Cleaning up.

Esmeralda cringed when she came back inside. She had a lot of work to do. She sighed and picked up a chair back, figuring she should start right away. She looked around the room, as if it would give her the key to carpentry. Elga was standing in the doorway.

“I was just cleaning up after myself. I’ll have the place fixed up before long.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to do that.”

“No, I really should. And I want to!”

“I don’t think you understand. You really shouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Do you know how?”

“Of course! I was the daughter… Never mind. You’re right. Murgin won’t be too mad, will he?”

Elga laughed. “I think he’d be surprised if a precious thing like you could stop a bar fight.”

Esmeralda gritted her teeth and did her best to ignore being called a ‘precious thing’. “Why did you let me run things then? On a Friday?”

“Well, frankly, I don’t know if I could stop a bar fight either. They don’t happen all that often, and Murgin needed to go out of town.”

“Sure. I’ll go upstairs then.”

“We can talk, if there’s anything you want to talk about.”

“I’m tired.”

“I just couldn’t stand if you went to bed upset. It really is fine that you didn’t stop the bar fight, you know.”

“You know I travelled here by myself, right?”

“I suppose I could have guessed that. Why?”

“I just want you to understand that I can handle myself, so you don’t need to take care of me.”

“I understand. Now, can we talk about something more pleasant before we head to bed? For me?”

“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“Humor me. Anything interesting happen at the bar tonight?”

“Not really. Spent most of the night talking to someone who wouldn’t even say anything back,” Esmeralda lamented.

“Oh? Who?”

“Malcolm Nessel.”

“Sweetie, it’s not you. He’s not a very talkative person.” 

“Did something happen to him?"

Elga laughed. “Oh no, nothing like that. He’s got a pretty normal life. He’s just always been a quiet boy. I think he’s just self-conscious.”

Esmeralda didn’t believe her. You don’t just end up self-conscious like that. Something had to have happened! But she had to put it aside. Malcolm clearly was trying to move past it, just like her. If someone tried to undo all her work, she’d never forgive them. It wouldn’t be fair to try to do that to someone else.