Andrea was standing on the doorstep looking dressed for a night out. She wore a dress, again, high heels, her hair was swept up onto her head and she had a lot of make-up on. The smell from her was so strong I felt as if I’d swallowed a mouthful of perfume; it wasn’t pleasant.
‘Andrea, how lovely to see you again, come in,’ Claire said, stepping aside to let her in.
‘Likewise,’ she replied, but didn’t sound as if she meant it.
Claire led Andrea into the kitchen where Polly and Franceska were sitting around the table. Wine glasses had been put out, candles lit and, although it wasn’t exactly immaculate, it was tidy and clean-ish at least.
‘What a charming kitchen,’ Andrea said, wrinkling her nose, as she greeted the others.
‘Did you know my Aunt Claire?’ Claire asked.
‘No, she’d gone before we moved into the village, but she was spoken about. It was a big annoyance to the village that the house was empty for so long. We tried to do something about it but we couldn’t seem to get to the bottom of who owned it … Until now.’
‘Well my aunt was ill, and I think whoever was managing her affairs just did as per her instructions. I used to come here as a child,’ Claire explained. Andrea handed her a bottle, and she opened it, pouring four glasses.
‘Sorry we don’t have flutes, only wine glasses.’ Polly looked embarrassed.
‘Well, as I said earlier, I’m happy to slum it,’ Andrea said, before laughing. Her laugh sounded a little tinkly and fake.
‘I’ll add them to my list,’ Claire said through gritted teeth. She was making a list of things they still needed as she went along.
‘How long have you lived here?’ Franceska asked, changing the subject.
‘Ten years. My husband and I moved here when I had my first child.’
‘How many do you have?’ Polly asked.
‘Two, both girls. Savannah is ten, obviously, and Serafina is eight.’
‘Lovely names. And what is the village like now, obviously I haven’t been here for so long,’ Claire said.
‘It’s a great village. There’s a lovely school for the girls and obviously we live on the beach.’
‘Not in those shoes,’ Polly said, before clamping her hand over her mouth.
‘Oh I don’t go to the beach much, all that dreadful sand. But I watch the girls from the safety of my garden. You could do the same.’
‘Of course. And we think the village is lovely. We went to a nice pub when we last visited, The Lynstow Arms.’
‘The food’s good there, of course us locals try to avoid it during the holidays, you know, it’s full of tourists,’ Andrea said, without a hint of irony, even though she was addressing tourists.
‘You must find that annoying,’ Claire said, stifling a grin.
‘To be honest, we think this is a lovely village and community and we like to keep it that way. We find it unfortunate that Londoners come in and buy up the properties which they hardly ever use. It’s sapping the soul from the village.’ She said this without a hint of niceness, I thought as Icurled up on Claire’s lap. I didn’t like the turn this was taking; it reminded me of my earlier conversation with Chanel.
‘Well the good thing is that this house has three families so we’ll use it loads. Weekends, school holidays, you’ll probably find there’s someone here most of the time.’
‘Not quite the same though, is it? You are not going to be a full-time part of the community. Seabreeze Cottage will still be empty a great deal of time.’ Her voice had turned cold and I saw Franceska looking alarmed.
‘We want to become as much a part of the community as we can,’ Claire pushed.
‘Absolutely, and we have so many school holidays, as you know, our kids will grow up here as well,’ Polly added.
‘I’m sure you mean well. With your building plans and hundreds of children, not to mention the cats, but the point is that I am here to make you an offer.’
‘An offer?’
‘What kind of offer?’
‘I want to buy Seabreeze Cottage. I want to buy it off you right now.’
‘But we’ve started work on it,’ Polly said.
‘Then stop. Sell it to me, go back to London and if you want to come on holiday then rent somewhere but let this house, this amazing property, go to someone local.’
‘But you already have a house, so it’d be a second home for you too?’ Polly suddenly sounded annoyed.
‘Look, I can’t explain everything now but if you sell me this house it will be a home, you can trust me on that one.’ She sounded sincere, I almost believed her.
‘That’s a lovely idea but you know this is a family home for me,’ Claire explained. ‘And my Aunt Claire was a big part of this community and she wanted me to have the cottage, so that’s what I am going to do.’ She crossed her arms; nice but firm.
‘I will pay you above the asking price.’ I noticed a hint of desperation enter Andrea’s voice.
‘I’m sorry, Andrea, but it’s not for sale,’ Claire said, stroking me.
‘Everything has a price,’ Andrea said, staring at Claire with cold grey eyes.
‘We don’t,’ Polly said, going to stand near Claire’s chair. ‘We want this to be a family home too, but for our families.’
‘We’ll see. I want this house.’ Andrea stood up and glared at each of the women, any hint of friendliness fled. ‘And I always get what I want.’
I now understood what Chanel meant. If Andrea had her way, it seemed our days here would in fact be numbered.
Chapter Six
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Thankfully we had made it to the end of our first week on holiday relatively unscathed. Despite the threat from Andrea, so far we were all still here and on the whole having a lovely time. Although Polly, Franceska and Claire had been a little shaken by Andrea’s words and her vague threat that she would get Seabreeze Cottage, they had eventually pushed it to the back of their minds and decided she was as much hot air as she was big hair. They said they wouldn’t let anyone ruin our perfect holiday. Or get her manicured hands on Seabreeze Cottage, whatever that meant.
Polly had been surveying how much they had got done with the building work and had a review with Colin. We had only five weeks left, so she said they were doing well but couldn’t afford any delays.
And thankfully, as it was Friday, the men were coming down for the weekend. Even Tomasz was leaving the restaurants for a couple of days, although to be fair he had managers now and, although he liked to keep a very close eye on them, he was far more willing to take time off nowadays. There was a time when he’d spent so much time at work his family hardly ever saw him, but they seemed to have resolved that, thankfully. I was excited, I’d missed Jonathan, Matt and Tomasz and it would be lovely to have the family all together again for a couple of days.
Unfortunately the weather had turned and although it was warm it was raining. Claire suggested taking the younger children to the local town to have a look around, so they weren’t in the way of the builders, and Polly said she was happy to leave them for a bit and go with her, while Franceska was going to stay and try to get everything organised for when everyone came. Despite the fact it was raining, Aleksy and Tommy begged to be allowed to put on wellies and coats andgo to the beach, which she said they could, but she would be watching them and they weren’t allowed to go too far. They had more freedom here than they did in London, but that was village life, apparently. And Aleksy was very responsible for his age; I thought it would do him good to have more independence to be honest.
Unlike George.
George begged to be allowed out to see Chanel, but I told him no. Not only was it raining but also she was horrible. He argued and whined, a bit like Summer, but I stood firm. I said that when the rain stopped I would take him out for a nice walk but not before. He ran upstairs and sulked under Toby’s bed. Kittens!
I decided to help Franceska— or at least keep her company. She seemed happy and I knew that she was looking forward to seeing Tomasz, just as the others were looking forward to seeing their husbands. It hadn’t been a bad first week, but it was strange without our men. In fact it made me the man of the house.