"That's the beauty of busyness." Dan swaps out his set of tools for another upon deciding that the angles he wants to work with are more delicate than his original plans. He does an exploratory test scratching at the wood, mouth curled to the side in thought.

He bites his tongue on not the kind of masochism I'm into, because he and Miguel don't know each other closely enough for innuendo and it would clash with the underlying topic of conversation. "Reckon people would ask about an altar if they saw it, and I'm not keen to have twenty conversations a day about it."

It's hard enough to talk about Ellie even in only oblique references. He's sure Miguel can read between the lines.