Claire had got her way. Sort of. As if there had been any doubt. She had been very clever about it, though even I, cat of many successful plans, was impressed with this one.
Seabreeze Cottage was going to be our holiday home for now. And now the summer holidays were upon us, we were all decamping to Lynstow and Seabreeze Cottage for the school break. And I mean all. It was beyond exciting.
After Christmas, unbeknown to Jonathan, Claire had persuaded her parents to take a friend of theirs to Seabreeze, and do what they called a survey. It turned out that they needed to do some work on the roof, but otherwise the house was structurally sound. However, the interior needed a lot doing to it, new heating and hot water system, and all sorts of modernisation. There was also a big attic which could be converted, so Claire had got together a rough idea of how much the work would cost and then had presented this to Jonathan, who just couldn’t see how they could afford it unless he sold some vital organs, whatever that meant.
Claire was despondent but over drinks just after New Year, the women from my other families, Polly and Franceska, had a brainwave. Or actually Polly did.
‘Hey, Claire, this sounds fantastic. What’s the village called again?’
‘Lynstow in North Devon. It’s on the estuary, perfect for sailing, windsurfing or paddleboarding. The village itself has three pubs, a lovely village shop and a café. It’s changed a lot since I was last there, which was over twenty years ago, but Mum and Dad said it was still charming.’ Claire sounded wistful again, I knew she was thinking of the childhood summers she had spent in Lynstow and I knew how much she wanted it for her children. To be honest, the way she spoke about it, I was desperate to go there too. And I’m a cat, who certainly wouldn’t be doing any sailing or anything to do with water, actually. But I am a romantic and I was definitely caught up in the romance of it all.
Polly asked to see the details, and Claire pulled out her folder with the pictures and the details from the builder in it – she was nothing if not organised. Polly sipped her wine and looked over it, then passed it to Franceska.
‘It is so pretty, my boys would love it here,’ Franceska said.
‘I agree,’ Polly said. I could almost see her thoughts racing. ‘And I can see the potential. This could be such a beautiful house with a bit of love. And of course I could manage this project easily.’
‘That’s what I keep saying to Jonathan. If we did the work it would be worth so much more money, not that I want to sell it ever. As I said, I would love it for Toby and Sum, and you guys could join us for holidays – it’s got five bedrooms at the moment, but the attic is huge and ripe for conversion. There’s only one bathroom but the builder said that it would be easy to put in one en suite and one in the attic, and three bathrooms would be plenty. I mean it’s a big house. When I was little I thought it was enormous, because it was so much bigger than Mum and Dad’s house. I thought it was the biggest house ever.’
I rubbed against Claire, I didn’t want her to be sad, because I knew how much she wanted this. But I also understood Jonathan. They couldn’t just magic up money, that was a human problem I had learnt about in my life. Thankfully not something us cats needed to concern ourselves with.
The women lapsed into silence as they all sipped wine and Franceska nibbled an olive.
‘This might sound crazy but here’s an idea,’ Polly started. Claire looked at her hopefully. ‘Of course we all live in London, and we all want our children to see there are beaches and countryside out there, but it’s expensive going away, even in the UK. We went to the Lake District last holidays, and the cottage we rented cost more than a five-star hotel in Spain.’
‘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