We found ourselves in a bigger utility space than our sand room— it was all very smart too — and from there we entered the biggest kitchen I’d ever seen. However, there our plans were halted. The door from the kitchen was closed and there was nowhere else to go. I could smell Chanel’s scent but there was no sign of her — she was probably out with Andrea. But George was in heaven as he ran around, sniffing the air and prancing on about how the house was as beautiful as she was. I raised my whiskers in despair.
‘Look, we better go,’ I said. ‘They could come back at any time and if they find us here …’ It was useful to have had a look at the house but, well, I’d seen enough for now.
‘Oh I’m sure Chanel will be so happy to see me,’ George trilled.
‘That may be but come on, Andrea won’t, so let’s go. We can try to see her later,’ I placated. I was a little worried that my new plan to keep an eye on Chanel was going to have a detrimental effect on George but then he was so smitten, I wasn’t sure it could get any worse. Anyway, I reflected as we left their very posh house, George wasn’t the most successful stalker — so far anyway.
My families fed us and then said they were going to take an early evening walk, before going to the pub to feed the kids. The women were nicely tired after being outside so much, as were the children. Also, having the builders in the house meant they often couldn’t face the extra mess of cooking, but of course they could get food in any of the three pubs, the fish and chip shop or the caf?, so were spoilt for choice.
I could see how healthy this holiday lifestyle was for them all. Well almost. So as George tucked in, the children excitedly put their sand-filled shoes on and the women all looked on indulgently, I vowed I would do whatever it took to make sure all was going to be alright with Seabreeze Cottage. I felt saddened for a moment about my friends in Edgar Road, and I was definitely missing my side-kick Tiger, my partner, my best friend. She would always see me through the bad times and the plans I had to undertake for the sake of my humans. But this time I was alone. Well, I had George— I looked at him licking his whiskers, not sure how much use he was at the moment — and Gilbert who, although he had thawed slightly, had made it clear he wasn’t interested in becoming part of our family. This time, I thought, if I had to act, it looked as if I might have to act alone.
Chapter Ten
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OK, so it wasn’t much of a plan but I decided to follow Liam. I watched him as much as I could and to say he was acting shifty was an understatement. He was working, but if none of the other builders were looking he was behaving in a suspicious fashion; I was worried he was searching for the next thing to sabotage. Of course I was keeping out of his way — after scratching him the other day he wasn’t my biggest fan.
Today, George was pining by his hedge, with a promise not to leave the garden, so I was happy when Liam was charged with fixing the tiles on the roof. They had scaffolding fitted to the back of the house, because windows— they called them skylights — had been fitted into the roof already that week. I was managing to keep an eye on both of them; George and Liam. When the tiles were fixed — it turned out he’d only dislodged two — he came back down to the ground.
‘Right, mate, now Colin wants us to finish plastering the opening in the utility room.’ Mark had also been keeping an eye on Liam, in case he fell or ruined something else, I presumed.
‘Alright,’ Liam mumbled. They were standing at the back of the house. ‘Is this the pipe for the outdoor shower?’ he asked, pointing at a copper pipe which ran up the side of the house.
‘Yeah, the shower’s being fitted later. The plumber’s due back this arfto.’ They both looked at the pipes. ‘Then we have to put down a wooden tray, it’s going to be pretty cool,’ Mark explained.
‘Right, the plastering, I’ll just clear up out here and see you in there,’ Liam said. I watched from my safe place as he looked around him. Then he took a tool and started hitting the pipe until he had broken it. I could barely believe it. I was right. This was sabotage, blatant sabotage. I wanted to run out and confront him but then he might hurt me, after all I’m a cat not a burly builder. But I needed to figure out how to either put a stop to him or get the others to catch him. But how? I needed to think this one through before Liam destroyed the house.
He whistled as he went inside and I walked to the hedge.
‘I saw her!’ George said excitedly.
‘Where?’ I asked.
‘Andrea put her in a little bag and took her and the two children out,’ he said. ‘But I spotted her as she walked past and I am pretty sure she smiled at me.’
Scowled, more likely, I thought, but I let it go.
‘Do you fancy going to sunbathe on the car bonnets again?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I love that.’ My kitten bounded over to the car, where we climbed on the bonnet of Claire’s — it had the best sun — and we lay down and let our fur luxuriate in the sun’s rays. I tried to relax but in fact I was thinking about Liam and why he was trying to destroy our house. And Iknew it had something to do with Andrea.
‘George,’ I said, thinking aloud. ‘If when you’re, um, waiting for Chanel, you see any of our builders with Andrea, you will tell me, won’t you?’
‘Why?’ George asked.
‘I’m not sure but I think they are causing trouble at the house.’
‘But why would they do that?’
‘Well Andrea’s made no secret of the fact that she wants the house for herself.’
‘But if she does that then we can’t come here any more?’
‘No, and you know what that means, don’t you?’ I was thinking of the kids, of Claire, Polly and Franceska, of the men who seemed so much more relaxed outside of London.
‘Yes,’ George replied sounding distraught. ‘It means I’ll never see Chanel again.’ OK, well that would have to do.
I did feel bad using my kitten’s unrequited love for, quite frankly, a horrible cat to help with my plan, but I was on limited resources. And I knew that George wouldn’t just snap out of his crush on Chanel; no matter what I did, it had to run its course. I would be there to mop up his sadness when it did so, anyway. With arough idea of what to do next, I decided to have a cat nap.
‘Alfie, George, you’ll have to move.’ Claire’s voice interrupted my dreams.
‘Meow?’ I stretched my paws out.
‘I’m going to get Jon and Matt. Tomasz can’t come this weekend, he’s got staff problems at one of the restaurants apparently, but anyway, you’ll be pleased to see Jon and Matt.’
I would, although I would miss seeing Tomasz, and I hoped Franceska wasn’t too disappointed. She and her husband had had a bit of a rough patch not long ago, because he’d been working too much. It got so bad that she took the boys back to Poland for the whole of the last summer holidays and we were all terribly worried that they wouldn’t come back. However, finally Tomasz came to his senses — I helped of course — and went over there to bring his family back and I thought they had sorted that out. Tomasz had been more attentive to his family and the restaurants were more and more successful but Tomasz was getting much better at delegating. I just hoped that this was still the case.
After all, I didn’t need any other problems to add to my growing list. I jumped down from the car and watched as George did the same. I saw the children were in the garden, so I ran to them, George on my heels.
‘Alfie, George,’ Aleksy said. ‘We are going to set up a sports day. It’s for the younger ones really,’ he said as an aside. I knew that Aleksy still loved playing games but at times had to act like he was grown up. It happened to us all, I thought, looking at George. At times when he played with leaves or chased butterflies I had to act as if I was too grown up for such frivolities but in reality you never are!