Page 143 of A Long Way Back
“Please.”
“There are around thirty ways to tie a tie and I only know one.” Jonty stood behind him and talked him through it. “Over. Up. Through. Round. Inside out. Shake it all about. Up. Down. Er… yep, that’s it. How did you manage at school?”
“The tie was on elastic.”
Jonty laughed.
Ink enjoyed himself more than he’d thought he would. Even when Jonty took him to the office to give a lady his National Insurance number and bank account details, he still felt hopeful. Was this it? The chance he’d always thought he’d never get? Did he want to work in a hotel? Not particularly, but there were worse jobs.
He and Jonty were looking around the spa when Devan approached. Devan’s face changed from stern to happy when he saw Jonty.
“How’s it going?” Devan asked.
“Good, thank you,” Ink said.
Jonty coughed and elbowed him.
“Jonty’s been great,” Ink said. “Helpful and… I think he’d have no problem guiding someone up Everest.”
Jonty beamed.
“Don’t tell him that, for God’s sake. He gets lost moving from the bedroom to the kitchen.”
“I get distracted.”
Devan rolled his eyes.
“See! You rolling your eyes distracted me. What’s my name again?”
“Jonty!”
Devan sighed and turned to Ink. “Just take today to get used to the place and we’ll have a chat tomorrow and see what we can get you to do.”
“Thank you.”
“You know how the Inuit are supposed to have fifty words for snow,” Jonty said. “Well Devan has fifty ways of sayingJonty.And he’s very mean if he leaves now without saying it in a nice way.” Jonty stared at Devan.
Devan laughed and walked off.
Jonty left Ink looking through information packs about the area in the concierge section of the lobby while he was dealing with some new arrivals. Ink wished he’d been to Northumberland before because it looked so interesting. Tay wanted to take him exploring but not until he was fully fit. Ink couldn’t help wondering if he’d survive up here that long.
“Anything worth investigating in this county? Apart from you?”
The familiar voice chilled him. Ink turned to face Ben Carter. The sensation of loss struck like an arrow in his heart. He’d dared to dream he’d have it all and now he had nothing. It was like having his feet swept from under him, or being hit by a random rock thrown from an erupting volcano. He’d dared to think he might be safe and he was a fool.
“How did you find me?” Ink asked.
“Your landlord had your…boyfriend’s address on the tenancy application. Not difficult to persuade him that giving it to me was in the national interest. I didn’t expect to find you in this hotel. I was going to treat myself to a night here before I went to the house.” He gave a brief laugh. “Piece of luck.”
He took out his phone and snapped a picture of Ink before he could turn away. “Nice tie.”
“Leave me alone,” Ink whispered.
“How did you manage to land a job here? I assume they don’t know who you are?”
Ink’s palms were sweaty. He wanted to pull off his tie because he was finding it hard to pull air into his lungs, but he forced himself to keep still.
“If you say anything about me, you’ll be breaking the law,” Ink said quietly.
