‘We spent the afternoon with Mrs Templeton, actually, looking through an old time capsule, from when she was headmistress at Forest Green. I think the main problem she had with the lights was that she wanted all the houses in Maple Drive to look the same, like a real, connected community. Don’t you think, Holly?’
Holly had nodded sagely at that. ‘Community is very important to Mrs Templeton.’
‘So if all the houses have lights, I’m sure there won’t be anything for her to object to.’
Then he’d flashed that smile again, and the householder had given in. Every time.
‘Where did you learn to do that?’ she’d asked, somewhere between numbers 9 and 7.
‘Do what?’ Jack had replied, his forehead creased in confusion.
And Holly had realised that it wasn’t a trick, wasn’t something he’d studied or learned. It was just who he was.
She smiled up as she watched him balancing on the top of the ladder, affixing a twinkly snowman to Kathleen’s roof. Well, it would sparkle, once they had it plugged in. They were running it from Holly’s outside socket for now, until Kathleen agreed that she wanted the lights up.
Holly glanced back across the road. The only houses that were still dark were numbers 11 and 13 – the McCawleys and Mrs Templeton. She wondered if the McCawleys would really mind if they just put up a few small lights … but she supposed Jack was right. They’d better wait until they came home.
And as for Mrs Templeton … well. They’d just have to see what she made of the rest of the street, first.
‘Okay up there?’ she called, and Jack nodded, the gesture barely visible in the darkness, despite the lights.
‘Nearly there … Done.’ He manoeuvred his body straight against the ladder again, and Holly let out a small sigh of relief. ‘Want to plug us in before I come down? Just in case?’
‘Will do.’ Hopping across to her own garden, Holly flicked the switch and for a moment, the air brightened with the extra light.
Then the whole street plunged into darkness.
‘Damn it,’ Jack said, from the top of the ladder. ‘We must have blown something.’
Holly felt her heart sink into her stomach. So much for the perfect Christmas surprise.
‘Shall I check the fuse box?’ She might not be a qualified electrician, but she’d learned a lot since becoming a homeowner. It wasn’t like Sebastian had ever been any good at DIY or home maintenance, anyway.
‘Hang on,’ Jack said. ‘I think it’s going to take a bit more than that. Let me come down first. Hold the ladder?’
‘Sure.’ Holly stepped back over the low hedge into Kathleen’s garden, and grabbed the ladder firmly. ‘Okay, ready.’
As Jack began his descent in the darkness, Holly realised that people were already coming out of their houses, carrying torches, trying to figure out what was going on. Her stomach swirled with rising panic. Oh God, this was all their fault. And any moment now, Kathleen would come out too, and the whole Christmas surprise would be ruined. All this work for nothing.
Why was nothing going right this week? First they’d lost Claude, now they’d screwed up Christmas.
Just then, as if he’d heard his name in her thoughts, a small, compact dog came bursting out from the hedge between the two houses, followed by – of all creatures Perdita, her tail bushier than ever. They must have been startled by the sudden darkness, she realised.
‘Claude!’ she cried, and the little dog stopped.
‘Claude’s here?’ Jack called, from halfway down the ladder.
‘He just ran in!’ Holly tried to bend down to Claude’s level, without letting go of the ladder. It was harder than it sounded. ‘Here, boy. Everything’s okay now, Claude. We just want to make sure that you’re somewhere safe for—’
At her words, Claude launched himself away from her at far greater speed than she’d imagined he was capable of. ‘Claude!’ she cried again, letting go of the ladder to try and catch him, but the little dog slipped through her fingers, racing forwards – and smacking straight into the ladder.
‘What the—’ Jack yelled. And then he wasn’t saying anything at all.
Because then he was sprawled on the grass beside her as the ladder crashed down and hit the ground.
The sound of the ladder crashing down beside me sent me scurrying backwards in the darkness, and it took me a moment to realise that the groaning figure on the ground was Jack.
‘Jack!’ Holly rushed to his side, forgetting all about me.
I should run. This was my chance to get away, while no one could see anything. It might be the only way to avoid the pound – because there wasn’t a chance they weren’t going to send me there now.
I’d made Jack fall.
I’d hurt Jack.
‘What are you still doing here?’ Perdita scampered up to my side, her fur bushier than ever. ‘Run now, you idiot! Or else you’re in big trouble!’
She was right – they didn’t give you a pat and some gingerbread and say ‘Good dog’ when you’d done something like this. And they weren’t even my humans. They had no reason to forgive me.
But I couldn’t make my paws leave the ground. Not with Holly’s scream still echoing in my ears. Not when Jack was hurt and it was my fault.
‘I’m okay,’ I heard Jack say, but he groaned again as he tried to sit up. ‘What happened?’
People were filling the garden now from all the houses on Maple Drive, shining torches ahead of them, coming to see what had happened, if Jack was okay. The rest of the lights were still out, and in the darkness it was hard to make out anybody’s faces, to tell who was a friend and who wasn’t.
But I was still Jack’s friend, even if he didn’t know it.
‘I’m so sorry!’ Holly sobbed, on her knees beside Jack. ‘I let go of the ladder to try and catch Claude, but he escaped and crashed into it.’
Holly was blaming herself? I couldn’t have that. Not when it was so clearly all my fault.
No wonder Daisy and Oliver had left me behind. Who knew what trouble I could have caused them with France, ferry and chateau.
But Jack and Holly were still here. And I had to make this up to them, somehow – or at least show them how sorry I was.
> Nudging my way past the people gathering around, and skipping over the rungs of the ladder, I made my way to Jack’s side, nuzzling at his hand until he rubbed between my ears.
‘Hey Claude, buddy,’ he said, struggling to sit up. ‘You came home.’
Claude’s back. The whisper went up through the crowd, the news passing backwards until my name seemed to fill Maple Drive. Everyone knew who I was – and now they knew what I’d done.
I whimpered, hoping against hope that Jack would be okay. That he’d really forgive me, once he realised what had happened.
‘You shouldn’t sit,’ Holly admonished, pushing on his shoulders until he lay down again. ‘You need a doctor.’
‘Where’s Dr Roberts?’ someone in the crowd asked. ‘From number 2?’
‘He’s just putting his shoes on,’ someone else answered. ‘Here he comes.’
‘I’m fine, really,’ Jack said. ‘Had far worse bangs to the head than this in my time.’
I whined, sad at the thought of Jack being hurt, and he wrapped a hand around my middle, pulling me closer. ‘No more running off, you,’ he murmured to me. ‘You stay with Holly and I’ll find you some gingerbread once they let me up again, okay? We’re going to get you home soon, I promise.’
Jack’s promise sent a warm feeling through me – the kind of ‘home’ feeling that I hadn’t felt since Daisy and Oliver drove away.
Could things really be okay?
Then the doctor was there, examining the bump on Jack’s head. Holly scooped me up into my arms and held me close. ‘We were so worried about you, Claude. Why didn’t you trust us? We’re your friends.’
I wanted to explain – wanted to tell her I knew about the pound, that I’d been scared. But now … if they weren’t sending me away now, when I’d hurt Jack, maybe I really could trust them. Maybe I was home, after all.
Kathleen’s front door opened at last. It seemed like days since I’d tried to get her attention through the window, and longer since I’d sat in her kitchen and had my first taste of gingerbread. So much had happened since then.
‘What on earth is happening out here?’ she asked, from her front step.