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On the other hand, at least he was finally talking to his neighbours That had to count for soht?

‘Are you looking for Claude?’ A red-headed teenager girl appeared on the stairs as Jack passed through the hallway, dressed in a jumper covered in sequinned baubles ‘I heard you say you were looking for a dog’

‘You know Claude?’ Jack asked, blinking as the Christhts flashed off the sequins

‘Not personally But I’ve been sharing the Find Claude page with allout for him now too’ She held up a tablet computer as if to demonstrate

‘The … What Find Claude page?’ Jack glanced over at the girl’s father, but he just shrugged

‘I have no idea of half the things Jessica does on that device,’ he adh’

‘Bella McCawley set it up,’ Jessica explained ‘They’re over in France for Christmas, but Claude escaped fro to get back ever since they realised, once they got on the ferry, but all the boats are cancelled So she’ssocial et here It’s pretty clever, actually’

Claude had escaped They hadn’t abandoned hiotten him Thatout and following his nose, just like he’d done tonight

‘Can you get a e to the McCawleys?’ he asked, and Jessica nodded ‘Tell them … tell theo He’s still in Maple Drive somewhere, I think And I will find him, and look after him Tell them that?’

Jessica nodded ‘Sure And … who are you?’

‘I’m Jack, the postman,’ Jack said ‘I live here on Maple Drive’

‘Cool’ Jessica turned and ran back up the stairs, hopefully to pass on his e And Jack realised he’d just taken another step towards belonging

I watched Jack as he traipsed in and out of the gardens and houses of Maple Drive, callinghihbourhood, but he had wanted to send me to the pound He didn’t deserve my sympathy

It was sione down one side of the street and switched to the other, I just hung out in the gardens he’d already searched for a while Eventually, I saw him disappear back down to the end of the road, his shoulders hunched He’d given up

I tried to be pleased That hat I wanted, right? Except now I really was alone I supposed I could go and squeeze through Perdita’s cat flap again if I had to, but that was a path straight to the pound No, I couldn’t risk it I’d just have to go it alone

It seemed you couldn’t force a faether,You

had to all want to be together And as much as I wanted to be with Daisy and Oliver and the kids, or even with Jack and Holly and Kathleen, none of them wanted me And that made my heart ache more than my poor, cold paws

Standing up and shaking off a few loose leaves froe e A chance to prove that I wasMore than just a pet I was Claude, intrepid adventurer, capable of surviving the harshest winters, ofmy oay in the world, no humans required

I just wished one of theerbread or two, ot a little peckish

Soarden where I was hiding, and I decided it was ti, just in case they spotted me and called Jack I couldn’t let anybody see me, I realised Jack had spoken to everyone, and the moment anyone saw me they would contact him, and I’d be on my way to the pound I had to stay hidden, at least until Daisy and Oliver came home

Staying in the shadows, I trotted along the side of the road, looking for a friendly garden to hide in It was getting later, andlights shining behind their s But we intrepid adventurers didn’t need indoors, anyway

We didn’t need family

Right?

Mum showed Bella and Jay to their rooot the travel cots set up in their assigned bedrooe, at least, with plenty of space for the cots, and Mum had put a small, potted Christently in the breeze froely shabby, with its s, and the flat, hard cushions where pillows should be

Everywhere felt as if it had been half emptied, then abandoned Daisy wrinkled her nose at the shtly less Transylvanian gothic, or they were going to find hiht, as well as at least one of the twins

‘What on earth were they thinking, buying this place?’ Oliver asked, as he struggled to set up the first travel cot Daisy crossed the room to take over

‘You find the sheets I think they’re in that bag’ She pointed at the largest case ‘Or possibly that one, actually And I don’t knohat they were thinking I just got a call one day a couple of ht this place’

‘Do you think it’s some sort of three-quarter life crisis?’ Oliver mused ‘Like, a last ditch attempt to live out their fantasies?’