Anthony had guessed when he said it that there was a chance he might hit a nerve, but it still surprised him how vehement it was. As it was, Anthony had decided that, for him at least, it took the slightest amount of bite out of her parting words, even if somewhere in the back of his mind, the words she'd said before had gotten to him in a way he hadn't felt for at least a couple of days.
He sighed, almost visibly deflating the moment she was gone from the shop and it was just him and Michael. He ran a hand through his hair, thinking. He'd had a pretty good feeling about that book, but he hadn't exactly put it back where he'd gotten it from as he'd been in the middle of that conversation with Marietta and he didn't think that he was in a focused enough state of mind to search for it again. He supposed at this point he'd be lucky if he still felt like eating lunch.
"If I said that I think I want to skip the meal and instead have a drink, what would you say?" Anthony asked Michael, then. He'd realised that it was the middle of the afternoon and he was actually supposed to go back to work by half past two and also that with a job like his the very idea of drinking was highly irresponsible, but he could there were times when it was just necessary. Between this and the news about his father, it was absolutely necessary.