Page 8 of The Guest House at Shingle Cove

Alice shut the cases. She would donate some of the clothes to a local charity, along with the suitcases. But she needed help to get them down from the loft.

Chapter 6

Alice turned towards the loft hatch and made her way down the steps. She stepped off the bottom rung and called out softly, ‘Marley!’

He was standing at the hatch, his grumpy face looking down at her.

‘Come down now. I’m not coming up to get you.’ Alice decided that they could bring the suitcases down when Jeffrey sorted through the loft. She wanted to close the loft hatch.

As usual, Marley wasn’t playing ball. His head disappeared. Alice frowned. ‘Just great.’ She made her way downstairs, wondering if Jeffrey was still in his study. If she was going up there to fetch the cat, they might as well bring the cases down between them.

She walked past the lounge and kitchen to the study. The door was ajar. As she neared, she could hear voices. ‘If you think she’s going to rehome those pets …’

‘I think you need to talk to her, Dad. I mean what landlord is going to entertainthreepets?’

Alice halted a few paces from the door.

‘What exactly do you expect me to say? That’s she’s got to get rid of them?’

‘Not all of them. Perhaps two?’ Freya suggested.

Alice stared at the door with a black look. What had happened to them looking after all three of them?

‘Maybe keep Hester because she’s old and well, she’s a dog. I think maybe landlords won’t mind dogs.’

Alice shook her head. Jeffrey wouldn’t ask her to choose, surely? Besides, there was no way she was getting rid of her pets. Jeffrey knew that.

‘Look, I’ll ask your mother. Who knows what we’ll end up buying. It might be a flat with no garden, not suitable for a dog.’

‘Or a high rise,’ Freya interjected. ‘Then she couldn’t take Marley.’

Alice’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe he’d suggested—

‘Perhaps now is the time to declutter everything in our lives – even the animals.’

‘She could keep Percy. He could live anywhere.’

Oh, thanks a bunch, thought Alice, listening to them making decisions about her pets. She knew what this was about; despite Theo’s keenness to take the animals in – she knew how attached he was – in the back of her mind, Freya was thinking about what would happen if her job took her abroad. Theo might go too if he got a job that had offices around the world. Right now, Alice didn’t want this conversation. In fact, she wasn’t even going to entertain bringing it up.

She started to back away from the door and bumped straight into Theo. Had had his back to her, and was closing the kitchen door with his foot.

‘Oh, sorry Mrs B. Didn’t see you there.’

She turned around to discover that he had another plate of toast in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. ‘How did the interview go?’

He looked at his watch. ‘It’s not for another hour. Just going upstairs to start work.’ Theo had recently secured a position working in insurance, but he was still applying for better paid positions in legal firms. The trouble was, he often worked remotely from home.Her home.

She caught Theo glancing toward Jeffrey’s study and followed his gaze. When she looked back at him, he was staring at her sheepishly. ‘Well, er, I’d better crack on.’

She stepped forward. ‘Can you do something for me in a minute, Theo?’

‘Of course, sure, anything.’

She smiled at him. He’d been the only dissenting voice in the plan to get rid of her precious pets. ‘Why don’t you have your toast and coffee first?’

He returned her smile. ‘You know where to find me.’

She frowned at his back as he walked up the stairs, then retreated to the kitchen. Hester was asleep by the Aga. She knelt down and stroked the dog’s soft ears. ‘How would you like a little holiday?’

---