Victor exhaled through his nose, long and slow, the kind of breath that on a lesser man would have come with a string of language wholly unsuitable for present company. Instead, the steam thickened, curling faster, and the wet carpet beneath Tommy's back began to dry in a spreading ring, fibres lightening from dark grey to pale.
"We will discuss," Victor said, "what signifies appropriate behaviour around water indoors. Later. When there are fewer, his eyes flicked, briefly, unmistakably, toward Frost, small ears present.
Frost, for his part, hadn't moved from Marx's knee, hadn't so much as blinked toward the ongoing lecture. He was leaning forward now, both hands pressed flat on his own thighs, staring at the baby with a kind of grave, wondering focus that made him look about forty years older than six."She's very small," he said, finally, like he was delivering a verdict.
