Page 40 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
Jonty laughed.
I love it when he laughs. His face lights up, his eyes sparkle.“I paid for all-day parking.”
“In that case, we don’t need to rush and there might be spectacular treats on the way.”
Devan walked alongside him.
At the top of the slope, Jonty edged him to the right. “We have to walk along the road to the end of the car park, then over the dunes to get onto the beach.”
“Okay.”
“I’m a bit upset,” Jonty said.
“Oh.”
“More than a bit.”
“Right.”
“You’re supposed to ask me why.”
“Am I?”
Jonty let out a sigh of frustration. “Why are you a bit upset, Jonty? I’ll tell you why, Devan. If I’d known you were going to give them twenty thousand pounds, I’d have asked you to go halves on the doughnuts. I’m really pissed off.”
Devan chuckled. “I wish I’d thought of doughnuts.”
“That was a lot of money to donate. More than I earn in a year.”
Another reminder of how far they were apart. “It’s a worthwhile cause.”
“You are so right. Can I interest you in a scheme to sell burial plots to rich Egyptians? An absolute winner. Or maybe you’d like to invest in a gold mine I’ve recently discovered?”
Devan grinned. “I’ll pass. Where are we going?”
“Have you never been up here before?”
“First time in Northumberland.”
“I came to live here when I was seven and I’ve never left. It’s still an unspoilt wilderness.”
“Have you never wanted to go anywhere else?”
“There are places I’d like to see, but this is my home.”
“I like the accent. Yours isn’t as strong as many I’ve heard.”
“I spent my first seven years in Surrey,” Jonty said. “I think once the way you speak is set, it sticks.”
“Do your family still live in Northumberland?”
“Don’t know. We can go down onto the beach here.” Jonty led him onto a path over the dunes.
You don’t know?Devan knew better than to push.“The meal last night was really good. Will you get into trouble for cooking for me?”
“Not if you don’t tell anyone. I haven’t charged it to the room. Though I might have trouble explaining where a chicken breast went.” He frowned, then smiled. “Ah. I was fighting off zombies. Yep, that will do. I’m glad you liked it.” Jonty beamed at him. “And did you enjoy the Australian Shiraz?”
“That’s not what you gave me. But it was fine.”
