‘Lovely to meet you all. I would stay but I think darling Chanel is a little uncomfortable.’ As Chanel was hissing and wriggling that seemed to be a bit of an understatement.
‘Right,’ Claire said, uncertainly.
‘But I tell you what, I’ll pop back this evening, on my own,’ she glared at me as if it was my fault, ‘with a bottle of something fizzy and we can have a proper chat.’
‘Um?’ Franceska said.
‘Well we are in a total mess, what with builders and everything.’
‘So I see, never mind, I’m happy to slum it,’ Andrea trilled. ‘I’ll be back about eight, I’m guessing all these children will be in bed then.’ She laughed, but it sounded a bit menacing. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.’
Before anyone could say anything else, she and Chanel were gone.
‘My goodness,’ Claire said.
‘What on earth was that?’ Franceska said.
‘And we thought that we were the sophisticated Londoners, coming to a little Devon village,’ Polly said. ‘She looks right out of Knightsbridge. As did her cat.’
‘Chanel. What sort of name is that?’ Claire mused.
‘Did you see the collar? I bet it was real diamonds.’
‘Oh God, and she’s coming back tonight. I don’t know why we didn’t say no.’ Franceska trembled.
‘We didn’t get the chance … Anyway, it’ll be nice to meet some local people,’ Polly said unconvincingly.
‘Do you think we’ve got time to get our hair done?’ Claire quipped.
‘Well, I didn’t bring my ballgown with me but I feel that I should have done now,’ Polly giggled.
George was scrabbling at my legs to get my attention.
‘What?’ I hissed.
‘That cat, Chanel, she’s beautiful,’ he said. He looked a little enraptured.
‘But not nice, she didn’t like us, did she?’ I pointed out.
‘But everyone likes me. I’m going to be her friend. She’s so beautiful, the most beautiful cat in the world.’
I saw then the look in his eyes, which reminded me of myself when I first saw Snowball. My George had developed his first crush.
Andrea was soon forgotten as the builders arrived. One of them was going to finish the doorway into the newly christened‘sand room’, while the others went up to the attic. According to Polly they worked hard and didn’t drink too much tea — which was apparently a good thing for builders, especially as we had a tight time schedule. As the weather was good, Franceska and Claire once again took the children to the beach. George and I lay on the bonnet of Claire’s car — it had the highest roof — and watched them from our vantage point. We said we’d probably go to the beach later but, as it was so close, we didn’t feel the urgency any more. So curling up together on the car sunbathing and watching the world go by was definitely a pleasant way to pass the time.
There were a few dogs around, although of course not on the beach, and they were thankfully on leads. It was a busy, lively village; cars kept appearing, looking for places to park, children jumping excitedly out, also lots of people cramming the pavements, all wearing summery clothes and chattering excitedly. I saw that Aleksy had set up some kind of ball game and children were approaching him to play. I hoped they would make some nice friends this summer, I hoped George and I would too—
‘Oh it’s you,’ a hostile voice interrupted me. I looked up to see Chanel standing on the street.
‘Hi, hey, how are you?’ George gushed. She narrowed her eyes, swishing her tail angrily, and then turned her attention back to me.
‘I never go out on my own, not outside my garden anyway, so it’s a very big deal that you have made me come here,’ she snapped.
‘I didn’t make you do anything,’ I replied, still trying to sound friendly.
‘Who do you think you are, coming here?’ she hissed.
‘Well, I’m Alfie, this is George and this is our holiday house,’ I said, not unkindly. I was a firm believer in using charm. Especially with difficult creatures. Chanel was clearly a difficult creature.
‘Not for long,’ she said, again flicking her tail. ‘Mark my words, your days are numbered,’ she hissed before turning and leaving.
‘What on earth did she mean by that?’ I asked. I felt suddenly as if something might be wrong with this otherwise perfect set-up. I blinked, had I misheard her? Her voice had sounded menacing and her words threatening.
I looked at the children, all playing in a big group, Claire and Franceska looking on happily. I saw Polly come to the front door with a cup of tea and make her way over to join them and I saw George preening himself, checking his reflection in the wing mirror of the car. Surely our days weren’t numbered, whatever that meant. Our holiday had only just started.
‘Oh wow, Dad, I think she likes me,’ George said.
‘Whatever gave you that idea?’ I asked. I didn’t want to burst his bubble but that cat really didn’t like either of us. I remembered back to when I first met Snowball. She had been quite immune to my charms and I hadn’t given up. But then, this cat, well she was no Snowball, or Tiger for that matter, she was just downright horrible.
‘It was the way she looked at me, I could just tell,’ George sighed. I raised my whiskers but held my tongue. I had a horrible feeling that George’s first crush was going to teach him a lot about love — the hard way.
That evening, the house was alive with the sounds of happy children. I pushed Chanel to the back of my mind as they chattered on about their new friends and how tomorrow Aleksy and Tommy had their first paddleboarding lesson. Summer was cross because she couldn’t go but, as Claire pointed out, she was too little, and Toby was still a bit scared of the water. Back home Jonathan had started taking him to swimming lessons but it was early days and I totally sympathised with how he felt. Really, I was sure it was more sensible to be scared of water than toactually want to be in it. The builders were long gone but Claire was still trying to clean up the dust, which seemed to be covering everyone and everything.
‘Oh God, I need to shower before the queen gets here,’ she said. I figured out she was talking about Andrea.
‘You know, I think we need to try to get the plumbing sorted soon, the shower is a bit lacklustre,’ Polly said, her head back in the plans. ‘I’m thinking we can fix it temporarily before we get all the bathrooms done.’
‘Polly, you are a marvel with all this house stuff, honestly, I wouldn’t know where to start,’ Franceska said.
‘Yes, well I can’t cook remember,’ Polly laughed, giving Franceska a hug.
‘Also, I have spoken to Colin and we are going to have a shower set up outside, with hot water, to hose the worst of the sand off the kids before they even go into the sand room. What do you think?’
‘Genius,’ Claire said. ‘I love it.’ But then shehad just spent the best part of two hours sweeping both sand and dust up.
‘This is going to be the best holiday cottage ever,’ Franceska said. ‘I am so happy we all did this.’
‘So am I,’ Claire agreed, a dreamy look on her face. ‘I bet Aunt Claire would be so happy that it was filled with love.’
‘Oh gosh, it’s nearly seven. Right, Claire, we’ll round up the younger ones and get them washed and ready for bed. Frankie, can you continue with the clearing up?’ Polly said, jumping up.
‘I can, but I’m not sure it’s going to make much difference,’ Franceska said, taking the broom from Claire and shaking her head at the mess.
By eight, the children were in bed, apart from Aleksy and Tommy who were in the living room watching a DVD. They were the oldest after all so they were allowed to stay up later than the others, especially as it was school holidays. George had gone to bed with Toby as usual and I was hanging out with Aleksy until I heard the knock at the door. I sprang up from Aleksy’s lap and went to the door, arriving just before Claire.