‘Alfie, we have a guest for dinner tonight,’ she said, sounding excited. She went off to shower. When she came back downstairs she was wearing a pair of jeans and a jumper, not pyjamas. She started cooking and although she poured a glass of wine as she did this, for once she wasn’t crying. She fed and petted me, as she pulled things out of the fridge and put them in a pan. She was happier than I had ever seen her as she hummed to herself, and I wondered if the man in the picture was coming round. I felt afraid for her as well as optimistic.
The doorbell went and she rushed to open the door. When she did, I saw a woman who looked around the same age as Claire standing there, holding out some flowers and wine.
‘Hi Tasha, come in,’ Claire smiled.
‘Hi Claire, what a gorgeous house,’ Tasha exclaimed, cheerily, as she entered.
I watched them as Tasha took her coat off and Claire asked her if she wanted a glass of wine, before they sat down at the small dining table.
‘You’re my first proper visitor,’ Claire said. I felt a little bit put out; I was her first proper visitor, surely?
‘Well, cheers to that and welcome to London! It’s good to see you out of the office.’
‘Is it always that crazy at work?’ Claire asked.
‘Yes, or even crazier!’ Tasha laughed and I immediately liked her. I settled myself under the table and brushed against her leg. She rewarded me by stroking my tail in a very lovely way – something I really enjoyed. I wanted Claire and Tasha to be friends, so I could be friends with her too.
I was right, it seemed Tasha’s visit was doing her good as Claire did eat properly and I hoped that perhaps she was turning a corner. When I began to stop pining for Agnes my appetite came back, perhaps hers was too.
‘So, tell me what brought you to London?’ Tasha asked.
‘It’s a long story,’ Claire replied, and she poured them both more wine before she started talking.
I stayed still under the table, huddled in the warmth of Tasha’s leg, and listened as Claire filled in the blanks of her recent life. As she spoke, I could hear her voice change but I knew she wasn’t crying; she went from sad, to angry, and back to sad again.
‘I married Steve, after we’d been together for three years. We lived together for a year and he proposed as soon as we moved in.’
‘When did you get married?’ Tasha asked.
‘Just over a year ago. I hadn’t had much luck in love, to be honest. My mum always said I was a late starter. I didn’t really have a relationship until I went to university! I was studious, I guess. But then I met Steve. I was living in Exeter, in Devon, working for a marketing consultancy, and I met him at a party. He was handsome and lovely. I fell for him straight away.’
‘Right,’ Tasha said, draining her glass and pouring more drinks.
‘I thought he was the perfect man; funny, kind and charming. And when he proposed I thought I’d burst with happiness. I was about to turn thirty-five, I wanted children really badly, and he agreed. We said that we’d get married and enjoy a bit of a honeymoon, then try for a baby.’ Claire wiped a tear from her eye. She was being stronger than I’d ever seen her, but her sadness was all around us.
‘Are you sure you want to tell me?’ Tasha asked, softly. Claire nodded and took a sip of her drink before continuing.
‘Sorry, but I haven’t spoken about it to many people.’
‘Please, don’t apologise.’ Tasha was definitely a woman after my own heart.
‘But then about three months after the wedding, he changed. He became moody and short-tempered and whenever I asked what was wrong, he just snapped at me. It got to the point that I was almost too scared to speak in my own home.’
I felt many emotions listening to Claire’s story; sadness, anger, and real affection for the woman who took care of me. If I ever saw this awful man, I’d scratch him across the face. And I’m not even a violent cat.
‘About eight months after the wedding he told me that he’d made a terrible mistake. He had fallen in love with someone else and he left me and moved in with her. I knew who she was, she worked in his gym. What a clich?, eh?’
‘What a jerk, more like,’ Tasha said.
‘I know, but I feel like such a fool. I really thought that he was the one, and I had no idea that he was probably cheating on me for ages. And that’s why I moved. They lived in the same area as me. Exeter is a small city and I knew that I’d probably see them all the time. I couldn’t bear that.’ I finally understood why Claire was here and why she cried so much. It just made me love her more – I wanted to take care of her as much as she took care of me.
‘Sometimes I think that you never truly know another person,’ Tasha said, sounding sad.
‘Sorry,’ Claire said, suddenly sitting up straight and pulling herself together, ‘I haven’t asked about you. You say your husband’s called Dave?’
‘Boyfriend, or “partner”, if we’re being PC. We’ve been together for ten years, neither of us wants to get married but that’s more about marriage than our relationship, I hope. We’re happy. We don’t have children, but it’s in the plans for the next year or so. Dave plays football too much and is messy and I drive him crazy in other ways, but we work.’ Tasha almost looked apologetic.
‘I’m glad, because then there’s always hope,’ Claire smiled. I realised that although I was sure she was crying because of Steve, she was also lonely in other ways and Tasha might help her with that. I knew she had me but I wasn’t so vain that I didn’t know she also needed human friends.
‘Look, I have a book group. It’s a bit lame, because we drink wine and gossip more than we talk about the books, but why don’t you join us? It’d be a really good way for you to meet people and they are a really lovely bunch, even if I do say so myself.’
‘I’d love to. I need to rebuild my life now, that’s why I came here.’
‘Let’s drink to that,’ she raised her glass. ‘New beginnings.’
I couldn’t resist it; I jumped onto the table, knowing full well that humans didn’t really like that, and I raised my paw to touch the glass, which was my way of joining in. They both looked at me and laughed.
‘That’s an incredible cat you’ve got there,’ Tasha said, giving me a very big fuss.
‘I know, he came with the house. Although, Alfie, you shouldn’t be on the table.’ But Claire wasn’t cross; she laughed. I grinned my cat grin and jumped down.
They both seemed happy, so I thought it might be a good time to check on my other friend, Jonathan, and see if he had received my latest present yet. They didn’t seem to notice me leave via the cat flap, as they were still laughing. It seemed that Tasha made Claire happy and I was very glad of it.
It was dark and the temperature had dropped as I made my way through the back gardens to number 46. The big fat Tom who had bullied me before tried to scare me, but I just yelled as loudly as I could at him and he backed off. He was too fat to chase me anyway. I went through the cat flap and into Jonathan’s immaculate kitchen. It was in darkness but I soon found him sitting on the sofa in his living room. In front of him was a computer and there was a man’s face on the screen, which seemed to be talking.
‘Thanks mate, I appreciate it,’ Jonathan said.
‘No worries.’ The man on the screen spoke English but with a funny-sounding accent. He looked about the same age as Jonathan, but not so handsome.
‘I’m just grateful that I’ve got a job, I can’t cope with having nothing to do.’
‘It’s not quite the same as SSV, but it’s a good company and it should suit you.’
‘If you’re ever in the UK, I’ll buy you dinner,’ Jonathan said.
‘Same if you come to Sydney. Anyway, see you mate.’
Jonathan closed the lid on the computer and it was time for me to make my entrance. Standing as tall as I could, I lifted my tail magnificently in the air. I strode, with my best cat walk, one foot crossing over the other, and moved slowly, but purposefully, to where Jonathan was sitting.