“No worse than it already was,” Morgan said through clenched teeth.
“I’m sorry it hurts.”
Morgan was too, but since the accident was his own damn fault, the least he could do was put up with it graciously. He settled on, “Phil talked about me?”
“Sometimes,” Ty said, moving on to wiping down the side of his neck. “You and your mom. Not for a few years now, though.”
Guilt hit Morgan like a hammer, the ache of it almost as bad as the pain in his head. “I was … very busy for a while,” he said, knowing it was a shitty excuse to put out there, but also that it was the only one he had.
“That’s what Phil said. How is your shoulder?”
Morgan shifted slightly. “It feels okay … I thought I dislocated it, though.” He’d done it before, once playing basketball and once, embarrassingly, after a botched high dive. He’d had to be fished out of the water when that one happened too.
“You did. I put it back in place before you woke up.”
Oh, wow. That was convenient. “Are you a doctor as well as a fisherman?” Morgan asked in what he hoped was a joking manner.
Ty hummed again. “I’ve had a lot of experience patching up humans over the years.”
Patching up humans?That was a weird way of phrasing things.
“Animals are much harder to treat,” he went on, andah, now Morgan got it. Humans or seals or birds, Ty probably knew how to handle basic first aid for all of them. Of course. No wonder he differentiated people that way.
“I can only imagine how hard they must be to get close to,” Morgan offered.
“Mmm. Not very good about taking it easy or keeping their wounds clean either.” There was a hint of humor in Ty’s voice now. “I hope you’re better behaved than a seal, Morgan.”
“I promise I am.” He might not be any more graceful than one of them, after his stupid fall, but he could be a good patient for as long as it took him to get back to the lighthouse. Hopefully not long, but … “I’m lucky you found me.”
“I was looking for you.”
Oh. Morgan felt a little pang somewhere in the center of his chest. Funny, this one didn’t hurt. It was more … appreciative. Ty had been coming to check in on him, maybe give him a fish in person this time instead of leaving it in the cooler. “That’s nice of you.”
“Mmm.”
Those little hums ought to be annoying, a stand-in for real words and actual explanations, but instead, Morgan was starting to find them comforting. “I was looking for you when I fell,” he offered.
The cloth on his neck paused. “Why?” Ty asked after a long moment. He sounded uncomfortable with the entire concept of being looked for.
Morgan decided to stick to the basics. Ty didn’t need to deal with the deluge of baggage that Morgan was hauling around right now. “I wanted to thank you for the fish,” he said.
“Ah.” His companion relaxed. “No thanks are necessary. I have a standing order with a restaurant in town, so I take the boat in every morning anyhow. A stop by the lighthouse is on the way.”
It really wasn’t, but Morgan decided not to point that out. “Still, I appreciate it. I wasn’t really feeling up to any company before today …” He paused, but Ty, because apparently he was a saint, didn’t press. “But I thought it was time to get out and explore a little bit.”
“And instead, you fell into the water.”
Morgan choked out a little laugh. “That counts as exploring.”
“It would count more if you could swim.”
“Icanswim. I just got pushed into the rock before I could make enough space to swim around it.” For the first time, Morgan considered his situation from Ty’s point of view. Here he was, an old, solitary fisherman used to the company of another old man, someone he’d been friends with for years and was suddenly without. Instead, he was stuck with his friend’s grandnephew, a guy who hadn’t bothered to reach out or even use hisownboat to go around the island before nearly getting himself killed taking the land route. If Ty hadn’t been out fishing, Morgan would be dead right now.Shit.He was a jackass.
“I’m sorry,” he offered in a small voice. “I really didn’t mean to inconvenience you.”
“Mm-mm. You’re not an inconvenience.”
Morgan felt tears well up and was savagely grateful for the fact that he couldn’t open his eyes right now. “That’s nice of you to say, but—”
