Steris said, looking over her shoulder. “Yes, and for obvious reasons I want nothing to do with them.” “Peace,” she said, holding his arm. “Do you need a moment?” “No.” “You’re sure?” Wax stopped in place. She waited, and he breathed in and out, banishing from his mind that awful, awful scene when he’d knelt on a bridge alone, holding Lessie. A woman he realized he’d never actually known. “I’m all right,” he said to Steris through clenched teeth. “But God should have known not to come for me. Particularly not today.”
