‘You might as well tell me what you were going to say.’ Noah gave her a small smile. ‘I promise I won’t shout at you.’
Bella’s face brightened fractionally at his slightly lighter tone. ‘Well,’ she said falteringly, ‘I suppose I wish I could scoop him up and take him home to live with me.’ She shook her head. ‘You probably think I’m some daft bleeding heart who can’t help falling in love with every animal she meets, but it’s not like that. Monty’s special.’
Noah raised an eyebrow. ‘Having seen him just now, I’d take you up on that offer in a heartbeat. He looks so… well.’
‘He is. But it can’t happen, unfortunately. My, er, living circumstances aren’t exactly ideal.’
Noah’s brief flight of fancy regarding Bella stretched as far as houseboats, tents, living in the spare room of an eccentric elderly resident of Lower Brambleton, and even sleeping out under the stars before he remembered to ask.
‘How so?’
Bella sighed. ‘Well, for a start, my housemate’s boyfriend is allergic to cats.’
‘Ah. I can see how that might be an issue.’
‘And since he’s moving in soon, I’ll have to move out. As you know from Jack’s cottage, space is at a premium in a lot of houses round here. Marieke’s said she’s fine with me staying for a bit, but it’s going to get very cosy with three of us in the cottage. And she and Gerard deserve some privacy.’
‘So, what are you going to do?’ Noah asked. He was sad for Bella at the prospect of her becoming homeless, but surely she must have other options? She seemed pretty well rooted in Lower Brambleton.
‘Well, after tomorrow, Monty’s enclosure will be empty,’ Bella said, in an obvious attempt at dark humour. ‘Perhaps I’ll ask Mollie if I can bunk in there for a bit!’
Noah smiled. ‘I hope it doesn’t come to that.’
‘It might!’ Bella’s uncertainty broke through for a moment, and Noah found his heart speeding up. Despite their differences, it didn’t sit well with him that she might be put out on her ear.
‘I’m sure your housemate’s not going to evict you if you haven’t got anywhere else to go,’ he said.
‘No, she wouldn’t do that,’ Bella conceded. ‘But she and Gerard are so nauseatingly loved up that the last thing I want to hear is them, er, demonstrating that.’ She flushed. Noah couldn’t help his smile, which grew broader. There was a pause between them. Noah wondered exactly how he was going to extricate himself from the conversation. He could hardly say, ‘Oh well, hard luck, hope things get better for you!’ without sounding like a wanker.
In the end, Bella saved him the worry. ‘Well, I’d best get back to my rounds. We’ve just had a call from a woman in Everscombe who’s found a litter of kittens and their mother in a cardboard box under a park bench. Poor thing must have been thrown out on her ear when she gave birth.’ Her eyes glistened. ‘It’s so unfair to these poor females, when their owners don’t bother to get them spayed.’ She paused before adding. ‘I’ll be there. Tomorrow. With Monty. He won’t go through it alone. I promise.’
Noah’s throat ached. ‘Thank you.’
As he got into his car and began the winding drive back to London, Noah couldn’t stop thinking about Bella, Monty and the decision he’d made.
22
Despite the exhaustion from the long drive, Noah tossed and turned all Sunday night. All he could think about was Monty, and, by extension, Bella. He rose early, almost before the sun had broken through the grey of the dawn and sat sipping the first of what he knew would be many coffees to get him through the day.
Monty had seemed so full of beans yesterday, so far removed from the sickly, pining cat he’d been imagining. Trust the bloody animal to be so lively and friendly just as he was about to be put down! He was sure Monty was doing it to spite him. But, he sighed, in a few more hours it wouldn’t matter. Monty would be gone, and that would be one less thing to worry about.
That morning, as he met the prospective buyers at three separate viewings across the city, he felt as though he was just going through the motions. The salesman’s patter was still there, but half his mind was across the country in Somerset. Returning to the office just before twelve, he spent the next half an hour obsessively reaching for his phone. Mollie had said she’d call him when the deed had been done, and every time his phone rang, he experienced a sick, churning feeling in his gut.
He was also trying to sort out the other things that needed to be completed before Jack’s cottage could be sold, but he couldn’t get a handle on those, either. Factoring in availability for the electrician and the foam insulation removal firm was more complex, and he needed to think about that instead. Someone needed to be about to let the workmen into his grandfather’s house – he couldn’t just leave a key under the doormat for insurance reasons. He didn’t know anyone well enough in the village to ask them, and the only person he could have asked, the adjoined next-door neighbour, was away for the next couple of months.
‘You all right, Boss?’ Ruby asked, as she brought him another espresso to get him through the day.
Noah tried his best smile. ‘I’m fine. Personal stuff.’
‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,’ Ruby replied. They’d formed a good friendship since they’d been working together. They’d been out for a couple of drinks but were strictly friends. They’d both decided that they didn’t find each other attractive enough to jeopardise an excellent working relationship. All the same, Noah valued her counsel, and they often talked things through, whether it was work or a more personal issue. In the early days, Ruby’s quiet support had got him through some tricky times with the business.
‘Thanks,’ Noah said. ‘I, er, need to get a few things straight in my head.’
‘Such as?’
Noah was about to respond when his phone rang. Heart in his mouth, he grabbed it from where it sat face down on the desk and looked at the number. Feeling weak with relief, he swiped to answer.
‘Yup, yup, yes, that’s fine. See you this afternoon.’
