together. I felt as if there was something, something big. Being a perceptive cat, I was pretty sure, what with George’s inappropriate crush, Andrea’s determination to get her hands on our house, and the funny cat smell in the utility room, there was a lot going on. Mysteries were apaw. I could feel it in my fur.

‘I can’t believe you dragged us to Devon with the promise of sunshine and it’s raining,’ Jonathan moaned as he swung Summer around.

‘Gosh, is this a record? You’ve been here five minutes and you’re already complaining,’ Claire teased.

I rubbed against his legs; I’d missed Jonathan, I’d missed all the men actually.

Polly had picked them up from the train station just after lunch and we had all been incredibly excited when they arrived. The children had been hyper, and George and I could barely contain ourselves. The cottage did suddenly feel smaller with the men in it, but it also felt more like home. Polly showed them the work done so far and introduced them to the builders. I went with them while they inspected the attic. It wasn’t looking bad actually. Walls were being built and there was a landing which would lead into each room. As it stretched across the whole house, it was big, but the ceilings were a bit lower, making it perfect for the children I guessed. I was excited suddenly, as I saw the transformation happening. It might take a while — apparently these things did — but you could see the difference already, even within the space of a week. The men seemed to be happy with the work and Jonathan even said, ‘Good job,’ to Colin. Praise indeed.

It had also been decided that we were going to have fish and chips for supper. There was a local chip shop, which was normal for a seaside village apparently, and George and I were very excited as we were both pretty sure we’d get some fish.

Claire and Jonathan went to collect supper. They had a big umbrella which was kept on the porch, and George and I looked out of the window and saw them go. I felt warm and fuzzy despite the horrible weather; it was going to be such a wonderful weekend. As long as George didn’t keep running off to see Chanel, that was.

‘You cannot beat fish and chips by the proper sea,’ Matt said, as everyone was crowded round the table. They just managed to fit, although it was a squash and Summer had to sit on Jonathan’s lap, and Martha on Matt’s.

‘It’s not exactly the sea, darling,’ Polly said. ‘It’s the estuary.’

‘Yes but it’s water and beach, so near enough surely?’ Tomasz said.

‘Near enough,’ Franceska laughed. ‘Isn’t this fabulous us all together like this,’ she said, beaming.

‘We love it here,’ Aleksy said. ‘We made some friends already and the beach is the coolest thing ever.’ His eyes were shining with excitement. ‘And, Dad, we went paddleboarding, and it’s not as easy as it looks.’

‘Really? It does look pretty easy,’ Jonathan said.

‘Maybe you should try,’ Aleksy suggested with a giggle.

‘Yes, Jon, why don’t I book you a lesson?’ Claire suggested with a smile.

‘Thanks but I am going to concentrate on relaxing when I’m here. Anyway, I’ll leave that to the kids.’

‘I agree,’ Tomasz said. ‘I’m not so fond of the water,’ he added.

‘Meow,’ I agreed.

Later, the men put the children to bed, apart from Aleksy and Tommy, who were told to get washed and ready before being allowed to play on their tablets in the smaller living room. The adults then decamped to the larger living room. Claire and Jonathan were on one sofa, Franceska and Tomasz on the other and Polly and Matt squeezed together on an armchair. I sat on the arm of the sofa, looking around at all the adults I love. There was so much harmony in the air, I felt as if life was calmer than it had been in a long while.

‘So how is Edgar Road?’ Claire asked. ‘I know we’ve only been away a week but it feels like ages.’

‘Nothing much to report. Vic and Heather are making sure we behave ourselves, that’s for sure,’ Jonathan laughed.

‘So how is it down here? I mean, the builders seem to be making progress.’

‘Oh they’re so much easier to deal with than London builders,’ Polly said. ‘They turn up when they say and they don’t skive. I’m loving Colin.’

‘Hey!’ Matt laughed. ‘The kids seem to love it.’ He smiled, indulgently.

‘They do, and it might have rained today but we’ve had three good beach days, and they’re all getting on pretty well,’ Polly said.

‘There is only one fly in the ointment,’ Franceska said. I knew Franceska and Tomasz would always be Polish but they certainly had the hang of British sayings.

‘What?’ her husband asked.

‘Oh, there’s our neighbour. I’m sure you’ll meet her. She’s called Andrea and she came to see us,’ Claire started.

‘That’s nice, isn’t it?’ Jonathan asked.

‘No, not only does she look as if she’s just stepped out of a beauty salon but she thinks she’s the Queen of Sheba,’ Polly said.

‘She turned up with her cat who’s called Chanel,’ Franceska added.

‘Oh, and she invited herself back when the kids were all asleep, and said she was happy to slum it.’

‘OK, so she’s a snobby well-heeled woman with a funny-named cat?’ Jonathan looked amused.

‘She asked to buy the cottage,’ Claire replied.

‘Oh?’ Tomasz looked confused.

‘And of course we told her it wasn’t for sale,’ Polly explained.

‘But she said she wouldn’t take no for an answer and said she always got what she wanted,’ Franceska said, shuddering. Franceska was the most easily intimidated of all the women.

‘Did she make you an offer?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Jon, Seabreeze is not for sale. But she did say she’d pay more than the market value.’

‘Why does she want it so much?’ Matt asked.

Good question, I thought. I still didn’t trust her motives.

‘Oh, she banged on about how important it was to her to preserve village life and she didn’t like us interlopers taking the best property.’

‘She’s got a point,’ Jonathan said. Judas, I thought.

‘Jon, we are going to fall out if you don’t stop it. Anyway, I do not believe she wants to buy it out of a sense of community spirit. She owns the big house to the left, she acts as if she owns the village in fact. I think there’s more to it.’

‘I’m going to ask Colin next week,’ Polly said. ‘Maybe she knows something we don’t.’

‘Whatever her motives, Seabreeze is not for sale,’ Claire reiterated.

‘You love this cottage already, don’t you?’ Jonathan said, sighing.

‘I do, and so do the kids. It’s just perfect.’

‘Then we won’t let anyone buy it off us,’ Jonathan said, loyally. I wondered where that had come from.

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ Matt said, echoing my thoughts.

‘Everyone seems relaxed, the house is going to be gorgeous when it’s finished and I for one am suddenly appreciating getting out of London. I had my doubts, mainly financial, but this … well, seeing you and the kids so happy seems priceless.’ Ah, there was my sentimental Jonathan again. I rubbed against him. ‘And what about you, Alfie? Do you and George like it here?’

‘Meow!’ I nuzzled him to tell him I absolutely did.

‘Right, well let’s have a toast, to our holiday home.’ Jonathan picked up his beer bottle.

‘To Seabreeze Cottage,’ the others said.

‘And to many, many happy holidays here,’ Claire finished as they all clinked glasses.

I left them chatting. It was getting late but I wanted to stay awake. I went to the kitchen and ate a little more fish that was in my bowl on the floor. I then went and hid in the utility room. If anyone was visiting us at night, I would be ready for them.

‘Yelp!’ A voice woke me up and I leapt. I found myself nose to nose with a big cat, who looked a bit like a leopard. He didn’t look exactly pleased to see me. What was it with these village cats?

‘Hello?’ I said. He sprang back and glared at me. ‘Do you live here?’ I asked.

‘I do. I did. But then you arrived. I was hoping you’d leave so I’ve been watching the house but it seems you’re not going anywhere.’ He sounded gruff.

‘I’m Alfie,’ I said, in a friendly manner. ‘We don’t exactly live here, me and my kitten George, but you see our families own it and we are on holiday.’

‘Cats don’t go on holiday, even I know that.’

‘Well I know most people think that but, guess what, we do! Anyway, it’s a long story but we’re here for the summer.’

‘Right and what am I supposed to do?’

‘I don’t know, where’s your family? You don’t belong to Great Aunt Claire, do you?’

‘I have no idea who you’re talking about. I live here, alone. Or I have done for quite a while now. Very happily I may add.’

‘You don’t have a family?’

‘No.’

‘But—’

‘Listen, I don’t have time for this. I need my sleep. I am out finding food all day and then at night I come back and sleep. It’s my life. That’s all you need to know.’

‘Hey, you can have some of my food. There’s bowls out, for me and my kitten George, but we are very good at sharing. Or I am, anyway.’

‘Humph. That’s kind, but I’m used to looking after myself.’ He wasn’t exactly warming to me.

‘Well if you change your mind …’ I heard footsteps. ‘My humans are coming to clear up, probably before bed, but I won’t disturb you if you want to stay here.’

I didn’t quite know what else to say or do. The cat wasn’t very friendly but then I remembered being homeless and I didn’t want to make him think he couldn’t stay here. It sounded as if it was his home anyway — well, as far as he was concerned.

‘I’ll stay out of sight, just until I can find another empty house to live in.’ He still didn’t sound friendly.

‘OK then, sleep well and you know we don’t mind you being here. What’s your name?’ I asked.

‘Gilbert,’ he replied. He eyed me suspiciously, I raised my whiskers in what was meant to be a welcoming way.

‘Alfie, where are you? It’s time for us all to turn in,’ Jonathan said and I quickly turned to face him, but I didn’t need to worry, Gilbert had slunk back into the shadows as if he was never there. If it hadn’t been for his scent I would have thought I’d imagined our entire exchange.

Chapter Seven

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‘What do you mean, another cat?’ George asked the following morning. I’d already checked the utility room but there was no sign of Gilbert.

‘He’s been living here, I don’t know why, he wasn’t exactly forthcoming. But he said he doesn’t have a family. Anyway, he was hoping we would have left but he’s been sneaking in at night and leaving before we get up. I’m hoping to see him again and find out more.’

I was a nosy cat, I’ll admit, but I was intrigued by this cat who seemed to think of Seabreeze as his home. I wanted to know why he didn’t have a family and also make sure he knew that he could stay here; after all, we weren’t going to be here the whole time and it seemed a shame for the house to be totally empty. Most importantly I didn’t want Gilbert to be homeless, I still remembered how awful that was. I also thought I might persuade him to make himself known to the humans; I didn’t doubt that they would all welcome him the way I wanted to.

‘Wow, I can’t wait to meet him. But I’d rather go and see Chanel, can we, can we please?’ George begged.

Again, I was still unsure how to play this. I wanted to give George the benefit of my wisdom but I also knew that some things had to be learnt first-hand. If I refused he would probably just run off again and I didn’t want that, not at all.

‘I tell you what, I will take you out for a walk after breakfast and we’ll go by her place, but you know if she tells us to go away, we might have to.’

‘Oh she doesn’t mean it, she likes me really. Anyway, thank you, Dad, I’ll eat all my breakfast and then clean up really well.’

That put a spring in his paws. I just hoped I wasn’t going to regret it.

After everyone had eaten breakfast, the humans were going to spend the morning on the beach— the sun had returned — and we could join them after our walk/Chanel search. Although we hadn’t fallen in love with the sand, we were getting more and more used to it. Our humans packed up food, blankets, buckets and spades and then headed out, leaving George and I alone. The more I thought about his crush on Chanel the more I worried, but at the same time it allowed me to go and check on Andrea. I didn’t trust that woman. Not one little bit.

‘What are you doing in my garden?’ a voice hissed as soon as we crawled through the hedge. We straightened up to see Chanel looking angry as she stood, slowly waving her tail from side to side.

‘We were just taking our morning constitutional,’ I said, trying to be friendly.

‘Is that how you city cats talk?’ I had never heard a cat sound so disdainful. ‘Well the thing is,’ she continued, ‘that this is private property, it’s my property actually, and I would rather you didn’t set paw on it.’

‘Hello,’ George said as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘You are looking very beautiful today.’

I tried not to be amused, but it was funny; as if his crush had rendered him deaf.

‘What on earth is he talking about?’ Chanel looked at me.

As if I knew.

We were interrupted by two sets of bare feet approaching and I saw there were two very pretty girls, wearing matching sundresses.

‘Ah there you are, Chanel, Mummy wants you,’ one said, picking the cat up. George and I had quickly backed into the hedge so they didn’t see us.

‘Meow,’ Chanel said, sweetly, nuzzling the little girl’s neck.

‘See, I told you,’ George said, as they walked off. ‘She really is nice.’

Just not to us, I thought. As we made our way back to our garden I was thinking of what a nice day it was. We could definitely join the others on the beach— I’d decided to give it another chance after my experience yesterday. But George had other ideas. He lay in the sun, by the gap in the hedge, and refused to move.

‘Won’t you come with me, son?’ I asked, trying to coax him.

‘No thanks, Dad, I’m staying right here so Chanel knows where to find me.’

There was nothing I could do to get George to budge. He had it bad but I did remember what it was like, so I had to try to be understanding. The problem was that Chanel was not only horrible but also too old for him. Way too old.

I really wanted to join the others on the beach but I couldn’t leave George. I occupied myself by exploring the garden. It needed work — Polly said the garden would be done last — but there were some nice bushes, which were messy but interesting. Although loath to leave George, I did make my way round the back; what I liked about Seabreeze Cottage wasthat you could access the back of the house from the front, so I could see if there was any action in the back courtyard. There wasn’t, and no sign of Gilbert either.

I was getting a little bit bored of watching George by the time the families returned. They were all laughing and joking, a bit pink from the sun, and of course covered in sand. Claire spread out the blankets on the lawn, and flopped down. Franceska and Tomasz were going to go into town and their boys were going with them as they needed to buy some clothes and bits and pieces. Everyone waved them off as they got into their car and then we passed a pleasant couple of hours in the front garden. Martha and Summer had a picnic with their dolls and teddy bears and Henry and Toby played with a football. Jonathan and Matt joined in at one point while Claire and Polly looked on fondly.

‘This is just how I imagined it would be,’ Claire said, as I sat next to her.

‘George, play ball with us,’ Henry said.

‘Meow.’ George refused to move. Toby tried to persuade him but he wasn’t for persuading.

‘Oh shall we go and get some of those lovely ice creams?’ Polly said.

‘Did I hear ice cream?’ Matt said.

‘Yay!’ Toby and Henry shouted.

‘There’s a van across the road, it does the best ice creams. They’re made from local clotted cream, George and Alfie are in love with them too. We’ll go.’ Claire stood up.

When they returned they handed out the cones. One for each of the kids, an enormous one each for Matt and Jonathan and then Claire held one out to me.

‘George, Alfie, want to share an ice cream?’ she said. I have never seen George move so quickly in his life. He put his nose straight into the cone, and everyone laughed. Ha, he liked ice cream more than Chanel, there was hope for him yet.

‘Who knew cats liked ice cream?’ Matt said.

‘You’d think it would be too cold,’ Jonathan chuckled.

So much for sharing, I thought, but then I would never take that joy away from my boy so I didn’t mind too much. I’d wait for the leftovers. If there were any, I thought, as George licked manically at it, his little pink tongue darting back and forth.

‘I think it’s not a proper holiday without ice-cream cones,’ Toby said. ‘Even for cats.’ Everyone laughed.

I was pretty sure I knew what they were thinking. Everyone seemed to be happier here, or different at least, and even Toby was growing in confidence. It was as if the sun of Seabreeze Cottage was shining down on all of us and it was lovely. If only George would get over Chanel, I thought, as he discarded his ice cream and ran back to the bush. I finished it off and then lay down for a well-earned nap. After all, there were plenty of people around to keep their eye on George and one of my favourite things about this holiday was sleeping in the sun on the lawn.

Aleksy woke me, and I slowly opened my eyes. Blinking in the sun, I meowed and cuddled into him.

‘Hi, Alfie,’ he said. ‘We seemed to have been shopping for hours. Tommy got so bored he was in trouble — when we got back Mum and Dad said he had to go to his room for a while! Anyway, I am going to set up our cricket set in the garden and our new friends are going to come and play with us after tea. It’s going to be ace!’ He tickled my fur and I stretched out to encourage him. ‘Oh, Alfie, you are such a softy,’ he said, laughing.

I followed him around as he set up the game of cricket. When he finished I saw George sneaking out from the hedge. That boy had stamina, I had to give him that.

‘Did you see her?’ I asked.

‘No, Dad, no sign, but then I heard the girls in the garden. They don’t like us.’

‘What do you mean?’ I pricked my ears up. What now?

‘Well, I heard them say that their mum didn’t want us here, and they definitely didn’t want the children here.’

‘That’s not nice,’ I said, carefully.

‘Anyway, they said we wouldn’t be here for long anyway. What does that mean?’

‘I’ve no idea, George, but I tell you what, I will find out, so don’t worry. But if you hear anything else, then tell me.’

‘I will. But obviously Chanel won’t agree with them, she likes me, I know she does.’

‘Um, maybe,’ I said. Here we go, I thought. There was something not very nice about all the people living next door and I wasn’t pleased about it. We were all so happy here, I couldn’t have anything or anyone spoiling it.

Just as we were all finishing our tea there was a knock on the door. Matt went to get it. He came back alone.

‘Aleksy and Tommy, there are four children saying they are here to play cricket with you?’

‘Oh yes, can we play now, in the garden?’ Aleksy said hopefully.

‘Of course, if you’ve finished eating,’ Franceska said.

‘Can I go?’ Toby asked.

‘And me?’ Henry said.

‘Of course, but, Aleksy, you are in charge of the younger ones and keep the front door open. We’ll pop out as soon as we’ve cleaned up,’ Claire said.

I noticed Summer and Martha didn’t want to go with them.

‘Not wanting to play cricket?’ Jonathan asked his daughter.

‘No, it’s a silly game,’ she said, folding her arms.

‘We had a bit of a disaster when they played on the beach,’ Claire whispered in Jonathan’s ear. ‘Summer couldn’t hit the ball and she had a bit of a tantrum.’

‘Right, girls, who would like to watch a Disney film as a treat?’ Polly trilled, and they jumped up. It seemed much easier to keep everyone happy by the sea.

‘Do I watch a film with the girls or play cricket with the boys?’ George asked.

‘Cricket might be fun, come on, let’s go outside.’

I ran out with George on my heels. The game was in full swing. There were two boys, roughly the same ages as Aleksy and Tommy, who were called Simon and Ben, and there were two girls, Millie and Jess. They seemed like nice children. Toby and Henry had to stand around to do what they called‘fielding’, which meant they were expected to fetch the ball wherever it landed. I think they got the short straw but didn’t seem to notice, and were happy to do so. George said he would help them and he ran after the ball alongside the other boys. It was cute to watch. At one point, Claire and Franceska brought out drinks and then left them — as Jonathan said, it made the kids feel grown up to be allowed to play without adult supervision for once and Claire said they played out like this and on the beach when she was a child without any of her parents or her aunt worrying. So I movedbetween all my humans, keeping my eye on all of them, which was my favourite thing to do.

I had just reached outside when the gate opened and the two girls from next door appeared.

‘Hey,’ Aleksy said, waving the cricket bat, ‘do you want to join in?’

The local children suddenly went very quiet and looked at their feet.

‘No, we don’t. And I’m surprised at you.’ Savannah, the oldest girl, glared at Simon, Ben, Millie and Jess. ‘What do you think you are doing?’

‘Uh, we’re playing cricket,’ Tommy said. Toby, Henry and George were staring at the girls.

‘I wasn’t talking to you,’ Savannah said, nastily. ‘You guys,’ she pointed at the local children, ‘are not allowed to play with them. They don’t belong here.’

‘No they don’t,’ Serafina, the younger girl, colluded.

‘What on earth?’ Aleksy looked appalled. ‘We live here, well we do in the holidays, so what is your problem?’

Aleksy used to be quite shy but with my help and the fact he was such a popular boy at his school, he had gained confidence and come out of his shell.

‘Um, the thing is that we all go to the same school.’ Simon looked awkward.

‘And, well, we are all friends,’ Ben added, looking unhappy.

‘So, we can all play then,’ Tommy said a bit aggressively. He was almost as big as Aleksy, despite being a couple of years younger, and he wasn’t scared of anyone.

‘No, you can’t.’ Savannah poked him in the chest.

‘Oy,’ Tommy said. But he backed off. He was a gentleman and wouldn’t hit a girl.

‘Our friends won’t be playing with you again. Come on, right now!’ Savannah shouted and the children all mumbled apologies before following her out of the garden.

‘We should go home now, anyway,’ Jess said, looking embarrassed.

‘Shut up, Jess,’ Savannah shouted.

‘Wow, that wasn’t nice,’ Henry said. Toby looked devastated.

‘Hey, Henry, Toby, don’t worry, we can still play. And now they’ve gone, you can take a turn with the bat.’ Aleksy put his arm around the younger boy.

‘Finally!’ Toby said.

‘Well now we know where Chanel gets it from,’ I said to George when we were out of earshot.

‘What, you mean her beauty? Yes, I see it,’ he replied and I raised my whiskers in despair.

Aleksy told Franceska what happened with the children and she was visibly upset. When the children were in bed, or settled in front of the TV, she told the others.

‘Like mother, like daughters,’ Polly said.

‘Oh God, I’m not having them start on the children though,’ Claire said.

‘Don’t worry, you know what kids are like,’ Jonathan started. ‘I know, we’ll go and see this Andrea woman and have a word.’ He looked pleased with himself.

‘What, me and you?’ Claire didn’t look so pleased.

‘No, us men will go. We’ll use our charm to tell her that not only can she not buy the cottage but also that the children should all play happily together.’

‘Really? All of us?’ Tomasz looked unsure.

‘Won’t we seem intimidating?’ Matt asked.

As Polly, Claire and Franceska laughed, I felt a bit sorry for the men. They were about as intimidating as George.

‘What?’ Matt said again.

‘You guys are about as intimidating as a teabag,’ Polly finished, wiping tears from her eyes. Everyone was laughing apart from the poor men.

They all headed out before they changed their minds and I couldn’t resist, I had to go with them and see this for myself. Thankfully George had already gone upstairs with Toby so I didn’t have to worry about him mooning over Chanel as I headed out. The men went through the gate to Andrea’s house while I darted under the hedge, waiting by the front door, hidden just out of sight, until I saw them appear. They rang the brass doorbell and waited, as did I. I decided to stay out of sight in case Chanel was there. I didn’t feel like antagonising her or having her be rude to me this evening.

Andrea opened the door wearing a low-cut dress, which had a slit up her leg, high heels, full make-up and her long blonde hair shone very brightly. It was almost blinding. I wondered what her secret was; I’d like my fur to gleam like that.

‘Hello,’ she said, smiling widely. She actually appeared to be friendly.

‘So sorry to interrupt you,’ Jonathan said. Tomasz didn’t seem to know where to look, and Matt was also a bit frozen. Jonathan glared at them. ‘I’m Jonathan, this is Matt and Tomasz from Seabreeze Cottage.’

‘Oh how lovely to meet you. Of course I’ve already met your lovely wives, and now you. How are you finding it?’ She was so warm and friendly I felt wrong-pawed.

‘Well, it’s very nice so far,’ Matt said. ‘And the kids are having such a fun time, just being away from London is so healthy for them.’ He was gushing a bit, I thought.

‘Oh it is and Lynstow is one of the best places in the world, I am always saying to my husband. Of course that’s why we moved here.’

‘Is he here?’ Tomasz finally found his voice. I think he was more comfortable dealing with men.

‘No, I’m afraid he’s away on business at the moment. Just little me and the girls, oh and of course Chanel.’ Chanel appeared from behind her legs.

‘Right, well.’ Jonathan was looking awkward again. ‘It’s just that we wanted to introduce ourselves and also, it’s probably nothing, but there was … an incident with the children earlier.’

‘An incident?’ The smile hadn’t moved from Andrea’s face.

‘Yes, some local children were playing in our garden and your girls told them to leave and that they weren’t allowed to play with our kids,’ Matt explained.

‘Someone must have put them up to it. My girls are so sweet, they would never say anything like that. Don’t worry, I will have a word and find out who put them up to it, and of course all the children can play together. I am hoping,’ she looked directly at Jonathan, then reached out to lightly touch his arm,’ that we shall all be the best of friends. I am so happy to have you as neighbours.’

‘Right, well that’s great, and we’ll see you soon?’ Jonathan was flustered, Tomasz uncertain and Matt confused.

‘I look forward to it.’ Andrea smiled again, before she closed the door.

I darted back to Seabreeze Cottage to await the men’s return. This was going to be interesting.

‘Well?’ Claire demanded as Jonathan, Tomasz and Matt trooped in. Franceska was cooking and Polly and Claire were setting the table.

‘She’s nice,’ Jonathan said.

‘Very nice,’ Matt added.

‘Her shoes were nice,’ Tomasz said, turning as red as a tomato.

‘What do you mean? She’s horrible,’ Polly snapped.

‘No, not to us, she said she was so happy to have us as neighbours and that someone must have put her girls up to being nasty, they would never say anything like that apparently,’ Jonathan explained. ‘And anyway, she’ll sort it out.’

‘That’s not the case: Aleksy, Tommy, Henry and Toby all corroborated the same story.’

‘She didn’t say they didn’t say it, she said someone must be behind it because they are sweet girls. Anyway, she’s going to have a word so it’ll all be sorted. And she didn’t mention buying the house, just how nice it was to have us living here, so perhaps you got the wrong end of the stick,’ Matt added.

Claire, Franceska and Polly exchanged a glance.

‘God, why are all men so gullible,’ Polly said.

‘What do you mean?’ Matt asked.

‘She’s clearly flirting with you and now you think your own wives are liars,’ Claire stormed. I actually agreed with her.

‘No, of course not, but we’re just thinking that you might have got off on the wrong foot, but now it’s all going to be fine,’ Tomasz said.

‘Dazzled by her beauty no doubt,’ Franceska added.

‘I didn’t notice she was—’

‘I can’t even remember what she looked like—’

‘No, not at all—’ all the men started objecting at once but Claire silenced them. The damage was done. They had been blinded by Andrea the way George had by Chanel, it was clear for us all to see.

With all the excitement I’d nearly forgotten about Gilbert, but as everyone retired for the evening, and there was no sign of him, I ignored my rumbling tummy and the leftover food that had been so enticingly tipped into my bowl and left it for him. I was too tired to stay up and see if he came back, but I hoped he would, and that he’d eat what I left for him, because I hated to think of any cat being hungry. I had been that cat once and it wasn’t nice. I would have left a note for him, but being a cat I couldn’t, so leaving him some lovely food would hopefully convey my message: that he was welcome here andI would like to get to know him. The way to a cat’s heart is through its stomach after all. You can never have too many friends; the horrible experience with Chanel, Andrea and her daughters proved the truth of that.

Chapter Eight

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The absence of the men was felt keenly on Monday morning. I was secretly excited though, because Gilbert had emptied my bowl, and therefore it was obvious he understood my message. I still hadn’t seen him but I thought if I got enough rest today, if George let me, then I would stay up late tonight to have a chat with him. I felt as if it would be great to have a new friend here, and also an ally wouldn’t go amiss either.

We had had an uneventful Sunday with no other children sighted, no Andrea, or Chanel, despite George’s desperation. The poor kitten was devastated and had insisted on camping out in the hedge watching her house for hours, but to no avail. I had to persuade him back in with the promise of ice cream, and then I had no idea how to get any. Thankfully Summer had a cone which she thought was hilarious to feed him. Jonathan wasn’t impressed though, but it was cute and Claire videoed the whole thing. Little George, all eager with his head in an ice-cream cone, pink ice cream all over his fur when he emerged. It took an age to get him properly clean but at least it took his mind off Chanel for a few minutes.

Anyway, when in the afternoon Franceska had driven the men back to the train station we had all been sad to see them go. It was lovely here but it was definitely better when they were all with us. Everyone seemed to agree. We all missed them.

‘I thought we might go across the estuary on the ferry today, cheer us up,’ Claire suggested.

‘Fab idea. I can leave the builders, they are doing a great job with the attic,’ Polly agreed. ‘And they don’t need me at all.’

‘It’ll be nice to see another new place,’ Franceska thirded. ‘Right, children, get dressed and we can go out.’

George and I went to the boys’ room as they got ready.

‘I want to go on a ferry,’ George hissed to me. Honestly this kitten was always in need of entertainment.

‘We can’t and, anyway, the estuary is water, we don’t do water,’ I said. That was the end of that.

That wasn’t the end of that. George was being all cute with Tommy and I knew exactly what his game was. He was rubbing his legs, purring, lying on his back asking to be tickled; he was trying to give Tommy a message.

‘Hey, Aleksy, what if we take the cats with us? We can smuggle them in our backpacks, like we used to with Alfie when we were little.’ Actually, Aleksy did that only once, but obviously they had never forgotten.

‘But, Tommy, we could get into so much trouble if we’re caught.’ Thankfully Aleksy was sensible. ‘But it would be kind of fun to have Alfie and George with us.’ I could see Aleksy, who was a clever boy, weighing it up. I really liked adventures but when they involved water, no thank you. ‘It would be funny though, like the cats were stowaways. If we get caught we have to say we didn’t know the cats were there.’ Not that clever then. Who would believe that I would voluntarily go anywhere near water? No one, that’s who.

‘Yes!’ Tomasz high-fived Aleksy. Operation cats on a ferry was a go, whether I liked it or not.

George was so excited as we stayed in the boys’ room like we’d been ordered to. The plan was that just as they were ready to go they would say they needed their backpacks, come upstairs and get us. No one would ever find out. I raised my whiskers. I loved a good plan, don’t get me wrong, it was what I did, but I didn’t have a great feeling about this one.

I tried to quash my misgivings as I peered out of the gap in Aleksy’s backpack. This wasn’t a bad way to travel, I thought, as the sun shone and we got to see more of the village. We walked past the beach — busy with families — then along to a big wall. There were steps leading down to the water and a boat, which didn’t look very big, or safe for that matter, was waiting. I tried to be brave but my fur was quivering. I couldn’t see George, who was tucked up in Tommy’s backpack, but I hoped he was alright. It felt a bit jerky as they went down the steps.

‘God, it’s a bit steep,’ Claire said.

‘Just be careful, children,’ Franceska said.

Yes, I thought, please be careful. As the backpack was put on the floor with a gentle thud, I looked around through the small gap. All I could see were legs. There were all of us, plus some other people on the boat. Luckily I couldn’t see any water, so I could pretend it wasn’t there. I just hoped we didn’t sink. When I first met Claire she was sad and watched this film calledTitanic a lot, so I knew just how precarious boats could be.

I couldn’t see George still but I knew he would be excited by this. He didn’t share my fears, and actually in some ways that was a good thing. I didn’t want him to be scared of everything, but I did want him to sense danger. It was another parenting lesson I was trying hard to get right. The boat ride itself was quite smooth, there were a couple of rocky patches but nothing too bad, I thought as I almost held my breath.

‘I love this,’ I heard Toby say, and Claire kissed him. ‘I’ve never been on a boat before.’

‘Have I?’ Summer asked.

‘No, darling, this is your first ever boat trip, both of you.’ Sometimes I forgot that there was a time when Toby wasn’t with us, and I felt emotional. He was such an important part of our family now.

The boat stopped with a jerk and I fell back, but luckily Aleksy had put a jumper in the bag so it was soft for me. Then I felt him pick me up and we were off. As we disembarked I saw us walking up a steep slope where lots of people were playing.

‘Let’s just find a space on the quay to decamp,’ Polly said. Again I was put down on the ground. The quay led down to the water and I could see lots of people were scattered along it, with fishing lines. I perked up. Things were improving. I might not like water but I certainly liked fish.

‘What are you doing?’ I heard Tommy ask someone.

‘Crabbing. We’re trying to catch crabs,’ a voice replied. Oh, not fish then; I felt disappointed.

‘Can we do that?’ Aleksy asked.

‘Please,’ Henry said.

‘Gosh, I vaguely remember doing that when I was a kid. Blimey. Right, I’ll go to the shop and get lines and buckets. Summer, you can share Toby’s.’

‘Oh, and Martha and Henry can share. But I don’t want any of you getting too close to the edge.’ Polly echoed my fears.

‘Psst,’ a voice said, and I looked to see George’s face. Tomasz had put the backpacks next to each other.

‘Are you having fun?’ I asked.

‘The most fun, but can I go crabbing?’

‘Best not. Let’s stay here and watch for a bit, we don’t want to get into trouble,’ I hissed.

‘OK, Dad.’ George sounded happy, which made me happy. I settled down to enjoy the sliver of sunlight coming into the bag and I felt sleepy all of a sudden.

‘Alfie,’ I heard Aleksy whisper. I opened my eyes. How long had I been sleeping for?

‘Meow,’ I said, sleepily.

‘George is out of the backpack. The adults have taken the little ones to the toilet, and left us and now George is insisting on crabbing with us.’ He sounded panicked. I climbed out of the bag, stretched — my legs were a little stiff — and looked for my kitten.

‘George,’ I said, quietly.

‘Yes, Dad.’

‘We were only allowed to come if we stayed out of sight,’ I explained, trying not to sound impatient.

‘Yes, but where’s the fun in that?’ he said. He had a point. I thought back to when I was younger, before George, and I used to go on many adventures. Yes I got into trouble at times, but at least I had some great experiences. I realised I was getting a bit boring in my old age. I tickled my boy with my tail.

‘OK, but listen, stay close to me and watch out for dogs.’

Aleksy looked worried but Tommy thought it was funny as we joined them on the quay to see what this crabbing business was. They had these long orange lines which they were dangling into the water. Beside them were two buckets which contained some funny-looking creatures— crabs — in. Aleksy was putting food on the line, it didn’t smell too bad actually, but I tried not to eat it. I was beginning to enjoy myself, when Ben, one of the children from the other day, approached.

‘Alright,’ he said.

‘Hi, Ben,’ Aleksy said, sounding friendly.

‘Hello.’ Tommy was more suspicious.

‘Sorry about the other day, those girls, Savannah especially, have started to be a bit bossy. They’ve always been nice girls, but lately they can be a bit mean. I am sorry though, we were having fun.’

‘They seemed really horrible,’ Tommy said.

‘But they aren’t always like that. I think that maybe they were upset that we were playing with you and they weren’t. And like I said, recently they have been a bit meaner than normal, and everyone tries to keep the peace with them.’ He looked at his sandalled feet.

‘You’re scared of them?’ Tommy asked.

Ben nodded, his face reddening.

‘I know what bullies are like,’ Aleksy said. He did, I had to go to school with him once to sort out a little boy who was bullying Aleksy. ‘But you know, you need to stand up to them.’

‘I know, but we’ve been friends for years, and normally they are really nice, so we don’t really understand.’ Ben looked downcast. ‘We do want to play with you though. But what if we still meet up on the beach? And now, how about I join you crabbing? My mum is having coffee with one of her friends so I’m a bit bored to be honest.’

‘Here,’ Aleksy said, handing him his line. ‘You have a go.’

I was so proud of my boys. They didn’t hold a grudge.

‘Oh, your cats are here!’ Ben giggled.

‘Yes, we stowed them away on the ferry.’ Tommy beamed with pride.

Ben stroked both me and George.‘That is so cool!’ he said. George, loving the attention, started showing off. He put his head into one of the buckets.

‘Yelp!’ George sprang up, an angry crab attached to his nose.

‘Oh boy,’ Aleksy said. ‘What do we do?’ He looked panicked, as did I. What on earth was this crab doing attaching itself to my kitten?

‘Don’t wriggle,’ Ben said, picking George up and gently removing the crab. He carefully placed it back in the bucket as George rubbed his nose, which looked a bit swollen, with his paw. I backed away from the buckets and nuzzled George.

‘Will he be alright?’ George was making a very loud noise, I knew it meant that it hurt but there was nothing I could do. Ben cradled him and tried to stroke him. I think we were all glad that he was there. I saw the boys looking worried but then Aleksy laughed.

‘Sorry, George, but you did look funny with a crab on your nose,’ he giggled. The others joined in and I have to say I did see the funny side. If only someone had taken a photo — that would have gone down a storm on Facebook!

‘Yowl!’ However, George did not.

We were so caught up in the excitement we didn’t notice the others returning.

‘What on earth is going on?’ Franceska said. Aleksy, Tomasz, Ben, myself and George all looked at them. At least that silenced George.

‘Alfie, George, what are you doing here?’ Claire snapped. The children giggled.

‘Um, we may have accidentally stowed them away,’ Tommy said.

‘No, they stowed away on their own,’ Aleksy corrected, but he was such a good boy he couldn’t tell a lie without laughing.

‘You boys!’ Franceska chastised. ‘Right, well there’s nothing we can do now, and we are heading back soon anyway. Ice cream?’ She smiled and picked me up.

‘MEOW!’ George said loudly and everyone laughed.

I was glad when we got back to Seabreeze Cottage with no further incidents. Apart from the crab incident— poor George’s nose was still a bit swollen — we’d had a very nice day out. Ben had been helpful and I was pleased that they were friends again, although I knew that those girls wouldn’t exactly welcome them being so. But as they said, if they played together on the beach — a public place — hopefully there was nothing they could say about that. Although I thought they probably could. I wondered what had happened to them to make them mean — Ben said that they were nice until recently. It was another conundrum for me to add to all the others. I fleetingly wondered if Chanel hadbeen nice once, but I couldn’t see that.

As they all sat down to eat tea, and George and I went to the garden, I felt quite relaxed. Of course, George went straight to the gap in the hedge and crawled through. He struck gold, because Chanel was there, sniffing some of Andrea’s very nice flowers.

‘Hello!’ George said, excitedly. I stayed close to him, just in case. He didn’t need any other injuries today.?‘Oh it’s you,’ she said, narrowing her eyes and swishing her tail.

‘How are you?’ he asked, bouncing around. Honestly, he hadn’t quite mastered the art of flirting yet.

‘I will be much better when you have gone,’ she hissed.

‘Hey, there’s no need for that,’ I said.

‘Look, you might be staying next door but this is my house, my garden, and you need to keep out of it.’

‘Oh well, you can come to my garden any time,’ George said, looking hopeful.

‘My owner is going to get rid of all of you, mark my words,’ Chanel replied. ‘So, it won’t be your garden for much longer.’

Again, I felt a shiver in my fur as Chanel stalked off and I herded George back to our side of the hedge.

‘Oh, Dad, she’s so lovely,’ George sighed. ‘And I really think she likes me.’

‘Did you hear what she said?’ I asked.

‘Not really. I was too busy looking at her beautiful eyes,’ he replied.

There was no hope, none at all.

But it annoyed me that a run-in with Chanel— even if George hadn’t noticed it — had ruined what was otherwise a nice day out. Well that and a crab. I had been relieved, by the way, when the boys put the crabs back in the sea. I think they should have been allowed to stay there to be honest — I wasn’t sure how kind crabbing actually was. Even if the crabs weren’t hurt they were sort of kidnapped, which seemed a little unfair. Anyway, as we went back inside we met Polly on the doorstep with a shopping bag from the little local store.

‘Do you think we’ll get more ice cream?’ George asked hopefully.

‘No, I think there’s been enough today.’ I patted his head with my paw.

Polly opened the door and we followed her into the kitchen.

‘Hey,’ Claire said, as Polly put the bags down on the counter.

‘That woman …’ Polly fumed.

‘Oh, now what happened?’ Franceska said.

‘Andrea and two of her friends were in the caf? in the shop and she was pretty nasty.’

‘So what she said to the men?’

‘Total rubbish. I said to her, “You didn’t mention to our husbands that you wanted us out of Seabreeze Cottage,” and she replied, sneering through those bright pink lips of hers, “Oh dear, it must have slipped my mind. But mark my words, you’ll regret not selling it to me soon enough.”’

‘You’re kidding?’ Claire said. ‘What did her friends say?’

‘They looked embarrassed but didn’t speak. Well, one of them tried to introduce herself but Andrea told her to shut up. A bit like the kids, actually, it’s like they’re scared of her, but I tell you what, that woman is not nice, and we need to watch out.’

‘Oh no, I don’t like this hostility,’ Franceska said, brow furrowing.

‘Don’t worry, Frankie, we will not be bullied by her.’ Polly looked tough.

‘There’s nothing she can do anyway,’ Claire pointed out. ‘Yes, she might intimidate us but we’re big girls, we can handle it.’

I sincerely hoped they could.

Chapter Nine [Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_012.jpg]

I felt slightly despondent as the day drew to a close. The women had managed to push Andrea to the backs of their minds, the children were happy and George, well, he was totally bewitched by Chanel, but I was the realistic one of the family. I could sense when there was trouble ahead and I felt it keenly. That night, I decided to lie in wait for Gilbert. He had been in every night since I’d started leaving him food, although gone by morning, and now it was time for me to speak with him again. I could do with a local ally, and he was my only option.

I waited patiently, playing with a pile of sand that hadn’t yet been swept up. I was trying to grow fonder of sand, seeing as we would be here a lot, but I still wasn’t sure about it. It was not only grainy but it stuck to everything. I felt as if I couldn’t get it off me, no matter how much I cleaned myself.

Just as I was replaying all the events of the holiday so far, I heard the cat flap open and soon Gilbert appeared. He stopped as he saw me. He was an unusual-looking cat; I quite envied his spotty coat.

‘Hello,’ I said, brushing yet more sand from my paw.

‘I should thank you, I suppose,’ Gilbert replied, gruffly. ‘The food. Most welcome.’

‘I was hoping to see you though. You know my family wouldn’t mind if they saw you — they love cats and my kitten George would love to meet you.’

‘All the same … I’m not much of a family cat.’

‘But why? I mean, most cats have families. My friend Dustbin, he’s a working cat, and he likes being feral but he’s the exception and he’s sort of part of one of my families anyway,’ I gushed.

‘Right.’ Gilbert was a cat of few words.

‘So why don’t you have a family?’ I pushed.

‘Well, I did have a family but they weren’t nice. I don’t talk about it. Listen, like I said, thank you for the food, I am grateful, normally I have to get my own scraps, so I have enjoyed it, but I don’t really want to be around people.’

‘Funny you should say that, do you know the next-door neighbours: the cat Chanel and the woman, Andrea?’

‘I’ve seen them about, but as I already said,’ he glared at me with his yellow eyes, ‘I keep to myself.’

‘Well they’re not nice.’ I’m not easily discouraged. ‘And they have threatened us, saying they want this cottage and they want us out. And if that happens, I am guessing they won’t just leave it empty for you to live in either.’

‘Then I’ll find somewhere else.’ He really wasn’t an easy cat to crack.

‘Well you could, but you know this is a nice house and we like it here. We’re not giving it up, and I was thinking if you hear anything, anything at all, you might let me know.’

‘OK.’ He looked at the food bowl, which was quite full. ‘I’ll keep my ears open, but I can’t promise anything. Now if you don’t mind, I am hungry.’

‘Of course, and I’ll leave you alone, I get it. But, just to let you know in the day we go out a lot, the builders are here but they’re all upstairs, and anyway you seem quite good at keeping hidden. Just if you wanted to come by then … well, you might almost have the house to yourself and I can always make sure there is food for you.’

‘Appreciated.’ He started to eat, and I turned to go. ‘Oh and Alfie.’

‘Yes.’ I turned around.

‘Thank you.’

I had a good night’s sleep after that, curled up on Claire’s bed. I wished that Gilbert would meet the family though, they would welcome him after all and I thought that when we weren’t here he could sort of act like a guard cat for us. I had a vision of us all becoming the best of friends and he might be ableto help me with Andrea as well. I know he wasn’t exactly tripping over himself to be my friend, but small steps. One paw at a time.

George woke me by licking my head. I felt warm in my heart and my fur as I stretched out.

‘I slept in,’ I said.

‘I’ve been up for hours, with Toby and Summer. The others didn’t wake quite as early as us but everyone’s up now and it’s breakfast time.’ George bounced up and down excitedly on the bed.

‘Good, I’m quite hungry as it happens.’ I realised, having given up quite a bit of my food to Gilbert, I was a little bit peckish. As I padded into the kitchen I took in the scene, children munching on toast and porridge, the adults sipping from mugs, and George lapping water out of our waterbowl. This was what the holiday was all about, I reminded myself, not the problems that I was fretting about. I tucked into my breakfast, feeling much better.

There was a knock at the door.

‘I’ll go,’ Polly said. ‘In case it’s Andrea,’ she added. I bounded after her.

A woman I’d never seen stood on the doorstep, wearing a big hat and large dark glasses.

‘Hello,’ Polly said, questioningly.

‘Hi, I’m Amber, Ben’s mum.’ She shuffled awkwardly and glanced furtively around. ‘Can I come in?’

Polly led her into the kitchen. The children had all dispersed and I could hear them in the living room with the TV on loudly. George was cleaning himself in the kitchen when we walked in with Amber.

‘Hello?’ Franceska said.

‘This is Amber,’ Polly said, as Amber pulled off her hat and glasses. She was very slim with dark hair, pretty but not all over-done like Andrea.

‘You were in the cafe yesterday?’ Polly narrowed her eyes. Amber nodded.

‘Hi,’ Claire said. ‘Sit down.’ She held her hand out and Amber shook it.

‘Look, I came to apologise.’ She sounded a bit nervous. ‘God, if Andrea knew I was here, she’d kill me. Anyway, I don’t like the way she’s treating you all, and the kids. Ben loved spending time with your boys yesterday and I told him that he is to play with them and not take any noticeof the Gold children.’

‘Gold children?’ Polly asked. She sat down opposite Amber.

‘Their surname, Gold.’

‘Oh, I didn’t know, but it’s appropriate, for the way that woman acts,’ Polly quipped.

‘What is it with her anyway?’ Claire asked.

‘I’m not sure. Andrea had always been at the centre of village life, or she has been since she moved here. When Savannah was a baby she organised baby and mum groups, she was so supportive, friendly, bringing people together, sorting out a social life for us bored mums, and then when the kids started school she threw herself into the PTA,’ Amber explained. ‘She’s always been at the heart of Lynstow, organising parties and celebrations, she has a bookclub, she’s always hosting at her house, and very generous with it. Her husband is successful, you see. But in the last six or so months she has changed, and she’s been different … She acts as if everything is great when we ask her, but her husband hasn’t been seen for ages — apparently he’s travelling for business. Anyway, recently she’s become obsessed with this house. I have no idea why or why she’s changed so much.’

‘Just because her husband’s rich, it doesn’t give her the right to act like she owns the place,’ Claire said.

‘Quite, but I really think there’s more to it than this.’ Amber shuddered.

‘But what?’ Franceska looked terrified.

‘I wish I knew. She says everything is perfect but clearly from her behaviour towards you guys it’s not.’

‘She’s been pretty horrid to us,’ Franceska said.

‘I know but, well, as I said, she’s been at the heart of this village for so long, we just, well, we just don’t want to fall out. If she needs us, which we think she does, we want to be there for her, but well, we also don’t approve of how she’s behaved towards you.’

‘Why does she want this cottage so much?’ Polly asked.

‘That I don’t know. I was asking Kate, the other woman you saw us with yesterday, and she’s just as flummoxed. Andrea’s behaviour has got worse lately, she is becoming a middle-aged mean girl.’

‘You’re kidding?’ Claire was amazed.

‘I wish.’

‘I still don’t understand why she wants this place so much though,’ Polly said.

‘I wish I knew. She told us she is going to get it, and she spouts all this stuff about how awful it is for out-of-towners to move into the village for the odd weekend and holiday, but I don’t buy it myself.’

‘Neither do we,’ Polly concurred.

‘Look, if she knew I was here she’d be furious, but I wanted you to know I am on your side and if there is anything I can do to help, well, short of standing up to Andrea, I will.’

‘You know, that’s nice of you, and we do appreciate it. Also we won’t tell Andrea.’ Claire reached out and touched Amber’s hand.

Later, after she’d gone, the builders arrived and the women all got ready to take the children out to the beach again. Polly picked me up and gave me a stroke.

‘That woman needs bringing down a peg or a million, Alfie,’ she said, looking me in the eyes. I blinked my agreement. And I was just the cat to do it.

I needed a plan but was at a loss to what to do. I had George to contend with too; he was pining for Chanel, insisting on sitting under the hedge, and I think Chanel was wise to him because she was avoiding it. He glimpsed her from afar but there was nothing he could do. I tried to reason with him but he was a kitten and therefore reason wasn’t one of the most effective tools. While he sulked, lying on the living room window seat, I went upstairs. The builders had made great progress, and the bathroom would be going in soon. Then the floors would be done and the kids could move while they then started on the next floor. It was all working out quite efficiently, as Polly had so cleverly devised. However, when I reached the top floor, I heard a commotion.

‘What the hell?’ Colin was saying, looking at a hole in the ceiling of one of the rooms.

‘It looks as if there’s a hole in the roof,’ Liam, the builder I’d seen with Andrea, said. ‘I’m guessing the whole roof is unstable,’ he added. Pete and Mark, the other two builders, looked confused.

‘No, it’s not, I did the roof myself a couple of months ago, and it was fine. The tiles were all secure and none were broken. There’s been no storm, nothing to cause this. This isn’t right,’ he said, staring at Liam.

‘Look, boss, it looks as if the hole’s been made from the inside,’ Pete pointed out, as he stood on top of the ladder, where there was a hole in the ceiling, fairly small but clear. Pete scooted down the ladder and Colin climbed up.

‘Pete’s right. OK, Liam, Mark, did one of you do this?’ he asked staring at them. ‘It’s gone right through, which means a couple of tiles need replacing, as well as the ceiling repairing. It’s a lot of unnecessary work and Polly is going to go mad.’ He was red-faced as the boys shook their heads. But seeing the look on Liam’s face, I immediately knew it was him. He had somehow done this! I meowed loudly and scratched him on the leg.

‘Ow, blooming cat,’ he yelled. They all looked at me. I sat down and started cleaning my paws innocently.

‘Liam, was this you?’ Colin pushed. Liam turned red and started denying it but he wasn’t a great liar. Honestly, it was written all over his face.

‘It was an accident,’ he mumbled. ‘I well, I–I’m sorry,’ he blustered.

‘How do you accidentally put a hole in the roof?’ Colin asked. Liam shrugged. I thought that if my suspicions were right — and they seemed so — and Andrea had put him up to this, she could have picked someone a bit more efficient at sabotage. ‘Right, well this is going to set us back so, Liam, you’ll be working overtime for no extra money. Pete, keep a close rein on him while I go and sort the tiles out. If you don’t buck up your ideas, then you’ll be out of a job, Liam.’

‘Sorry,’ Liam mumbled and I felt pleased with myself. I had sorted that one out. Although I had a bad feeling it was the first of many.

I told George what happened but he was so lovesick he barely registered what I was saying. Or so I thought.

‘If I keep a close eye on Chanel, I might be able to find out what her owner is up to,’ he pointed out. I was impressed. I hadn’t thought of that, but he was right. Kill two birds with one paw so to speak. We would have to stalk Chanel, and that would keep my boy happy as well as hopefully give us more of an idea what was actually going on. And at the same time I could keep an eye on Andrea.

We stopped in the front garden to look at our families all playing on the beach. They seemed to be playing a running game up and down the sand dunes and I was pleased to see the local children were playing with them again. As we headed under the hedge next door I saw that the car normally parked there was gone, and there was no sign of life. So we started to look around. The house, as far as we could see, was empty but it was a big house so I couldn’t be sure.

‘Come on,’ I said to George. We headed to the back, where again, all was quiet. They had a bigger back garden than us, which was lawned like the front. There was a playhouse and I thought it was a shame they weren’t nicer children as Summer and Martha would have loved to play in that. Anyway,we found the cat flap in the back door and George and I looked at each other before sneaking in. I know it wasn’t exactly right, but hey, we were on a mission.

We found ourselves in a bigger utility space than our sand room— it was all very smart too — and from there we entered the biggest kitchen I’d ever seen. However, there our plans were halted. The door from the kitchen was closed and there was nowhere else to go. I could smell Chanel’s scent but there was no sign of her — she was probably out with Andrea. But George was in heaven as he ran around, sniffing the air and prancing on about how the house was as beautiful as she was. I raised my whiskers in despair.

‘Look, we better go,’ I said. ‘They could come back at any time and if they find us here …’ It was useful to have had a look at the house but, well, I’d seen enough for now.

‘Oh I’m sure Chanel will be so happy to see me,’ George trilled.

‘That may be but come on, Andrea won’t, so let’s go. We can try to see her later,’ I placated. I was a little worried that my new plan to keep an eye on Chanel was going to have a detrimental effect on George but then he was so smitten, I wasn’t sure it could get any worse. Anyway, I reflected as we left their very posh house, George wasn’t the most successful stalker — so far anyway.

My families fed us and then said they were going to take an early evening walk, before going to the pub to feed the kids. The women were nicely tired after being outside so much, as were the children. Also, having the builders in the house meant they often couldn’t face the extra mess of cooking, but of course they could get food in any of the three pubs, the fish and chip shop or the caf?, so were spoilt for choice.

I could see how healthy this holiday lifestyle was for them all. Well almost. So as George tucked in, the children excitedly put their sand-filled shoes on and the women all looked on indulgently, I vowed I would do whatever it took to make sure all was going to be alright with Seabreeze Cottage. I felt saddened for a moment about my friends in Edgar Road, and I was definitely missing my side-kick Tiger, my partner, my best friend. She would always see me through the bad times and the plans I had to undertake for the sake of my humans. But this time I was alone. Well, I had George— I looked at him licking his whiskers, not sure how much use he was at the moment — and Gilbert who, although he had thawed slightly, had made it clear he wasn’t interested in becoming part of our family. This time, I thought, if I had to act, it looked as if I might have to act alone.

Chapter Ten

[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_013.jpg]

OK, so it wasn’t much of a plan but I decided to follow Liam. I watched him as much as I could and to say he was acting shifty was an understatement. He was working, but if none of the other builders were looking he was behaving in a suspicious fashion; I was worried he was searching for the next thing to sabotage. Of course I was keeping out of his way — after scratching him the other day he wasn’t my biggest fan.

Today, George was pining by his hedge, with a promise not to leave the garden, so I was happy when Liam was charged with fixing the tiles on the roof. They had scaffolding fitted to the back of the house, because windows— they called them skylights — had been fitted into the roof already that week. I was managing to keep an eye on both of them; George and Liam. When the tiles were fixed — it turned out he’d only dislodged two — he came back down to the ground.

‘Right, mate, now Colin wants us to finish plastering the opening in the utility room.’ Mark had also been keeping an eye on Liam, in case he fell or ruined something else, I presumed.

‘Alright,’ Liam mumbled. They were standing at the back of the house. ‘Is this the pipe for the outdoor shower?’ he asked, pointing at a copper pipe which ran up the side of the house.

‘Yeah, the shower’s being fitted later. The plumber’s due back this arfto.’ They both looked at the pipes. ‘Then we have to put down a wooden tray, it’s going to be pretty cool,’ Mark explained.

‘Right, the plastering, I’ll just clear up out here and see you in there,’ Liam said. I watched from my safe place as he looked around him. Then he took a tool and started hitting the pipe until he had broken it. I could barely believe it. I was right. This was sabotage, blatant sabotage. I wanted to run out and confront him but then he might hurt me, after all I’m a cat not a burly builder. But I needed to figure out how to either put a stop to him or get the others to catch him. But how? I needed to think this one through before Liam destroyed the house.

He whistled as he went inside and I walked to the hedge.

‘I saw her!’ George said excitedly.

‘Where?’ I asked.

‘Andrea put her in a little bag and took her and the two children out,’ he said. ‘But I spotted her as she walked past and I am pretty sure she smiled at me.’

Scowled, more likely, I thought, but I let it go.

‘Do you fancy going to sunbathe on the car bonnets again?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I love that.’ My kitten bounded over to the car, where we climbed on the bonnet of Claire’s — it had the best sun — and we lay down and let our fur luxuriate in the sun’s rays. I tried to relax but in fact I was thinking about Liam and why he was trying to destroy our house. And Iknew it had something to do with Andrea.

‘George,’ I said, thinking aloud. ‘If when you’re, um, waiting for Chanel, you see any of our builders with Andrea, you will tell me, won’t you?’

‘Why?’ George asked.

‘I’m not sure but I think they are causing trouble at the house.’

‘But why would they do that?’

‘Well Andrea’s made no secret of the fact that she wants the house for herself.’

‘But if she does that then we can’t come here any more?’

‘No, and you know what that means, don’t you?’ I was thinking of the kids, of Claire, Polly and Franceska, of the men who seemed so much more relaxed outside of London.

‘Yes,’ George replied sounding distraught. ‘It means I’ll never see Chanel again.’ OK, well that would have to do.

I did feel bad using my kitten’s unrequited love for, quite frankly, a horrible cat to help with my plan, but I was on limited resources. And I knew that George wouldn’t just snap out of his crush on Chanel; no matter what I did, it had to run its course. I would be there to mop up his sadness when it did so, anyway. With arough idea of what to do next, I decided to have a cat nap.

‘Alfie, George, you’ll have to move.’ Claire’s voice interrupted my dreams.

‘Meow?’ I stretched my paws out.

‘I’m going to get Jon and Matt. Tomasz can’t come this weekend, he’s got staff problems at one of the restaurants apparently, but anyway, you’ll be pleased to see Jon and Matt.’

I would, although I would miss seeing Tomasz, and I hoped Franceska wasn’t too disappointed. She and her husband had had a bit of a rough patch not long ago, because he’d been working too much. It got so bad that she took the boys back to Poland for the whole of the last summer holidays and we were all terribly worried that they wouldn’t come back. However, finally Tomasz came to his senses — I helped of course — and went over there to bring his family back and I thought they had sorted that out. Tomasz had been more attentive to his family and the restaurants were more and more successful but Tomasz was getting much better at delegating. I just hoped that this was still the case.

After all, I didn’t need any other problems to add to my growing list. I jumped down from the car and watched as George did the same. I saw the children were in the garden, so I ran to them, George on my heels.

‘Alfie, George,’ Aleksy said. ‘We are going to set up a sports day. It’s for the younger ones really,’ he said as an aside. I knew that Aleksy still loved playing games but at times had to act like he was grown up. It happened to us all, I thought, looking at George. At times when he played with leaves or chased butterflies I had to act as if I was too grown up for such frivolities but in reality you never are!

The children set up their sports day games. There was to be running, an egg and spoon race, and an obstacle course which was set up with anything they could find. It didn’t look very safe but apparently the adults had approved it so who was I to argue.

Three of the children from the village, Ben, Jess and Millie, turned up.

‘Ah, I found a whistle,’ Tommy said, blowing it. ‘Let the games begin.’

We had such fun. I sat back a little as George joined in with Summer and Martha’s races. Then Toby and Henry had a go, they laughed so much as they kept dropping their eggs, but although George ran hopefully to lick them up, they were hard boiled and it hurt when one dropped on his head. The bigger children took part in running races, and they finished with what they calleda relay, where a stick was passed between the runners. But they were having so much fun they weren’t being competitive about it at all! I was in my element to see how happily the children were playing together, and I wished that the adults could all get along the same.

But as Savannah and Serafina marched into our garden, I realised I’d spoken too soon.

‘What do you think you are doing?’ Savannah demanded.

‘Who invited you into our garden?’ Aleksy responded. He crossed his arms, as did his brother.

‘It won’t be your garden for long,’ Serafina said.

‘What do you mean?’ Toby looked terrified.

‘This house will be ours soon, Mummy said so. So don’t get too comfortable,’ Savannah said, spitefully. ‘And as for you, Millie, Jess and Ben, why are you playing with them? I said you couldn’t.’

‘We like playing with them,’ Ben mumbled, looking at the grass as he said it.

‘Yeah, it’s not like you can tell them what to do,’ Tommy added.

‘Fine, play your stupid games, see if we care. But mark my words, you won’t be around for much longer and we won’t be sorry to see you go.’ They turned and left.

‘Wow,’ Jess said.

‘I don’t like that they are so horrible.’ Toby looked as if he was going to cry and my heart went to him. The poor kid was so sensitive and hated any kind of arguing, probably because of his past. Aleksy put his arm round him.

‘Toby, you’re not to worry about them, you’ve got us now,’ he said, and Toby smiled.

‘And we are going to play with you, no matter what they say,’ Millie added. ‘My mum said it was about time we stood up to those two anyway. They’ve been so mean lately.’ Her voice wobbled uncertainly, but I was glad.

‘Yeah, when we play with you guys you don’t tell us what to do or tell us we’re rubbish like they do,’ Ben added.

‘Those girls need teaching a lesson,’ Aleksy said. ‘And the best lesson is for us to have so much fun they will want to join in and play with us.’

‘Yeah!’ All the children high-fived.

George put his paw up to join in, and they all laughed.

‘Your cats are so cool,’ Jess said, stroking George.

‘Meow,’ I agreed.

By the time Claire returned with Jonathan and Matt, the children were lying on the grass with ice lollies that Polly and Franceska had given them. Polly was making daisy chains and Franceska was reading her book. They turned and waved as the car pulled into the car port. Jonathan came up and grabbed both Toby and Summer, hugging them at the same time.

‘I’ve missed you guys,’ he said. Then he fussed George and I.

Matt kissed Polly, then Martha, but when he tried to hug Henry he squirmed away.

‘Too big for a hug from your old dad?’ Matt asked and Henry laughed, then launched himself at him.

‘So how’s the house going?’ Matt asked.

‘Come with me and I’ll show you,’ Polly replied. ‘Are you OK to watch the kids?’ she asked.

‘Sure,’ Claire said. ‘You two go and see the builders, Jon can see everything later.’

‘I wish Dad was here,’ Aleksy said.

‘Me too,kochanie, but he has to work. But the good news is that he’ll be here soon.’

‘I can’t wait.’ Tommy gave an air punch and I was happy. They weren’t in trouble at all, and of course sometimes you had to work. After all, it was their hard work that meant we could all keep Seabreeze Cottage.

Knowing George was being showered with attention, I followed Matt and Polly. But before they could get very far I heard voices coming from the courtyard.

‘I don’t understand,’ a man I knew only as the plumber was saying.

‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Colin was scratching his head, which he seemed to do a lot.

‘What’s wrong?’ Polly asked. ‘Colin, you remember Matt?’

‘Hi, Matt. Polly, Adrian put in all the pipe work for the outside shower as you know, and today he’s come to finish off but the pipe’s broken and to be honest we have no idea how it happened.’

‘What do you mean?’ Matt examined what I had seen Liam do earlier.

‘It looks like it was bashed with something, but why?’ Adrian said. ‘I’ll have to get another piece of pipe. It’s not difficult but I’ll have to cut it to size, so it means I won’t be able to finish until Monday.’

‘How could this have happened?’ Polly asked.

‘I wish I knew, Polly, honestly it makes no sense.’ Poor Colin sounded upset.

‘OK, well delays happen … Anyway, Colin, can we go and see upstairs? Adrian’s putting the bathroom in next week so next time you come the children should be in, right?’ Polly said, cheerfully. I was glad she wasn’t letting the broken pipe get to her.

‘Yup, the lads are preparing to paint the bedrooms now, the carpets are going in soon and then that just leaves the bathroom.’

‘It’s all going well then,’ Matt said. ‘Come on, let’s see the children’s floor.’

Our inspection was highly successful. The children were going to love their new rooms. Martha and Summer had the smaller room, but it was going to be painted pink and Polly said she was going to make it like the inside of a palace. The boys’ room, which was bigger as it was for four of them, was to be a nice green colour, and they would move the bunk beds up for them to sleep in. The sloping room wasn’t that high, but high enough, and the skylights let in the sun, though Polly said they were getting black-out blinds fitted the following week to ensure the children would be able to sleep. My conclusion, as I stepped on Liam’s foot and earned a scowl from him, was that Polly had thought of everything and the children’s floor would be a success.