The next day was the fifth of November and we were being extra vigilant on our dog walks in case some idiot let off an early rocket or something. I was relieved to get Bubbles home as, if he’d been spooked by a big bang, I don’t know how I’d have managed to keep hold of him.
Daisy and Nick were going to a fireworks party in Winchester in the evening. She had invited me before it turned out I was looking after Talisker.
‘Tal! I’m back!’ I called as I arrived that evening. He padded down the stairs and wound himself around my ankles, closing and opening his eyes in little cat smiles. ‘Right, what shall we watch tonight? Something noisy to block out the bangs?’
There was going to be a big firework display at Hetherin Hall, the fancy country house hotel whose grounds were so big that they seemed to touch on the outskirts of each of the Netley villages. They didn’t do anything there by halves and it wasn’t that far away, so tonight would be a hell of a lot louder than last night. I switched Henry Halliday’s television on and sat down on the sofa. Talisker immediately jumped up onto my lap, kneading my thighs until he got himself comfortable. I’d been into the village shop and seen Eleanor so she knew I was staying here tonight, which made it safe to leave the curtains open a little so I could see some of the firework display which, knowing the Hetherins, was bound to be extravagant and very, very impressive.
And it was. I could actually see most of the biggest ones, exploding in bursts of silver, red, gold, and green, up above the trees, lighting up the sky. Out of the window I watched enormous multi-coloured rockets jetting up into the air, little silvery things shooting up and then bursting into a multitude of colourful sparkles, dazzling rainbows shooting through the night sky seemingly out of nowhere, fountains of whooshing flare-type things – I didn’t know what most of them were called but they looked spectacular. On the sofa, Talisker was curled up with his head on one paw. While I stood and watched the whole thing, he couldn’t have been less bothered, even when the bangs were loud enough to be heard here.
I called Mum before I went to bed. She’d been out watching the fireworks on Primrose Hill with friends and had brought them home and made them all hot chocolate to warm up afterwards. They’d only just left. I told her I wouldn’t come up this weekend as I’d be on duty, but that I’d be up to see her the following one and she seemed fine with that. I didn’t tell her yet that I’d be coming up for more than just the weekend. There was no need to worry her any earlier than was strictly necessary.
When I rang off, Talisker had moved himself from the sofa and was stretched out, fast asleep, with his head on my pillow, snoring his little cat snores. It would take more than a few silly whizzes and whooshes to disturb his equilibrium.
I wondered if there were any fireworks in Dubai. There were a lot of British expats, or so I’d read. Would Alex have gone to some fancy, expensive display? He’d never been much for that kind of thing, but he might have gone to something with his new work colleagues. I wondered what they were like and what he told them when, or if, any of them asked why his wife hadn’t come out with him.
My traitorous fingers itched to pick up the phone, but what would be the point? I had already heard that ‘The number you have dialled is not in service’ message more times than any one person should have to in a life time. So I picked up the cat instead. If Alex Petropoulos couldn’t be bothered with his wife any more then that was his loss.
Of course my knee-jerk reaction to carry on working at Sitting Pretty was more to do with enjoying my job than sticking two fingers up at Alex. But there had been an element of that too. There was that stubborn streak in me that refused to just slink back to London with my tail between my legs. Staying here had been my typically quiet way of telling him to shove it. But the reality was that I couldn’t afford to live here on what I was earning, and unless I took on an evening job, this was never going to have worked out.
‘Make the most of me while you’ve got me, Tal,’ I whispered into his furry head, ‘because as soon as your dad comes back, I’m afraid you and I are going to have to part company.’