Page 138 of A Long Way Back
Jonty threw his arms around Devan and kissed him. And Tay felt nothing. Well, not nothing. He felt glad. What he didn’t feel was jealous.
“You have to stay tonight,” Jonty said. “The hotel has a mini-observatory and Devan’s brother, Cato, who’s the genius of his family, much, much cleverer than either of his two brothers, and funnier and—”
“How much did he pay you to say that?” Devan asked.
Jonty laughed. “Cato’s doing a PhD in astrophysics at Cambridge University and he’s going to teach us all how to gaze at the stars at ten, even though it’s apparently the wrong time of year and not late enough. Picky guy. But no one’s going to get up at two in the morning. We have spare rooms at our house. You can stay over at our place.”
“We can’t. We have a dog.”
Jonty huffed and glared at Devan. “They have a dog.”
“We’re not getting a dog.”
“Why not?”
“It was a horse you wanted last week.”
“And you said no to that too. You’re so mean. What’s your dog’s name?”
“Dog.”
Jonty blinked. “I’d love a horse called Horse.”
Devan sighed.
Tay spotted Ink standing by the patio doors and smiled. Ink’s smile in return looked a little strained, but he walked towards them.
“Jonty, meet Ink,” Tay said.
Jonty stood up and threw his arms around Ink. “I love you.”
Ink backed away, his face a mixture of horror and embarrassment. Typical Jonty, though Tay felt just a touch annoyed.Why? I know Jonty’s joking.
“Devan’s giving you a job. Starting at eight on Monday,” Tay said.
“Right. Thank you.” Ink looked neither happy nor sad.
“We’ve been invited to stay for a talk about the stars at ten by Devan’s incredibly intelligent brother.”
“If you came back to ours after, we have a hot tub,” Jonty said.
“It’s going to be full if everyone that you’ve invited turns up. We already have Cato staying.”
“We have three rooms. Bring your dog.”
“I don’t think he’d like the hot tub,” Devan said.
Jonty glared. “I know, but it’s not fair to leave him on his own.”
“We’ll see how I feel,” Tay said. “Ink’s not been well either so we’ll go home and come back if we can, okay?”
“Cato’s brought his telescope,” Jonty said. “It’s huge. Though not as huge as I was expecting. I think the Smith family tend to exaggerate size.”
“Oh God.” Devan groaned. “I’m going to drag you away before you say anything else.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“I need to kiss you.”
