“Yeah,” Carver echoes quietly. It’s complicated and he can’t make it simple—he doesn’t think anyone can. But they’re both here, watching each other, speaking quietly and trying.

He’s quiet again. Then:

“Sometimes I feel like I’m getting better. Doing things a new way, a better way. And then sometimes I snap right back to how things were back home, how I was back home.”

He thinks she knows what that’s like. Getting stuck in the wake of old, battle-won reflex.

“But, I asked you to come and you came. It helped.”