“Dev? This is Jory. My bloke. Well, and your uncle.”
“Yeah, kinda gathered that. Good to meet you.”
Dev held out his hand, and Jory shook it cautiously, both relieved and disappointed when he wasn’t pulled into a hug.
“It’s good to meet you too, Dev. Finally.”
Dev nodded. “Yeah. But, oi, you don’t wanna stand on the doorstep all day. Come on in and say hi to Kyle.”
They followed him through the disappointingly un-brothel-like cottage to where a tall, dark-haired man stood looking out of the window at a breathtaking view of the sea. When he turned, Jory recognised him immediately, and blurted out, “You’re the one I met last summer. Bran got it wrong.” One more thing to add to the list.
Kyle’s expression, if Jory was any judge, was that of someone reminding himself firmly Bran was Jory’s brother and, therefore, any comments along the lines of Quelle surprise might not be appreciated. “Yes,” he said in the end. “We didn’t really speak. Jory? Good to meet you properly.”
“And you. Um. I’m sorry—I don’t suppose I was very welcoming.”
“Not to worry. No doubt you’d already been warned about my drinking problem.”
“Which don’t exist, case you were wondering,” Dev put in forcefully. “Kyle’s got narcolepsy.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jory said, because what else could you say? From what he’d heard, it was pretty horrible. It was probably all kinds of wrong to be proud of his nephew for not letting Kyle’s condition put him off. But Jory was finding it a struggle not to be.
“If it helps,” Kyle was saying, “I took you for the sort who’d chuck me off the cliff if I caused any trouble.”
Mal winced. “Uh, mate, you might wanna hold off on jokes about cliffs and stuff till you’ve heard about the family history.”
“This something to do with all them pirates in the family tree?” Dev asked, looking interested.
“Bit more recent than that.” Mal turned away, but not so far that Jory couldn’t see him mouthing, Shut up about it.
“My father. Your grandfather. But it was a long time ago. Um. Best not to mention it to Bran or Bea . . .” Jory trailed off awkwardly.
“Yeah, well, shouldn’t worry about that too much.” Dev seemed grimly amused.
“She’s not so bad,” Jory found himself saying in a rush. “I mean, I know what she did to you was—”
“’S okay. She’s your sister. Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna slag her off to you.” Dev cocked his head. “What’s she think about you meeting up with me? Or don’t she know?”
“She knows.” Jory hesitated. “I don’t think it’s going to change anything for her. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I got used to it now.”
Looking at the tense line of Dev’s jaw, Jory wasn’t sure how true that was.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Kyle said. Dev seemed to take it as a timely reminder they’d leap-frogged all the social niceties and invited them to sit down, put their feet up, and call the dog a bastard.
Jory hadn’t even noticed the dog, until she trotted out of the room at Kyle’s heels. She was a chocolate Labrador and seemed a lot less excitable than most dogs of Jory’s acquaintance. Was she a service dog? He didn’t like to ask.
Dev cleared his throat. “So, uh, Mal said you work at the museum?”
“Oh. Yes. But it’s only temporary—after the summer, I’ll be teaching English at a local secondary school.”
Mal leaned forward. “Yeah, Jory used to teach at university. But he packed it in cos he wanted to be near his kid.”
It was nice of Mal to speak up for him, but . . . “I should have done it a long time ago,” Jory admitted.
Dev’s sharp gaze flickered over to Mal, then back again. Jory had the impression he’d been about to speak but decided against it.
“And you’re a mechanic?” Jory asked, desperate to break the awkward silence.
“Yeah. Never was academic.” Dev’s gaze was challenging.
Jory almost laughed. “You mean, you prefer to do something that’s actually useful. One thing I shan’t miss about my former career is the intellectual snobbery.” He hoped it came across as sincerely as he had meant it. He’d hate Dev to think Jory was patronising him.
It seemed to have gone okay, as Dev leaned back in his chair just as Kyle arrived back with their tea. “So go on,” he said, taking a mug with a smile that betrayed his affection, “what have you two been up to around here? Got any tips for a couple of tourists?”
And somehow the conversation seemed to flow, after that. Mal had a gift for retelling their misadventures in a manner that made them seem far more comical than they had been at the time. Jory’s attempts to keep him on the straight and narrow of factual accuracy were, apparently, even funnier.
Jory realised, after the dregs of their tea had long since gone cold, that he was enjoying himself here. There was so much obvious love in the room—between Kyle and Dev, and Dev and Mal, in particular. If the former relationship hadn’t clearly been so strong, Jory might have been jealous of the latter, but as it was, Mal seemed to be going out of his way to make him feel secure.
Jory had thought he was just gaining a boyfriend. Apparently he was getting a whole lot more. And he genuinely liked Dev. There was a wary air about him, certainly, but once he relaxed, he was a good man to be around.
He couldn’t help wishing Bea and Bran knew what they were missing out on. But then, perhaps they did and didn’t care.
Jory wasn’t sure he’d ever understand his family.
Dev’s boyfriend was, in some ways, the easier of the two to get to know, although there was another unfortunate moment right at the start. Jory had been trying to bring him into the conversation. “Mal tells me
