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‘It’s going to be great when finished.’ Matt echoed my thoughts.

‘I just still have so much to do,’ Polly said as they went downstairs. ‘And these little delays aren’t helping. First the ceiling hole, then the pipe. I mean, I know it’s not the end of the world but it is irritating when we are on such a tight time schedule.’

‘These things happen when you’re building though, you know that,’ Matt pointed out.

‘I know but it worries me. The roof was one of them being a bit careless when they were getting ready to fit the skylight, I get that, but the pipe, how could that have happened?’

‘The plumber probably fitted a faulty piece and didn’t want to say. Anyway, how about we take the kids for a run on the beach before tea.’ Matt grinned. ‘You know, I might have been a bit reluctant at first when you came up with this hare-brained plan but it is quite magical here. The beachacross the road, the children having a lovely, free time, and the cottage, well it’s going to be beautiful. You know, my lovely wife, we were wrong, this is one of your best ideas. As long as it doesn’t bankrupt us then I’m so happy we did it.’

‘Gosh, Matt, I might need that in writing. And no, it won’t bankrupt us because we are all in this together.’

I scampered out to the garden and kept that in mind that, yes, we were all in this together.

As I took my favourite vantage point on the lawn just outside the cottage, I was still thinking that over, how much my families meant to each other, how much they all meant to me. I could see all the way down to the beach, where it looked as if everyone was paddling in the sea, which was quite high, and also I could see George’s bottom from under the hedge where he had taken up his post, Chanel-watching once again. I’d suggested he come to the beach but he refused.

It was getting a little cooler as I felt a slight breeze ripple through my fur, and the sun was beginning to fade slightly. I watched and I felt warm inside as I kept thinking about how much we all loved each other and how perfect Seabreeze Cottage was to remind us of that.

‘Dad!’ An excited George bounded up and I grinned; I was guessing he must have seen Chanel.

‘Yes, son?’

‘You told me to tell you if I saw anything.’

‘I did.’ I felt impatient but George hated being rushed when he was relaying anything so I tried not to sound it.

‘I saw Chanel, she was with Andrea, who was carrying her. You know, I don’t think Chanel likes to walk as she seems to get carried around quite a lot.’

‘Right, George, maybe you’re right.’ It was hard to humour him at times but I’d learnt the hard way not to push. He could string a story out for hours if he put his little mind to it.

‘Well, you know that builder you don’t like?’

I licked my lips; this was getting interesting.‘Liam?’

‘Yes, I saw him.’

‘Where?’

‘With Andrea. They were round the side of her house. He said something, she said something. She put something in his back pocket. Chanel was nuzzled into her, looking beautiful.’

‘What did she put in his back pocket?’ I asked, intrigued.

‘I don’t know, I couldn’t see and it was hard to tear myself away from staring at Chanel.’

‘Right, was there anything else?’ I asked.

‘No, not really.’

That evening, I was still mulling over what George had seen. I had seen Liam with Andrea, and as I knew he was the saboteur it was obvious he was doing it for Andrea. If he was in thrall to her the way George was to Chanel, then that would explain how she was getting him to do all this for her and perhaps she was giving him money too, which would explain the pocket thing. It seemed that Andrea was hoping that, with Liam making things go wrong, it would annoy my families. However, to annoy them enough to get them to give up Seabreeze Cottage, they would have to do something a bit worse than making a hole in a roof or a pipe. But then, what if he was going to do just that? What if the ideas were going to get bigger? My thoughts were that Liam, surly as he was, was young and not exactly clever. What I needed to do was to keep an eye on him, but more than that, I had to somehow get him and Andrea caught. Just how, was something I had no clue about, yet anyway.

‘Why don’t you guys go for a drink?’ Franceska said. ‘I can stay with the children.’

‘Oh, Frankie, we can’t leave you here, alone,’ Claire said.

‘Please do. Look, if all the children are in bed, Aleksy and Tommy look after themselves. I am going to settle down in the small living room with my book. Go out, all of you. It’s a good opportunity.’ She smiled.

‘You’ve twisted my arm,’ Jonathan laughed. ‘And so I shall go and organise baths and bed, while you enjoy a glass of wine, in that case.’

It was good really; because the women had the children all week, the men liked to do bath and bedtimes at the weekend.

‘Well, you won’t hear an argument from me,’ Claire said.

‘Come on, Jon, let’s round them up.’ Matt went with him.

‘It will be nice to go out for a drink, are you sure that you don’t mind?’ Polly said when the women were sitting in the big living room with glasses of wine.

‘Of course not. You know the downside to this is that we can’t go out, we don’t have babysitters here yet, so make the most of it. I have a good book, I’m happy for some peace and quiet, no offence,’ Franceska laughed.

‘None taken. But you’re right, I’m going to find a local babysitter so maybe next week, when it’s just us again, we can have an evening out. It would be nice to go to the local for something to eat at least,’ Claire suggested.

‘Good idea. I can always ask Colin,’ Polly said.

‘What, to babysit?’ Franceska asked.

‘No, silly, if he knows anyone. He’s from the village so he’ll probably know everyone.’

‘It’ll have to be someone who is OK to look after six children,’ Claire pointed out.

‘Oh come on, the younger ones will be in bed, and Aleksy is so grown up now he’ll probably end up looking after the babysitter,’ Franceska said. ‘It’s an easy job.’

‘Let’s drink to freedom. And maybe we can meet some more local women who aren’t the horrible Andrea, or one of her cronies.’ Polly raised her glass.

‘Amber was nice the other day.’

‘Yes but did you see how terrified she was of being seen here. She came in disguise for goodness sake!’

‘OK, yes, but anyway, it’ll make a change of scene for us, so let’s do it.’

‘Right, well I’m going to put some make-up on. If Andrea is in the pub we go to tonight, I don’t want to look like a fright next to her,’ Claire said, standing up.

‘Good point, I’m going to at least brush my hair,’ Polly laughed.

‘Ah, another reason I am happy to stay in.’ Franceska smiled. ‘It’s been nice not worrying about hair and make-up for a bit.’

‘Yes, but, Frankie, we don’t want to let ourselves go. After all we are glamorous Londoners,’ Polly joked.

‘In that case, I better put some lipstick on to read my book.’

I was happy to put my worrying aside for the night. I curled up with Franceska on the old fashioned armchair and snoozed as she read. The younger kids, including George, were in bed and I felt content. It wasn’t often that Franceska and I had some alone time any more and it was incredibly nice. With those thoughts I dozed off, thoughts of home and Tiger in my mind.

I woke to hear the door opening and Aleksy and Tommy ran in holding their computer tablet.

‘Mum, Dad is on Skype,’ they said. I stretched and yawned. As the boys were still up it can’t have been too late.

‘Thank you, right, you two, get ready for bed, and I’ll be up as soon as I’ve talked to Dad,’ she said. The boys left and shut the door. I peered at the screen as Franceska sat down and saw Tomasz’s face appear.

‘Hello,’ he said. He smiled but he looked serious.

‘Thank you for calling the boys, I know you must be busy. Is it alright?’ she said quietly, her eyes dancing with concern.

‘It’s OK, we’ve had to close the restaurant for now, we are going to lose so much money too.’

‘You poor thing, it must be stressful.’

What was going on? I looked at Tomasz and my eyes were full of concern now too.

‘There is a big mess. Lots of food ruined. Who knew a kitchen flood could cause so much damage.’ He looked serious.

‘But the insurance is sorting it out, aren’t they?’

‘They are being difficult. The plumber said three pipes bursting aren’t that uncommon but because we need to replace the floor in the kitchen, then everything else I am paying the men to get it fixed quickly. The insurance people sent someone to look but said they would take a while to file a report. We can’t wait because we need to get the place open as soon as possible, you know how fickle customers can be. It’s not proving very easy. Ugh, it was all going so well, but, Frankie, I’m not sure how long this will take to sort out.’

‘And it’s so popular, you’ll lose so many bookings.’ Franceska sounded panicked.

‘I know, and the insurance people, well they say they won’t be able to get back to us for at least a couple of weeks. I know we have some money in the business but, once we cover the wages and the building works, it’s going to be tricky until the insurance pays out. Especially with no money coming into that restaurant, which could take about a month to reopen.’

‘Oh, Tomasz, I am sorry. But I know, because we have looked at our policies, that we have good insurance, they have to pay out.’

‘Yes, they do but when is the question, and in the meantime we are losing money and also as you know we put all the profits that we don’t live on back into the business so there’s not a lot …’ Tomasz sighed.

‘I guess the fact we’ve put our savings into this cottage isn’t the best timing.’ Franceska stroked me and then I understood. There was a problem with the restaurant and it was costing money and they didn’t have much because it was in Seabreeze. This did not sound good.

‘No, not good timing but,kochanie, don’t worry, I will think of something.’

‘Make sure you are on the case with the insurance. They always try to make it difficult when they have to give us money but they are quick to take ours. By the way, I haven’t told them, none of them, why you are not here, I didn’t want the boys to worry.’

‘I think it’s best we keep it quiet from them. Hopefully by next weekend I’ll have more of an idea, and I can have a nice weekend with my family.’

I hoped so too. Paws crossed.

‘Ah, look, Frankie and Alfie are both asleep,’ Matt laughed. I woke up and yawned. How long had I dropped off for? Franceska opened her eyes. Her book was resting on me, I noticed as I started to stretch out.

‘I must have fallen asleep.’ She shook her head. ‘Did you have a nice evening?’ I saw that Claire and Jonathan were also in the room. Claire was leaning on him and Jonathan had a big smile on his face.

‘We did.’ Claire’s voice was a bit slurry. She did get like that on occasion.

‘Guess what, we met Amber and her husband, Dan, in the pub and well, let’s just say they were very enlightening about Andrea.’ Polly sounded gleeful.

‘Really?’ Franceska sat up and I pricked my ears.

‘Maybe she charmed us after all,’ Jonathan said.

‘But she was nice though,’ Matt offered.

‘Yes but it is clear that she wants Seabreeze Cottage, although still no one is sure why. But they said that she is going round the village bad-mouthing us, and saying that we’re up to all sorts here. Honestly, she made it sound as if we are criminals or something.’

‘Does anyone believe it?’ Franceska asked.

‘I get the impression that Andrea has been acting up a bit lately,’ Jonathan said. ‘So, no, I don’t think so but they are suspicious of us, being out-of-towners, so we do need to get more involved.’

‘How?’ Franceska asked.

‘Well, Jonathan — after a few pints I might add — told them that we would go to church on Sunday,’ Matt said.

‘Church?’ Franceska looked horrified. ‘But we never go to church.’

‘Apparently this village is still very much a church-going village. Anyway it seemed like a good idea. And the best thing is that Andrea goes, so imagine her face when we all turn up!’ Jonathan clapped his hands gleefully.

‘I don’t mind, I like going to church,’ Claire said. ‘Especially a charming village church. But I’m not sure about the kids.’

‘Yes forget Andrea, imagine the look on their faces when they are told they have to go,’ Franceska agreed. ‘Jonathan, you may end up paying for this one,’ she finished.

Chapter Eleven

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Franceska was right. On Sunday morning, Aleksy looked horrified about the idea of going to church rather than the beach; Tommy rebelled against having to wear trousers and proper shoes rather than shorts and bare feet; Summer didn’t actually understand so she didn’t mind; Martha was the same, she was happy to wear a pretty dress whatever the occasion; Toby had never been to church so he was interested, but Henry complained because he was told he couldn’t take his games tablet with him. Even in the cold light of day, the adults questioned the wisdom.

‘My head hurts,’ Claire said. ‘I think I drank too much wine last night.’

‘The local cider is probably stronger than in London, which would explain why we thought it was a good idea to go to church,’ Matt moaned.

Franceska rolled her eyes, fed everyone a big cooked breakfast, made them drink lots of juice and in the end they were all ready to go, or as ready as they would ever be.

‘Meow?’ I said as I sat by the front door. I wanted to go with them. Claire crouched down and rubbed my head.

‘Alfie, you can’t come to church, I don’t think they allow pets, but honestly, you’ll be much happier here.’ I turned to look at George but then I noticed Tommy had him in his zip-up jacket, his little ginger head poking out of the top. I felt jealous and excited at the same time. I knew I was a bit big to fit into the children’s jackets these days, so I tried not to mind too much. I looked at Tommy as if to tell him to look after George.

‘Don’t worry, Alfie, I’ll take care of him,’ he whispered. I flicked my tail to say I understood. I would have liked to go with them but actually, l was being given some alone time, which I was quite grateful for.

I went to finish off my breakfast, but as I was doing so, I heard the cat flap open and the elusive Gilbert appeared. I knew he had been in the house, but I hadn’t seen him since our chat.

‘Hi,’ I said.

‘Alright,’ he said. He really was a fine-looking cat, and I wondered, again, why a cat like him would choose to be homeless.

‘Well everyone is out, apart from me,’ I said.

‘I saw them all go, I assumed you were with them, but never mind.’ He started sniffing round the food bowls.

‘Glad you’re pleased to see me,’ I joked. Gilbert just looked at me. OK, so not much of a sense of humour this cat. ‘Anyway, it’s nice to see you,’ I continued. ‘It’s all been a bit hectic here.’ I filled him in on the story of Liam and his sabotage and how Andrea wanted the cottage and the exchange that George had seen.

‘They don’t sound like very nice people,’ he concluded when I finished.

‘No, they aren’t. The children are scared of her children, the women are scared of her, I mean it’s ridiculous. But her aim is to get her hands on Seabreeze Cottage as I’ve said and now I’m getting worried that she really is going to stop at nothing to do so.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She’s got Liam working for her when he should be working for us, and what else? Gilbert, don’t you see? I know you don’t much like family life and you don’t want to get involved with us here, but if Andrea does get her hands on this place then our days are numbered and so are yours.’

He stopped eating and sat down, licking his paws thoughtfully.

‘OK.’

‘Look, I get you don’t want to tell me why you live here or how you came to live here, and that’s fine. I’m a good listener, if I do say so myself, but I’d never pry where I shouldn’t. However, this cottage is important to me and my families and it’s also important to you as you see it as your home, so surely you wouldn’t want her to get it?’

‘No, I suppose I wouldn’t.’

‘So you’ll help me?’ I felt hope spring up in me. Finally, I might just have an ally.

‘I don’t see how, but then I also don’t see what choice I have. Right, Alfie, what do you need me to do?’

After Gilbert had finished eating and had drunk plenty of water, I gave him a tour of the attic rooms and filled him in on what we knew so far. I had to admit, saying it out loud, it wasn’t much.

‘Right, so this Liam needs keeping an eye on. You say your boy’s helping with that.’

‘Yes.’ I thought about telling him about George’s crush on Chanel but I didn’t want to overload him with information. ‘And I’m keeping an eye on him too. He’s definitely in cahoots but I really would like him caught red-handed with her.’

‘That won’t be easy. But you know I am good at lying low, as you’ve already seen. You’ve been good to me, feeding me and, well, you’re not too nosy either, so I’ll think about what I can do to help. You never know.’

‘Thanks, Gilbert. Look, so this will be the girls’ room when it’s finished.’

‘Nice up here, isn’t it?’ he said, and it was. There was a patch of floor which the sun shone down on, through the new skylights. ‘Don’t mind if I do,’ Gilbert said as he lay down and stretched out.

‘Hey, help yourself. Honestly, if my humans see you they won’t mind you being here, they’re cool like that.’

‘That’s as may be but you know I’m not in the market for a family and I wouldn’t want them to get any ideas about me going home with you at the end of the holiday.’

I could see why he’d worry; they might think he needed a home and insist on taking him back with us. They were very caring people after all.

‘You know what, Gilbert, I think we can sort it so you can be Seabreeze Cottage’s guard cat when we’re not here.’

‘A job? I like the sound of that.’ He stretched his spotted limbs out again. ‘You know, I could get used to this.’

‘Enjoy a spot of sunbathing. I’ll leave you to it. They won’t come up here anyway, it’s not finished.’

‘Right you are, Alfie, and I’ll have a think about how I can help you, seeing as you’ve helped me.’

I left happy; it seemed that Gilbert and I had reached an understanding.

My peace was shattered. It was pandemonium as the front door flung open and my families rushed in.

‘Tommy, you are very naughty, imagine smuggling George to church. Ah, there you are, Alfie, I hope you weren’t too worried,’ Franceska said.

‘MEOW!’ I pretended I was. Aleksy winked at me.

‘You have to admit though, Frankie, it was quite funny when George jumped out of the jacket and went to see that Persian cat.’

‘Chanel,’ Claire added.

‘The whole congregation stopped and they were supposed to be singing “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. Then Chanel yelped as if she’d been attacked, Andrea screamed and the whole service descended into chaos.’ Matt was laughing.

‘But, George, why on earth were you fixated on that cat?’ Jonathan asked. ‘She hissed at you and swiped at you but you didn’t move!’

George turned to me as if to say that they had no idea.

‘You shouldn’t encourage him,’ Franceska said but I saw her lips twitching.

‘I don’t think we should be allowed to go to church again,’ Toby said.

‘No, I think it’s just George who isn’t allowed,’ Henry told him.

‘Oh my, Tommy, that was naughty, you can go to your room now.’ Tommy didn’t object, he was giggling too much.

‘Oh, Frankie, don’t be too hard on him, it was priceless just to see the look on Andrea’s face,’ Polly said.

‘Oh and the way she said we had invaded her church and that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves,’ Claire added. ‘God wouldn’t like it!’ She had tears running down her cheeks.

‘It didn’t help that George started running around the pews meowing like a lovesick … well, a lovesick cat,’ Matt laughed.

‘I think the vicar seemed quite pleased, he shook my hand warmly at the end, and said we were welcome any time.’ Jonathan smiled.

‘She probably terrorises the vicar too,’ Polly pointed out.

‘Well, I know I said that she was nice when we first met her, but after what I heard last night and what I’ve seen today, I think that woman would terrorise God,’ Matt finished.

Everyone went to get changed and then they decided to drive out to another village which had a cliff railway and yet another beach, and after that they were going to go for something called afternoon tea. Of course George and I weren’t invited. The men weren’t getting a train back until tomorrow morning, and I guessed they needed to get out of the village for a while to escape from the excitement of church. I was a bit sad that I didn’t get to go to church after all; it sounded eventful.

‘What shall we do?’ I asked George when we were alone.

‘I better go and see Chanel.’

‘Do you think she’s angry about what happened in church?’ I asked, trying to sound diplomatic.

‘No, but I think I scared her by jumping up at her suddenly, so I should apologise. I mean, I’m sure she would have been very pleased to see me.’

‘Even though she hissed at you?’

‘It was a very affectionate hiss.’

There was no way I was going to win this one as I went with my boy to take up his hedge vigil once again.

This time, though, there was something for us to see. The two girls were playing in the garden, although they were playing with dolls and being very dainty and quiet. Andrea was with them, lying on a sun lounger and speaking loudly into a phone. I tried to edge as close as I could without being seen.

‘Who on earth does he think he is?’ Andrea screeched into the handset. Thankfully my hearing was good but I could still hear only one side of the conversation. There was a pause. ‘I know I said they’d be gone by now but they are quite mad. Honestly, I mean who takes a cat to church?’

You do, I thought. As the other person spoke— I wished I could hear them but I couldn’t — Andrea drank from a large wine glass.

‘You’re supposed to be on my side,’ she snapped. ‘I’m doing my best. Those Londoners come and act as if they own the village.’

There was a longer gap this time.

‘I know, I know,’ she hissed, a bit like her cat. ‘I need that house. And I am going to damn well get it. I thought they’d just sell it, I offered a decent sum for the dilapidated hovel, and I know I don’t have much time.’ Chanel looked a bit surprised as Andrea banged her fist on the sun lounger.

‘Of course, and trust me, they’ll be gone before you know it,’ Andrea replied, throwing the phone down as Chanel nuzzled her in agreement. I felt my fur go cold as I processed the words. Whatever she was doing, she seemed determined to get our house. Our home.

I looked over at George, to see if he’d heard what I had, but he was fast asleep. Some stalker he was turning out to be.

Chapter Twelve

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It was hard to believe we were just into our third week in Lynstow, almost half way through our summer break. And in many ways it felt as if we’d been here forever; Seabreeze and the village felt like home. In other ways there seemed to be so much to do that it would never be finished. Matt and Jonathan were gone again, until Friday, when Tomasz would be coming down with them. I was still worried about the conversation between Tomasz and Franceska, I hated it when there were any problems with my families, but I heard no more about it. Franceska was putting a brave face on things, as if nothing was wrong, and if she spoke to Tomasz, which I am sure she did, she did it out of earshot of all of us.

Polly chivvied Colin, saying she wanted to step up the progress. She was slightly panicked that we didn’t have long and she didn’t trust any major works to take place after we left. With the minor blips that Liam had been responsible for, they were playing a bit of catch-up and Polly said they couldn’t tolerate any more delays.

However, the attic was almost finished. A bathroom had been installed, and Liam and Mark were painting the rooms as per Polly’s instructions before the carpets were laid. Colin and Pete were working on the outside of the house and I thought that Liam surely couldn’t wreak any havoc with the painting, but I kept an eye on him when I could, just in case.

I was sitting upstairs watching Liam like a hawk, or a very devoted cat at least; I’d made George come with me but he had fallen asleep in a sulk. I was also cleaning myself after having had a small snack but then who said cats can’t multi-task? Today Liam was looking so innocent as he painted one of the rooms. He did keep checking his watch though.

‘Liam, I’m going to grab a bite to eat, do you want to come?’ Mark said.

‘Nah, mate, I’m good, I want to get this painting done.’ As soon as Mark left he looked at me, then he looked at George who was asleep nearby. I narrowed my eyes at him. What was he doing?

He grabbed a step ladder, put it up near the skylight and opened it. He climbed up and although I am not a fan of heights, I soon realised I had no choice but to follow him. I saw Liam climb out, what was he up to? I climbed up the ladder and perched on the top, looking out. To my absolute horror, Liam was standing on the roof. It didn’t look safe but he seemed quite comfortable on it.

‘Oh for goodness’ sake,’ he said when he saw me peering out. I noticed he had a tool with him and I suddenly got the feeling he was going to smash the other skylight window, then make out it couldn’t have been him as he was in a different room. That made sense.

Once, when I was in love with Snowball and she was acting as if she was immune to my charms, I decided to perform a grand gesture, climbing a tree in order to woo her. It went wrong when I got so high and realised that I am actually terrified of heights. I froze and then, to cut a long and tragic story short, I had to be rescued by the fire brigade which was very humiliating for a cat like me.

As we glared at each other, I knew that I had no choice, I couldn’t let Liam cause any more problems for my family, especially with what I had heard from Franceska and Tomasz — if he did it might be the last straw. I mustered all the courage I could and managed to get out of the skylight; well, if Liam could fit through it I had no problem, but then my stomach lurched and I froze yet again. I looked up and saw the sky, I looked down and everything, cars and people, seemed tiny. I couldn’t move as I stood on the ridge of the roof. I couldn’t even shuffle back inside but I tried not to let Liam see my fear.

‘You’re such an annoying cat.’ Liam looked angry. I realised how vulnerable I was, he could do anything. My heart started beating quickly. Although, here was the thing with Liam, he was clearly under Andrea’s spell but he wasn’t dangerous … at least, I was pretty sure he wasn’t. I really hoped he wasn’t. I watched on with horror as he, obviously braver than me when it came to heights, stepped back over me and slid back down the skylight. Thank goodness, I thought as I got ready to follow him.

‘I’ll get you when I’m ready,’ he said and before I had a chance to get through the window, he shut the skylight, leaving me perched very precariously on the roof.

I closed my eyes but that was even more terrifying, so I opened them again. Surely he wouldn’t leave me here? I could still see all over the village, it was high, higher than I had ever been — this wasn’t good. I clung onto the roof with my paws, and although I could see the skylight, it was closed so I wasn’t sure how I would get in, even if I did dare move. I thought about making a noise but there was no point, no one would hear me, the wind would just carry my voice. I hoped George was alright, I felt a bit like I had left him at the mercy of Liam. I might have stopped him from doing any damage but the result was that I was stuck on a roof and my kitten was inside.

No one could see me, so I was literally stuck. The rest of my families were on the beach, which seemed miles away. I knew there would be no point in calling out. No one would see me or hear me.

I inched as close as I could to the skylight, so I could see inside, clinging on for dear life. That was actually less frightening. At least I could see the room. I wondered if I could get anyone’s attention — at some point surely they would come looking for me? I could see Liam, who carrying on with the painting, still looking annoyed. Although I was scared and also getting weary with the effort of holding on, I still kept vigil on the skylight, hoping someone would see me. Surely Liam would come and get me — he didn’t want to kill me, just because I’d scuppered his plans, surely he wasn’t that evil? But it was beyond frustrating. I could feel my legs seizing up from being in the same place for so long. Liam left the room a few times, but I couldn’t see any sign of George. Yet again I began wondering if I would ever be rescued.

The sun was hotter up here, I was thirsty, tired, and my whole body ached from the effort of not falling off the roof. Just what was going to become of me?

It felt as if it was getting late, and the sky was darkening in a way which made me think it might fall on my head, when I finally heard voices and Polly and Colin entered the room. I literally splayed myself across the skylight and yowled. The glass was thick though and my voice seemed to disappear into the air.

‘Look, Polly I am sorry but, as I said, it’s sorted now and he’s done a good job painting the room,’ Colin was saying, I could hear faintly.

‘Fair enough but I’m not exactly thrilled. After all, it was his paint that George stepped in, and he could have ruined the bathroom floor with it, we’d literally only just had it laid.’

What? I thought, how on earth had George got in paint?

‘I know and I’ve given him a ticking-off. And the good news is that the floor is good as new, as is the kitten.’ He tried to laugh but he sounded guilty. ‘Please, look I know he’s made a few mistakes but he’s a good lad—’ Suddenly he looked up and I bashed my paw as hard as I could on the glass. ‘Polly …’ Polly followed Colin’s eyes.

‘My God, what is Alfie doing up there?’ Polly shouted.

‘Hold on.’ Colin looked flushed. He grabbed the step ladder, which was perched against the door, unfolded it and climbed up. I carefully inched back as he opened the skylight. He gently took hold of me and, my heart still beating out of my body, he brought me back inside. He gave me to Polly.

‘Oh, Alfie, how did you get on the roof? Poor baby, are you alright?’ Polly cuddled me, stroking my fur, which calmed me down.

‘Liam, get here,’ Colin shouted. Liam walked in. He had obviously been cleaning up, he was still holding a cloth covered in blue paint.

‘How did Alfie get on the roof?’ Polly asked. ‘First I find George has trod paint all over the bathroom floor then our other cat is stuck on the roof. And you were working here so how didn’t you see it? Just what is going on?’ She looked furious as she cuddled me to her. I began to feel safe again.

‘He must have climbed out when I wasn’t looking. I opened the window so it didn’t smell of paint but then I closed it, which is when George must have got in the paint,’ he said. I still didn’t know quite what George had done.

‘Liam, you need to be more careful,’ Colin said. Polly and I both glared at him.

Once I’d had some water, and a lot of fussing from Polly, I went to find George who was in the bush looking for Chanel. At least in Lynstow I always seemed to know where the boy was.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘That man is a maniac,’ George said plaintively. ‘He grabbed me from where I was asleep and put me in the paint tray, then he told me to walk across the bathroom floor. I wouldn’t so he picked me up and made me.’

‘How awful, I wish I’d scratched him or worse. Did he hurt you?’

‘No, and at least Polly wasn’t cross with me.’

‘No, she seemed to blame Liam, which is good. I tell you what, that man is now in big trouble.’

‘Is he?’ George’s eyes were wide.

‘Yes, George, this is war.’

After the roof incident, the adults fussed more than normal over me. I have to admit I was terror-stricken every time I thought of it, being on that roof. It was even higher than the tree I’d got stuck up a few years back. But at the same time I didn’t want to make too much of a deal about it for George. I just kept warning him about Liam and although of course George said he wasn’t scared of him, I reiterated that he should never let himself be alone with him. What if he’d done that to George and not me? What if my kitten was stuck on that roof, what if he’d fallen? I couldn’t bear to think about it. Two things were clear. This was more serious than I first thought.

I needed troops, that much was obvious. And Gilbert was my only option. I needed to up my charm offensive with him, so I recruited George.

That night, we waited for him together and when George met Gilbert he was immediately impressed.

‘You have a great coat,’ he said.

‘Thank you.’ Gilbert raised his tail. I could tell he was already taken by George, as most cats and people alike tended to be — not counting Chanel and Andrea. ‘Right, let’s go to the beach. This is going to be fun.’

Gilbert took us across the road, and over the wall which separated the pavement from the beach. He then told us to follow him as he ran up and down the sand dunes.

‘Weeeeee,’ George said as he flew down.

‘Be careful,’ I warned.

‘It’s fine, Alfie, sand is soft, you can’t get hurt,’ Gilbert pointed out. We had a game of hide and seek where I, loath to leave George, hid with him and Gilbert found us. As the tide was out we sniffed around some boats that were sitting on the wet sand waiting for the water. As the moon shone down on us I realised that this was what we should be doing on our holiday. Not worrying about bad people, but having fun. And Gilbert was right, thiswas fun.

‘I love the beach now,’ George said as we sat on the wall, in a line, and looked at the large, bright moon.

After the ordeal and the growing unease I was feeling about what was going on, it was a lovely end to the day. I had George, I had a new growing friendship with Gilbert and I was safe. I hadn’t fallen off the roof. As I looked at the moon I remembered to count my blessings.

‘You’re lucky it’s summer, the rest of the year they let dogs on here,’ Gilbert explained. ‘Besides, I love it best at night, when it’s pretty empty.’ There were some young people lurking around but not many. ‘It feels like it belongs to us,’ Gilbert said. We sat in silence. Yes, it did feel it belonged to us.

‘There are three things I love about this holiday,’ George said as we headed home to bed.

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘The beach, ice cream and Chanel.’

Chapter Thirteen

[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_016.jpg]

Thank goodness for our evening trips to the beach, because on Friday, just before the end of the week after the children had moved up to the attic, and Polly was congratulating the builders on how quickly they were working, another disaster struck.

I had been watching George in the garden. He’d been trying to catch a glimpse of Chanel, yet again. I heard Claire scream from inside the house so I ran back in. I made my way upstairs and saw Claire and Polly with a red-faced Mark.

‘You’ve knocked down the wrong wall,’ Claire shrieked.

‘Didn’t you wonder why there were clothes and everything out which would be covered in dust?’ Polly shouted.

Mark’s face was ashen. Was Mark now in on the sabotage? I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to watch both him and Liam.

‘But Liam said it was definitely this wall. I asked him if he was sure.’

Ah, Liam had struck again, but this time he was trying to pin the blame on Mark.

Colin shouted for Liam, who appeared, looking shiftily at his boots. I hadn’t thought he would risk doing anything wrong so soon after paint-and roof-gate, but I guess this time he’d been hoping Mark would get the blame. I looked at the big, dusty hole in the wall between where Claire and Polly were sleeping and I knew that this was his fault. To give Liam his due, he had been shouted at so much lately that he must really like Andrea to put himself through this.

‘Blimey.’ Colin scratched his head, which he was doing a lot lately. ‘What have you done?’

‘I thought you meant this wall,’ Liam mumbled, turning red. He mumbled a lot. ‘I told Mark, but Mark could have checked with you.’

Thankfully the children were in the garden with Franceska, so they didn’t hear the language that Colin used. Let’s just say it was colourful.

‘But, I checked with you and you said you were sure,’ Mark protested.

‘I said the wall between the bedrooms on the left-hand side of the stairs. This is clearly right. Oh God, I am so sorry,’ poor Colin said. He looked as if he was going to cry himself.

‘Everything is covered in dust and this hole is where you were going to start the plumbing for the en suite bathroom. This is going to cause yet another delay,’ Polly stormed. ‘And Claire will have to move into one of the other rooms until you get this sorted.’ Polly looked angry, Liam looked at his feet, Mark was being so apologetic although it wasn’t really his fault, and Colin looked tired. I went over to Liam and jumped as hard as I could onto his foot.

‘Ow,’ he shouted, scowling at me. I gave him a small swipe with my paw just for good measure. His face turned even redder, if that was possible.

‘Don’t think the cat likes you,’ Colin pointed out.

‘Alfie is a very good judge of character.’ Claire narrowed her eyes at Liam.

‘Right, OK, well, lads, firstly help Claire move everything that’s covered in dust, Polly, Liam and Mark will rebuild the wall today as a matter of urgency. If they have to stay late, yet again, then they will so don’t worry.’ Colin held a hand out as Polly looked like she was going to object. ‘I’ll stop back to supervise. And the plumber is going to be working on the finishing touches for the kids’ bathroom and the outside shower today so he can start work here tomorrow. I promise, it looks bad but we’ll have this wall built good as new.’

I left them to it. It seemed to me that whatever Liam was doing, for Andrea, was costing him, rather than us, although it was of course delaying things, which was irritating because we had limited time. I was learning a lot about house renovations this summer it seemed.

Downstairs there was a big picnic going on on the front lawn and the village children were there. Their parents must be used to letting them go out on their own, I supposed; it was so different from life in London. Franceska was supervising everyone, and I saw the girls from next door looking at them from the beach, but with Franceska there, they didn’t dare come over and cause trouble.

‘Don’t you mind that those girls are staring at you all?’ Tommy asked the village children, as if he was reading my mind.

‘Nah, we’re having fun with you guys. They don’t like it but we already decided to stand up to them more, so that’s what we’re doing,’ Ben said.

‘And then maybe they’ll remember how to be nice again,’ Millie added.

I admired their bravery, and their optimism, so I decided it was time for me to follow their lead. Liam needed to be stopped and I was going to have to be the cat to do it. Gilbert was returning tonight and so I was determined to ensure I got him to help me. I needed a proper commitment from him. I still didn’t know how we would foil them but I knew we would. It was going to happen, if it was the last thing I did on this holiday.

As I went to get George so we could find some butterflies to chase, I knew I would have to come up with something, and fast. Those children, that woman, the cat and Liam, it was making my very restful holiday really rather stressful, but then that was what always seemed to happen when you were a cat like me.

After we’d exhausted ourselves chasing butterflies, I went to join the children while George took a nap. Aleksy and Tomasz had been given permission to go to the beach with the other children, and Toby and Henry weren’t pleased about being left behind.

‘Please can we go?’ Henry had asked Polly.

‘The thing is, you guys are younger than them, and so you should only go with an adult,’ Polly had explained gently.

The boys were now sitting on the grass and sulking. Well, Henry was sulking and Toby was copying him. Which was cute, but then, as they watched Aleksy and Tomasz and the others running up and down the dunes, I saw that they really did feel they were missing out.

‘Will they notice if we just go for a minute?’ Henry asked.

‘But, what if we get into trouble?’ Toby was still afraid of doing anything wrong. Claire and Jonathan often said they wished that he would, because it would show he felt safe with them. I wondered if that was why George was naughty, because he certainly didn’t listen to me, but maybe he feltsafe with me? It was a strange kind of logic but I found humans tended to that.

‘I’ll say I made you come with me, don’t worry.’ Henry was generally a well-behaved boy, and the fact he was willing to take the blame for Toby showed that.

‘OK, but only for a little while?’

I toyed with the idea of following them to the beach, but there were a couple of things stopping me. Firstly, George had fallen asleep under the bush, when he was supposed to be looking for Chanel, so I didn’t want to be too far from him. And secondly, I felt that if anything happened to the kids, I should be nearby so I could get an adult quickly. I took up my place on the lawn, and had a lovely view to where the children were building elaborate sandcastles. I saw Henry leading a hesitant Toby across the road. I was pleased to see how they looked both ways before doing so. I had learnt to cross the road the hard way — almost getting hit by cars is no fun, I can tell you. I saw Aleksy look a bit reluctant as they joined them and the local children, but in the end both boys got onto their knees and started digging.

All my children were bronzed by the sun, they all looked so healthy, and I could see what Claire meant about this seaside living. I sat up a bit straighter as I saw the group being approached by Savannah and Serafina. Of course, despite my excellent hearing I couldn’t make anything out but I saw them looking cross, folding their arms. I saw Aleksy standing in front of Tommy, who could be a little aggressive when pushed. I saw Toby’s face crumble — he hated any kind of argument — and the local children looked as if they didn’t know what to do. I thought about moving closer but then I thought, perhaps I should get an adult. Before I had time to decide, one of the girls had thrown sand at Toby and he was crying. Aleksy grabbed him in a hug and I saw Tommy throw sand back at the girls. I ran as fast as I could inside the house. I saw Franceska first, and I meowed, yelped and yowled, running round in circles as fast as I could, which was my way of telling them they were needed. Summer and Martha were watching television and I guessed Claire and Polly were still upstairs sorting out the mess.

‘What’s wrong, Alfie?’ Franceska said and I ran outside. I knew she would follow me. As she did, she stood on the lawn and I yowled again.

‘Oh goodness, what’s going on?’ she said as she saw them. Toby was crying in Aleksy’s arms and Savannah and Serafina were running off. ‘Those boys were not supposed to leave the garden,’ she added.

She ran across the road and I saw that she said something to all the children before she took Toby and Henry’s hands and started back towards the house. Aleksy and Tommy followed her, looking downcast. I saw the other children wave them off, looking sad.

‘What’s wrong?’ Claire asked, coming out to the garden. ‘I saw you out of the bedroom window, Toby, you weren’t supposed to go to the beach without a grown-up.’ She grabbed Toby and hugged him, as her words gushed out.

‘It’s my fault,’ Henry said. ‘I made him come with me.’

Polly had joined them by now.‘Henry, you are in big trouble,’ she said. ‘Go inside and up to your room to think for now and I’ll be up in a bit.’

Henry slunk off.

‘What happened, Aleksy?’ Franceska asked, sounding concerned.

‘Henry and Toby came over and I told them they shouldn’t but they begged us to stay. And we were building this really cool sandcastle but the mean girls came over and they were taunting us all, being horrible, and then they threw sand at Toby and it went in his eyes,’ Aleksy explained.

‘So I threw sand back and then they said that we were horrible and they couldn’t wait until we all left,’ Tommy added.

‘Come on, Toby, let’s go and get your eyes washed out,’ Claire said, lifting the crying boy up and taking him inside. ‘But that’s why you shouldn’t go to the beach without an adult,’ she added.

‘The thing is, Mum,’ Aleksy said when Toby was inside. ‘I think that they knew Toby was the most likely to get upset, as they kept picking on him.’

‘That’s not nice. Do you think we should go and see Andrea?’ Franceska asked.

‘Hey, I think I’ll go,’ said Polly. ‘You know Claire gets so upset for Toby and, well, I’m better at confrontation. Can you go and check on Henry for me? Tell him I will deal with him later.’

‘Of course, come inside now, boys, Summer and Martha are in the living room, so can you go and sit with them,’ Franceska said, taking them inside.

Polly took a deep breath and walked off. I went to the hedge where George had woken up and resumed his vigil.

‘Have you seen her?’ I asked.

‘No, I must have fallen asleep.’

‘Right, well Polly is going to see Andrea, there’s been a huge drama with the kids.’ I explained everything to George. We both decided to risk going nearer the house, as soon as Polly arrived, but we stayed hidden behind a rose bush by the front door. Polly knocked on the door.

‘Hello.’ Andrea opened the door. She was wearing a pink dress, high heels and full make-up and in her arms was Chanel. The Persian must have sensed us as she tensed and sniffed around.

‘She’s so pretty,’ George breathed before I shushed him.

‘Andrea. We have a problem. Your daughters threw sand at one of the children, who is now having his eyes washed out. They also said some horrible things. Now I know you want Seabreeze Cottage and you don’t like us but children should not be dragged into this.’ Polly didn’t hold back or beataround the bush. I was proud of her.

‘My girls wouldn’t have done that. And anyway, your children are being mean to them. They are playing with their friends and excluding them,’ Andrea replied.

‘Surely you’re not that stupid? They’ve tried to stop the local children playing with them, they’ve been saying terrible things and also now throwing sand. I know this is what happened and let me tell you, if it happens again I’m—’

‘What? Are you threatening me?’ Andrea interrupted. Chanel had spotted George’s tail and was yowling and yelping like her owner.

‘You’re not going to win, and neither are your children,’ Polly hissed, sounding as upset as Chanel.

‘We’ll see about that. If your children are scared of mine, well then they won’t want to stay in the house, will they?’

‘God, I knew you were a witch but someone who will involve their children in something like this is despicable.’

‘I want that house, and nothing is going to stop me getting it.’ Andrea’s brows furrowed furiously — even I was scared.

‘We’ll see about that.’ Polly turned and stormed off.

Chanel managed to hiss at us before Andrea carried her back inside and slammed the front door.

That evening Seabreeze Cottage was not a happy place. The children were downhearted by what had happened that day: Toby was still upset, Henry sorry that he’d gone to the beach when he shouldn’t, and Aleksy and Tommy were sad that their lovely afternoon playing with their new friends had ended so badly. Only Summer, Martha and George were happy but they didn’t really understand what had gone on.

The adults weren’t faring any better. Liam was still fixing the wall in Claire’s bedroom when the children were put to bed, and so Polly asked him and Colin to leave. Claire would have to sleep in one of the smaller rooms for the night, as would I. When they’d gone, the three of them sat in kitchen drinking wine.

‘God, that woman. I swear she is so calm and cold, and she acts as if she’ll stop at nothing to get this house,’ Polly fumed. She hadn’t mentioned her encounter with Andrea until the children were safely in bed.

‘God, she’s ridiculous, fancy involving the children. What kind of person does that?’ Claire stormed.

‘An evil one. Why does she want this house so much? Her house is grander, so it can’t be to live in.’

‘I’ve got no idea,’ Polly said. ‘Her house is enormous and Colin says it’s one of the few in the village that is a whole house — most are apartments. And there’s no sign of this husband either, is there? I wonder if there’s a problem there.’

‘If she is as mean to him as she is everyone else, then maybe,’ Franceska said.

‘I wouldn’t have thought that she would leave that grand house for this. We love it, I know, but she wouldn’t think it good enough for her. No, it’s not that but something … Anyway, whatever it is, we should find out. No, we need to find out.’ Polly crossed her arms determinedly.

‘I’m more concerned about the children, I don’t want their holiday ruined by those girls. Poor Toby was so upset and then he was so worried about getting into trouble he wet himself, and he hasn’t done that for ages.’

‘Oh, Claire, poor Toby. I think tomorrow we go out for the day, to another beach, and give the children a nice day a bit away from the village,’ Franceska suggested.

‘Great idea,’ Polly concurred. ‘I don’t want to leave the builders but Colin’s promised to keep a closer eye on Liability Liam.’

‘Why doesn’t he sack him?’ Claire said.

‘I think if he does anything else, he might have to. But I think he’s well-meaning, just a bit incompetent.’

‘Yowl!’ No he isn’t, I said but no one seemed to hear me.

‘Polly, you have been working hard with the house, so you deserve a day off,’ Claire said.

‘I could do with that, I don’t want to sound like a 1950s housewife but I’m really looking forward to seeing Matt this week.’

‘I think on Saturday afternoon we send the men to the beach with the kids and we find somewhere to get manicures or something,’ Franceska suggested. ‘We have earned some pampering.’ I noticed that Franceska had been down lately, maybe she needed cheering up.

‘Oh yes, let’s do something like that! But tomorrow it will be nice to get out of the house as well,’ Polly said.

‘Alfie, you are in charge tomorrow,’ Franceska said, stroking my head.

‘Meow.’ It was a good job for them that I was, I thought.

And with that in mind, I waited for Gilbert and saw him briefly before I went off to bed.

‘They are out all day tomorrow, so come and see us if you like.’

‘Alright, I will,’ he said, not sounding exactly enthusiastic, but then nowhere near as unenthusiastic as when I’d first met him. It was progress, that was for sure.

Chapter Fourteen [Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_017.jpg]

‘But why don’t you have a home?’ George persisted. He was giving Gilbert the full George third degree. I could see the normally gruff cat struggling. On the one paw he liked to act as if he didn’t need anyone but, on the other, he was a bit enamoured with George.

‘Life isn’t all fish and ice cream, you know,’ Gilbert said, softening.

‘It’s not?’ George looked upset. ‘I think my life is. Oh and Chanel. Oh and my dad, oh and the families too.’

‘Not for me. I had a family, when I was a little lad like you, but it wasn’t a happy house.’ He stretched his paws out. ‘I just realised one day that I would be better off not being there so I left.’

‘But why?’ It seemed George’s ‘why’ phase was never going to end.

‘The family were unhappy. The father would be quite mean, which upset the mother, and there were two children. One of the children would be in trouble a lot with the father. It wasn’t nice, and he then tormented me.’

‘That sounds horrible,’ I said. I could see it was hard for Gilbert to talk about and I didn’t want to scare him off as I tried to head George off and stop him asking too many questions. I nudged him a few times but he didn’t take the hint.

‘I was young and, no, it wasn’t bearable. It’s so sad the way some humans treat us animals. We don’t ask to be their pets yet they think they can treat us badly.’ His eyes darkened. ‘But anyway, I just got up one day and left home. I hid for a while, and I knew the family were looking for me. They put the posters up.’

‘Like the lamppost cats!’ George exclaimed excitedly. I explained to Gilbert that we’d had a spate of missing cats in our area and the pictures had gone up on lampposts at an alarming rate. ‘Yes. I couldn’t understand why they wanted me back when they were so horrible. Well OK, so only the dad and one of the kids was horrible, but they must have known what was going on. I was barely eating and I was terrified. Anyway, I hid for a while then I started making my way further from home. I managed to survive by hunting, after all this is the countryside, and to be honest I found I quite liked my own company. Over time I decided that I liked being so independent and I didn’t have any trouble finding food. So when I arrived here and found Seabreeze Cottage deserted, I decided that I would stay here for a while. That has turned out to be a long while because no one was ever here, until you, that is.’

‘Well I think that’s a great story and now we are here you will stay, won’t you?’ George asked, nuzzling Gilbert, who purred in response.

‘I only have one concern. What happens if your family finds me?’

‘Oh they’d love you. Look, our families love cats, the children love cats, they would let you stay. I only worry that they wouldn’t want you to be here on your own, and I’m not sure how we would explain to them that you like it here and don’t want to be looked after all the time.’

I could see how that might be a problem. They’d probably want to scoop Gilbert up and take him home with us, or worse, find him a home round here.

‘Then I better lie low. I’m glad the house is coming to life but I don’t want to move away from here.’

‘No, of course not.’

‘Well I don’t think that would happen,’ George interjected. ‘It’s clear that you live here, and there will be people coming and going from here a lot, so I think the humans will expect you to stay and, maybe, they just might make it easier by ensuring you have food.’

‘Do you really think so?’ Gilbert asked, uncertainly.

‘I do. You belong to Seabreeze Cottage and I think they’ll see that. You can be the cottage cat and when no one is here you can look after it for us.’

‘That’s so sensible, George,’ I said proudly. ‘I just hope that our families see it that way.’ George was so clever at times, and I hoped he got it from me.

‘Oh they will,’ George replied confidently.

‘Look, you’ve got some free time it seems, so do you want to come with me and I can show you round the area a bit? I know you’ve seen the beach but we’re near some very cool fields and it’s a lovely day for a bit of a romp in the countryside,’ Gilbert offered.

George looked at me hopefully. I didn’t need asking twice.

We made our way through the narrow streets behind the cottage. The ground was quite steep and I could see it would keep you fit living here. Even George huffed a bit. At the top we reached a big road which was busy and took quite a long time to cross. Gilbert then led us into a big green field, where the grass tickled our legs as we made our way through it. As I saw George skittishly jumping from blade of grass to blade of grass I realised this was the first field he’d been in.

‘It’s not like garden grass,’ he said, unsurely.

‘No, lad, it’s not. But it’s great when you get used to it,’ Gilbert replied, bounding off.

I had been on a few adventures in the countryside before but I had to say having Gilbert with us made it even more enjoyable. He was a very confident cat, he knew all the best places, where the best bushes for butterfly chasing were, where the animals to be avoided lived, where we could just stop and look at beautiful views and see for miles around. It was breathtaking and the sun chased us, warming our fur.

‘This is so much fun,’ George squealed with excitement. I told him that he wasn’t to try to come here on his own; I couldn’t stop being a father, even when we were having a good time.

We were all squeezed under a bush, taking a short break, when Gilbert suddenly sprang up.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘There’s a dog, I can sense it.’ We looked out at the field and saw a large black dog was running around. I started to panic; we had to get away.

‘Run,’ I said as I started to move.

‘Hold on, no need for that,’ Gilbert said. ‘It’s one of the farm dogs, he’s friendly with cats, don’t worry.’

I’d never heard of dog being friendly with cats but when he did approach us he wasn’t aggressive. He nodded his head, swished his tail in greeting and then turned back and ran off. My heart was beating fast, I really didn’t think he would be that indifferent. I had been chased by dogs before in London and I’d never encountered one I liked.

‘Only one problem,’ Gilbert said as my heart started slowing down to normal again.

‘What?’ George asked.

‘Well, the field we need to go through to get home … They’ve moved the sheep in, which explains the presence of the dog.’

‘What are sheep?’ George asked.

‘White fluffy things,’ I replied with my superior country knowledge. Gilbert laughed.

‘Well the thing is that these sheep are quite aggressive and they don’t like anyone being in their fields.’

We looked to where Gilbert was staring and he was right, there was a flock of angry-looking sheep in the middle of the field. I hadn’t imagined sheep were mean, they didn’t seem to do a lot, as far as I could tell. I had encountered a hostile cow and some very aggressive pigs before, but never sheep.

‘What do we do?’ I asked, worried for George more than anything.

‘We’ll run round the side of the field. They’ll probably try to chase us but if we stick to the perimeters we can outrun them. Alfie and George you go first, and I’ll bring up the rear so that George is sandwiched between us.’

‘I’m not scared of the sheeps,’ George said, with his usual bravado.

‘Well you should be, lad, if they butt you with their heads it can be very painful. Take it from one who knows. Right, when I say go, we go.’

I felt exhilarated and a little scared as I ran as fast as I was able, taking the route Gilbert suggested and made sure George was in front of me. I tried to focus on where I was headed but I couldn’t help but sneak a look at the sheep. I could see they had seen us. George was running, speedily, his legs moving quickly. The sheep were all moving towards us and at first it looked as if they were moving slowly but then their speed seemed to increase. As adrenaline flowed through my body I increased my speed and managed to outrun them to get to the edge of the field and safety, just after George.

I joined George at the hedge and ushered him under. We were safe! I looked and saw that Gilbert was a bit cornered though. As if he had sacrificed himself for us. I didn’t know what to do. I turned to George.

‘Make as much noise as you can,’ I said. The sheep wouldn’t fit under the hedge so my plan was that if we made enough of a racket they would be distracted, and therefore Gilbert could come to safety.

‘Yowl,’ I said as loudly as I could. George joined me. We yowled and yelped and meowed until our voices were hoarse. But as the sheep turned their attention to us, Gilbert made his escape.

We collapsed on a small patch of grass the other side of the field.

‘Oh, Dad, that was exciting,’ said George. I wished he had a little more of a honed sense of danger, to be honest.

‘It was scary,’ I chastised. ‘We could have become sheep food.’

‘Unlikely, they seem to like grass,’ Gilbert said. ‘They would have just knocked us around a bit but, you know, thank you for saving me, because it would have hurt if they’d got to me.’

‘Why don’t they like you?’ I asked.

‘It’s not personal, they just protect themselves. They’re like a family and they see us as intruders, I guess. Farm animals can be a hazard of living here, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.’

I totally understood that. We walked home slowly, trying to recover our breath. I was still feeling the terror of being in a dangerous situation. George seemed unfazed, he just saw everything as exciting, and Gilbert seemed normal, not at all wobbly like I was. I was just thankful that the walk home was all downhill.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard, while George went to see if he could spot Chanel.

‘Why on earth does he do that?’ Gilbert asked.

‘First crush,’ I replied.

‘No accounting for taste. Her or her owner.’

‘Talking of “that woman”, I really need to discover what she’s up to more than ever now. The kids are now getting involved and that’s not good. I know my adult humans can look after themselves but the children, the younger ones and especially Toby, can’t.’

‘Do you want me to do some surveillance and see if I can find anything out?’ Gilbert asked.

‘Would you?’ I could barely believe it. I had been trying to engage Gilbert for some time and now it looked as if he was finally, properly, onboard. I knew with him by my side we would foil any plan that Andrea and Liam came up with. Well hopefully.

‘You almost saved my life, it’s the least I can do,’ Gilbert replied. ‘And also, I quite like having you and the lad around. I might be self-sufficient but there’s nothing wrong with friends.’

Although he still sounded his usual gruff self, I felt touched. And after all, he couldn’t be any worse at surveillance than George, who was already fast asleep.

It was much later when I heard the commotion of everyone returning home. We were all inside, having a break from the sun, as I rushed to greet everyone. They came into the back, all taking turns to use the outdoor shower to get the sand off before putting all their towels and beach accessories into the sand room.

‘See, this works pretty well,’ Polly said, pleased.

‘It was a great idea, the shower especially,’ Claire added, giving Polly a squeeze.

‘And we can contain the mess with the sand room,’ Franceska said, smiling. ‘Well almost,’ she laughed as Summer tipped up a bucket which was still full of sand onto the floor.

‘We’re supposed to leave the sand at the beach,’ Toby laughed. It was a phrase that he had heard the adults say many times. I felt happy again; they had obviously all had a lovely time. As the children chattered and bickered over getting cleaned up, Claire took an armful of washing which she put in the machine, Franceska piled up the buckets and spades and Polly ushered the almost sand-free children inside. I realised that this was the perfect time to introduce Gilbert to everyone … but when I turned around he had disappeared.

Chapter Fifteen

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‘So, here’s what I thought we’d do,’ Jonathan said to Matt and Tomasz. They had arrived the previous evening and everyone had been pleased to see them, especially me. It had been a fraught week and although it ended well, I thought having the guys around might just bolster everyone’s mood. It was funny how much I actually missed them. I knew the others did too from the way they talked. We, like that funny flock of sheep, were a family and it didn’t feel quite right when part of our family were missing.

I looked worriedly at Tomasz but he showed no sign of being anything but his usual self. I did notice Franceska shooting him worried glances at times but they didn’t talk about it, or if they did it was out of earshot of everyone, including me. He didn’t mention the problems at the restaurant to anyone and I secretly hoped that maybe he had sorted them out already.

‘What?’ Matt asked, looking suspicious. It was Saturday afternoon and Polly, Claire and Franceska had gone to a spa; the men had agreed they needed a well-deserved break and some pampering. Well, I could have done with some too, but then clearly cat pampering wasn’t on the cards! George and Iwere going to keep our eyes and ears open today, it was time to move ‘project Andrea’ on, in that I needed to find out just what she was up to, so I knew what we were dealing with and what we would need to do about it. Gilbert being onboard was reassuring, as was having our men back, even if only for a couple of days.

‘OK, so we are going to go round to see this Andrea and sort out, once and for all, the situation with her, the children and our house.’ Jonathan looked pleased with himself.

‘You are sure that’s a good idea?’ Tomasz looked uncertain, and I agreed with him. I thought it was possibly a terrible idea.

‘Our wives might string us up if we go and see her behind their backs,’ Matt pointed out. Again, I agreed.

‘No, but you see, it’s not behind their backs. They are going to be having a lovely time and we will sort this situation out and be heroes when they return.’

I licked my paws; this wasn’t going to end well.

‘Jon, I have to take Aleksy and Tommy paddleboarding this afternoon, or at least stand on the beach and watch them, I promised,’ Tomasz said, looking relieved. He had a get out of jail — or Andrea — card. Matt shot him an annoyed look.

‘OK, well we will both go and take the younger children.’

‘I don’t know—’ Matt started.

‘Perhaps not a good idea to take Toby — he was very upset and maybe he will be more upset by seeing them?’ Tomasz made an excellent point.

‘Um, maybe you’re right, can you take Toby with you?’ Jonathan asked. Which possibly wasn’t what Tomasz meant.

‘Well, I guess …’ He shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

‘The thing is, Jon, if Toby goes, Henry will want to go too,’ Matt persisted.

‘Oh, Tomasz won’t mind. Right, I’ll get the girls ready and we’ll be off.’

Tomasz and Matt looked at each other and both shook their heads. But I knew, as did they, there was no arguing with Jonathan when he made his mind up.

I was torn. I wanted to go and see the boys on their paddleboards. They were these flat things which looked a bit like ironing boards without legs and floated in the water while you stood on them and paddled. But I knew I would really need to go with the others to Andrea’s, and of course George would want to go too, in the hope of seeing Chanel. Paddleboarding would have to wait for another day, as I saw Tomasz, clutching Toby and Henry’s hands, set off with Aleksy and Tommy who were in their wetsuits ready to go.

As Jonathan, Matt and the girls headed next door, I shuffled through the hedge. I assumed that George would already be there. It seemed silly to go the long way round when we didn’t need to. I joined them at the front door, where there was no sign of George. I was a bit surprised as Jonathan petted me.

‘Glad you decided to join us, after all I am sure you think this is a good idea,’ he said.

‘Yowl.’ I really didn’t.

There was a flash of annoyance on Andrea’s face as she opened the door, followed by a moment where she rearranged her features into a smile.

‘Well this is a nice surprise,’ she said. Chanel hissed nastily. Goodness, she didn’t waste any time. I was almost glad that George wasn’t here.

‘Look, Andrea,’ Jonathan started. Matt stared at me, and I knew what he was thinking. ‘We thought it might be a good idea to clear the air. I know there have been a few problems.’

‘Really? I wasn’t aware of any problems,’ she countered. I had to admire her composure, as she was blatantly lying.

‘Well you know the thing about you saying you want the cottage, and then the incident yesterday with your girls upsetting Toby, I thought we should have a reasonable chat and sort it out.’

‘Me too,’ Summer said. ‘I want to sort it out,’ she said, without any idea what she was talking about.

‘And me,’ Martha added. Matt shook his head.

Andrea shrugged.‘Look, the girls are out at the moment, but why don’t you come in, I’ve got some fresh lemonade in the kitchen and we can have a civilised chat. I do find standing on the doorstep a little bit common.’

‘Thank you, we’d love to come in,’ Jonathan said. Andrea stood back and Martha and Summer went in eagerly, Jonathan behind them with Matt reluctantly bringing up the rear.

‘Oh.’ Andrea stopped. ‘I’d rather your cat didn’t come in, it does so upset Chanel.’ She shut the door on me, almost catching my paw in the process.

I knew the kitchen was round the back, so I decided to go and see if I could hear any of their conversation. I struck gold, as one of the kitchen windows was open and, although I didn’t dare jump up on the windowsill, because I’d probably be shooed away, I found a point by the open window where I could hear everything, even if I couldn’t see it.

Andrea was speaking.‘I am so sorry about Toby, you see it was a bit of a misunderstanding. My girls are so sweet but some of the other village children have been unfair, refusing to let them join in their games with your children and, well, they were ever so upset as you can imagine. I know it was wrong of Savannah to accidentally throw some sand at Toby but she was very emotional and you know what children are like.’

‘How do you accidentally throw sand at someone?’ Matt asked, just as I thought the same.

‘Well you know, it wasn’t malicious. I have told the girls that even if everyone is being horrible to them they must rise above it and not react.’

‘Our children are not horrible though, I can assure you of that,’ Jonathan said.

‘Well, of course they probably don’t mean to be, but being left out is very hurtful,’ Andrea persisted. I wished I could see Jonathan and Matt’s faces, I hoped that they weren’t buying this rubbish but I feared they might be.

‘How about we speak to our children and tell them to be nice to your girls and you do the same?’ Jonathan suggested.

Really? It would be that easy? Sometimes I wondered about my humans.

‘But not me, you don’t need to speak to me,’ Summer said.

‘She’s adorable,’ Andrea laughed. ‘And so pretty, both of you are very pretty girls.’

‘Well thank you,’ Matt said. Oh goodness they were falling for it. ‘But what about the house?’ he quickly added. Phew. ‘You said you wanted it no matter what it cost.’

‘Oh I did, and I meant financially. You see, I have tried to have a reasonable chat with your wives. I hate to sound sexist but I do find men much easier to deal with in these matters,’ Andrea chirped. She sounded as if she was flirting with both Jonathan and Matt, which I was annoyed about. ‘I would love that house, the village means so much to me and my family and we really don’t like the idea of houses here being used only for holidays, it diminishes our community, and of course I like to do my bit for the community. I would love to own Seabreeze, and if I did it would really be tohelp the village.’ She almost sounded believable, I thought, but I didn’t trust her at all.

‘Yes but we are three families who will be sharing the cottage, so it will be used a lot of the time. And we love this place, and will be spending money locally, so that’s surely good for the village?’ Jonathan added.

‘Of course and if your wife, or wives, had explained it as simply as that I would have been delighted. I mean, I just want you to know that you are all very welcome here and I am the first to open my arms to new people, but if you ever change your mind the offer is there.’

‘You are very reasonable,’ Jonathan said. ‘Is your husband around? Maybe you could both come over for drinks one evening?’

‘That would be lovely, only my husband is travelling a lot for business at the moment, so he’s barely here, but hopefully later in the summer, before you all go back to London.’

‘Hiss,’ a voice interrupted my eavesdropping. I looked up to see Chanel at the window. ‘You’ve heard enough, you can go now,’ she said.

With that she was gone.

I decided to find George. He would be furious about missing Chanel but then it was probably a good thing. It seemed that the more awful she was to him, the more he liked her. I checked the cottage but there was no sign of him, so I went to sit on the car bonnet. From there I spotted the others on the beach and saw that George was with them. Aleksy and Tommy were in the water with their paddleboards and Tomasz was on the sand with Henry and Toby, watching, with George standing next to them. I ran across to the beach, dodging all the families sitting on the sand, before reaching the shore and greeting them all. Tommy, who was standing on the board, paddled over to us, jumped off and came to see us.

‘Alfie, did you see me? I am getting really good.’

‘Not as good as Aleksy,’ Henry said, innocently, which made Tommy scowl.

‘I am as good as him.’ He puffed out his chest. Tommy was more competitive than Aleksy, who was the more sensitive of the brothers. It was a surprise to everyone that Aleksy was so good at paddleboarding, but nice, because with most sports he was in Tommy’s shadow a bit.

‘Come on, it’s not a competition,’ Tomasz said.

‘Well, watch me, I’ll show you how good I am.’ Tommy brought the board up to the shore while he huffed at us all. I was rubbing against Toby’s leg when Tommy started pushing the board back into the water.

‘Oh look, George is on the board!’ Toby exclaimed.

‘Meow,’ I said, angrily. He must have jumped on the board and as Tommy had been pushing it back in the water, looking at us and telling us to watch him, he obviously hadn’t noticed him. Oh my nerves had been shot to pieces in the last few days. This was too much. I yowled as much as I could, and then Tommy finally turned round and noticed George.

‘Tommy, bring George back,’ Tomasz yelled as loudly as he could. Tommy didn’t turn round though. Instead he got on the board, on his knees, and started paddling, wobbling everywhere. George was standing on the front of the board and if I didn’t know better I would have said he was enjoying himself. He stood, watching the water, not huddling close to Tommy, which was what I would be doing. It was apparent that Tommy wasn’t great with the paddleboard, which was rocking quite violently, and then there was a huge splash.

‘MEOW!’ I shouted. What about George? Thankfully, he was still on the board as Tommy’s head emerged from the water.

‘He has very good balance, Tomasz,’ Henry said.

‘He does, even for a cat,’ Tomasz agreed.

Aleksy paddled over to them and I watched, horrified, as George looked over at him, then leapt from one board to the other. As Aleksy turned his board around and headed back to the shore, I could hear both boys laughing, although the wind was making it sound faint. I was glad to see George was on Aleksy’s board now — it made me feel a bit more reassured.

George made the shore safely, where Tomasz used a towel to dry him off a bit, before we all headed home.

‘George, you shouldn’t have done that,’ I chastised as soon as we were alone. ‘Cats are not meant to go near water.’

‘I love water, Dad,’ George said excitedly.

What? Whoever heard of a cat who liked water?

‘And I love paddleboarding,’ he went on. ‘It was so much fun. You should try it.’

‘Not unless I can paddleboard on dry land,’ I replied, giving up. George was a stubborn kitten and now it seemed that, as well as liking Chanel, which was bad for him, he liked water, which was even worse for him. I had no idea what to do about that.

If only humans could be as sensible as I was. Tomasz and Matt were right, as was I. The women were furious that they had gone to speak to Andrea, and they were, quite rightly, refusing to buy her reasonable act.

‘She’s going to talk to the girls and make sure they are nice but she said they’re being left out as well, which upsets them,’ Jonathan said.

‘That’s not true.’ Franceska was angry. ‘Aleksy, he tell me what they say to them, they are nasty and they tried to get all the children not to play.’

‘Maybe their mother is just fooled by them,’ Matt suggested.

‘Oh God, you are such an idiot,’ Polly stormed.

‘What on earth were you thinking? Going to see her?’ Claire was practically screeching. Luckily the children were all in bed and that included George.

‘I just thought we could clear up the unpleasantness.’ Jonathan at least had the grace to look sheepish.

‘And she did explain she wanted the cottage because she couldn’t bear it to be empty so much. But when we explained it wouldn’t be, she said she was delighted for us to be her neighbours.’

‘And she said what a wonderful job you were doing with the renovations,’ Jonathan added.

‘And you believed her?’ Polly stormed.

‘Why wouldn’t we?’ Both Matt and Jonathan were looking a bit ashamed by now.

‘Honestly, a pretty face and you believe anything.’

‘I hadn’t noticed she was pretty,’ Matt said quickly.

‘Yeah right,’ Polly answered.

‘Well, she does have nice hair,’ Jonathan added and Claire swiped him.

‘You guys are deluded if you think she was actually as reasonable as you say. She’s playing you and it’s embarrassing to see that you fell for it so easily.’

‘Look, let’s just give her the benefit of the doubt. Please?’ Jonathan was red-faced and rubbing his arm where Claire had hit him a bit harder than she possibly intended.

‘If you say so, but if there is another incident then you guys cannot doubt us,’ Polly said. ‘We don’t lie and our children don’t lie. Andrea is a middle-aged mean girl and she’s bringing up her daughters to be mean girls.’

‘OK, look let’s leave it, we’re only here for a short time and I don’t want to argue,’ Matt said reasonably. ‘But honestly, if anything else happens, I promise we’ll have your backs.’

‘Yes, as long as the lady with nice hair doesn’t turn your heads yet again,’ Claire retorted.

Later, I could feel the tension in the air as Tomasz, who had cooked dinner, cleared his throat.

‘Look, guys, the timing isn’t good and I’ve tried to put it off but we have a problem.’ I almost couldn’t bear to listen.

‘What’s up, mate?’ Jonathan said. Franceska was staring at her plate and refusing to meet anyone’s questioning glances.

‘We had a flood at the restaurant, it’s not good. We have had to close and it’ll be a couple more weeks at the least, plus the insurance company is dragging its feet.’ He looked so sad my heart went out to him.

‘Oh, Tomasz, that’s terrible, we didn’t realise. Frankie, why didn’t you say?’ Polly said.

‘Because I didn’t want to make more problems,’ Franceska replied.

‘What do you mean?’ Claire asked.

‘The money we put in here, our savings, we might need it after all. I am so sorry but I have wages to pay, and the business accounts are all tied up for the time being, so I need to find some cash, and soon.’ Tomasz rubbed his head, anxiously.

‘But the insurance has to pay out,’ Matt said, reasonably.

‘Yes, eventually it will, but I and my business partner are having issues with them. Look, we love this place, and I wouldn’t want to lose it, the boys love their paddleboarding, but we do have a temporary cash flow problem and I don’t know how to fix it.’

‘Can we just bridge it, temporarily?’ Claire asked, looking at Jonathan.

‘Darling, we’d have to borrow money, which takes time, unless we go to a loan shark, I don’t think it’s feasible. Tomasz, how long do we have before you need the money and how much?’

Franceska named a figure, which meant nothing to me but everyone took a sharp intake of breath, and she started crying. Tomasz put his arm around her.

‘If there was any way, we would try to find it,’ Tomasz said. ‘But we literally have about two weeks until we are in trouble.’

‘Oh God, we can’t lose the cottage, not now,’ Claire said, tears in her eyes.

‘We are so sorry,’ Franceska said. But no one went to reassure her and the party broke up soon after.

I was very upset, so I lingered in the hope that Gilbert would appear, and he did.

‘I wanted to introduce you to our families,’ I said. ‘Although tonight wasn’t a good night.’ I wanted to Gilbert to meet them at their best and they certainly weren’t right now.

‘I know but I got cold paws. I’m still nervous around humans and I’m sure yours are nice, but you know I’m not ready to trust again.’ I felt sad for him and what he had been through, although we had all had our tough roads to tread, I guessed.

‘Anyway, it’s your choice and I respect that. But I am worried about them.’ I filled him in on the drama that had unfolded.

‘I saw that neighbour and she was talking with that young builder, the one you don’t like.’

‘Liam?’

‘Yes that’s his name. I heard her speaking to him on the phone while she stood in the garden not that long ago. She looked around her furtively, checking no one was around, but I heard her tell him that his “little acts of sabotage” were unsatisfactory and he better “up his game”.’

‘What does that even mean?’ I asked.

‘No idea. We know what he’s done but your families haven’t agreed to sell the cottage.’

‘But what does she mean by upping his game?’

‘The mystery deepens.’

‘The thing is, we need to follow him at all times to see what he’s up to, and what with George and his crush and the kids and the humans, I’m just not sure I can do that.’

‘Alfie, I can help. I mean, I’m quite good at hiding so I’ll track him, at least for a while, especially when he’s alone. And if I can’t for any reason I’ll let you know and you can take over.’

‘Gilbert, that would be amazing, a huge weight off my mind.’

‘Well I got used to hiding, being invisible, it helps with survival.’ He looked sad.

‘I hate to think of you being so alone. I told you about my homeless time, and well, I hated it. I wish you could see that being part of a family isn’t all bad. My family isn’t.’

‘I’m sure you’re right.’ He grinned sadly and I nuzzled him. ‘And maybe soon I’ll be able to let myself believe it.’

It made me so cross that a handsome, lovely cat like Gilbert had had such a hard time. He was my friend now so that meant I would do all I could to ensure that things improved. Yes, he was going to help me with Andrea and Liam, but in return I was going to help him see that people weren’t all bad. I only wished that the truth was that none of them were, but we all knew that that wasn’t the case. With the news that Tomasz and Franceska had imparted on top of that, well, I had a very bad feeling in my fur. Very bad indeed.

Chapter Sixteen [Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_019.jpg]

The men had left but the house had been strained since Tomasz and Franceska’s announcement. Before they went, Tomasz promised to see if there was anything he could do and Matt and Jonathan had offered help but I caught Claire crying when she and Jonathan were alone. Jonathan tried to reassure her but Claire said that if Franceska and Tomasz needed to pull their money out, then they might have to sell the cottage to the horrible Andrea. And she said she couldn’t bear to give up their dream. Jonathan promised he would do whatever he could but a heavy cloud hung over them.

The tension between the adults was clear. It was as if no one blamed Tomasz and Franceska but they were unhappy so the easy relationship had changed. Franceska and Claire seemed to be avoiding each other— and living in the same house that wasn’t easy. I needed to keep an eye on this one. The optimistic part of me thought that perhaps it would all be sorted but the other part suspected I would have to be the one to do so. Again, there was a lot to do for this cat, and although I had Gilbert andmy kitten to help (although I was not sure how much help lovesick George would actually be), it still seemed my problems were mounting.

It had rained for the past two days and the children were largely housebound, as was I. George, however, still insisted on sitting under the hedge, despite constantly coming in drenched and miserable after not catching even a glimpse of Chanel. Today I’d finally persuaded him to stay with me and the children in the big living room. The adults had got a selection of films for us to watch and we all snuggled up on the sofas watching and eating popcorn, which was a real treat, as we’d only just finished breakfast. The kids were enjoying lazing around, eating treats, and watching films. The one currently showing was calledDespicable Me, chosen because it was suitable for all of them, and of course us cats. I was quite enjoying it although George, who was sitting with Summer and Martha, seemed a little bit lovesick still.

The point was that we never did this at home so it was still like being on holiday even when we were inside. Seabreeze had that effect on us. It made everything feel like a holiday. I was quite keen on licking the popcorn, as was George it seemed, and the kids took great delight in feeding us. I snuggled down more and realised holidays could be a lot of different things.

But there was a cloud over our lovely holiday home, and not just a rain cloud. The women were all uneasy. It felt that the friendships that had been so strong almost from the moment I got my families together were now under threat. Franceska was in her bedroom, it was clear she wanted to be alone. Claire and Polly were supposed to be ordering furniture but they said they didn’t know if they should now that the future of their shared cottage was in question. I knew Franceska felt guilty, although it wasn’t her fault, and I also knew that Claire was so upset at the idea of losing the cottage she didn’t know how to act. Polly was trying to keep the peace but although they weren’t arguing, or angry with each other, they were all sad and quiet. The atmosphere inside Seabreeze almost matched the weather outside. Which was why I was keeping well away and in with the children.

‘You know how Mum seemed a bit sad earlier?’ Aleksy said quietly to his brother.

‘Yes,’ Tommy said. ‘So did Claire.’

‘Well what about if we put a play on for the mums to cheer them up?’

I meowed. What a good idea.

‘Guys,’ Tommy said, loudly, ‘we’re going to put on a play for our mums.’

‘Yay!’ Toby said.

‘Can I be a spaceman?’ Henry asked.

‘I want to be a princess,’ Martha chipped in.

‘Me too,’ Summer agreed.

‘And can Alfie and George be in it too?’ Toby asked.

‘Of course,’ Aleksy replied.

I was going to make my acting debut it seemed.

‘Can I go out, Dad?’ George asked after lunch. I looked at the children who were going to the living room to do more rehearsals for the play. Although we were in it, it seemed we had very little to actually do, so I was sure we wouldn’t be missed. But still it was awful out there as the rain persisted.

‘I’d rather not, it’s still quite wet out there.’ I was a fair weather cat.

‘But can I go to the hedge to look for Chanel then?’ he pushed.

‘OK, but you know what, I’ll come with you, I’m not happy with you being alone in this weather.’ My thoughts were that if George got too wet I could drag him back inside — not literally of course. I would have been happier in the warm but I didn’t want to be a bad parent.

When the others had gone I followed with George; we ran quickly to the hedge and nestled in. Looking at Andrea’s house I assumed she was inside; Chanel was definitely a fair weather cat, a bit like me in that respect.

‘I just wish I could see her,’ George said.

‘I know, but the weather is terrible, so I’m not sure she’ll come out.’ My poor kitten looked so dejected, I had to think of a way to cheer him up. ‘Tell you what, if you come home now maybe we can play hide and seek.’ As he bounded off, I followed. Thankfully that seemed to do the trick.

When we got home, George urged me to hide, so I went upstairs where I found another commotion. I went to the doorway of the adults’ bathroom to see Liam with his head hanging down. There was a broken window, and glass all over the floor.

‘What the hell have you done?’ the plumber asked. ‘How can you manage to put a wrench through a window?’

Colin approached, looking annoyed.

‘Liam, again?’ he asked.

‘I slipped,’ Liam whined, sounding like a little boy, ‘and the wrench smashed the window. You said you were replacing the windows anyway.’

If it hadn’t been for the glass all over the floor I would have gone up to him and swished my tail or something.

‘We are but not until the end of the summer. It’s booked in before we paint the house as the last job. Honestly, boy, you’re a liability,’ Colin said, still shaking his head.

‘What shall we do? I’ve got to get the fixtures all working today,’ the plumber said.

‘I’ve got some sheet glass in the van. Liam, go and get it and you’ll have to stay late and fix it. But first clean up the glass — if any of the kids or the cats get cut you’ll be for it.’

I followed Colin downstairs where he found Polly looking at fabric samples in the smaller living room.

‘Can I have a word?’ he asked.

‘Sure.’ Polly smiled.

‘It’s Liam, I’m afraid. He slipped and put a wrench through the bathroom window.’

‘What?’

‘Yelp!’ I tried to tell them that he probably did it on purpose but it fell on deaf ears.

‘He’s a calamity I know, but we’re going to fix it up so it’ll be fine until the double glazing goes in. Luckily you’ve got two windows in that bathroom but for now, only one will open. I’m so sorry.’ Colin looked upset, and I felt sorry for him. He didn’t know that one of his workers was trying to sabotage his job, which actually could have a really detrimental effect on him, couldn’t it?

‘Colin, that’s just the latest in the long list of things that Liam has done to mess up, cause delays and general trouble on this job. Can’t you get rid of him? The others are working here so well but he’s more trouble than he’s worth. I can’t afford not to be on schedule, we’ve got to go in a few weeks for school, and you know I want the bulk of the work done by then.’ Polly sounded kind, she wasn’t a shouter, or nasty like Andrea, but she had a fed-up edge to her voice.

‘I know and if it was anyone else I would. Look, Polly, I know this isn’t your problem but Liam is my brother’s lad, and my brother’s been unwell, he had to give up work, so well, they rely on Liam’s pay packet. I’ve been swallowing up the extra costs, apart from his time of course, butI really can’t sack him. I’ll take full responsibility for him but I don’t want my brother and sister-in-law to have any more stress.’

‘OK, I understand, but you know I can’t have him bringing the house to ruins.’ Polly smiled sadly and touched Colin on the arm. ‘I am sorry for your brother, but maybe you can get Liam to do jobs where he can’t damage anything.’

‘Good idea. Or I’ll give him some play tools like Henry and Toby have!’

‘Not a bad thought, he can borrow theirs,’ she laughed.

‘Thank you so much for understanding, it really is good of you.’ Colin’s mouth curled down, sadly. And suddenly I felt sorry for Liam although I wasn’t happy with him but again, as George, my very astute kitten, said, things aren’t always what they seem.

After tea that evening, we put on our play. Aleksy was the director, and he also narrated the (very thin) storyline. The play was about the royal family who visited the beach. It was a little bit strange and didn’t make total sense, but then neither did life.

‘I’m a princess,’ seemed to be Summer’s only line, which she repeated.

‘I’m a royal prince,’ Toby added. Tommy was the king, and he re-enacted the paddleboard incident with George, only without a paddleboard. Henry was the spaceman servant to the royal family. It was quite funny and the women all clapped very loudly, but I could tell they were putting a brave face on things. My only part was to be the royal cat and I joined in, quite happily; we needed some light relief. Aleksy even tied a towel around me to be a royal robe and I was pleased to see the women smile as the play reached its final scene. Even if things were still strained, everyone appeared tobe happier than they had been before as they broke into another round of applause, and the three women were momentarily united as they cheered us all.

As I moved on from my acting debut, I went to find Gilbert. In my time I had learnt to trust my instincts and when I felt something in my fur, well, let’s say I believed those feelings.

‘Alright, Alfie,’ Gilbert said. His gruff greeting was warmer each time I saw him.

‘Did you see Liam break the window today?’ I asked, no time for small talk.

‘I did, I found a good spot to watch him from, the idiot broke it on purpose, but that’s not all. When I was following him earlier his phone rang and he went to where he thought no one was listening but, of course, I was. Anyway, I heard him say Andrea’s name and I imagine she was shouting athim as he was flinching quite a lot. In actual fact, he seemed scared of her, but asked if they could have dinner … Well anyway, she must have said yes because he smiled and then he went and smashed the window.’

‘He might be next door right now!’ I said.

‘He might.’

‘What are we waiting for?’ I made to go to the back door.

‘Where’s George?’

‘Fast asleep, he stays with Toby all night, and anyway we won’t necessarily need to be long.’

‘OK, Alfie, I’m right behind you.’

We circled the house before we hit gold. There was a room with full-length doors. The doors had curtains but they weren’t completely closed and we could see inside. As we peered in, we saw that Andrea was on a very comfortable-looking sofa, holding a glass. Chanel was perched on the arm of the sofa and opposite her sat Liam, wearing clothes that were smarter than we had ever seen him wearing. He looked quite nice, his hair was neat and he looked clean.

The problem was that the doors shut out any sound so we couldn’t hear what was being said, although I could see Andrea’s lips moving a lot and Liam just sitting there looking besotted.

I noticed that Chanel seemed to sense there was something amiss as she made her way to the glass doors and we quickly darted back so she couldn’t see us. She sniffed a bit, before baring her teeth then leaving.

‘Isn’t Liam a bit young for Andrea? I know I’m a cat but she seems a lot older than him,’ Gilbert said as we started to head home.

‘I think so.’ I wasn’t an expert, but I was pretty sure that Andrea was using Liam to get to us and it looked as if he had a crush on her just as George did on Chanel. ‘But then Chanel is too old for George but he’s so besotted he won’t listen to me.’

‘It must be the same for Liam,’ Gilbert said.

‘Yes but if he is trying to help her get us out of the cottage, then how are we going to stop him?’ I felt as if Andrea was in charge of too many aspects of our lives.

‘I don’t know but if I stay close to him I can try to make sure that he doesn’t do anything too bad. You know, when he broke the window I wasn’t expecting that but if I had I could have tripped him up or something.’

‘Or if you can’t do anything then try to come and find me if you can, or yowl so loudly that the humans all come running.’

‘But then they’ll find me.’ Gilbert was still uncertain.

‘They have to meet you at some point,’ I told him.

‘Humph,’ was his reply and I knew I was winning. With him at least.

Once again, I felt that things were mounting up and, for the first time this holiday, I missed Edgar Road badly. I missed Tiger and my other friends. I missed not having anyone to ask advice from; although I now had Gilbert, it wasn’t quite the same as having my usual cat gang. I was feeling as if things were threatening to slip out of control and our idyllic holiday home was under threat. The worst thing was that my humans were still oblivious to all this. They thought that Franceska and Tomasz were the only threat to keeping the cottage. Yes they knew that Andrea wanted the house, they knew her children were mean and they thought that Liam was one of the most incompetent builders they’d come across, but apart from that they had no idea that there was a plan underway, a plan I was pretty sure was going to turn our holiday upside down. I couldn’t believe it had only been a few short weeks since we had come here, it felt as if we belonged here in so many ways. I wanted what Claire wanted, I wanted our families to have this wonderful holiday home for many years to come, even after I was no longer around. I wanted it for them so badly that I knew I would have to play a big part in making sure it happened.

Chapter Seventeen

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Franceska was unloading the car and George was hindering her by circling her legs. I was trying to stop him, which somehow meant I was circling her legs too.

‘George, Alfie, you guys are going to send me flying,’ Franceska chastised. At least the sun had finally come out again and, although things weren’t back to normal with Franceska and Claire, they had cleared the air a bit, deciding not to worry until they knew the whole situation.

‘Meow.’ George was proud of himself although I wasn’t sure why.

Franceska took the last bag out of the boot of the car and put it down.‘I’ll go and get the boys to bring the shopping in, wait there.’

We weren’t sure why she wanted us to wait but we did as we were told. Aleksy and Tommy ran out and grabbed the bags then ran back in, ignoring us completely.

‘Meow,’ I shouted.

‘Sorry Alfie but Mum said if we took the shopping in we could go to the beach,’ Aleksy said excitedly as he ran back to the house.

Us cats couldn’t compete with the beach.

Franceska returned.‘Right, boys, I am locking the car and then I’m making lunch. Hungry?’

‘Yowl.’ Yes I was. We were about to turn back to the house when I spotted Andrea and Chanel approaching.

‘It’s Chanel.’ George hopped from paw to paw excitedly. As Andrea stopped, the Persian gave us her usual dirty scowl, which I think George saw as a loving blink.

‘Ah, it’s the Polish one,’ she said, unkindly. Franceska turned to her, looking confused and then angry.

‘I have a name, it’s Franceska,’ she replied, her voice shaking a little.

‘Of course, whatever. Anyway, I’m glad I ran into you, I want to speak to you all. Together.’

‘What do you mean?’ Franceska asked.

‘You and the other two women, we need to sit down and talk. We need to resolve this.’ Andrea was wearing a bright pink dress, lots of jewellery and high heels. As usual her hair was very tidy, and didn’t move in the breeze, and Chanel was sitting bearing her teeth at us in one of her arms. I was immediately on my guard. George was trying to catch Chanel’s eyes by being cute but she was blatantly ignoring him.

‘We do?’ Franceska looked at the house as if hoping someone else would come and rescue her.

‘Yes, we need to resolve the issue about the house,’ Andrea pushed.

‘I didn’t realise there was an issue. You asked to buy the house, we said no. End of story.’ Franceska’s face reddened; she could be sensitive at times so it was nice to see she was holding her own.

‘It’s not the end of the story. When the husbands, well two of them, came to see me it was clear that there is definitely not an end of story. I hate it when women go running to their husbands as if they can’t cope themselves.’

‘That is not what happened. That was about the children. Anyway, I don’t need to speak to you about this, I told you we don’t want to sell the house and we definitely don’t need any trouble. If there is a problem we will talk to you, not our husbands. In fact Claire and Polly were cross with them for coming to see you. So we shall leave it at that.’

‘Are you saying you won’t sell the house to me?’ Andrea narrowed her eyes.

‘We have said that all along. The renovations are well underway, we have only a few weeks left before the end of summer, and honestly, we would all like to enjoy our holiday.’

‘We’ll see about that.’

As Andrea turned and trotted off in her heels we could feel the threat hanging in the air.

Franceska went back inside and I waited patiently with George as he looked wistfully after Chanel. Aleksy and Tommy ran out of the front door and stopped to pet us.

‘We’re going to the beach.’

‘Why don’t you come?’ Tommy asked.

‘Meow.’ We could go.

‘Cool and we’ll take care of you,’ Aleksy said. He and Tommy looked at each other, then Tommy picked up George and Aleksy picked me up and off we went.

They found a spot in the sand dunes, and Aleksy put me down. I was getting quite used to the sand now, finding it easier the more we came here; I would possibly be a sand expert by the end of the holiday. As the boys sat down, flicking off their sandals, George started sinking into the sand. It was cute, but he did it on purpose, I could see, as he pushed his paws down.

‘George, don’t do that,’ Tommy said, picking him up and brushing the sand off. We took a few moments to enjoy the sun and the grass in the dunes tickled us in the gentle wind. Just as the boys were deciding what to do, Savannah and Serafina approached. This was not good. We had already had toencounter their mother, now them.

‘What are you doing?’ they asked.

‘Well, we are just hanging out, obviously,’ Aleksy replied.

‘How exciting. Anyway, I wanted to say, don’t expect to see any of your other friends, because they are coming to my house. My mum has organised it and you are definitely not invited.’

‘We wouldn’t want to come anyway,’ Tommy said. He poked his tongue out at her, which I felt was a bit childish but then I guess he was a child.

I hissed to tell Tommy to shush but he didn’t seem to hear me.

‘Tommy, don’t waste your time talking to them,’ Aleksy said. He turned to George and picked him up, stroking him.

‘You boys are so boring,’ Savannah said, and used her foot to flick sand up at us. I felt it cover me and Tommy.

‘Oi!’ Tommy shouted.

‘Yowl!’ I said; it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. The girls walked away laughing.

‘I really don’t like them,’ Aleksy said.

‘Me either, but never mind, I’ve got some money for ice cream. Shall we get some?’

‘Meow!’ George said excitedly.

‘OK, George, we can get some for you too,’ Aleksy laughed.

We spent a pleasant time on the beach. George and I shared an ice cream and sunbathed, enjoying spending time with Aleksy and Tommy, but all too soon Franceska appeared at the beach wall and shouted that it was time for us to go home to tea.

The house was empty when we got back.

‘Where is everyone?’ Aleksy asked.

‘Claire and Polly have taken the others for a walk to burn off some energy.’ So, they were still avoiding each other a bit.

George went to the sand room to clean up and to find some shade and I drank a lot of water, being thirsty from the sunny afternoon. Aleksy told his mum how the girls had been and she told him to ignore them but I knew that was easier said than done. Colin appeared and, as Franceska made tea for the builders, they chatted over the day’s work.

‘No accidents so far,’ he said. ‘But you know we have a lot of work to do still, so let’s hope it stays that way.’

‘Will the house be finished before we leave?’ Franceska looked anxious and I wondered what she and Tomasz had decided to do.

‘It should mainly be. As you know, the downstairs is being done after you go, only because the new kitchen will be a big job as we will be knocking the rooms through, and then we just have the windows and the painting and it’ll all be ready the next time you’re here.’ Colin smiled.

‘Um,’ Franceska said, looking thoughtful.

‘Well, I hope you’ll be overjoyed with the finished house. It’s amazing what the attic rooms and now the second floor has done for the house already. The whole village is buzzing with what a good job you’ve done.’

‘Well I wish they would talk to us more, I mean it seems that when we go to the local shop or to the beach people are scared to speak with us.’

‘Well, it might be because of Andrea,’ Colin said.

‘What, because she speaks so badly of us to the rest of the village?’

‘Look. I’m sure it’s all hot air, but you know, why don’t you take the children to the pub for tea tonight, about six? I’m in there, my wife is coming down and I’ll introduce you to a few people. It would be good for you to make friends in the village.’

‘Would you? That would be great. It would be nice if we can make some friends.’

‘Honestly, not all of us are like Andrea, and you’ve been here long enough, it’s about time you saw that for yourselves. But it’s a small village and, well, I guess the locals are more cautious with new people. Anyway, come to the pub tonight, bring the kiddies with you, and you’ll see.’

‘Thank you, Colin. That would be very nice and the children love to go for tea at the pub.’ Franceska looked happy and I thought she had made a sensible move. Getting out of the house, meeting new people, it might be just what they needed. Just as the children had made friends, it was perhaps time that the grown-ups did too.

‘You know what would go down a treat?’ Colin had turned to go, stopped and then faced Franceska again.

‘What?’

‘If, when the house is nearly ready, you invite some villagers over to have a look. They’re all curious and it would be a nice way to break the ice and let them have a nose around.’

‘Great idea. We could do tea and cakes and have, like, an open house! Colin, that is such a good idea — they can see then how much we love Seabreeze Cottage and Lynstow, so they will feel happier about us being here.’

‘You got it, love.’ Colin left to go back to work. I rubbed up against Colin’s legs. I could tell that he was definitely one of the good guys.

The children were excited to go out to eat but George and I weren’t invited and the boys had been warned in no uncertain terms not to sneak us out. I didn’t mind, I fancied a quiet evening in with my boy, even if he had other ideas.

‘Can I go and wait for Chanel?’ he said. Really, all George did was either lie under the bush hoping for a glimpse of her, or hide behind a plant by her back door, and more often than not he fell asleep before he even saw her. So, neither tactic proved very successful, or at least hadn’t so far. I really didn’t want to go out again and I thought perhaps, now he was growing up, I shouldn’t have to.

‘If you promise to be home before it’s dark, or I’ll have to come looking for you,’ I warned.

‘Of course, Dad.’ He raised his whiskers, gave me a thank-you nuzzle and was off. I settled down in a nice spot on the big living room sofa. It was warm and cosy and before I knew it I’d dozed off.

I was woken by a tail tickle and I opened my eyes to see George.

‘Oh good boy, you came home on time,’ I said, looking out of the window where the sky was darkening.

‘Yes and it was no good, I didn’t see Chanel but I did see Andrea, she was pacing up and down angrily, shouting down the phone.’

‘Who was she talking to? Was it Liam?’

‘I don’t know but she said that things were getting desperate and she was scared.’

‘She doesn’t act scared though, does she?’ I was thinking aloud.

‘People act in different ways, for different reasons, you taught me that,’ my wise kitten replied.

I had taught him a lot. When my first love, Snowball, moved in next door to me on Edgar Road, her whole family acted a bit rude, including her, and they didn’t ever want to talk to us. When they did they made it clear that they didn’t want anything to do with us, and it did look as if they had something to hide. It turned out they’d had a very bad experience which had left them scared of making friends and I wondered if Andrea was in a similar situation — it might be that her fear was making her mean. I could sometimes be a bit judgmental; perhaps I needed to listen to George more. If Andrea was doing this because she was scared then maybe she wasn’t all bad and we could get to the nicer version of her. I just didn’t know how. Going through Chanel the way I did with Snowball certainly wasn’t an option. That cat wasn’t scared, she was just downright rude.

As George and I were thinking about what to do next, the door opened and the children burst in, shattering our peace and quiet. Or mine anyway. George hopped down and began mewing at them excitedly.

‘But I’m not even tired,’ Summer was shouting, in a way which suggested she really was.

‘Me neither,’ Martha concurred. Although Martha was older than Summer, she often let Summer take the lead. For the most part she was laid-back, whereas Summer was the bossiest person I knew.

‘Bed, both of you,’ Claire said, coming in the room, ‘and Toby and Henry too. Upstairs now, before I get cross.’ She was giggling as she spoke, which suggested she wasn’t that cross at all.

The younger children were hustled upstairs and Aleksy and Tommy were allowed to go to the small sitting room and watch some TV for a while.

Franceska came in to join us with a bottle of wine and three glasses. She collapsed on the sofa next to me, absently stroking my fur. She seemed happy and I was looking forward to hearing what a success the evening had been.

We didn’t have long to wait as Polly and Claire came in.

‘That was quick,’ Franceska said, with a smile.

‘Well, I couldn’t be bothered to bath them so we just got them into their PJs and into bed quickly.’ Polly smiled. ‘They were all too tired to argue the minute they saw their beds.’

‘I shouldn’t drink when in charge of my children though,’ Claire laughed, as she took a full glass from Franceska.

‘Look, I am sorry about the spanner we threw in the works, with the restaurant. I know Tomasz is still trying to sort it and I want to keep this house very much, so I just want to say sorry and I hope it doesn’t ruin everything.’ She looked suddenly tearful. ‘We are doing everything we can to make sure we can keep the cottage, you need to know this.’

‘Oh, Frankie, I am sorry,’ Claire said. ‘None of this is your fault, or Tomasz’. I just love Seabreeze so much, and I was worried about losing it but after tonight, well I feel like we can sort it out … Somehow we will keep the house.’ Claire hugged Franceska. ‘I’m so sorry that I was cold with you, you know how emotional I get, but our friendship is more important than anything.’

‘To me too.’ Franceska’s eyes glistened with tears.

‘And what a fun evening though. I mean, Frankie, you are a genius getting us to meet the locals,’ Polly took the conversation in a more upbeat direction. I felt relief flood my fur, it seemed that the women had got over the hump for now.

‘It was Colin’s idea.’ Franceska smiled. ‘He said the villagers were very nice.’

‘They were and the idea of having an open house when the cottage is nearly finished is also good. They all seemed to be keen to have a look around.’

‘Again, Colin. But he’s right, with the Andrea situation, it might be good to have the locals on our side.’

‘He’s a lovely man,’ Claire said. ‘I feel that we’ve made progress, they all seemed to like the idea that we’d be in the house a lot, and when you said that we were looking for someone local to be a kind of caretaker I thought they were all going to line up there and then, Pol,’ Claire said.

‘Well, we do need someone, they can do the beds ready for when we’re coming, and when it’s empty I like the idea of someone giving it a clean every week too.’ Franceska added.

‘It’s very sensible. But I think that Colin’s sister-in-law might want the job,’ Polly said.

‘Liam’s mum?’ Claire looked faintly horrified.

‘She might not be as hopeless as him and Colin told me they are struggling for any extra cash, so I said I would talk to you.’ Polly seemed to have talked through a lot with Colin.

‘Hey, let’s meet her, if Colin vouches for her …’ Claire said. She was in a good mood; I couldn’t help thinking it was the wine.

‘And they promise not to let Liam be here alone,’ Polly laughed.

‘But wasn’t it nice to meet the women too?’ Claire said. ‘I mean, I know we met Amber before but the others … They are all clearly terrified of Andrea but actually they’re nice and seemed more than happy to be friendly with us.’

‘Not sure if they would in front ofher, though,’ Franceska said. ‘Look, I know that we’re OK but I am sorry. I was just so terrified that we might have to take the money back to keep the business afloat, I can’t bear it.’

‘Oh, Frankie, honestly, let’s forget it for now, I still feel terrible that I’ve been a bit moody with you,’ Claire said. ‘We were so excited and we all stretched ourselves to afford it, so please, don’t worry.’

‘Look, this place has already become a home to us, in the month we’ve been here it’s become like home to us all. So we will figure it out, the restaurant, Andrea, everything, I promise that.’

‘Let’s drink to that.’ Claire raised her glass. ‘To Seabreeze and Lynstow and many, many happy holidays here.’

Chapter Eighteen

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‘I get it, this is what it’s all about,’ George said excitedly. He had his head in an empty box and was pushing it around the kitchen table, much to the delight of Summer and Toby.

‘What?’ I asked quietly, making sure our families couldn’t hear.

‘The holiday, Seabreeze Cottage, all of our families having a very lovely time,’ he said.

‘You are so wise for one so young.’ I had taught him well, after all.

It was the day when our families had invited half the village, or so it seemed, round to Seabreeze Cottage for food and drinks. We still had a few weeks left here before we had to go back to Edgar Road. The builders had doubled in number and been working extra hard since the night the women had gone to the pub and the men had taken an extra day off work and were coming down on Thursday night. It was all exciting, and they had worked out that instead of just worrying about Andrea they should embrace village life. I only wished I had thought of it.

George bumped into the table leg, eliciting lots of giggles from Toby.

‘George, get out of the box, and Alfie, we don’t want you getting under foot today,’ Franceska chastised as she prepared a mountain of food.

‘Yes, Alfie,’ Claire reiterated. Honestly, why was it always me, not George? ‘The men are taking the children out for the morning so we can get organised. Can you do the same with George?’

‘Can we go sit in the hedge?’ George asked quietly as I used my nose to try to nudge the box off him.

‘Fine,’ I agreed. After all, I had no better plan on how to spend time getting out from under everyone’s feet. I decided not to be offended, after all I understood how important today was for everyone.

The men had come down and had some very good news. Jonathan had put Tomasz in touch with a friend of his, who was something to do with the law, and he had threatened the insurance company on their behalf. Apparently there’d been a bit of arguing and going backwards and forwards but the insurance company had finally agreed to pay for all the damage and lost wages. Tomasz and his business manager had then gone to the bank who had given them a temporary loan to cover the costs, so their stake in Seabreeze was safe. The celebratory mood returned and if it hadn’t been for Andrea and Liam I would also have been jumping for joy.

Jonathan, Matt and Tomasz had been so amazed by the transformation that they were overjoyed. The second floor was finished and now was home to three big bedrooms, a refurbished and expanded bathroom, and a master suite with en suite shower room. The only thing was that some of the furniture hadn’t arrived yet but they didn’t seem to mind that. Bit by bit, it was becoming a home, but more than that a home that represented each of my families. The children’s rooms were amazing, and now the other bedrooms were too. Claire and Jonathan’s room was painted in a blue colour that they both loved, and all the curtains and accessories matched. Polly and Matt’s room had a more modern feel, whereas Franceska and Tomasz had gone a totally different way and opted for a seaside feel — with stripy wallpaper, driftwood and shells, it did look a lot like a beach hut in fact. It was my favourite room because it felt as if it belonged. But I understood how each room was part of my families and that I loved. It meant that they were going to make this cottage a second home and it was feeling that way already.

Oh and Gilbert had been wonderful, he’d been on Liam-watch but Liam hadn’t had the opportunity to ruin anything else. Gilbert had even heard him on the phone, we assumed to Andrea, saying he was never alone in the house long enough to do anything. It seemed our plan was working, well sort of. And Gilbert was warming more and more each day to the idea of meeting our families so now I knew it was just a matter of time.

George and I made our way outside. It was a warm, not hot, day, with a cool sea breeze (I now understood the name of the cottage) gently brushing our fur. We made our way to the hedge and shuffled through. I found my favourite spot, ground soft, leaves shading me, and George sat as near as he could get to Chanel’s garden without being spotted. There was nothing to see, which we seemed to get a lot, but I saw George was looking so hopeful so I settled down for the duration. At least it wasn’t raining and there were worse ways for a cat to pass some time.

I had almost dropped off for a cat nap when George jumped up, stretching excitedly.

‘She’s here, Dad, she’s here.’ Before I had managed to open both of my eyes he had run off across the lawn to where Chanel stood, glaring. I thought it best I follow him.

‘Hey!’ George said, excitedly. For once Andrea wasn’t around, and Chanel was on her own. A rare occurrence.

‘What are you doing sitting in my hedge?’ she asked. She flicked her tail, fixing her green eyes on us. Yes, she was a sophisticated-looking cat but she had the meanest eyes I had ever seen. Even Salmon had nothing on her.

‘Technically, it’s our hedge too,’ I said. I wasn’t going to let her intimidate me. Well, only a bit as she inched towards us.

‘Not for long.’ She arched her back.

‘You are so lovely,’ George gushed. I nudged him, but there was nothing I could do.

‘Go away,’ she hissed.

‘We will go but before we do, I want to know why your owner wants our house so badly.’

‘Why should I tell you?’

‘Look, Chanel.’ I squared up to her. I didn’t intend on doing anything, I knew violence didn’t solve anything and I was the least violent cat ever, couldn’t really even hunt, but I didn’t want her to know that. ‘I just want to know. We know about Liam, we know that Andrea’s under pressure and that she has to sort things out soon. So what exactly is going on?’ I bared my teeth for good measure.

‘So, so pretty,’ George said, tilting his head.

‘How do you know all that?’ Chanel asked. I had wrong-pawed her.

‘We know, that’s all that matters. We’re on to you, and so you can either tell us what is going on or not but know this, we will find out.’

‘And your fur is the most beautiful I have ever seen,’ George added. We both looked at him.

‘Listen, none of this is any of your business, it’s my family and our problem. Yes, we do need your house and there is a very good reason for it, but I am not at liberty to share with you. You might do well to keep your nose out of our business. And while you’re at it, take the annoying kitten away with you.’ She turned on her paws and ran back towards the house.

‘Come on, George, I think it’s probably time we went,’ I said.

‘I think she really likes me, Dad,’ he replied. ‘I mean, more than she did at first even!’

What could I do?

The lawn had been transformed. The dining table had been moved outside, which had taken Tomasz, Matt and Jonathan a lot of arguing to get it through the door. But now it was on the lawn, laden with an abundance of food. Colin had brought over some other tables, and every chair we had, plus some of Colin’s, littered the lawn, along with picnic blankets. The children were playing outside and Seabreeze Cottage was open for our party, or whatever it was we were having.

Colin and his wife Fiona, a lovely warm woman who loved cats, were already here. They were having a cup of tea and chatting.

‘It’s funny how you brought your cats with you on holiday,’ Fiona said.

‘Ah, well they’re like family to us, we couldn’t not, and anyway they are so good, they haven’t run off or caused any problems.’ Claire bent down and petted me. I purred, although that wasn’t strictly true. I looked over to where George was eating ice cream out of Summer’s bowl. I would have to ignore that for now.

‘Well it’s lovely. Right, there’s our Shelley coming.’ Some more people were approaching. ‘She’d be ideal to look after this place when you’re away.’

‘Oh yes, we were looking forward to meeting her,’ Claire said and she and Jonathan smiled as they were all introduced.

It was a lot for a cat to take in. There seemed to be so many people in the garden that there was barely any grass visible. As well as Colin’s family, there were other people who I had never seen, some old, some young. Amber, the woman who had come to apologise for Andrea’s behaviour, was again apologising for not spending time with us. It seemed she had been looking after her sick mum but now she was back they were all planning onhaving lunch together. Amber said she didn’t care what Andrea said any more. Then there were the village children, and their parents, who again, now they had stepped out of Andrea’s shadow, were really nice.

‘Do you think we should go and see if Andrea wants to come?’ Matt asked.

‘I wouldn’t,’ Vicky replied. ‘She knows where we are, she’s probably watching from one of her rooms.’ They all looked up at Andrea’s house but there was no sign of anyone there.

‘And we did put an invite through her door,’ Polly said. ‘Not that she deserved it after the way she talked to Frankie, but we are trying to be neighbourly.’

‘Well, you know I was a bit dubious at first, I mean that you would spend all this money on the house and barely use it, sorry,’ Kate, another of the village ladies, said.

‘Well that was the idea Andrea tried to plant in our heads anyway,’ Amber explained.

‘Oh don’t worry, you’ll be sick of the sight of us we’ll be here so much,’ Polly laughed.

‘Speak for yourself, you won’t be able to get enough of me,’ Matt joked and they all smiled.

‘By the way, I wanted to find a gardener when the house is finished.’ Polly quickly changed the subject. ‘We have some plans for getting plants all round the side, and then we can look at the furniture.’

‘Oh look no further,’ Kate said. She turned to a young woman. ‘Chrissy, come here.’ Chrissy joined us.

‘This is my sister, Chrissy, she has a garden design business and she lives in the village,’ Kate explained. Polly then took Chrissy round the garden, explaining what they were looking for.

The village seemed to have sprung to life in our garden and I felt incredibly content as I watched the party unfold. Everyone was eating, drinking and chatting. Jonathan had met a guy who was involved in the local football team so they were talking football for ages, and Aleksy and Tommy’s paddleboard instructor popped in too. We met Liam’s parents: Shelley, who was very sweet and who seemed keen to be our caretaker when we were away — as well as Liam’s dad, who had a walking stick. He kept admiring the work that had been done while his son was looking awkward as Colin gothim to help by giving guided tours of the house. Everyone was complimentary.

The children were playing without a cross word. As well as Ben, Jess and Millie, there were other children I hadn’t met yet. Younger ones were playing with Summer and Martha and there were a couple still in prams. Summer was besotted by one of the babies, and Martha was trailing Millie around, asking her to plait her hair for her.

The men were all laughing and joking and, at one point, Jonathan almost tried to buy a boat from Colin, but luckily Claire stopped him.

‘Maybe I’ll buy one next summer,’ he said. I sincerely hoped not. That was just asking for trouble.

I saw my humans blossoming once more. The stress that Polly, Claire and Franceska seemed to have been feeling looked as if it was melting away in the sun and as everyone bonded I felt we really were part of Lynstow. And it was as if it was meant to be.

It was an exhausting but lovely afternoon and I was only sad that I couldn’t find Gilbert. I was hoping, yet again, to introduce him to the family while everyone was together, and I decided that I would see him tonight and tell him that that was what we were going to do. It was time to be forceful. I knew that if he stayed here when we went back to London Shelley couldmake sure he was well fed, and then he would definitely be part of the family. I just had to convince him of that. I was pretty sure my family would see it the way George and I did as well. The only problem now was convincing Gilbert.

It also meant I had to keep a close eye on Liam at the party. I was unsure if Gilbert was there, but hiding, although I couldn’t sense him so it seemed unlikely. However, Liam behaved, and his family were there, as well as the other builders, so he was occupied at all times. Only once did I see him sneak off, and following him, discovered he had merely gone to the downstairs loo. Nevertheless, I sat outside and waited for him. It didn’t hurt for him to think that I was on to him and from the way he looked at me, slightly frightened, I think he did.

There was a lot to do in our time left at Seabreeze Cottage before the children had to go back to school, I had to ensure that Gilbert was alright, that Andrea stopped trying to take our house, and that Liam didn’t manage to knock it down. It seemed an awful lot but I was going to make sure I did it.

‘Dad, I think I need to go inside,’ George said, joining me by the front door where I sat watching the fun.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, concerned. George looked a little shattered.

‘I’m a bit hot but mainly it’s very tiring being this cute.’

‘Of course it is.’ I smiled and led him inside for a rest.

Chapter Nineteen

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The clean-up operation took most of the next day, because some of the party guests remained into the night, with the children practically falling asleep in their clothes, the adults enjoying far too many drinks and George and I trying to stay awake to take care of everyone. When I tried to get George to go to bed he refused until Toby did, so he was overtired— well, we were all overtired actually.

The downside to this plan was that the adults all woke up feeling a bit worse for wear, the children were tired and grumpy having not had enough sleep and the house was a total mess. This was not a situation for a cat to worry about though so instead I cleaned my paws, made sure George was thoroughly groomed and then we went to relax.

Last night, after everyone had finally gone to bed, I’d seen Gilbert and we’d enjoyed some leftovers together. Probably because of the sardines I managed to extract a promise from him that this evening, just before the sun set, he would finally let me introduce him to my families. The men were going back to London on Monday, and wouldn’t be back until the following weekend, so it was important that Gilbert met them tonight. Especially as they were all so happy at the moment. The adults had made plenty of friends and the children had made even more. In fact, the women were planning on going to lunch with Amber, Vicky and Kate this week; they all seemed to get on pretty well. There was no sign of Andrea, which was always a good thing, although George was pining for Chanel, which wasn’t.

‘Right, well I’m convinced,’ Jonathan said as the last of the mess was finally cleared away.

‘Convinced about what?’ Claire asked.

‘This place, the village, us spending our weekends, holidays, or most of them, here. I see it now,’ Jonathan replied.

‘I agree,’ Tomasz joined in. ‘I wasn’t totally sure this was a good idea at first. I mean, the cottage, and the money, and then with the restaurant problems, but the children have had such a lovely time, one we wouldn’t be able to have in London. Aleksy is doing so well with his paddleboarding.’ Tomasz looked happy again, which was so wonderful to see. ‘I want to spend as much time here as we can.’

‘I know, Tommy is miffed as it’s the first sport that Aleksy is better than him at,’ Franceska laughed. ‘And we know we have increased the value of this place already. If you think about it, the money we’re spending on it, spread over all the holidays we would take, is well worth it.’

‘More than worth it,’ Polly sighed. ‘I feel so restful here, I mean, I know we’ve been working flat out and it’s been a bit stressful at times but, on the whole, just getting up in the morning and looking out at the sea makes me feel so calm.’

‘So, we are all in love with Seabreeze Cottage?’ Matt laughed.

‘Meow,’ I said. Yes we all were.

We were sitting on the lawn on a big picnic blanket. Well, I was sitting, Jonathan was lying, Claire next to him, Matt was across from us, supervising a game of cricket with the children, although Aleksy and Tommy had been allowed to go to the beach with their new friends. Polly was leaning against an oversized cushion, and Franceska was propped up against Tomasz. George was trying to help with the cricket game but he kept getting hit with the ball which, instead of encouraging him to keep out of the way, was having the opposite effect. He seemed to think it was a game. Luckily the ball was soft. At least it wouldn’t knock him out, and it was too much to hope it would knock any sense into him regarding Chanel, of course.

Speak of the devil. The gate opened and in came Andrea, resplendent in a fitted turquoise dress with high heels, and her halo of blonde hair, carrying an angry-looking Chanel. George immediately stopped what he was doing to gape. Of course this meant he got hit again by the ball. He was a bit embarrassed that Chanel witnessed it though. He made his way to where I was lying on the rug, and we waited for Andrea and Chanel to join us.

‘Hello,’ Jonathan said, sounding friendly. Claire tried to hide a scowl.

‘Hi, I’m terribly sorry to disturb you,’ Andrea said, sounding nice, well nicer than normal anyway. The three women exchanged glances, looking as surprised as I felt.

‘That’s OK. I would say take a seat but we don’t have any,’ Matt laughed. Polly did not seem happy because the men were all looking at Andrea with something of a soppy look on their faces, a bit like the way George looked at Chanel, I thought. Oh goodness, I hoped they weren’t in love with her, they were all married after all.

‘Ha, of course. I would sit on the rug, but in this dress …’ I swear I saw Jonathan blush. I flicked my tail in annoyance. ‘Anyway, I won’t keep you, but I wanted to apologise for not being able to make your little … thingy yesterday, but I was so busy and the girls weren’t feeling great, so we didn’t think it was a good idea. However, to make it up to you I wanted to invite you all over next weekend. Saturday. I’ll make a big picnic lunch and some of my friends will join us. It’ll be lovely.’ She almost seemed as if she wanted to spend time with us. I wasn’t sure if Icould believe what I was hearing. Or could I?

‘Wow, thank you, that does sound nice,’ Tomasz said. Then he looked at the picnic blanket as if he knew he might not have chosen the best words.

‘Well you know, there’s no secret that I wanted to buy your cottage, but it’s clear that you have done a wonderful job in making it your holiday home, and so it’s time for me to be neighbourly.’

‘I guess we can come, but listen, Andrea, if your girls are horrible to our children …’ Polly warned.

‘I promise they won’t be. I did explain to your very reasonable — not to mention handsome — husbands that it was a misunderstanding, my girls were feeling a bit jealous. Anyway, let’s not rake over that again.’ She smiled. No, this was not sincere. I was pretty sure of it, could feel itin the tips of my claws.

‘No, let’s not,’ Claire said between gritted teeth.

‘So you’ll all come, Saturday, about one?’ Andrea looked hopeful. I wondered if the others thought she was genuine in her desire to make amends. I was pretty sure the guys were, but the women weren’t. Or perhaps more accurately the men wanted it to be genuine.

‘Of course we will, we’ll look forward to it,’ Jonathan said. All the women grinned, broadly, but it was the kind of grin that said, ‘Oh no we won’t look forward to it at all.’

George followed them to the gate, making his cute eyes at Chanel who was determinedly ignoring him. He went right to the gate, but then, as they shut it behind them, he lay down, looking defeated.

‘Hey,’ I said, nuzzling him.

‘Why did that woman have to take her away?’ he said sadly, resting his head on his paws. ‘I could tell Chanel wanted to spend some time with me but that woman always stops her.’

‘Of course she does,’ I replied, slightly lost for words. And I gave him the same kind of grin that the ladies had given Andrea.

I found Gilbert nervously grooming himself by the back door. Everyone was in the kitchen. The children were sitting round the table, the adults scattered around performing various tasks: Claire coaxing Summer to eat vegetables, Jonathan next to Toby, Polly stirring something on the hob, Tomasz in the corner of the room reading a newspaper and Matt making hot drinks.

‘I’m not sure about this,’ Gilbert said.

‘Well I am, there’s no time like the present. Now come on, don’t be a sissy.’ It was a word I heard a lot from the kids. George had been primed and he was waiting by the opening between the kitchen and the sand room. I took a deep breath and walked through, making sure Gilbert was with me. The three of us stood in a line and I opened my lungs.

‘MEOW!’ I cried as loudly as I could. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at us.

‘Oh my, who is this?’ Franceska rushed towards us and picked Gilbert up. He looked a bit startled and squirmed in her arms, but then after a while he let her stroke his head. I was relieved. Everyone crowded round.

‘Mum, he looks like a leopard,’ Tommy said, coming over. All the children and adults made a fuss of him and he looked so surprised that I felt a bit sad that he wasn’t used to this treatment. This was howall cats should be treated.

‘So, Alfie, he’s a friend?’ Jonathan asked me. ‘Alfie does have a lot of cat friends,’ he added.

‘I always thought cats were solitary but not our Alfie, he always has someone in tow,’ Matt added.

‘Meow,’ I confirmed; yes he was my friend.

‘Do you think he belongs to one of the neighbours?’ Claire asked. ‘He hasn’t got a collar.’

‘Definitely not Andrea’s,’ Polly added.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy to explain who Gilbert was or why he was here but I also knew we had to try.

‘Meow,’ I said, and I ran to the sand room. There I ran around in circles trying to explain.

‘He lives in the sand room?’ Franceska asked. Bingo!

‘You know, I did wonder, there were cat hairs in there when we first got here,’ Claire said. ‘I felt as if it smelt a bit like a cat as well, but of course we never saw him.’ She stroked Gilbert’s neck, and he actually purred.

‘So you think he lives in the cottage?’ Matt asked.

‘Meow.’ Honestly it wasn’t easy, was it?

‘But it’s been empty for years so that would mean he was living here alone,’ Polly said.

They all started discussing Gilbert, where he may and may not have been living, and I saw him start to make his way back through to the sand room. I ran after him.

‘I knew this would happen,’ he said, sounding sad. ‘They want to know who I belong to, humans aren’t used to us just belonging to ourselves. I knew it was a mistake to come.’

‘No,’ I insisted. ‘Look, they will discuss it but at the end of the day this is your home, and they will realise that. We’ll help them realise it. Please trust me. You have been really helpful with the Liam situation and everything, trust me, they will realise you belong here and that you are Seabreeze Cottage’s very own cat,’ I begged. I wasn’t certain about much but I was about this.

After a while, I persuaded him to return.

‘Well as you said, he’s got no collar, and he hasn’t been around much, or maybe he only comes in normally when we’re all asleep,’ Jonathan started. ‘So my guess is that he’s used to being here, on his own and, look, we’re in the country, plenty of cats survive without pouched food you know.’

I jumped onto Jonathan’s lap and nuzzled him to tell him he was right.

‘I know, but I hate to think he doesn’t have a family to fuss over him,’ Claire said.

‘But, Claire, look at our Dustbin, he loves living in our yard, if we try to take him inside he really doesn’t like it,’ Franceska pointed out.

‘So it’s likely that the cat lives here?’ Claire sounded uncertain.

‘Meow, meow, meow,’ I said, which meant yes, that’s exactly where he lives.

‘But what if we take him back to London?’ Matt suggested.

‘Yowl!’ I screeched. That meant no.

‘He’s a beach and country cat, not a city cat,’ Jonathan pointed out. ‘Look, he’s not skinny, or malnourished, he looks healthy, my vote is that we get him checked out with a vet, make sure he is OK, and has all his immunisations, and then we let him live here. We’ll be here a lot between us and Shelley is going to be taking care of the place, she only lives down the road so she can look after him, but I really think it would be mean to not let him live here, especially as he seems so at home.’

‘The vet?’ Gilbert hissed. OK, I hadn’t thought of that one.

‘A necessary evil,’ I hissed back. It really was, although I felt a bit sorry for him. ‘Just think, you’ll have a quick check and then you will have the run of Seabreeze Cottage when we’re in London, and when we’re here, think of all the fun we’ll have.’

‘You make a good point, Alfie, but still the vet. Even I remember how intrusive they can be.’

But as Gilbert went back to the kitchen and let Tomasz lift him onto his lap I knew I’d won; he had fallen in love with my families, just as I knew he would. After all, who wouldn’t?

‘What is his name?’ Tomasz said, stroking him. Ah, that was something we hadn’t thought of.

‘You know, my aunt had a big ginger cat when I was little. He was called Gilbert. Let’s call him that,’ Claire said and I was stunned into silence.

‘I told you it would be alright,’ I said later when we were alone. ‘But what about the name thing?’ I was still a little shaken by that.

‘It must be one of those coincidences,’ Gilbert said. I shook my fur. It was obvious that he wasn’t the ginger Gilbert who was not only ginger but would have been incredibly old by now, but what were the odds?

‘It is still strange, as if you belong here, like the cat before you,’ I said. ‘Like Seabreeze Cottage always has to have a cat called Gilbert or something.’

We were in the backyard, looking at the moon and enjoying some peace and quiet. George had been so excited by having Gilbert officially around that he had insisted we take him to the beach before bed and George had run around enough to tire himself out. After putting him to bed, I found Gilbert, eating in the kitchen, officially this time. It made my heart swell. After dinner we went for a walk around the garden together.

‘It’s all worked out perfectly,’ I said.

‘I know and thank you. When you first moved here I thought I’d have to find a new home, and I’m so glad I didn’t, because I love Seabreeze Cottage.’

‘I know, it really does get to you, doesn’t it?’

‘It’s more than a house, Alfie, it’s special. That’s what I thought when I first came here and I still think it now!’

We were disturbed from our musings by a noise the other side of the hedge. I darted into the hedge, Gilbert on my paws. It wasn’t as easy to get through as our usual gap but we fought our way so we could see into Andrea’s garden. She was sitting on the terrace, drinking, and Liam was with her.

‘Can we get closer?’ I asked.

‘Follow me,’ Gilbert said, and moved stealthily nearer, so we could hear them.

‘I thought you’d forgotten all that stuff,’ Liam was saying. ‘I can’t do anything to the house, I’m being watched like a hawk, Andrea.’

‘Of course I haven’t. And if you want to be with me you will do as I ask.’

I had to concede she looked beautiful in the moonlight. For once, there was no sight of Chanel.

‘I love you.’ Liam looked sad. ‘But I don’t know what more I can do.’

‘Liam, I have told you the predicament I’m in. It’s getting worse. My husband, sorry, soon to be ex-husband is piling on the pressure. I need to sell this house but I can’t if I don’t have anywhere to go. Don’t you see how desperate I am?’ Her voice trembled with panic.

‘But, again, Andrea, I don’t see what I can do. There must be somewhere else?’

‘No. there isn’t. I want you to take these.’ Andrea handed something to him. Both her voice and her face hardened.

‘Matches? Why are you giving me matches? I don’t smoke.’

‘No, but the house will when you set a little fire,’ Andrea said quietly.

I felt sick as I looked at Gilbert, who looked equally horrified.

‘No, there’s no way I can do that,’ Liam said, shaking his head, which was a relief. ‘I won’t be an arsonist.’

‘Listen, on Saturday afternoon they’ll all be here, the house will be empty, so you can go in and set a fire. There won’t be too much damage as you don’t need to leave it too long. Then you can call the fire brigade, anonymously of course. And you can start the fire in the kitchen which hasn’t even been done yet.’ She paused, as if to let her words sink in. ‘But, it’ll have done enough damage to make them want to get away from here.’

‘But, Andrea, why would you burn down a house that you want to live in?’ Liam asked, quite reasonably I thought.

‘Because I’m desperate, Liam! Haven’t you heard a word I said? My husband is threatening me, my girls need a home, and minimum disruption to their lives. Having their dad move out has been hard enough on them, I won’t let them suffer any more. No one will be hurt, but they won’t want to stay here after a fire. It’s the perfect solution.’

So that was why she had invited everyone over on Saturday. Oh goodness, I was right not to trust her.

‘It’s crazy. I am not going to do that. I could go to jail.’

I saw Andrea shudder at that.‘Liam, I’m beyond desperate, I would never ask you if I had any other options.’ Her voice sounded teary.

‘As I said, Andrea, I am not going to jail over this.’

‘You won’t, and it won’t be a bad fire. I’ll be your alibi, I promise no one will know it was you.’

‘But you said the neighbours will all be with you.’

‘And I’ll say that you were working upstairs doing something for me, I’ll think of something.’ She sounded insistent. ‘Liam, darling, don’t worry about the details, what I need you to worry about is how you can get into the house when they are all here, I’ll take care of the rest.’ She leant over and kissed him for what seemed like a very long time.

‘I don’t know, I mean I’m not happy about it. Not only is it illegal and dangerous but the families have been good to me …’

‘But I’ll be much better to you, do this for me and I will take proper care of you.’ When Andrea smiled at him, I felt my fur stand on end. ‘We will be together, officially, I promise, you just have to do this one small thing.’

I wasn’t sure but it did seem as if Andrea could be persuasive, and she also had Liam twisted round her little finger. He was clearly besotted; though it was dark I could see it in his eyes and in the way he was sitting, and for the first time I felt sorry for him. She was a powerful woman and he didn’t stand a chance. But then again, I was a powerful cat and therefore they didn’t stand a chance. Well I hoped they didn’t. If Liam agreed to what Andrea asked, then our holiday home, and Gilbert’s home, was in jeopardy.

‘I will not allow them to set fire to Seabreeze Cottage,’ I said angrily when Gilbert and I were back home, my legs shaking with anger.

‘Me either, it is my home, Alfie, not my holiday home but my home.’ Gilbert looked as furious as I felt.

‘I know. But how are we going to stop all this?’

I had no clear idea, I couldn’t stop the families from going to Andrea’s, that wouldn’t work, so we would have to come up with another way. I was thinking through my past plans, but I couldn’t get hurt like I did once, or stuck up a tree, or lose George again, like the last plan I had hatched. No, whatever we did, I was not putting George at risk again.

‘Look, we know when they are planning on doing it — although I still don’t know if Liam will go through with it — but on Saturday, when the humans are all next door, we will somehow have to stop Liam from setting fire to the house.’ Gilbert sounded so confident that I began to feel better.

‘That’s true, he’s quite incompetent so he might not even be able to burn the house down!’ I liked to look on the bright side.

‘But whatever, I will guard the house, you will switch between the party and here, because George will clearly want to be near Chanel, and we will sort it. If I have to scratch, or hurt Liam, I will, Alfie, don’t worry, we won’t let this happen.’

‘So we have a plan?’ It wasn’t a very solid one but it was something. And Gilbert did have sharp claws, and he was used to living on his wits, which meant he was a much tougher cat than I was. I could see that as a team maybe, just maybe, we could do it.

‘We do.’ And it was a very simple plan, which, given those I’d had to carry out in my past, was a huge relief. I mean, two cats, one man and a potential fire.

What could go wrong?

Chapter Twenty

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The week seemed painfully long. I felt as if I was waiting and waiting, but at last it was Saturday and the day of Andrea’s party and Liam’s arson attempt. I felt sick to my fur with the stress of it all but I was doing my best to keep calm and ensure that George didn’t sense the danger that we, or at least Seabreeze Cottage, faced.

In fact the arson attempt would affect all of us, because the children were having the summer of their lives, the cottage was being transformed into a home which had a part of each of us in it, and everyone was so happy. Jonathan had even said to Claire that she was right and they would never want to sell Seabreeze Cottage. If it hadn’t been for Andrea it would have been a happy ending. But with only just over a week left of this holiday, I worried that the outcome would be different to that which each of us expected.

Gilbert, a true member of our family now, had been keeping tabs on Liam. Honestly, he would have made an excellent stalker, not like my poor George who had spent the best part of the week mooning after Chanel. Anyway, Liam had not given anything away. He was still working at the house but he was never left alone, and so he was causing no problems. He didn’t have the chance. He did go and see Andrea a couple of times but they had talked in the house and so Gilbert couldn’t hear what was being said.

Our loose plan still stood. Gilbert would guard the house and I would veer between the party and home. If he needed me, Gilbert knew where he’d find me and vice versa. We would be a team. I still didn’t want to get George involved though, he was too little to worry about such things, and of course I was his parent so I wanted to protect him from the bad in the world. I knew I wouldn’t always be able to, I felt sad but realistic, but I wanted him to enjoy his kittenhood for as long as he could.

The good thing was that Tomasz, Matt and Jonathan all had a week off so they were going to be staying with us all week! It would make the house a bit full, but I liked that. There were going to be lots of trips to the beach, fish and chips and ice cream in our last week, I was sure.

Claire, Franceska and Polly were all wearing dresses, they did look lovely, and the children were also quite neatly dressed… for now, I knew it wouldn’t last. The men were wearing their summer casual clothes — shorts, Tshirts or, in Jonathan’s case, a short-sleeved shirt — and George and I had made an extra effort with our grooming. Especially George, he had groomed his fur so it was practically gleaming. I knew Chanel was wrong for him, too old for one, and he was too young for love, but he was going to be a heartbreaker when he was older, that was for sure.

We made a good-looking group, I thought as we set off. Instead of going through our hedge we decided to arrive with the humans, though Tommy carried George, as if he didn’t trust him not to run off — how little he knew. George wasn’t going anywhere but to see his crush. As we walked through the front gate and into Andrea’s garden, they were all there to greet us: Andrea, her daughters, and the village children, along with Amber, Kate and Vicky and their husbands, who were now friends of ours.

‘Ah, here’s our guests of honour,’ Andrea said loudly. Claire looked behind her to make sure that there weren’t any other guests she could be talking about.

‘Thank you,’ Jonathan said, giving Andrea a kiss on her cheek and holding out the bag they had brought with them, which contained wine I think. ‘Where shall I put this?’ he asked.

Of course, Andrea was holding Chanel. George managed to leap from Tommy’s arms into Jonathan’s, nearly making him drop the wine, but also bringing him close to Chanel.

‘Meow,’ he said, trying to sound flirtatious I think. She turned her nose up and looked away. He seemed happy with that.

‘George,’ Jonathan chastised, putting him on the grass.

‘Oh follow me and we can put that in the kitchen.’ Andrea smiled at Jonathan and led him into the house.

‘Why do I think he’ll never come out alive?’ Claire whispered to Polly, who laughed.

The children all immediately ran off and I told George to go and keep an eye on Toby. He was nervous and had confided in George (who had then told me) that he hadn’t wanted to come today, he was scared of the girls. George, who wanted to trail after Chanel, reluctantly agreed.

‘If Chanel sees how great you are with the children she’ll think more of you,’ I said, feeling once again that I was a terrible cat. But it wasn’t just that I was trying to deceive George, it was also that I didn’t want him spending too much time with Chanel, who would just continue to behorrible to him, and I genuinely did need him to keep an eye on Toby, especially as I would be busy waiting for Liam to strike.

‘Do you think?’

‘Absolutely.’ I didn’t of course, but it did the trick as George bounded off to look after Toby.

It was one of the hottest days we’d had so far. The children all wore hats but even they weren’t running around as much as normal and the adults were sitting around on chairs that Andrea had arranged on the lawn, sweating and chatting. I was desperate for shade but I couldn’t risk missing anything. Never mind the house, my fur felt as if it was going to catch on fire. Nevertheless, I ran back to see Gilbert, who reported that nothing had happened so far, then I ran back to the party where George was being fussed over by most of the children, though I saw him stealing glances at Chanel, who was sitting with Andrea, ignoring him still. Poor kitten. The women were all getting on but I could see that Andrea was more comfortable with the men, as she flirted with each of them.

‘Oh you do look as if you have a lovely tan,’ she told Jonathan, who looked a bit too pleased with himself. ‘Matt, would you be a darling and top up the drinks, after all you do it so well.’ And to Tomasz: ‘You must give me the recipe for that dip you brought over, it is simply the most divine thing I have ever tasted.’ Tomasz blushed and Franceska glared; she had made the dip. The other women’s husbands all got the same ‘Andrea’ treatment.

But at the same time, Claire was chatting to Fiona, Polly was talking to Kate, Vicky and Amber, so it was all fine. Or so I hoped.

I had to get some shade so I went to take a quick lie-down under a bush. Unfortunately the heat and the worry had made me tired and, without realising it, I dozed off.

‘Alfie,’ a voice hissed. I blinked my eyes open and looked at Gilbert.

I jumped up.‘Oh no, I’m terrible, I can’t believe I fell asleep. What’s happened?’ I looked at the lawn; the party was still in full swing and I couldn’t see anything wrong.

‘Look, come with me, quickly.’

I followed Gilbert back home.‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

‘Well, here’s the thing, Toby and George ran in the house. Toby was crying. There are no adults and I think that perhaps they don’t know that he’s gone.’

‘Liam?’ I asked.

‘No sign.’

I ran up to the boys’ room where Toby was huddled on his bed, sobbing, and George was snuggled up next to him.

‘Meow?’ I said, in order to ask George what happened. He hopped off the bed and followed me so we were out of earshot.

‘Those girls were horrible to him again, they teased him about being adopted,’ George said. ‘But no one saw him when he ran back home, he went through our gap in the hedge,’ he explained. ‘It was a bit tight but he wriggled through. I followed him because I couldn’t leave him alone.’

‘Did anyone else see this?’

‘No, they waited until he was alone, well apart from me.’

‘You did well, George, and I’ll go and get Claire and Jonathan now.’

I left Gilbert in charge as I went back to the party. I felt so sick now, not because of Andrea but because of her daughters. How did children get so mean? I remembered when I had to go and sort out a bully at Aleksy’s school a few years ago; the boy had been unhappy but that is not an excuse for being horrible to other children. I was so furious and I knew that Claire and Jonathan would be too.

When I got to the garden, I quickly found Claire, sitting next to Polly with a plate of food in her hand.

‘Meow!’ I shouted, jumping on her lap. I had learnt from past experience that subtlety didn’t get results.

‘Alfie, I’ve got food,’ she shouted, dropping it.

‘Yowl.’ I put my paw on her chest, which I knew normally got her attention.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Meow.’ Claire stood up, and looked around.

‘Where’s Toby?’ she asked. ‘Jonathan, where’s Toby?’ she shouted really loudly. All the guests fell silent.

‘I can’t find him,’ Henry said, running over.

‘Do you know where he is?’ Polly asked.

‘No, the last time I saw him he was with Serafina and Savannah, but …’ Henry looked as if he might cry. ‘I think George is with him because he’s not here either.’

‘Hey, it’s OK, Henry, can everyone search the garden,’ Jonathan said, taking control.

‘Savannah, Serafina, do you have any idea where he is?’ Andrea asked. The two girls, with their long hair and matching dresses, looked as if butter wouldn’t melt. Serafina shrugged.

‘He said he wanted to go home,’ Savannah said.

‘Why? Why did he want to go home?’ Claire asked, sounding angry.

‘Please don’t shout at my girls,’ Andrea said, smoothly.

‘My son is missing, I am a little stressed. If he has—’

‘Claire, let’s go back to the cottage, he’s probably there if that’s what he said,’ Jonathan said, calmly as he put his arm around her.

‘Oh, you mean he might be in the cottage, alone?’ Andrea said as if it had just occurred to her and the colour drained from her face.

But Claire was already out of her chair.

I knew what I had to do.

I ran as fast as I could, taking the quickest route to the house through the hedge. Gilbert came to meet me. He just looked at me and I noted the horror in his eyes.

‘What?’ I asked.

‘I was just coming to find you, Liam’s there.’ I followed him through the back door and into the kitchen. I felt my heart almost stop.

Liam was stood by the kitchen table, holding a rag and a lit match. There was a funny smell. I glanced at Gilbert.

‘Is Toby still here?’ I asked.

‘Yes and George, upstairs.’

‘Oh my goodness.’ I felt sick.

‘What should we do?’ he asked. ‘Go to George?’

‘No, we need to stop Liam,’ I replied. ‘We’ll have to jump at him, it’s the only thing.’ Before Liam could notice us we both launched ourselves at him. I managed to jump up onto his chest, digging my claws in, Gilbert leapt onto his shoulder where he scratched his face, as hard as he could.

‘Ugggggh!’ Liam shouted and he dropped the lit rag onto the table as he tried to bat us both off. Gilbert clung and scratched him again.

I had to put the fire out before it took hold, so I jumped onto the kitchen table, feeling the heat from the flaming rag, which thankfully hadn’t yet spread. I went to a jug of flowers, pushed it near the rag and, with a big shove, managed to push it over. Water dripped everywhere and the fire fizzled out. The relief was immense. Gilbert finally let go of Liam and jumped down onto the floor. Liam looked shocked as he touched his face which was bleeding. Gilbert and I shared a congratulatory look, although my heart was still pounding.

We had foiled the plan. We had saved the cottage and, more importantly, George and Toby. Before I could go and upstairs to check on them, the door burst open.

‘What are you doing here?’ Claire demanded. Liam was definitely not her favourite person.

‘Um,’ Liam mumbled.

‘How did you get in?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Back door,’ Liam said.

‘We never lock it, which is why I think Toby’s probably upstairs. Speaking of which …’ Claire ran off.

Jonathan looked as if he was going to follow her but then he glared at Liam. He was still deciding what to do when a phone started ringing. It was on the kitchen table, but had escaped getting soaked by the flower water. I looked at the horror on Liam’s face and then I nudged it with my paw towards Jonathan.

‘Why is Andrea calling you?’ he asked as he picked up the ringing phone. ‘And why are there flowers and water all over the table?’

Liam, who I didn’t think could get any paler, looked as if he had no colour left in him. Jonathan looked at the phone, I wanted him to answer it but he didn’t.

‘I’m going to check on my son,’ he said. ‘You stay here. If you move an inch I will kill you.’

Liam sat down on a chair. We both decided to stay and guard our hostage.

The flower jug was lying on its side and it hid the rag that Liam had tried to start a fire with. Liam still looked horrified, but he collected up the flowers, shoved them back in the jug, then he mopped up the water with some kitchen towels and quickly hid the rag in his pocket. There was a faint smell of smoke in the air, and Liam had to clean a black mark off the table, but it looked as if he would get away with it. And I wasn’t sure what we could do about that, but the important thing was that the fire didn’t get going and hopefully now they could put a stop to Liam and Andrea once and for all.

It felt like ages before Claire and Jonathan came back downstairs. Liam had his head in his hands. Gilbert and I remained silent.

‘Meow?’ It was my way of seeing if everything was alright.

‘Toby is better, calmer, but I suggested he play in his room with George so we can sort this out. I don’t want him upset any more than he already is,’ Claire said.

Jonathan turned to Liam.‘So, are you going to tell us what you were doing here?’

‘And what happened to your face?’ Claire asked. She looked at me, then at Gilbert.

‘Well, you see, I thought I might have left some tools here …’ Liam started. ‘I had to do some work for my mum and, well, anyway I needed a, a screwdriver, which I couldn’t find so I came here, but no one was in, so I’m sorry but I just let myself in. The cats must have thought I was upto no good so they attacked me …’ Liam trailed off. It didn’t sound feasible even to me.

‘Good cats,’ Claire said.

‘So why was Andrea calling you?’ Jonathan asked, folding his arms.

‘I don’t know, I mean I work for her sometimes.’

Yes you do, I thought.

‘Really?’ Jonathan looked doubtful.

‘Well that’s fine. I’ll just call your mum to check; after all she’s going to be looking after the cottage for us soon.’ Claire stared at Liam, until he looked as if he’d be sick.

‘No,’ he shouted a bit too loudly. ‘Please don’t.’

There was a commotion at the back door and Polly, Matt and Tomasz bundled in.

‘Thank goodness Toby is here,’ Polly said. ‘Thanks for calling and, before you ask, Franceska has all the other children in sight, so don’t worry.’

‘Is he alright?’ Matt asked.

‘No, he’s distraught. He says he hates it here, and wants to go back to London. Those girls teased him for being adopted and they called him names, anyway, I’ll go into that with Andrea, but we reassured him for now. I wish we hadn’t gone to her house.’ Claire, who seemed so in control, burst into tears. Polly wrapped her arms around her.

‘What’s he doing here?’ Tomasz said, as if he had just noticed Liam.

‘That’s what we’d like to know,’ Jonathan said. ‘He says he came to find some tools, but then when we said we’d call his mother to check out his story he told us not to.’

‘Right, buddy.’ Tomasz, who was the biggest of the men, sat down next to Liam. ‘You better tell us what you were doing here before I call the police and have you arrested.’ Liam flinched.

‘Wait.’ Andrea suddenly appeared from the back door.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Claire shouted. ‘This is all your fault. Toby is in such a state, your daughters called him terrible names and said he didn’t belong anywhere because he was adopted, what kind of children say that?’

For the first time since we’d met her, Andrea had the grace to look guilty.

‘I know, I’m sorry—’

‘What, no excuses, no ridiculous stories about how your girls wouldn’t do that.’

‘Unfortunately they did say that, I’m not going to pretend.’ Andrea sat down at the table, looking defeated. ‘And the fact that Liam’s here is my fault too.’

‘You better explain,’ Polly said, sitting down. Andrea went to sit on the other side of Liam. Tomasz moved to the other side of the table. I sat on Polly’s lap. Andrea and Liam glanced at each other as they faced Jonathan, Claire, Matt, Polly and Tomasz. Jonathan had his arms crossed, Claire was still tearful, Polly fuming and Matt and Tomasz looked ready for a fight. Gilbert had placed himself on the floor by the door, as if to stop them getting out.

‘I didn’t want it to go this far, you have to believe that,’ Andrea started.

‘What exactly?’ Jonathan asked.

‘I told you I wanted to buy Seabreeze Cottage, I didn’t tell the truth about why.’ She looked awkward. Liam squeezed her hand. ‘My husband, I said he’s away on business but actually, well, the truth is that he’s left me.’

‘Left you?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Yes, for another woman. It’s been very hard, on me, and especially on the girls. They don’t understand where he is, or why they never see him any more. I mean, he’s not even been here for ages, since he moved to London with his mistress, it’s as if the girls don’t exist for him.’ I saw actual tears in Andrea’s eyes.

‘That’s terrible,’ Matt said, running his hand through his hair.

‘Yes, but what does it have to do with Seabreeze?’ Polly asked. I wanted to know that too.

‘My husband wants to sell the house and, to cut a long story short, I desperately need to say in Lynstow, for the girls’ sake. I can’t bear to take them away from the village, not after everything they’ve been through.’

‘Oh for goodness’ sake, get on with it,’ Polly said, irritably.

‘I thought that if I got this cottage I could afford it, because of the work that needed doing, and at least keep the girls in the same village, same school, near their friends.’

‘Hold on, you were going to live here?’

‘Yes, I was going to buy this cottage, do it up — at least as much as I could afford to — but then you guys came here and started doing work.’ Andrea looked annoyed for a moment as if it was our fault her plan had gone awry. Which it was actually, well mine and Gilbert’s and Toby’s, I supposed.

‘Right, let me get this straight. You could only afford it before we started work on it yet you still persisted in trying to get your hands on it?’ Claire asked, her face ashen.

‘Yes, I thought that you wouldn’t like it here, and you’d want to get out so I could persuade you to sell it to me quickly you know cash buyer, no estate agent fees. But you wouldn’t. So, I was desperate.’

‘Which is where Liam comes in, I’m guessing,’ Tomasz said. He was still looking furious.

‘I’m sorry,’ Liam mumbled. I flicked my tail at him.

‘It wasn’t meant to get out of hand, I just needed the house. I still do.’ Andrea wiped tears away, I checked and they were real. ‘I thought if I made your lives a bit miserable you’d change your mind, decide Lynstow wasn’t the ideal holiday destination after all and sell to me. I was offering a good price.’

‘It’s not about money. So, Liam, all the mistakes?’ Polly asked.

‘Yes, they were for Andrea,’ Liam admitted. ‘But you were so cross and, well, I wasn’t the best at sabotage. Colin made sure I was watched like a hawk so I had to give it up. It was like that damn cat kept foiling me, which I don’t understand.’

‘Meow.’ Of course you don’t.

Andrea shook her head.‘It was just meant to delay the work, cost money, annoy you all and, well, get you to pack up, but nothing seemed to work, and to be honest, I got desperate. It’s not just about money for me, there’s the girls …’

‘Please tell me you didn’t get your children involved in your plan?’

‘No, of course, I might be a total cow but I wouldn’t do that. No, what happened was that the girls overheard me talking to my lawyer saying how you guys moving into the cottage was ruining everything and I wished you weren’t around. I said if you left then everything would be fine for us again.’ She put her head in her hands. ‘I’m sorry, I really didn’t want them to be mean but when they were, well I can’t say I tried to stop them. But with Toby, I feel truly terrible about that.’

‘OK, I get it.’ Jonathan held his hand up. ‘You were in trouble, you needed the cottage, so you got this goof of a man to try to sabotage our build. It didn’t work. So what is he doing here now?’

The silence felt endless. Andrea glanced at Liam who looked as if he was going to cry. Then she took his hand. I looked at Gilbert who was staring at the box of matches. Still no one else noticed them.

‘You know, I am this close to calling the police,’ Polly said. She was often the feistiest in these situations. Matt was more laid-back although even he looked shocked. Tomasz’s eyes were flecked with anger and Claire was crying, so it was down to Polly and Jonathan really.

‘Please don’t. I know my daughters have behaved badly but they don’t deserve to lose their mum as well as their dad, and Liam, well none of this was Liam’s fault. He has a crush on me and I’m afraid I used that.’

Liam frowned.‘But you said we’d be together, when you got the cottage.’

‘Oh dear, you’ve been played,’ Polly said.

‘Liam, I was desperate, I still am. I felt that Seabreeze Cottage was the only way to keep what’s left of my family together. I know it was wrong but you were so keen on me. And to be honest, I’m possibly almost old enough to be your mother.’

‘I’m quite sure you are more than old enough,’ Polly bit.

‘But I loved you.’ Liam looked so crestfallen I actually felt sorry for him.

‘This is a very interesting nonexistent love story, but what were you doing here now?’ Jonathan pushed.

‘He was just going to …’ Andrea looked at him and mouthed that she was sorry. ‘You know, nobble the build when no one was around. The idea was that you’d come in Monday, everything would start going wrong, and you’d all get so fed up that you would agree to sell to me.’

Liam looked relieved as Andrea finished. They weren’t going to confess about the fire and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to draw attention to it or not. On the one paw they deserved to be caught, on the other, neither were exactly master criminals. And Andrea had obviously been desperate. I didn’t condone her actions but I almost understood. She thought she was doing it for her family and I would do anything for my families. Me getting stuck on the roof was proof of that.

I jumped off the table and I went to where Liam had dropped the matches. I put my paw over them. I had a big decision to make for a cat. If I drew my humans’ attention to them they would see exactly what Andrea and Liam had planned and probably have no option but to call the police. And of course they would think about how Toby had been here, alone with George, and what could have happened and it would give us all nightmares. But on the other paw, Andrea had put a stop to it as soon as she heard that Toby was here and Liam wasn’t acting like an arsonist, so I wasn’t sure he would have gone through with it anyway. Besides, Gilbert and I had stopped him, hadn’t we? Just as we planned.

I looked at Gilbert, trying to ask what he thought. We went to the back of the room to have a chat.

‘All’s OK at the moment, isn’t it?’ he said.

‘I think it would hurt everyone if they thought that they actually would set fire to the place,’ I replied.

‘And look at him, he doesn’t look as if he’d have been capable of going through with it. And with me attached to him he couldn’t anyway.’ We both seemed in agreement and, while the adults were still arguing about what to do, I walked back and pushed the matches under the cooker with my paw so they would, for now, remain unseen.

‘You did a brilliant job, Gilbert,’ I said.

‘You too, Alfie,’ he replied.

‘I don’t see why you should get away with this,’ Polly was saying.

‘I haven’t, believe me. I haven’t got the cottage and I don’t have a husband,’ Andrea said and she started to cry again.

‘Liam, you can’t work here any more. I won’t have you in this house, not after what you’ve done,’ Polly said.

‘That’s reasonable,’ Liam said. ‘I guess you’ll tell Colin.’

‘Unless you want to?’

He shook his head.

‘And I want your girls to apologise to Toby,’ Jonathan added.

‘Of course.’ Finally, I thought, Andrea seemed defeated. ‘But if you change your mind about selling this place …’ she added as she stood up and left the house with a heartbroken Liam trailing after her.

‘She’s unbelievable,’ Polly said.

‘She’s desperate I think,’ Tomasz added.

‘It’s kind of ruined it, though, don’t you think?’ I was surprised to hear Claire say those words. ‘The cottage, the summer, the idea they wanted us out, and Toby, well it all feels like such a mess.’

With that she burst into tears again. I saw they weren’t just about this, but about Toby, her son, who was so hurt by the cruel words of two children, about her holidays as a child when she hadn’t had to deal with the complexities of adulthood. And Seabreeze, which had already undergone such a huge transformation but still had a way to go, which we’d thought was our home but suddenly, it didn’t feel like it. It had all been tainted.

Franceska burst in with the rest of the children.‘I kept them in our garden as long as I could, but they wanted to see their parents,’ she said. ‘Is all OK?’

‘Yes, but we’ll tell you later,’ Claire said.

‘Can I just say.’ Aleksy stood forward. ‘That we did love it here, but with Toby, and those horrible girls and their horrible mum, everyone seems miserable and, well, we all just want to go home.’

The adults looked shocked.

‘But,kochanie, you were having such a good time with your new friends,’ Franceska said.

‘We were, but now we’ve seen you all arguing with that woman and then with Toby being so upset, and Savannah and Serafina being so horrible, we just don’t think it’s worth it. Not for this.’ He looked round the kitchen table at the adults. It was clear that everyone was unhappy.

‘Aleksy speaks for all of us,’ Tommy added.

‘Let’s just go home,’ Summer said, coming to sit on her mum’s lap. ‘Mummy’s sad and I don’t like that. Toby’s sad and I don’t like that.’

‘Some things just aren’t worth it,’ Aleksy said. And everyone looked shocked.

‘Out of the mouths of babes,’ Matt said, as he pulled Martha onto his lap.

‘Claire?’ Jonathan said.

‘When Toby ran off, and when for a moment I didn’t know if he was safe, I felt so sick, and if it’s being here that’s done that, then maybe the kids are right, maybe we should go home.’

I made my way over to Gilbert and we went into the sand room to have another chat.

‘Do you think they all mean it?’ he asked.

‘It’s been dramatic for them, this thing with Toby, finding out that the house was being sabotaged, it really will have shaken them up,’ I said.

‘But if they sell the house to Andrea …’

‘I know, you’ll be homeless.’

‘No, I wasn’t just thinking that, I mean I would, but that’s not the worst thing — I have been before and I will again. No, it’s that Seabreeze is a special house, a home, and you guys belong here. Your families have loved being here for the most part. I know today has been shocking and Ithink we were right not to draw attention to the matches as they would probably be packing right now, but we need them to remember how much they’ve loved being here.’

‘You’re right, we need to save Seabreeze, and our families and we need to save the summer.’ We had foiled Andrea and her plotting, and poor Liam, but that, it seemed, wasn’t enough. We had to make everyone fall back in love with Seabreeze Cottage.

But of course, I had no idea how.

Chapter Twenty-One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everyone, including me, stared at Polly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Or me,’ Toby added.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Exactly,’ Polly said.

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

‘Hi,’ Jonathan said, sounding stiff.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘I am so grateful for that.’

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

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

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

‘What’s wrong?’ Gilbert said.

‘It’s George, he’s not here,’ I said.

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

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

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

‘What’s wrong?’ Claire asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Is that OK?’ Claire said.

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

‘Andrea, where do you suggest we look?’

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

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

‘OK, good plan.’

‘Meow?’ I said.

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

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

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

‘Hello,’ a tabby cat approached me.

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