Page 38 of A Sky Full of Stars
‘I’ve got a lot of work to do today,’ Charlotte replied. ‘And while it’s great that you’ve taken an interest in this, it’s just one small aspect of the history of the observatory, and I don’t have time to get sidetracked.’
Todd said nothing for a long moment. ‘It’s your call,’ he said eventually. ‘But it would be a real shame to see this disappear into a box, never to be thought of again, don’t you think? Especially when you might’ve really hit on something.’
‘It’s probably nothing,’ Charlotte said. She suddenly felt keen to get rid of Todd. He was invading her space and she was finding that she didn’t like it one bit. ‘It was good of you to come all this way, but it might be best if you just leave me to do the job I’ve been paid to do.’
‘You’re shutting me out?’ Todd’s voice held a hint of petulance. He was not a man used to being thwarted, either professionally or personally, and Charlotte realised that in his total assurance of his own knowledge and expertise was an arrogance she hadn’t seen before when they’d been in a romantic relationship.
‘Not as such,’ she said carefully. She forced a smile. ‘I just think we shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions. This could all be a huge pile of nothing. Surely you can see that?’
Todd fell silent again. ‘If that’s what you want,’ he said eventually. He got up from the desk and crossed over to where she was standing. ‘But call me if you have any further thoughts about it. I want to help, Charlotte.’ He was turning his sincerest brown-eyed gaze on her again. ‘I owe you that after everything.’
Charlotte smiled. ‘You don’t owe me anything,’ she said. ‘But I’ll keep you posted if anything else comes up.’
‘You do that.’ He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you around.’
As he left, Charlotte couldn’t help thinking that it had been quite the gesture for him to come all this way. But then, she reasoned, he’d always been driven by a quest for knowledge: it was one of the things she’d liked about him.
38
Later that afternoon, Charlotte’s phone pinged again. She was excited and pleased to find another message from Tristan, inviting her over to dinner.
I know you said you’d cook but given the short notice, I’d love to cook for you again!
Its vaguely apologetic tonemade her smile, and she texted back, accepting his invitation. Then, she packed everything up that she’d been working on, checked twice she’d secured the observatory and headed back down the hill.
Lorelai raised an eyebrow but said nothing when Charlotte mentioned she was going out to Tristan’s. This time, she decided to take Comet with her. When Tristan arrived to pick her up, he gave a resigned smile when he saw Comet’s eager face looking up at him.
‘This fella’s our chaperone for tonight, then?’ His tone was amused, despite his initial expression.
‘If that’s all right?’ Charlotte replied. ‘I didn’t want to impose on Lorelai for another night, and I figured he’d like a change of scene, too.’
‘That’s fine.’ Tristan popped open the boot of his car with a smile and Comet hopped happily in as if he’d been used to travelling there all his life.
Tristan’s smile turned to a grin. ‘Well… shall we?’
With Comet peering curiously out of the rear window, they were soon en route to Tristan’s.
When they were back in the house, Tristan hesitated after he poured Charlotte a glass of wine.
‘I, er, wanted to show you something before we had dinner,’ he said. ‘It’s a bit early to actually use it, but I thought you might find it interesting.’
Charlotte’s glass paused on the way to her lips. ‘I’m intrigued.’
Tristan led her out to his small, well-kept back garden. Charlotte suspected Lorelai might have had a hand in its maintenance, as there was an immaculate patch of lawn bordered by raised beds of lavender and other bee-friendly blooms. The scent, as evening drifted in softly, was divine. But it was the object in the centre of the lawn that caught Charlotte’s eye.
‘Oh, wow!’ she breathed. ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’
There, on a wooden tripod, standing proudly, was a telescope. Charlotte immediately recognised it as a Unitron Refractor, popular in the 1950s and 1960s among amateur but serious astronomers. Its white casing and elegant construction were shown to great effect on a mahogany mount.
‘Thought you might like to see it, and use it a bit later.’ Tristan reached for her hand. ‘You know that my relationship with all things astronomical is somewhat complex, but I wanted to share this with you, since you’ve got a real interest.’
There was that adorable understatement again. Charlotte smiled. She ignored the ‘somewhat complex’ phrase and just added, ‘An interest, and a career.’
Tristan grinned back. ‘Well, yeah.’ He shuffled on the spot. ‘You know more about these things than I do, that’s for sure.’
Charlotte leaned forwards and gave him a long, lingering kiss. ‘I’d love to take a look a bit later,’ she said. ‘Thank you so much for thinking of it.’ When they broke apart again, she added, ‘Where did you get it from?’
‘It was my great-uncle’s,’ Tristan said as they moved towards the tripod. ‘He was a funny old fella: very private, almost reclusive. He and Gran argued a lot, especially when he came to live with her at the end of his life, but he still left everything to her. She passed this on to me some time ago, and it’s been in its box on the top of the wardrobe in the spare room ever since. I didn’t really know how to use it, but a couple of YouTube tutorials taught me the basics, and I thought you might like to have a go while you’re here.’
