He wasn't quite taken off guard when she hugged him - that was what she did, she was apt to ambush people with hugs - but it was still always a little shocking to him, given that he'd done his best to numb himself since Marie. With slightly shaking arms, he hugged her back.

"I know, I tell myself that, every day," he said thickly. "But I keep thinking I could have kept it from happening. There are a million things I should have done differently to stop it. And every day, every goddamn day since I go over them in my head so I don't make the same mistakes again."