Every muscle touching her clenched at the yelling. Normally, major confrontations had involved enough paperwork to drown in, or at least a hearty amount of peer pressure. For a moment he froze, hands still hovering over the keys like he was about to puzzle out the next piece of music.

It was easier to think about than what he had just gotten himself into. This may well have been the angriest anyone had ever been with him. Even his father’s slamming-doors rages at his intentional provocations were reigned in by a gentling love.

Steeling himself, he let his arms drop to his own sides and turned to face Tobias. For all his fantasies of hurting Alice, he still stood between she and her livid husband.

“Your piano needs tuning.”

But a part of him (precisely, the mouth) apparently still had a death wish.