Yes, I do, Evander wanted to say. I can do what I like. Because he was older, the more responsible, and the one who had to do everything anyway – so he might as well get some reward from it all.
“Why, because you’re afraid I’ll realise that you can’t be trusted with anything?” Evander remarked, with a sardonic lift of an eyebrow. That was the inevitable result, and they both very well knew it. But he had hardly intended to get in a spat at the dinner table the first moment their wives were out of earshot, so he leant back in his chair, folding his arms to steel himself better against being led by his own stubbornness.
“Fine,” Evander amended, his tone still a healthy shade of patronising. “I’ll let you choose something else, yourself. Are you happy now? But I want to give Caroline the rocking chair when the baby’s here.” He pursed his lips, as if it wasn’t too late to take back the news – in all his annoyance, it had just spilled out.
“Why, because you’re afraid I’ll realise that you can’t be trusted with anything?” Evander remarked, with a sardonic lift of an eyebrow. That was the inevitable result, and they both very well knew it. But he had hardly intended to get in a spat at the dinner table the first moment their wives were out of earshot, so he leant back in his chair, folding his arms to steel himself better against being led by his own stubbornness.
“Fine,” Evander amended, his tone still a healthy shade of patronising. “I’ll let you choose something else, yourself. Are you happy now? But I want to give Caroline the rocking chair when the baby’s here.” He pursed his lips, as if it wasn’t too late to take back the news – in all his annoyance, it had just spilled out.
