It was, frankly, the opposite of him. It was the opposite of all the kids, but especially Ty, who generally had to be coaxed into coming home, and only made it for the occasional major holiday. Definitely never in the middle of summer.

Elisha chose to take a drink instead of pointing any of that out, though, and he sprawled seemingly casually in a chair. "I'm fine," he said. "We're both fine here. Your father wants me to retire before my arteries shut down from too much stress." He wasn't entirely sure what he'd do with himself if he did, of course. His heyday as an artist - as much as he'd had one - was pretty much on the wane.

"You look rough, Ty."