Page 99 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
“Hmm. You don’t own the place yet.”
“Do you want to talk about your father?” Devan asked.
“Living thirty minutes away from here?” Jonty huffed a laugh. “I thought he’d have moved back to Surrey. Did your investigator find out anything about him? If he was married? Does he have kids?”
“A partner. No kids. He’s also sick.”
“What sort of sick?”
“Terminal cancer.”
“Oh… I guess the sooner I see him the better, then.”
“I could drive you to Berwick tomorrow.”
“What a fun day that sounds.”
Devan slung his arm over Jonty’s shoulders and gave him a hug. “I’ll find something fun to do afterwards.”
“As long as it has nothing to do with the beauty of maths.” Jonty sucked in a breath. “Well, unless it’s timing how long it takes you to come and how many times you can come in the space of one hour.”
“Hmm. Do youwantto go and see your father tomorrow? I feel like I bulldozed you into it.”
“If seeing him is the way I might get to find my mother and my sister, then yes. And I mean, we can’t fuckallday, can we? Well, I could, but you’re getting on a bit.”
Devan took out his phone. “I’ll call him now, shall I?”
Jonty nodded.
A woman answered. “Hello?”
“Could I speak to Mr Bloom, please?”
“Who shall I say is calling?”
“My name’s Devan Smith. He doesn’t know me. It’s a private matter.”
Devan winced. He needed to be careful. Whoever the woman was, she might not know about Jonty. He didn’t want to cause problems that might stop Jonty’s father agreeing to see him.
“Hello?” a man croaked.
“Mr. Bloom?”
“What do you want?”
“Jonty would like to see you.”
Jonty clutched Devan’s sleeve.
“Would he?” Jonty’s father muttered.
“Tomorrow okay?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The call ended abruptly and Devan huffed.
“Let me guess,” Jonty said. “He was thrilled to know I wanted to see him. He can’t wait to see me. Right?”
