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.’