"Thoughtful of you." William's glance around the room was only reflex, and he wasn't looking for Gabe, just looking around. Gabe wasn't here yet anyway, William had checked three minutes ago.
What was here was a giant golden snidget. "That's not Ryland, is it?" he asked, craning his neck to try to get a look beyond the puffball of golden feathers. Pete was looking suspiciously smug and smitten, which wasn't entirely unusual, but possibly this was a step above the normal level of giddiness. "When you blinded him with your brazen coconut attire, did you give him a semi-permanent physical reaction that needed to be hidden beneath twenty pounds of yellow fuzz?"