People didn't like him either, come to that. He cocked his eyebrow at her, skeptical. "I'm going shopping, I see," he said, pulling the scarf away from the cat as it was slowly liberated, inch by inch, woolen threads sticking out in every direction. But he was smiling, even if it was closer to a smirk. Things that ought to have angered him didn't seem to do so, when she was at the root of them. He had never been very objective. "Before the first freeze comes along, anyway."