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He left and shut the door.
Alice turned to the dinner on the tray. She’d lost her appetite. At least her pets had eaten. She’d bought some pet food at the vet’s surgery, and Gerald had kindly provided dog and cat bowls.
Alice had remembered to buy a litter tray, cat litter, and some plastic bags, and had set it all up in the spacious en suite bathroom. She’d opened the window, letting in the cool sea breeze, so that it wouldn’t smell in there. She’d introduced Marley to the cat litter tray. He hadn’t used one since he was a kitten. ‘Well, you’re just going to have to get used to it again, for a few days,’ she’d said to him when he looked at her and meowed his disapproval.
Hester and Marley had eaten in her room. Gerald had taken the dishes away when they’d finished. Fortunately, they both ate dry food, so her bedroom didn’t whiff of either cat or dog food.
Thinking of food, Alice glanced at her meal. Lasagne and salad with garlic bread, and a slice of cake for pudding with a large pot of tea brewing. Alice put the lid back on the meal, still not feeling hungry. She picked up the teapot, poured herself a cup of tea, and went to stand by the window. It was pitch dark outside. The security light suddenly came on down below.
She glanced down at the parking area outside the guest house just in time to see Joss walking to the car, followed by Emily. She was wearing a figure-hugging black dress, heels, and a smartly tailored coat. Emily looked as though she was going out on a date. Her so-called date did not. Joss had changed into jeans, a jumper and a jacket, but not smart-casual by the looks of it.
Alice sighed and shook her head. ‘Oh, dear.’ she was wondering what Emily was going to say when she found out they were not going out to a nice restaurant.
‘I feel a bit overdressed. Am I overdressed?’ The moment Emily set eyes on Joss in his ripped jeans and a baggy jumper that looked as though it needed a wash, she knew she’d made a huge gaffe. This wasn’t a date.
‘We’re not going for dinner, are we?’ she said flatly.
So, where are we going?she wondered.She hesitated when he opened the car door.You know nothing about him,a little voice in her head said.
‘I was going to show you something.’
‘What?’
‘I wanted it to be a surprise.’
‘Well, this is a surprise, all right,’ Emily threw back.
Alice watched Emily storm back into the guest house. She expected that the poor girl had been so embarrassed when she’d discovered that it wasn’t a date as she had assumed.
Alice heard the front door bang from two floors up. Alice stared at Joss, his surprised face illuminated by the security light as he stared at the house. He threw his arms in the air, then turned around and slammed the car door shut. He too stormed back into the guest house. She wondered if he would try to talk to Emily.
Alice turned from the window when she heard the creak of stairs on the floor below, and footsteps gathering pace along the carpeted corridor. She heard Joss call out, ‘Emily!’ before a door slammed somewhere. A moment later, there was the sound of someone coming up the stairs to her floor and stomping along the corridor past her door.
Hester stood up in the basket Gerald had provided and ran over to the door. She woofed.
‘Hester!’ Alice called out in a hushed voice. ‘Come here!’
Hester turned from the door and looked at her.
‘It’s okay. Come here, girl,’ she called in a soothing voice.
Hester ran over for a reassuring fuss. Then she jumped up, her front paws on the bed.
‘No, leave Marley alone.’
Marley, who was curled up on the duvet and appeared to be asleep, swiped Hester with his paw, just missing her nose.
‘Oh, Hester. When will you learn that Marley will not play with you? You will never be pals.’
Hester stood there looking at Marley, wagging her tail, as the cat stood up, stretched, then turned her back to Hester and settled down into a furball, eyes closing.
‘There, you see.’
Hester took her paws down from the bed and padded over to her basket, where she settled down and fell asleep.
‘Never. Be. Pals.’
Alice rolled her eyes toward Percy, who was in his cage on the sideboard. She had learnt long ago not to answer back, otherwise she’d hear him retort all night. The trouble with Percy was that once he started, getting him to shut his beak was impossible, and there would be no getting away from him in a guest house room.
