Violet grinned. ‘Consider me in. When do we start?’
‘Well, I need to talk to Mollie Wakefield and her landlord first, but I’d like to get things moving within the next few months, if possible. It should be a bit easier because the premises is already set up for retail, but if we can be up and running by Christmas, that would be the best present I could have this year.’
Violet grinned. ‘Mum’ll be over the moon when I tell her I’ve had a promotion!’ Glancing at Noah, she got up from her chair and walked to the door. ‘I need to get ready for my ten o’clock viewing, but I’ll check back in later.’
Ruby lingered after Violet had closed the door behind her. ‘I’m going to ask you again, now we’re by ourselves. Are you sure about this?’
Noah took a breath. ‘You and I have known each other a very long time. You’ve always trusted my instincts. Trust me now.’
‘It’s not that I don’t,’ Violet said. ‘It’s just that, by your own admission, you’ve had a hell of a year. Are you sure that opening a second branch is the right thing to do, on top of everything else?’
‘Honestly?’ Noah steepled his hands together on the table in front of him. ‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. These past few months have made me reassess everything I thought was important. Grandpa’s death has forced me to think about what I really want in life. For the past five years, it’s been this place, this business, being here in London and making a success of things. You and I both know the hours we’ve needed to put in to make that all happen. Now it’s time to take things in a different direction, to take the risk and branch out. And you can’t tell me you’re not itching to get me out of here and run things the way you want to?’
Ruby’s eyes gleamed mischievously. ‘Well, when you put it that way…’ She rose from her chair and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ve made a great team, the three of us, and I appreciate the trust you’re putting in me and Violet when it comes to growing the brand. We won’t let you down, Noah.’
‘I know.’ Noah gave her hand a squeeze where it lay on his shoulder. ‘You’ve had a great teacher!’
Ruby chuckled. ‘And such a modest one, too.’
As she left, Noah settled back into number crunching. He’d spent most of the previous night setting up a spreadsheet with estimates of costs, timeframes and other considerations, and while he still had a long way to go, he felt cautiously confident that he could present a good case to Mollie and her landlord. That aside, he thought as he started to enter more figures into the Excel document, the only thing he had to worry about now was whether or not his brothers would give him the opportunity to sell Jack’s cottage as Noah Hathaway Country Estates’ first property. The way he’d left things with Joel the last time they’d spoken, it would take all of his tact, diplomacy and salesmanship to make that proposal fly.
57
Mollie gave Bella her usual warm welcome when Bella arrived for her shift on Friday morning. ‘I’ve already given the rescue cats their breakfast,’ she said as Bella hung her raincoat on the peg behind the front desk, ‘so if you could give me a hand with the boarders, that would be great.’
‘Will do.’ Bella pulled her damp hair back from her face and into a messy ponytail. The long spell of dry weather that had lasted most of the summer had broken with the thunderstorm on Monday, and the Somerset ‘mizzle’, a combination of mist and drizzle, had gently but pervasively coated her on her way to work, reminding her that at some point she’d need to replace her jacket, which was barely waterproof these days.
This week had been lonely in the cottage; the absence of Monty was painfully obvious, and everything felt different without him. The only solace she’d found was in practising her set for the gig tomorrow. Thankfully, the muscle memory in her fingers had meant she could play the acoustic versions of most of the tracks, so she’d quietly worked on them in the afternoons between jobs. The guys working on removing the insulation foam from the roof timbers had given her several rounds of spontaneous applause when she’d been practising. This had been a welcome boost to her confidence, and made up for the noise and disruption of having them hacking and scraping away in the attic. Now all that was left was to do the sound check with Jason that afternoon, but she felt reasonably confident there wouldn’t be any issues.
Beginning to hum the song she’d recently written under her breath, she spooned out the bowls for the paying residents and slipped them into each enclosure, ensuring that she gave a cuddle and some fuss to each of the cats who wanted one. The handsome Russian Blue, Siri, bumped up against her hand in appreciation before burying his nose in his bowl. Siri was their newest resident, here for a week, and seemed to have taken to the place well. It wasn’t always the case, no matter how welcome Mollie and her staff tried to make them.
‘How’s it all going, love?’ Mollie’s voice drifted from a couple of pens down.
‘Siri’s doing great,’ Bella replied. ‘How’s Clarence?’
‘Not so great.’ Bella heard Mollie sigh. ‘He doesn’t like being away from home.’ There was a light metallic clang as Mollie retreated from Clarence’s enclosure and came back out to the hallway. ‘I’ve often thought we should offer a pet-sitting service as well as boarding, but with the rescue side of the centre, it always seemed a step too far. As a consequence, we’re unlikely to get repeat business from cats like Clarence.’
‘How would that work?’ Bella looked through the window of Clarence’s pen. It took her a moment to locate him, but then she spotted the short-haired black-and-white cat, curled into the smallest of balls right at the back of the sleeping area.
‘Well, I always thought it would be nice to give our customers the option of having someone to stay in their home, to keep their pets company. The trouble is, most people have commitments of their own, and it would be difficult to get someone who’d be prepared to be quite that flexible.’ Mollie’s keen eyes searched Bella’s own for a beat. ‘But it would certainly suit someone who didn’t like to stay in one place for too long.’
Bella laughed. ‘And how would thissomeonetravel to the different houses, without a car?’
‘I’m sure there’s a van kicking around here thatsomeonecould borrow.’ Mollie’s eyes twinkled. ‘Or I could be prevailed upon to offer a lift or two.’
‘And all the while I’m supposedly cat sitting, who’s going to help you out here?’
‘Well, you could still do your shifts when you weren’t cat sitting, of course,’ Mollie replied. ‘And if you had the van at your disposal, you could get to and fro quite easily.’
Bella reached out and hugged Mollie. ‘I know what you’re trying to do, Fairy Godmother,’ she said softly. ‘And I appreciate it, but my housing issue isn’t yours to solve. Besides, it would take time to set up a pet-sitting service. You can hardly conjure me a client out of thin air.’
‘It’s funny you should say that.’ They began to walk back to reception. ‘You know Evie Brown came in a couple of days ago? She’s recently taken on two adorable rescue kittens from the Taunton branch of the Cats Protection League. They’re about nine months old, and she was intending to see if she could board them, but unfortunately we’re fully booked – it was quite short notice, you see. She needs to get up to Yorkshire to see her parents next week, as her dad’s going in for a heart bypass. I said we couldn’t help this time, but then I got to thinking: what if we could?’
‘What makes you think she’d trust me in her house?’ Bella picked up her coffee mug from the desk to take through and refill in the kitchen. ‘Don’t you need police checks and insurance for that?’
‘You’re insured under the cattery’s licence,’ Mollie replied, ‘and I’m delighted to be a referee, if you need one. You did your First Aid training last year, didn’t you? And I’m sure if you were willing, a DBS check could be obtained, though, from what I can find out, it’s not essential.’
‘But what if Evie doesn’t want me?’
