The Lavender Witch cont...

Gordon rubbed a hand over his face. 'Okay, I'll look at it tomorrow; have you found the coffee yet?'
'What?'
'The coffee,' he said impatiently. 'Oh never mind, I've got it, Gordon opened the jar. 'There's not enough here for one cup let alone two.' He looked at his watch. 'I wonder if the village shop is open.'
Kitty looked up from the box. 'I shouldn't think so, not at this time of night.'
Gordon sighed. 'How about a beer then?'
'A beer? Well,' she hesitated. 'Yes that would be nice, I could do with getting out of here for a while,' she looked at the dog who was pushing his now empty bowl around the floor. 'And Nero could do with a walk,' she bent down and fondled his ears. 'You've been such a good dog today, haven't you?'
Kitty straightened slowly wincing. 'I'm going to ache tomorrow,' she complained, rubbing her back.
'Why didn't you let the men do the lifting?'
'I had to help, Gordon; I couldn't stand there and just watch.'
She turned away from him to shut the back door and noticed an elderly grey cat sitting in the doorway.
'Hey, we've got a visitor, our first one. Hello puss.' She put out a tentative hand and gently tickled it behind it's ear. 'Now who do you belong to?'
Gordon came back in from the hall, he had taken off his jacket and tie and had pulled on a thick jumper.
'What?'
'A  cat,' she turned back to the door. 'Oh, it's gone already.'
'It's probably from the farm or a stray.'
'It looked too plump to be a stray.'
'Then it's from the village, or the farm, and no... we are not taking it in, he warned her.


Gordon pulled the door shut behind him and followed his wife down the drive. He glanced back at the house. 'Once we sort out the front garden the place will look as though as though it has always been here.'
Kitty stopped and turned round, she smiled contentedly. 'It blends in nicely with the old farm buildings, doesn't it? And it feels like home already.'
Gordon put his a rm around her shoulder and gave her a hug as they walked out into the lane. 'We need to plant some more apple trees in the back garden, we can't call it Orchard Cottage if it hasn't got an orchard.'
'Maybe, it's a shame we couldn't keep a few more but I think most of the old trees were past saving.'
They turned right and followed the old stone wall of the orchard past the farm and walked down the lane into the village, the dog running a few paces in front of them. A bat swooped over their heads and disappeared into the farm buildings.