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“Look, before Janine met John, she was already thinking of moving to Hampton Cove. You see, her grandparents retired here and so as a kid she spent her holidays here. And she always had this idea that she wanted to return one day and buy the house her grandparents had lived in and fix it up. But then of course life happened and she more or less put that idea on the back-burner, as one does. But then she met John and turns out he, too, once spent a summer here and fell in love with the place. They even think that they may have met that summer when they were both little, which makes Hampton Cove extra meaningful. Anyway, when John’s political troubles began, Janine started thinking that maybe he should drop politics and start life afresh. With her. Out here.”

“And so Janine has been a fan of theHampton Cove Gazette for years,” Little John continued the story. “It’s been her lifeline to this place—her favorite place.”

“Which is why we were so excited to meet you guys. You and Dooley and Odelia and Chase.”

“And Harriet and Brutus,” Little John said with a smile.

Dooley, who’d finally screwed up his courage and had joined us, had caught the final part of the narrative, and he now piped up, “But you’ve been very rude to us. And you’ve treated us like those people in Downer Abbey. Those surfers.”

“Serfs,” I corrected him.

“That’s what I said. Surfers.”

“I know and I’m sorry about that,” said Little Janine, giving us a look of quiet contrition. “It’s just that…”

“Have you ever met one of your heroes in the flesh?” asked Little John.

I thought about this for a moment, then shook my head.“Actually, no.”

“Max is my hero,” said Dooley. “And I meet him every day.”

“Oh, Dooley,” I muttered, my cheeks coloring beneath my fur.

Little Janine smiled.“Well, you two are my heroes, and so when I met you I felt so… well, bashful I guess, and behaved in a very bad way. And I want to apologize.”

“Me, too,” said Little John. “We behaved shamefully. Absolutely rotten.”

“I still don’t get it,” I said.

“Which is unusual for you, isn’t it, Max?” said Little Janine, batting her eyelashes at me, causing me to feel even more as if the world had suddenly tilted on its axis and was giving me a kick in the tushy. “Usually you’re pretty astute.”

“Max has a big brain,” Dooley said. “His brain is the biggest of all the brains of all the cats I know. Brutus says it’s because he has a big head, but I don’t think so.”

“Okay, so the thing is that Janine wants to move to Hampton Cove with John, only John doesn’t know it yet,” Little Janine explained.

“He isn’t ready yet to let go of his political career,” said Little John.

“Even though it looks as if his political career is ready to let go of him.”

“So Janine and Tessa, who’ve known each other a long time, decided to work a scheme whereby they got John to agree to come here—just for a short sojourn. A way to decompress, and to get away from Westminster for a little while.”

“Who is this Wes Minster? Is he John’s dad?” asked Dooley.

“Westminster. It’s the political heart of London,” said Little Janine.

“And not a fun place to be right now for John,” said Little John.

“No, they don’t like him there very much at the moment.”

“And so Tessa and Janine conspired to get John out here, and while he’s here, they hope to convince him to chuck his career altogether and build a new life with Janine on this side of the Atlantic. Renovate her grandparents’ place and settle down.”

“Maybe even start a family,” said Little Janine softly.

“They could have a baby,” Dooley suggested. “Just like Odelia. I’ll bet she can give them tips on how to go about it.”

“I think John and Janine know how to make a baby, Dooley,” said Little Janine laughingly.

“They do? Then maybe they can explain how it works, because it’s still not completely clear to me,” said Dooley, which caused our two guests to laugh heartily, much to Dooley’s surprise. “What did I say?” he asked me.

“Nothing, Dooley,” I said. “They’re big fans of you, that’s all.”

“Big fans of me?” my friend asked. “How odd.”

Little Janine now gave me a strange look.“Max?”

“Mh?”

“Do you think we could join cat choir? It’s just that I’ve read so much about it and Odelia describes it so nicely in her columns.”

Both Dooley and I stared at her.“Odelia writes about us?” I asked once I’d recovered from the shock.

“Of course she does, silly. Didn’t you know?”

We both shook our heads slowly.“I never read theGazette,” I confessed.

“We know how the sausage is made,” Dooley added. “And like every butcher knows, once you know how the sausage is made, you don’t want to eat it.”

This had Little John and Little Janine in stitches, causing Dooley to give me a helpless look. I merely shrugged. Apparently Dooley’s fame as a standup comedian extended all the way to England. Who knew!