Following Tully’s lead, Malachi arose from his seat and took the stems of the emptied wine glasses between his fingers. He quickly cleaned them out, offering a thoughtful hum as the younger man continued.

He was being far kinder than Malachi had expected, even after he’d confirmed that he was still welcome in the presbytery.

Why couldn’t they have just cleared things up before? Why had it all fallen apart instead?

When the glasses were clean, he set them out to dry and turned back to Mr. Tully.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry, again, for what happened. How I acted.”

Even if it had felt more natural than anything else to lash out. It had been foolish to do so.

Malachi returned the beggar’s smile with a smaller one of his own, and even gave an amused huff when Tully mimicked him. He led him out of the kitchen, and, after offering a few quiet words of farewell, left the presbytery to disappear as he always did.