Jonathan Unleashed by Meg Rosoff

Author:Meg Rosoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408870808
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-10-31T10:55:32+00:00

20

At Le Grand Pain the next day, Clémence was still married to Luc.

‘Can’t you see how much I love you?’ Jonathan’s head ached and he suspected he might still be drunk from the night before.

Clémence frowned at him. ‘You have a girlfriend. But I can give you coffee, which you need far more than you need love right now.’

‘Not true,’ he said. ‘If you loved me you’d sponge my brow with cool water, murmur endearments and make coffee I wouldn’t have to pay for.’

Clémence laughed and raised both eyebrows.

‘You wouldn’t?’

‘No.’

‘Are you sure?’ Jonathan felt very sick and a bit desperate.

‘Very sure. Why are you whispering?’

‘Isn’t Jean-Pierre here?’

‘Luc is in Paris.’

‘Paris? Couldn’t you kiss me in that case? He won’t see.’

She placed a coffee in his hand and guided him to the door. ‘Goodbye, cheri. Don’t drink so much next time.’

‘But what about our children? Celeste and Raoul? And baby Alouette? How can you reject your own children?’

Clémence disappeared into the back.

Jonathan’s funeral was less than a month away. He’d dredged up a modest list of invitees, including the members of his immediate family – Mom, Dad, James – a few leftover friends from college and Max and Greeley from work. That was about it. The rest of the cheering squad came from Julie, who – in addition to having more friends and family than Jonathan – had invited the entire staff of Bridal-360, whose job on the day would be to look young, carefree and photogenic for the magazine spreads. James emailed to say he’d booked his flight, was getting to the end of his contract in Dubai and couldn’t wait to reclaim his dogs.

Reclaim his dogs? His dogs? Jonathan had more or less forgotten that the dogs belonged to James. In moments of gloom, he thought perhaps they should be with a different owner altogether, someone who could take them deep into the woods each day to track rodents and dig holes in the earth, but he couldn’t help noticing that they seemed relatively OK with their life on the third floor. The thought that his brother might take them back filled him with despair.

But what if they greeted James with an outpouring of love and relief, whispering in his ear the minute Jonathan was out of the room that their surrogate owner was a loser and the previous months had been hell? It made him want to cry. He’d grown accustomed to their furry scheming faces and could no longer imagine life without them. But he’d read The Incredible Journey. Perhaps they were just waiting for a chance to escape and begin the 6,837-mile journey back to their master. He had a terrible vision of them dragging themselves to Dubai, limp and emaciated, arriving at last at a 400-storey apartment building and being turned away by the doorman for not being borzois.

Tears slipped down his face; The Loyalty of the Dog struck him with unbearable poignancy.

His parents, meanwhile, having plenty of time to contemplate his upcoming nuptials, became increasingly anxious.

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