[ He relaxes. The foul, cruel rumors about him and Nadine - they've still left their deep mark on him, twenty years on. Can't even hear an innocuous question without a flare of terror. But God, if there is something frightening about this situation, it's that someone naive would watch the two of them interacting and ask, oh, are you two in love? The thought makes him feel numb. He couldn't endure it.

But that's not what this was. Right. ]

I did. Left with absolutely nothing. She's the smarter one - bided her time till her majority, then gracefully married someone a continent away. Not a single night spent sleeping under a bridge.