He did, and Mike’s still a little angry, but he says, “Or maybe you ran right into that elbow. Watch where you’re going next time.”
Sean’s eyes narrow briefly, but then he snorts and shakes his head. “Funny man,” he says, but allows Mike to wipe away the worst of the blood. “I could have had it, you know.”
“I know,” Mike says. He does know that. Just because he wants to protect Sean from everything doesn’t mean Sean needs it. “I just had your back is all.”
“Is that all?”
Mike shrugs.
“Well, just as long as you know I can handle myself.”
“Better than most,” Mike agrees. “You’re even scary sometimes.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just because I have a knight in shining armor doesn’t mean I’ll need to be rescued all the time.”
Mike grins at him.
Sean rolls his eyes, but his lips are quirking into a slightly bloody smile. “Don’t look so smug, big guy, or I’ll get to you next.”
“Wouldn’t even dream of it,” he says, and Sean jerks his chin out of Mike’s hand, evidently fed up with being coddled.
He steps around Mike, stalking toward Daniel and George, who wince at the sight of him. Walter has his arms crossed, face stony. Everyone else in the diner is whispering to each other, and Mike knows this will be the talk of the town by lunchtime. It’s exciting and new and positively scandalous, and he’s sure the phone lines will be ringing up and down Amorea even before he opens the bookstore. That doesn’t bother him. It’s just a part of small-town life.
What does bother him, however, is that something like this even happened to begin with. Mike knows that tempers flare (his own does every now and then), but it’s no excuse, especially not in a public place like the diner.
“You want to tell me what that was about,” he says. It’s not a question.
George and Daniel glance at each other warily before looking back at Mike.
“Well, see, here’s the thing,” Daniel says, and Mike’s reminded that Daniel is a bit of a smooth talker, says a lot without actually saying anything at all. He’s soft in all the ways Mike is not and has a pencil-thin mustache that makes him look like he’s got a dirty upper lip. Mike doesn’t actively dislike him (Mike can’t actually think of anyone he dislikes), but he’s not fond of him either. Granted, Mike’s only fond of a few people in Amorea, but the sentiment remains the same. Daniel is not high on Mike’s list of people he gives a damn about.
(It probably doesn’t help, either, that Daniel told him once that he doesn’t have time for reading, that he doesn’t think a book could add any sort of enrichment to his life. Mike was slightly aghast, not really understanding how anyone could say such a thing and mean it. Sean just laughed at Mike, calling him a literary snob in that soft voice he sometimes gets when Mike’s the focus of his attention.)
“Here’s the thing,” Daniel says again. “It’s just a matter of a difference of opinion.”
“That right,” Mike says flatly. “And what would the different opinions be?”
George snorts. “It’s rather simple. I feel he
should pay me for the work I did on the roof of his house. He feels otherwise.”
George may be a drunk and may be in his cups more often than he’s not, but he’s a good handyman, and one that people call on regularly. In fact, the more he works, the more sober he is, something Mike cottoned on to quite early on in his time in Amorea. He makes sure he always has something for George to work on every couple of weeks or so, even if he has to make up a problem to get him out to the house. He knows others have followed his lead on it and done the same.
“That true?” Mike asks Daniel.
“It depends on what your definition of the truth is,” Daniel says.
Mike growls.
“It’s probably the same as mine,” he says quickly. “In fact, I know it is. And would you look at that, on the same page as always, you old so-and-so. Gosh, I’m glad we had this talk. I think I’ll just pay George and we can forget that this ever happened. Whaddaya say, George? Soon as the bank opens, you and me take a walk and I lay some green on ya?”
“I suppose that would work,” George says. “Agreed-upon price?”
Daniel glances quickly at Mike before looking back at George and chuckling nervously. “Yeah, sure, full price. Maybe even a little bonus for being such a stand-up guy and all.”
“That works for me,” George says.
“We done here?” Daniel says.