‘I agree, Polly, but I don’t understand what your point is?’ Franceska interjected.
‘Oh yeah, sorry it’s the wine. So here’s my mad idea. How about we pool our resources? I can help re-design the place as you know and I am also used to dealing with contractors. As I’m freelance now I can devote time to it and Franceska, your restaurants are doing really well, so I thought, mad I know, but if we all chip in maybe we can restore Seabreeze and use it for our holidays. Like a sort of joint holiday home.’
I was amazed when I heard this. A holiday cottage for us all — I assumed she was including me and George of course — and I meowed loudly to show I for one thought it a very good idea.
‘Alfie approves,’ Claire laughed. ‘And now I think of it, imagine if our families shared the cottage?’
‘But it is your cottage, Claire, and there is an issue of ownership if we get involved, no?’ Franceska said sensibly.
Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. After all I’m a cat, not a solicitor.
‘I have thought of that,’ Polly said. She seemed to have done a lot of thinking in a very short space of time. ‘We get it valued now, then whatever we each put in gives us a share but not the main share, which stays with Claire. I was thinking that one day it will go to her children and, well, in our ideal world our children will carry on like we are, the best of friends, but anyway we can get it all done properly and above board. I know it’s unorthodox but it could work, we could make it work. And of course it would have to be done legally, that would be the only way the men would agree to it.’
‘Ah the men.’ Claire looked a bit perplexed.
‘Firstly, in my wildest dreams I didn’t think we would have a holiday house.’ Franceska suddenly sprung to life. ‘I didn’t think we would have all this but for the boys it will be so amazing. It would be like a timeshare for us, we could all use it together or at other times and if we need to make money we could always rent it out. We need to show it to the men as a business proposition. An investment for all of us and our futures and our children’s futures. Right, how much money are we talking?’ Franceska was now caught up with enthusiasm.
And just like that my three favourite women formulated a plan.
I felt proud of them, it was as if they had learnt their planning skills from me — and OK, some of my plans do go a little awry but they always end up successful. Anyway, they weren’t going to leave anything to chance so they cooked a fantastic dinner — Franceska was the best cook so she took charge of food. The children were all asleep; they were having a sleepover here which I was excited about, as was George, who was asleep with Toby and Henry, who was sharing his room. Aleksy wasn’t asleep; I had been to see him and he was playing on a computer thingy, but that was our secret. So, after the food and quite a lot of beer and wine, the women swooped in with what they called their presentation, which Claire was in charge of. It was funny how formidable they all looked, standing there in a row, with the men almost quaking with fear. As well they should — they didn’t stand a chance.
‘But you mean we would all own the house?’ Jonathan scratched his head as they finished talking.
‘Yes, but obviously to different degrees. The input from us would give us a share but a minor one, and we’d do it all legally. So for example if we wanted to sell or get our money out we couldn’t just do that,’ Polly expanded on the legal side, which I couldn’t concentrate on; I was eyeing up the left-overs and wondering how long I’d have to wait before they would remember to give me some.
‘So we all go there for holidays?’ Tomasz asked, his eyes narrowed.
‘We could do! Imagine, Tomasz, the children get to see the sea and the countryside when they’re not at school. And we thought that we could all go this summer, us women and the kids, and then when you could get time off work you join us, that way we can supervise the work and the kids will love it, it’ll be an adventure.’
‘But hang on, it sounds as if the house is going to be a building site this summer, will that be safe for the children?’ Matt asked.
‘It’ll be safe but obviously a bit chaotic,’ Polly said. ‘Listen, I’ll manage the restoration and I’ll do it so there’ll be minimal disruption. The children will be out all day when the builders are in, there’s so much to do: the beach, trips to the countryside, the older ones can learn to surf or paddleboard. Honestly, I’ll make sure the house is safe.’ Polly gave Matt’s shoulder a squeeze.
‘And if you all agree, we can get essential work done before the summer,’ Claire chipped in.
‘You’ve thought this all through, haven’t you?’ Matt said, shaking his head.
‘If you mean have we anticipated all of your objections, then yes,’ Polly replied with a wry smile.
‘Look, between the three of us we can afford to get the cottage looking amazing again,’ Claire started. ‘We’ve done the figures and, worst-case scenario, we will have added value and can sell it for a profit for everyone. Best-case scenario, we enjoy it with our families, together at times, on our own at others, but we will have a holiday home and the children will get to enjoy beach life the way I did growing up.’
‘But it was valued for more than I expected,’ Jonathan said. ‘So I still think the sensible option is to sell.’
‘This way, though, Jonathan, we can do it up and sell it for even more if we decide to,’ Polly persisted. ‘But we all think that this summer, when we get the work done, we’ll all fall in love with it and won’t want to let it go.’
‘Just look at the figures, I promise they make sense.’ The men all studied the spreadsheet that Claire thrust at them.
‘But are you sure it’s habitable for the children?’ Matt reiterated, looking worried. And for cats, I wondered.
‘Well, not exactly, but the summer holidays aren’t for two months so we thought we could all take it in turns to go down before, just the adults, and each time we could do what is needed to make it habitable. We can buy beds, appliances, make sure the water and heating works, we’ll get it ready for the summer and also get some alone time.’ Polly raised her eyebrows at her husband.
He shrugged, defeated. Honestly, these women had thought of everything and my whiskers stood up with pride.
‘We can do this!’ Claire added with a smile.
‘You make it sound like a fantastic idea,’ Tomasz said. ‘And now I take more time from work I can come and join you more I guess.’ He looked at the other men for reassurance.
‘I can arrange to work from home on a Friday and come down for weekends,’ Matt said.
‘Hold on, how do we even get there?’ Jonathan asked.
‘Ah, well we’ll be taking the cars but there’s also the trains. The station is only a forty-minute drive away, direct from London, so really there’s no problem.’
‘Have I been stitched up again?’ Jonathan asked. I jumped onto his lap and yelped. Of course he had. Everyone laughed.
‘Well the house will be quiet, no Claire, no children, just me, Alfie and George this summer.’ I suddenly looked up.
‘Oh no, darling, Alfie and George will be coming with us. It’s their holiday cottage too.’
I purred with delight. Yay! We were going on holiday.
‘Claire, you do know it’s strange the way you take Alfie and now George everywhere with you, as if they were dogs?’
I yelped. How dare he compare me to a dog?
‘They’re part of the family and, anyway, Alfie came on holiday with us before, didn’t he?’